Civitavecchia Embarkation; Constellation after current Noro outbreak

Just arrived in Rome (yay!) to a text alert from Celebrity stating that the June 24 sailing of the Constellation will take place only after a thorough disinfection due to a current outbreak of "gastrointestinal illness." It was stated that check in will take place between 2-4:30pm and not to arrive before 2pm. We have a private car hired to take us there for an 11am-ish arrival. Should I try to switch timing or will things actually be fine if we need to proceed as currently?

We will be in one of the Penthouse Suites if that matters.

Thanks for any input, folks!

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The message itself:

S: Celebrity Constellation Cruise Notification

Hello, this is Celebrity Cruises. We would like to provide you with important information regarding your upcoming sailing onboard Celebrity Constellation sailing from Civitavecchia, Italy on June 24, 2017. During the current sailing, guests onboard experienced gastrointestinal illness. In an abundance of caution, we are conducting enhanced sanitizing onboard the ship and within the cruise terminal to help prevent any illness from affecting your cruise. Due to extra cleaning and sanitizing check-in for this sailing is expected to take place between 2:00 PM and 4:30 PM. Seating is very limited in the terminal and it is with this in mind we ask that guests do not arrive to the pier before 2:00 PM. If you have purchased a transfer to the cruise terminal from Celebrity Cruises, please proceed to the meeting place as scheduled. In an effort to facilitate a smooth check in process, please follow the below arrival time: Our Suite and Zenith and Elite Plus Guests are free to arrive between 2:00 PM and 4:30 PM for check-in. Concierge and Aqua Class Guests 2:00 PM to 2:45 PM; Elite and Select members 2:45 PM to 3:15 PM; All remaining Constellation guests 3:15 PM to 4:30 PM. We apologize for this delay to your boarding process and we thank you for your understanding and patience. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation and we look forward to welcoming you onboard.

Reply with YES to confirm.

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I would adjust schedule since a deep cleaning may even take more time than planned. You will only sit and wait in the Terminal. As a PH passenger you may be directed to a special area for Suite passengers and Zenith Loyalty members, but it may be a long wait. I've been through this a few times.

And a long wait in Civitavecchia likely will not be the best of waits. Terminal facilities are basic, at best.

CHANGE TIME!!!

We had same issue on our Christmas 2016 sailing on summit. We were getting on after the outbreak cruise...We received text/emails same as you.

We were lucky and got a 3pm checkout at Sheraton (one of the benefits of having hotel status), and used every minute of that time.

As always, some chose to ignore the warning and showed up at the typical 11am time...heard a lot of grumblings about the wait and the heat.

We spent the first 3 (or 3 1/2) days of the cruise with the "no touch" in the buffet area...I'm guessing you will get same. It wasn't that inconvenient, but took a little time to get water or coffee.

Have a great cruise!

In this situation Celebrity wants the ship to be completely cleared of passengers and offer a special tour for the B2Bs. had this once in Barcelona where we were offered a free tour to Montserrat. Since you are in a PH you might be able to contact your Onshore Concierge and see if they're doing anything for the B2Bs and ask if you can be included. You'll probably get a polite "no", but doesn't hurt to ask.

Just arrived in Rome (yay!) to a text alert from Celebrity stating that the June 24 sailing of the Constellation will take place only after a thorough disinfection due to a current outbreak of "gastrointestinal illness." It was stated that check in will take place between 2-4:30pm and not to arrive before 2pm. We have a private car hired to take us there for an 11am-ish arrival. Should I try to switch timing or will things actually be fine if we need to proceed as currently?

 

We will be in one of the Penthouse Suites if that matters.

 

Thanks for any input, folks!

 

 

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Hi,

You can be sure as a PH guest you will be on board asap but I am sure you don't want to board until the deep clean is finished....I honestly think they will put you in the suite 'holding' area. I would reschedule and book a late check out (if possible) and revised transfer if possible. As a regular top suite guest I would not expect or see it as a perk to be boarded before they say the deep clean is complete...

We unfortunately once fell to the dreaded Noro, we will abide by any rules and regulations to avoid it happening again...

Sincere best wishes for a great (and healthy) cruise!

Thanks to all for sharing your experience and wisdom! Have taken everyone's advice and changed time of transfer by several hours. Will also be prepared to wait at the terminal or in a holding pen on the ship itself haha; no big deal. We are so excited for this cruise!

Hi,

 

 

 

You can be sure as a PH guest you will be on board asap but I am sure you don't want to board until the deep clean is finished....I honestly think they will put you in the suite 'holding' area. I would reschedule and book a late check out (if possible) and revised transfer if possible. As a regular top suite guest I would not expect or see it as a perk to be boarded before they say the deep clean is complete...

 

 

 

We unfortunately once fell to the dreaded Noro, we will abide by any rules and regulations to avoid it happening again...

 

 

 

Sincere best wishes for a great (and healthy) cruise!

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Interesting that we have not read any reports about this.:confused: Nothing on the CDC website at all.

Celebrity says "gastrointestinal illness". Not necessarily the Noro. There's a difference! Could be anything from food poison, E Coli, to a regular stomach virus.

Whatever, it's good to know that Celebrity is being proactive about this. Been on a Noro cruise with Oceania and it was not fun. :eek:

Law Chick, I hope you have a great cruise. Please can you post later and let us know what the PH suite is like after the refurb. We are in there on the Connie in September and as yet haven't seen any reports. Thanks. Sue

The Civitavecchia, Italy Celebrity shore side waiting area is a tent structure. It is warm, and would not be my first choice for waiting for a few hours.

You could go to Civitavecchia, Italy and hang out in town at on of the restaurants.

I for one would not go to the port at your earlier planned time.

Mirage

Interesting that we have not read any reports about this.:confused: Nothing on the CDC website at all.

 

The ship is in Europe, so I believe that it doesn't have to be reported unless it's travelling to and from the US.

The ship is in Europe, so I believe that it doesn't have to be reported unless it's travelling to and from the US.

Good point. I guess we will have to wait until some reviews come back to hear how bad this illness is/was. I read someplace that the Constellation had shortened their late May/early June cruise because of a computer malfunction or something. But have not seen any mention of it on these forums. :(

Interesting that we have not read any reports about this.:confused: Nothing on the CDC website at all.

 

Celebrity says "gastrointestinal illness". Not necessarily the Noro. There's a difference! Could be anything from food poison, E Coli, to a regular stomach virus.

 

Whatever, it's good to know that Celebrity is being proactive about this. Been on a Noro cruise with Oceania and it was not fun. :eek:

As a regular poster, I'm sure you already know but for clarification for others - the CDC does not require reporting until the number of sick passengers/crew reaches a certain percentage (I think it is 3%). Celebrity could be doing due diligence and trying to shut this down before it spreads that far. On our last cruise we had a late boarding for this reason and it did the trick. We had 'code red' precautions for 3 days I think it was and then everything went back to normal.

 

Celebrity says "gastrointestinal illness". Not necessarily the Noro. There's a difference! Could be anything from food poison, E Coli, to a regular stomach virus.

 

They say "gastrointestinal illness" because they do not have the on-board capability to test for Noro.

Just got off the ship today and am suprised that there is not more information about this it was the Norovirus many people are sick heard one estimate 30% of the guest were involved my husband and I were both sick he was quarantined I was not it was it continued into even yesterday people were still sick I'm going to check the CDC myself . We were delayed getting into Naples because of this even the crew were affected. There were changes on board with eating etc. I do hope that they get this under control is the next guests are not inconvenience quote=Iamthesea;53374490]Good point. I guess we will have to wait until some reviews come back to hear how bad this illness is/was. I read someplace that the Constellation had shortened their late May/early June cruise because of a computer malfunction or something. But have not seen any mention of it on these forums. :(

Thank you for reporting back. So sorry you and your husband were ill. Really surprised that you were not quarantined. :eek:

Came off Constellation today and yes there is some sickness and they seem to be doing everything possible to get on top of it.

Most worrying thing I heard were guests who were ill, but decided to "self medicate" and not go to the sick bay because they didn't want to loose any of their holiday by being quarantined, very selfish in my opinion.

I'm really surprised by the 'one estimate of 30%" comment. We've been on several ships with Noro outbreaks, and in each case the Captain made announcements very clearly communicating the severity of the outbreak, including the % of passengers affected, along with reminders about what the passengers could expect in terms of service changes. In one case where there had been outbreaks on at least 2 consecutive cruises, not only was the ship going through deep cleaning, but they were also deep cleaning the pier terminal. The explanation was that departing passengers were spreading the virus on handrails, in restrooms, etc, and new passengers were then picking it up and carrying it back onto the ship for the next cruise.

We have been on Constellation since June 5 and continue until July 4. We have had no illness.

Celebrity staff were already doing extra sanitizing from the time the outbreak began, along with staff serving in buffet etc.

From what I understand , because the outbreak progressed so quickly, the decision was made to get all passengers, including b2b2b off the ship to really do an extreme sanitation. Celebrity employees and staff should be commended. They have worked extremely hard for very long hours.

A smile and a thank you can go a long way.

We have been on Constellation since June 5 and continue until July 4. We have had no illness.

 

Celebrity staff were already doing extra sanitizing from the time the outbreak began, along with staff serving in buffet etc.

 

From what I understand , because the outbreak progressed so quickly, the decision was made to get all passengers, including b2b2b off the ship to really do an extreme sanitation. Celebrity employees and staff should be commended. They have worked extremely hard for very long hours.

 

A smile and a thank you can go a long way.

Agree the staff have been working extremely hard to get this under control, it looked like additional staff were coming on board as we left today.

We have been on Constellation since June 5 and continue until July 4. We have had no illness.

 

Celebrity staff were already doing extra sanitizing from the time the outbreak began, along with staff serving in buffet etc.

 

From what I understand , because the outbreak progressed so quickly, the decision was made to get all passengers, including b2b2b off the ship to really do an extreme sanitation. Celebrity employees and staff should be commended. They have worked extremely hard for very long hours.

 

A smile and a thank you can go a long way.

Did they do anything special for B2B passengers. As I mentioned in another post they put us on a free tour so they could do the deep cleaning. We didn't start rue boarding until after 6 PM.

Just got off the ship today and am suprised that there is not more information about this it was the Norovirus many people are sick heard one estimate 30% of the guest were involved my husband and I were both sick he was quarantined I was not it was it continued into even yesterday people were still sick I'm going to check the CDC myself . We were delayed getting into Naples because of this even the crew were affected. There were changes on board with eating etc. I do hope that they get this under control is the next guests are not inconvenience quote=Iamthesea;53374490]Good point. I guess we will have to wait until some reviews come back to hear how bad this illness is/was. I read someplace that the Constellation had shortened their late May/early June cruise because of a computer malfunction or something. But have not seen any mention of it on these forums. :(

Sorry that you got sick, I'm sure it's no fun.

You do realize that 30% of that ship would be about 600 people? That's a lot.

Good point. I guess we will have to wait until some reviews come back to hear how bad this illness is/was. I read someplace that the Constellation had shortened their late May/early June cruise because of a computer malfunction or something. But have not seen any mention of it on these forums. :(

Yes, was on the two day delay sailing after dry dock. My review and others are held up due to review by Celebrity. Issues ..