Age limit on Excursions??

[Kudos2Fly]

We have a cruise booked way out for July 2023. I just was looking what options for excursion. One of them I looked at has a age limit of 65. My husband is a healthy 70 year old. This excursion is just on off road excursion. We just did a lot of off road out West. I see can if you have back problems, but don't see how age has anything to do with it. Does Celebrity really stick the age limit? 

 

 

[Alakegirl]

The age limits are imposed by the operator of the tour, not by Celebrity. They’re generally a requirement of the tour operator’s insurance company.  Celebrity may have no ability to change them

[GottaKnowWhen]

5 minutes ago, Kudos2Fly said:

We have a cruise booked way out for July 2023. I just was looking what options for excursion. One of them I looked at has a age limit of 65. My husband is a healthy 70 year old. This excursion is just on off road excursion. We just did a lot of off road out West. I see can if you have back problems, but don't see how age has anything to do with it. Does Celebrity really stick the age limit? 

 

 

On one cruise, we couldn’t book a “moderate” excursion (steps, uneven walking etc) because we were “too old.” At the next port, we booked a “strenuous“ excursion, no issue. As already noted, it depends on the local company's and local government requirements for insurance. Not Celebrity policy.

[Kudos2Fly]

2 minutes ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

On one cruise, we couldn’t book a “moderate” excursion (steps, uneven walking etc) because we were “too old.” At the next port, we booked a “strenuous“ excursion, no issue. As already noted, it depends on the local company's and local government requirements for insurance. Not Celebrity policy.

 

Your comment on the local government requirements is probably it.  Funny some 30 somethings I wouldn't trust doing that excursion..... We did the Colorado Alpine Loop at least a small part of it and some young guys stop to ask us how to get the jeep into the four wheel drive... Of course I didn't know either, but my husband had to show them. 

[Kudos2Fly]

17 minutes ago, Alakegirl said:

The age limits are imposed by the operator of the tour, not by Celebrity. They’re generally a requirement of the tour operator’s insurance company.  Celebrity may have no ability to change them

Sad time in the world with people wanting to sue for everything. But I can see how the operator and their insurance would require it. The thing is I'm not sure I would trust 20-30 year old's either. Oh well. 

[GottaKnowWhen]

3 minutes ago, Kudos2Fly said:

Sad time in the world with people wanting to sue for everything. But I can see how the operator and their insurance would require it. The thing is I'm not sure I would trust 20-30 year old's either. Oh well. 

Imagine you are a tour operator who just had a customer eaten (bitten and killed not eaten, but you take my point) by a shark. A bad day for everyone and I totally sympathize with all concerned. But it bugs me that Royal is so quick to proclaim that Oh, it was an independent excursion, not one of ours…

[mom says]

12 minutes ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

Imagine you are a tour operator who just had a customer eaten (bitten and killed not eaten, but you take my point) by a shark. A bad day for everyone and I totally sympathize with all concerned. But it bugs me that Royal is so quick to proclaim that Oh, it was an independent excursion, not one of ours…

What does any if that have to do with the OPs  question?

[Kudos2Fly]

1 minute ago, mom says said:

What does any if that have to do with the OPs  question?

I'm not sure either.... There is risk in living life. We live in a aviation community on a grass strip. We have had a few neighbors die in their planes in our neighborhood.

 

One reason these tour operators have people sign wavers for insurance reasons....

[GottaKnowWhen]

2 minutes ago, mom says said:

What does any if that have to do with the OPs  question?

It relates to the larger question of what the policies and limits are, and gets to the real world issues of physical harm, death, liability, and a company’s responsibility /policies as they relate to keeping passengers safe from harm. Celebrity (Royal) do try to look after us, they do try to book our excursions through “accredited “ operators, sometimes those operators are constrained by issues like insurance concerns. I am a fan of independent excursions, but I appreciate that Celebrity may provide an bit more safety by looking after me via their vetting of companies, making sure they are safe and insured.

[Kudos2Fly]

22 minutes ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

It relates to the larger question of what the policies and limits are, and gets to the real world issues of physical harm, death, liability, and a company’s responsibility /policies as they relate to keeping passengers safe from harm. Celebrity (Royal) do try to look after us, they do try to book our excursions through “accredited “ operators, sometimes those operators are constrained by issues like insurance concerns. I am a fan of independent excursions, but I appreciate that Celebrity may provide an bit more safety by looking after me via their vetting of companies, making sure they are safe and insured.

I understand liability. My husband and our company was sued at no fault of our own. The law suite had nothing to do with us. Other then my husband business relations with the company being sued. You can have an "accredited" company and still have something that happens that is beyond the companies control. Like weather or sharks. We sometimes go on independent tours, on our own, and as well as cruise excursions done by the ship. We realize their is a no guarantee of either of these. 

 

If we really want to book a similar excursion, we will do it with an independent operator or do something different. I just wasn't sure if it was Celebrity, Country or Company requiring the age limit. We haven't run into this in all our travels. 

[Kudos2Fly]

Sorry for the type O's.....

[upwarduk]

We were recently in the Mediterranean and there were no age restrictions on the selection of Celebrity excursions(I am 80 and had no trouble booking).

Maybe it’s a US thing.

[Honolulu Blue]

8 hours ago, Kudos2Fly said:

We have a cruise booked way out for July 2023. I just was looking what options for excursion. One of them I looked at has a age limit of 65. My husband is a healthy 70 year old. This excursion is just on off road excursion. We just did a lot of off road out West. I see can if you have back problems, but don't see how age has anything to do with it. Does Celebrity really stick the age limit? 

Thanks for sharing this.  This is the first I've heard of any excursion having an age limit in this direction.  I've seen several that have age limits in the OTHER direction - no minors on alcohol sampling tours, etc.  I've also seen some that had weight limits

[gold1953]

32 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Thanks for sharing this.  This is the first I've heard of any excursion having an age limit in this direction.  I've seen several that have age limits in the OTHER direction - no minors on alcohol sampling tours, etc.  I've also seen some that had weight limits

this has been a common thing..the upper age limit

[GottaKnowWhen]

4 hours ago, upwarduk said:

We were recently in the Mediterranean and there were no age restrictions on the selection of Celebrity excursions(I am 80 and had no trouble booking).

Maybe it’s a US thing.

I would have to dig back into buried paperwork, but my example  (two consecutive ports, one were the moderate excursion had an age limit [65 I believe], the next where a strenuous excursion had no limits) actually was from a cruise in the Eastern Med in 2018. Sorry, can't recall which countries. Greece and Malta maybe.

[Alakegirl]

Different countries and presumably different tour operators so no surprise at all

[chemmo]

5 hours ago, upwarduk said:

We were recently in the Mediterranean and there were no age restrictions on the selection of Celebrity excursions(I am 80 and had no trouble booking).

Maybe it’s a US thing.

We have found in the Far East, Middle East and Mediterranean that they tend to focus more on listing medical conditions which prevent you from accessing a tour. “This tour is not suitable for guests with back, neck, shoulder, hip……….or in growing toenails”. Obviously being facetious but the majority of us don’t get past 60 without an ache or pain somewhere that has been or is under investigation.
 

The concern is if your insurance company and/or the tour operator decided your diagnoses of having arthritis in your knee or having physio for your neck in the last few years would mean you had accessed a tour ‘unsuitable’ and could reduce your ability to claim if something went wrong. We find this quite unsettling. Much as it doesn’t prevent us from cruising it does limit the range of excursions we are comfortable taking.

Edited September 8, 2022 by chemmo

[cruisestitch]

And this is also an issue on all cruise lines so it’s not something specific to Celebrity.  A search pulled up many similar threads.

 

here is one of the Celebrity specific threads 

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2868165-excursion-age-restrictions/#comment-63618011

 

[cruisegirlppp]

15 hours ago, Kudos2Fly said:

We have a cruise booked way out for July 2023. I just was looking what options for excursion. One of them I looked at has a age limit of 65. My husband is a healthy 70 year old. This excursion is just on off road excursion. We just did a lot of off road out West. I see can if you have back problems, but don't see how age has anything to do with it. Does Celebrity really stick the age limit? 

 

 

On my last Celebrity cruise to the Caribbean  I was unable to book a snorkel excursion because of age (I am >70).

[Jim_Iain]

18 hours ago, Kudos2Fly said:

We have a cruise booked way out for July 2023. I just was looking what options for excursion. One of them I looked at has a age limit of 65. My husband is a healthy 70 year old. This excursion is just on off road excursion. We just did a lot of off road out West. I see can if you have back problems, but don't see how age has anything to do with it. Does Celebrity really stick the age limit? 

 

 

 

I think we all agree with you.   Reality is that it is a requirement of the vendor.   I have tried to get around it and book but the reservation system rejected my booking. 

 

Save money and anxiety and just book a private tour with the same excursion.   Many other vendors will offer.

[Kudos2Fly]

If we want to do that type of excursion we will book independent. I have see the "medical" requirements but not as age as much. As I say it is what it is... Just need to deal with it...

[the penguins]

On 9/8/2022 at 3:30 AM, GottaKnowWhen said:

Imagine you are a tour operator who just had a customer eaten (bitten and killed not eaten, but you take my point) by a shark. A bad day for everyone and I totally sympathize with all concerned. But it bugs me that Royal is so quick to proclaim that Oh, it was an independent excursion, not one of ours…

All excursions offered by the ship are "independent" i. e. They have to meet local laws, restrictions etc and the "agent" (in this case Celebrity) selling the tour cannot alter those requirements. 

Edited September 9, 2022 by the penguins
Typed Royal instead of Celebrity

[carolina_yankee]

We ran into this with the excursion to the QE II Botanic Gardens and Pedro St. James in Grand Cayman. Celebrity is the *only* cruise line to work with an operator who caps the age at 70. We fought to get this waived or overturned, and nobody would budge.

 

So, we booked directly with a vendor.  While the operator does indeed set the limits, Celebrity is responsible for choosing to work with that operator. It is absolutely absurd they do so when other operators (and cruise lines) don’t.  We’re quite happy to not give Celebrity our excursion money in this case.

 

 

[Louhut1]

We ran into this on a South American cruise.  The excursion had a limit of 70 and we were a little over but still active with no health problems. It was an excursion we really wanted to do. I called Celebrity and they just signed us up for it. No problem.  This was about 6 years ago.  So maybe they can override those restrictions sometimes. We had absolutely no problem on the excursion.

[the penguins]

3 hours ago, Louhut1 said:

We ran into this on a South American cruise.  The excursion had a limit of 70 and we were a little over but still active with no health problems. It was an excursion we really wanted to do. I called Celebrity and they just signed us up for it. No problem.  This was about 6 years ago.  So maybe they can override those restrictions sometimes. We had absolutely no problem on the excursion.

The difficulty comes if you do have a problem. If you check Celebrity's Booking Conditions you will see they make it very clear that they are only the Agents. Not sure how this works for the US, but for UK passengers any breach of the rules would totally invalidate our travel/medical insurance.