As cruises hare restarted, cruise passengers are only allowed to leave the ship in port on cruise line excursions. The lines argue this is to protect passengers from being infected in port, and for people in ports also protected. This has caused a lot of debate by cruise passengers who feel cruise line excursions are too limiting, they prefer to self-explore or use independent excursion providers and they worry it will significantly increase the cost of cruising. I discuss what the situation on cruise excursions are as cruises start up, why the concept is not as unusual as many think, how it works in practice and if it is a price too far.