CoolChange37 Posted October 25, 2021 #1 Share Posted October 25, 2021 I just received something showing that anyone wanting to do tours on their own in Italy, cannot do it. They have to be done through the cruise lines. Also, that you have to be vaccinated within 356 days to visit Croatia? We have booked several tours with Viator and want to know if this is the case? Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted October 25, 2021 #2 Share Posted October 25, 2021 There is a thread just down the board for Italy's requirements: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zdcatc12 Posted October 25, 2021 #3 Share Posted October 25, 2021 2 hours ago, CoolChange37 said: I just received something showing that anyone wanting to do tours on their own in Italy, cannot do it. They have to be done through the cruise lines. Also, that you have to be vaccinated within 356 days to visit Croatia? We have booked several tours with Viator and want to know if this is the case? Thanks in advance! You can do them on your own, as long as you aren't on a cruise at the time. Makes no sense whatsoever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare steamboats Posted October 26, 2021 #4 Share Posted October 26, 2021 So far, in Italy you can just leave the ship with a shore tour organized by the cruise line. There are no individual shore tours allowed. This is a requirement by the Italian government not by the cruise line. steamboats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolChange37 Posted October 26, 2021 Author #5 Share Posted October 26, 2021 14 hours ago, zdcatc12 said: You can do them on your own, as long as you aren't on a cruise at the time. Makes no sense whatsoever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolChange37 Posted October 26, 2021 Author #6 Share Posted October 26, 2021 We are actually going to be on the Star at that time and wanted to do the VIP Rome tour with Viator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolChange37 Posted October 26, 2021 Author #7 Share Posted October 26, 2021 Also, the cruise line has tours "on your own" offered? I'm confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWantToLiveOverTheSea Posted October 26, 2021 #8 Share Posted October 26, 2021 8 hours ago, CoolChange37 said: Also, the cruise line has tours "on your own" offered? I'm confused. In the past, some cruise lines occasionally have tours in which they drop you off in a city, you do what you want, and then they pick you up later. It's basically transportation to a port that's not very close to the city most people want to visit (Rome, Berlin, Seville come to mind). But I think the poster above was not talking about that kind of tours on your own, but ones in which you arrange a tour and go off on your own. I think what's going on is that Italy is requiring cruisers to stay with their ship's excursions, and not go off on their own. We experienced this in Iceland this summer. When I cruised (on Viking, which has really excellent Covid protocols) we could go off the ship on our own in Iceland ports -- either on an organized non-ship excursion or just by getting off the ship and wandering around. But that week we got word that on the next cruise, passengers would be required to only tour via ship excursions. That was an Iceland decision, not Viking's. In the case of Italy, that country was hit really hard by Covid in its early stages, and they appear to be acting very cautiously now that they've finally gotten things much better for their citizens. I don't necessarily think they need to be so cautious with cruisers, but I can't really fault them for doing what they think is best. And that may result in Italian tour companies getting more business, which like everywhere else, is really needed at this stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWantToLiveOverTheSea Posted October 27, 2021 #9 Share Posted October 27, 2021 9 hours ago, CoolChange37 said: Also, the cruise line has tours "on your own" offered? I'm confused. Some people go to a city early, do sightseeing on their own, and then board a ship for a cruise. That's how I interpreted the "on your own" statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zdcatc12 Posted October 27, 2021 #10 Share Posted October 27, 2021 10 hours ago, CoolChange37 said: Also, the cruise line has tours "on your own" offered? I'm confused. I was on NCL last month. We got on in Rome, but we were there two days before and two days after the cruise and could do whatever we wanted. Once the cruise started, the port calls in Italy required a cruise ship excursion. Until a few weeks before the cruise NCL had still advertised "On your own" excursions for the Italy stops, but they were cancelled and removed and were not available when the cruise actually sailed. I believe NCL was hoping that Italy would start allowing them, but that never occured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTTODOIT Posted January 30, 2022 #11 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Hello, What is the latest with NCL, are we able to disembark and do our own thing or private tour in Rome, Naples, Livorno. Cruising on Epic in June and can't find what the requirements are currently. thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayjaypea42 Posted January 31, 2022 #12 Share Posted January 31, 2022 As far as I know, Italy remains closed to non-cruise tours. I would go ahead and book with NCL. If things change, you can always cancel (I think within 24h) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mapleleaves Posted January 31, 2022 #13 Share Posted January 31, 2022 17 hours ago, GOTTODOIT said: Hello, What is the latest with NCL, are we able to disembark and do our own thing or private tour in Rome, Naples, Livorno. Cruising on Epic in June and can't find what the requirements are currently. thank you June is a long way off in Covid time. From the NCL web site in the FAQ section: Shore Excursions Due to local government regulations, guests are required to take a Norwegian Cruise Line shore excursion while visiting ports in Italy as guests will not be allowed to explore on their own. Book your shore excursions through your MyNCL account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTTODOIT Posted February 1, 2022 #14 Share Posted February 1, 2022 7 hours ago, mapleleaves said: June is a long way off in Covid time. From the NCL web site in the FAQ section: Shore Excursions Due to local government regulations, guests are required to take a Norwegian Cruise Line shore excursion while visiting ports in Italy as guests will not be allowed to explore on their own. Book your shore excursions through your MyNCL account. thank you for your replies, hopefully restrictions will be lifted. kind regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drmomsc Posted February 1, 2022 #15 Share Posted February 1, 2022 On 10/26/2021 at 9:44 AM, steamboats said: So far, in Italy you can just leave the ship with a shore tour organized by the cruise line. There are no individual shore tours allowed. This is a requirement by the Italian government not by the cruise line. steamboats NCL has told me this, however, despite my asking in numerous ways, they were unable to direct me to the Italian regulation. I cannot find anything other than the cruise line’s website. Have you found a source? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare steamboats Posted February 2, 2022 #16 Share Posted February 2, 2022 13 hours ago, drmomsc said: Have you found a source? Yes, actually I have read the Italian "law" (or whatever you will call it in English) in Italian. As this is a regualtion which has been extended several and add ons you need to read several decreti in Italian to get it all. I can tell you that´s it not just NCL but all cruise lines which call Italian ports. MSC and Costa even didn´t allow any tours on your own in other ports when RCI and NCL did allow them (especially Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Marseilles). Costa has to obey special rules as they are flying the Italian flag which makes it more complicated (same for AIDA). And this has been up and running since cruising started in Italy back in August 2020. The good news is that since yesterday you don´t need to be tested anymore prior to the first Italian port. MSC once announced that individual shore tours may be possible in March. But that was prior to Delta and Omicron. The Italians can change their regulations pretty quickly so we simply have to wait. steamboats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samavarcruiser Posted February 2, 2022 #17 Share Posted February 2, 2022 The restrictions will be lifted on March 31st and private shore excursions will be allowed again 🙏 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare marazul Posted February 2, 2022 #18 Share Posted February 2, 2022 Italy reached the major milestone of vaccinating 80% of the eligible population on January 31. https://lab.gedidigital.it/gedi-visual/2021/covid-19-vaccini-scopri-in-tempo-reale-quando-saremo-tutti-vaccinati/ The vaccine campaign will continue, but it is fair to expect relaxation of many rules, including shore excursions. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drmomsc Posted February 2, 2022 #19 Share Posted February 2, 2022 10 hours ago, steamboats said: Yes, actually I have read the Italian "law" (or whatever you will call it in English) in Italian. As this is a regualtion which has been extended several and add ons you need to read several decreti in Italian to get it all. I can tell you that´s it not just NCL but all cruise lines which call Italian ports. MSC and Costa even didn´t allow any tours on your own in other ports when RCI and NCL did allow them (especially Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Marseilles). Costa has to obey special rules as they are flying the Italian flag which makes it more complicated (same for AIDA). And this has been up and running since cruising started in Italy back in August 2020. The good news is that since yesterday you don´t need to be tested anymore prior to the first Italian port. MSC once announced that individual shore tours may be possible in March. But that was prior to Delta and Omicron. The Italians can change their regulations pretty quickly so we simply have to wait. steamboats Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Miggins Posted February 2, 2022 #20 Share Posted February 2, 2022 8 hours ago, samavarcruiser said: The restrictions will be lifted on March 31st and private shore excursions will be allowed again 🙏 This sounds great but could you reveal our source. We are cruising in April ending in Venice. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euro cruiser Posted February 2, 2022 #21 Share Posted February 2, 2022 I'm guessing that the hands in prayer emoji indicates that this is a hope, not a fact. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Miggins Posted February 2, 2022 #22 Share Posted February 2, 2022 Oh dear, I hadn't realised that it was just an expression of hope. Not sure of the point of posting as we all 'hope' that things will change soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTTODOIT Posted February 2, 2022 #23 Share Posted February 2, 2022 I sent an email to the private tour company that we have used previously. I told them about NCL restrictions on passengers disembarking at Italian ports for private tours. I asked them what they knew about the Italian restrictions on cruise ship passengers. They replied that the restrictions were expected to be lifted or revised at the end of March because they have reached a high level of double vaccinations. So they are pretty confident that Private Tours will be a goer in June. So we live in hope. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare steamboats Posted February 4, 2022 #24 Share Posted February 4, 2022 On 2/2/2022 at 10:02 AM, samavarcruiser said: The restrictions will be lifted on March 31st and private shore excursions will be allowed again 🙏 A source would be nice... MSC writes on their German website that they expect individual shore tours to be allowed by March. TUI Cruises does only refer to the local laws and their first cruise going to an Italian port is March 20th. March 31st might be the date of the current decree. But that doesn´t mean it doesn´t get prolonged. Italy did change their rules for entering the country (harmonizing it with EU recommendations) so since Feb 1st there are no additional tests required anymore. And they now allow tested people back in restaurants and hotels. But no changes regarding the shore tours. steamboats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCazer Posted February 4, 2022 #25 Share Posted February 4, 2022 I called Crown & Anchor the other day for my August cruise from Italy, Greece and Turkey, and after a very long wait, I was told that if everyone was vaccinated, that Royal did not have any limitations on going off on your own. They did say that if there were unvaccinated children, then they would need to book a Royal sanctioned excursion. Of course, everything can change. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now