CaptBoomer Posted September 5, 2020 Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 There are several RC cruises throughout 2021 that have itinerary times posted showing how long a ship is in a particular port. Yet at the same time there are several itineraries with no times posted at all. Was wondering if anyone knew how far in advance does RC post their itinerary times they're in a port. We're looking at a spring 2021 cruise and we'd like to make certain shore excursion reservations but it makes it a little hard to choose when you don't know how long a ship is in a particular port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLMoran Posted September 5, 2020 Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 If you’re looking at Spring 2021, I would imagine that the cruise lines will still be mandating that all passengers must book excursions through the cruise line, not with a third-party, to comply with safety / health rules. As such, you’d have to book through the Cruise Planner after booking your sailing. ehw51 and cruisellama 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisellama Posted September 5, 2020 Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 27 minutes ago, JLMoran said: If you’re looking at Spring 2021, I would imagine that the cruise lines will still be mandating that all passengers must book excursions through the cruise line, not with a third-party, to comply with safety / health rules. As such, you’d have to book through the Cruise Planner after booking your sailing. Logical ehw51 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptBoomer Posted September 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 I'm not disputing what your saying regarding third party excursions, however you can find plenty of cruises in May that have times listed how long a particular ship is in port just as much as you can find cruises that don't list times at all. This is my point. As to what the rules will be then; who knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted September 5, 2020 Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 Interesting, I have only seen itineraries with times included. Off I go to poke around. ehw51 and SpeedNoodles 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baked Alaska Posted September 5, 2020 Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 2 hours ago, JLMoran said: If you’re looking at Spring 2021, I would imagine that the cruise lines will still be mandating that all passengers must book excursions through the cruise line, not with a third-party, to comply with safety / health rules. As such, you’d have to book through the Cruise Planner after booking your sailing. You can also contact Royal's Private Journeys. Those are private excursions set up by Royal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptBoomer Posted September 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 Maybe this will simplify my point. Here's 2 ships leaving the exact same port on the exact same day . One gives you the times it will be docked in a particular port, and the other lists nothing. This is just a small sample of several I've found like this. As to what anyone will be allowed to do in May????? https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/itinerary/8-night-southern-caribbean-from-miami-on-brilliance/BR08MIA-3100968035?sail-date=2021-08-22¤cy=USD&country=USA&dates_maxDate=05%2F31%2F2021&dates_minDate=05%2F01%2F2021 https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/itinerary/7-night-western-caribbean-perfect-day-from-miami-on-symphony/SY07MIA-1694716564?sail-date=2022-04-23¤cy=USD&country=USA&dates_maxDate=05%2F31%2F2021&dates_minDate=05%2F01%2F2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted September 5, 2020 Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 One thing I noted at least for Brilliance is that the port times are not on the generic page where you select a date, but once you select a date it does list specific port times. One theory is that for this ship and itinerary port times vary depending on departure date so they can't list them before selecting an actual date. Some ships that repeat an itinerary over and over again always have the same port times so on the generic page before selecting an actual date, it doesn't matter what date you pick, the times are fixed. For Brilliance... No times listed: Once I pick a date, times are listed: JLMoran and Baked Alaska 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptBoomer Posted September 6, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2020 I see what you did there, and yes I was able to duplicate as well. Thanks. Certainly makes for a lot of extra clicking if your surfing through different itineraries and haven't picked a specific date. There's several like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted September 6, 2020 Report Share Posted September 6, 2020 2 hours ago, Baked Alaska said: You can also contact Royal's Private Journeys. Those are private excursions set up by Royal. Curious if anyone can shed some insight / experience with using them. Definitely piqued my interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLMoran Posted September 6, 2020 Report Share Posted September 6, 2020 4 hours ago, Baked Alaska said: You can also contact Royal's Private Journeys. Those are private excursions set up by Royal. 2 hours ago, mk-ultra said: Curious if anyone can shed some insight / experience with using them. Definitely piqued my interest. It's really easy. You fill out a contact form in the Cruise Planner (link on the main page), you'll be contacted by a rep who will work with you on whatever custom itinerary you want to put together. You can be as precise or general as you want, although more details definitely help in putting together an excursion itinerary that lines up with what you're looking for. @Matt published an article about it about his experience with using them a while back, along with making a podcast episode. Celebrity offers the same exact service. And I got to discover just how flexible they're willing to be. I had a pretty even mix of "must do" and "nice to have" parts for my port day in Akureyri on my now-canceled Iceland & Greenland cruise: Must have -- whale watching trip on the ship Elding, from 1 to 4 PM Nice to have -- walking tour before that, to fill the gap between our 11 AM arrival and the Elding's departure Must have -- Had to work with just my family of 4 booked Nice to have -- pricing for anywhere from the 4 of us to as many as 12, as I wanted to invite roll call members who might be interested I left the walking tour part totally up in the air, because I had no idea if anyone in Akureryi would even do a walking tour for just 90 minutes with a group as small as 4. My rep came back with both parts arranged and with pricing for all the possible number of passengers taking part, less than a week after giving her my outline. Even better, once I had the full group of 12 booked I was assured that all of them would receive tickets in their staterooms on boarding day. I just had to provide the booking numbers, cabins, and last names so that could all be lined up. So you don't even need to have everyone on a single booking or linked set of bookings to leverage Private Journeys. Hope this all helps! ehw51 and mk-ultra 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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