drarill

4 hours ago, Mark_UK said:

Just been back and forth on the phone with the travel agent and Celebrity and we got them re-booked for the 16th!!

 

They had their fast track passport appointment today and have been told the replacements should arrive by Monday at the latest. 

 

 

Great news Mark!! hope to meet all of you on our cruise. Just two more weeks!

On 9/30/2023 at 12:18 PM, Jim_Iain said:

We are traveling in a CS in November and was surprised to have received an e-mail and follow up call from Shoreside Concierge 60 days in advance.

 

We always get contacted even in a SS but it may be because we are Zenith's.    Sometimes I get contacted by both Shoreside and Zenith desks.

Traveling on a CS in two weeks and just received the shoreside concierge email.  I almost had a heart attack when I read the first line congratulating us on our "move up", which meant in my mind something better than a CS.  After checking my credit card and the reservation I realized that there was no move up for us 🙁. Wrote them back explaining that we paid for our CS, they apologize for the mistake and was told that right now only the Iconic Suites are available to upgrade.  Well, a girl can only wish, but the truth is that we didn't bid for the Iconic Suite. 

BTW, do you think that the concierges should have that information? Meaning, should they know if someone gets a suite through the move up or paying full price? Though in my case they had the wrong info, just made me think about this.

10 hours ago, Mark_UK said:

 

Thanks for your thoughts. My parents got home on Wednesday and still feel quite down. We had to uninstall the Celebrity app as it was sending them notifications about where they would otherwise be on each day. They are going for an appointment to get a fast-track replacement passport tomorrow. 

 

Their insurance have sadly stated in writing that they won't cover the cost of cruise, so we're hoping that Celebrity will issue a credit as a goodwill gesture that they can use for the identical 16th sailing. Celebrity are saying they need confirmation from the ship that they didn't board which seems to be taking a while. 

 

Annoyingly prices have also gone way up and not that many cabins left so it's all a bit nail biting. They were originally booked into a Veranda which are now close to £5000 ($6000) and the credit will probably be worth about £3300 if all goes well. 

 

Hope everything works out for your parents and they can join us on the 16th.  We have an active roll call here and also in Facebook.  

On 9/26/2023 at 2:05 PM, Mark_UK said:

Hi all, 

 

I hadn't meant to spark a big debate - no suggestion here that Celebrity have done anything wrong, apart from being pretty unhelpful when we first contacted the call centres with what felt like an emergency. 

 

The cruise they were due on is not full, as of earlier this week there were quite a few empty cabins, including in the category they were sailing in. My parents also paid quite a substantial amount for a non-refundable successful MoveUp bid which they will now no longer use - free money for Celebrity. 

 

So they have not used an otherwise probably empty room, will have had no food or use of their all inclusive drinks package or promotional onboard credit worth $800. 

 

I therefore don't think it's unreasonable to hope, that as a gesture of goodwill in the unique circumstances, Celebrity would be willing to transfer their booking to an identical sailing in three weeks time, also with empty rooms available, at a reduced cost. 

 

Other companies have shown compassion, such as British Airways in getting them home without charging what they could have done. 

 

My parents now have their emergency passports and fly home tomorrow. They are expecting to hear a decision from Celebrity once it's confirmed they didn't in fact board, hopefully later this week. 

I'm on the October 16th cruise and really hope your parents sail with us

11 hours ago, Ashland said:

Hmmmm...I flew DL in July to board my RCI cruise and no such form was required to fly to Amsterdam. A bit confused why UA is requiring this form if other US carriers aren't ???

Did you note on this form it's for a "Visa Application" so not sure why you need a visa to board a cruise ship !!! I think there's some confusion about the need for this form.

No idea, I'm flying Iberia airlines and so far so good, I have the form ready just in case they ask for it.  Looks like Air Canada is also asking for this, better to have it and don't need it.  BTW this is not for a Visa. 

On 8/30/2022 at 9:52 AM, SUESEABE said:

@Ashland Okay. So are you saying just the CDC card is sufficient, the official form, the 'Vaccine Declaration Form' is not required? Sherpa is telling me that it is mandatory to complete the Vaccine Declaration Form and present to  officials upon arrival. So my question is still is the form required?

Someone on my FB Apex cruise posted this today.  He received an email from United Airlines with this information. Also another person on the same group, last week,  was alerted by American Airlines that she won't be allowed to go to Amsterdam because she is not boosted and had her last vaccine shot more than 270 days ago. I downloaded the form and is already filled and printed.  Really easy to do.  If it is required I already have it, if is not, much better.  I'm including the form in case you want to go ahead and do it 

vaccine-declarationform-20220208-3.pdf

9 hours ago, danceswithphones said:

That is encouraging! We've done upper level suites before but it has been a while. We sail on November 8th. If we don't end up with monogrammed PJ's, I'll never hear the end of it. Never should have mentioned it to DW. 

We received monogram PJ's on the Apex back in June-2021. On the Edge, April 2022, received the wrong size, not monogram PJ's. 🙄

2 hours ago, bjahil47 said:

We are in a SS on Equinox in October.  Just received an email from Shoreside Concierge asking several questions about our preferences including welcoming beverage, bed configuration, extra blankets and hangers and what we like to do in port.

Lucky you!! We are on a Celebrity Suite on the Apex in 11 days and no email for us... we had an Edge Villa and  a Royal Suite on our last two cruises and I really miss the pre-cruise communication. 😐

1 hour ago, Oville said:

It will be CBS or Fox.  My bet is Bengals Steelers at 1:00 on CBS and Chiefs Cardinals at 4:25 on Fox.

We are sailing out of Amsterdam on September 11, if the Apex doesn't show the Steelers/Bengals  game, it will be the first time we miss the Steelers opening game in a long time... 

4 hours ago, Cruising7in2017 said:

Our family has 2 sky suites & a royal, we are a little picky about our wine. Where is a good place to purchase wine in Barcelona? Any hidden gems? Are we allowed 2 bottles/person or suite? Also, do children count as a "person" since they are all under 21? We are not going to bring on 21 bottles, but was thinking maybe 6 or 7? TIA

The best Corte Ingles in Barcelona is not the one in La Plaza de Cataluña, for the best shopping and gourmet experience go to El Corte Ingles Diagonal.  Here is a link https://www.elcorteingles.com/luxe/stores/diagonal/

10 hours ago, Ronin23 said:

Let’s be honest, most people are more fearful of quarantine than they are of actually catching the virus.

 

I sail in a couple of weeks and had COVID last week, yeah i would prefer not to have had it but then having it just before a cruise was probably the best outcome.

I don't want to burst your bubble,  but the truth is that a history of a recent COVID infection doesn't mean  you can't catch the virus again.  A friend of mine just tested positive only six weeks after her first COVID infection, and she is double boosted.   Looks like is the new variant;  BA-5 evades immunity from previous infections, including Omicron, and vaccination. Hope you have a wonderful trip.  I believe that those of us that already had the virus, need to be more careful.  I caught it on the Edge and my husband didn't,  we were together all the time, I used a mask all the time, he didn't. Unlike those that say that everyone is going to get it, I believe that some people are never going to get it, do they have an innate immunity against the corona virus? We have tested our antibodies level (quantitative) and he always had better results.  But the truth is that  I have no idea...  I do know that we don't want to get this many times, is still too soon to know all the permanent damage that this virus could do on your body.

To the OP @busymumofthree Thanks for doing the  right thing. IMHO  some of the CDC's guidelines right now don't make too much sense. Still, I understand why many don't want to report their symptoms because they fear being sent to isolation.  What I don't get is why if they are sneezing and coughing is better to think that is allergies. If someone is planning not to inform the cruise line if they get sick, at least, have a plan based on science.  Bring many and I mean, many home tests, bring medicines (including Paxlovid ( if a friendly doctor is willing to give you a prescription), bring medical grade masks (N95, KN95) to use when you move from your room to other areas of the ship.  Get your food at the Oceanview Café and take the food to an outside area, where you can eat with your partner. Etc. Etc....Shouldn't be that hard

2 hours ago, cavaaller said:

So we really like to have our dinner in a not crowded space. Tonight, the dinner could not have been more perfect:

We went to the Roof Top Garden Grille and were litterally the only guests in the restaurant. We always dine as early as possible and today most of the guests are on long shore excursions to Berlin which left the ship almost empty. 

 

The weather was lovely, it was not very windy and warm enough and the meal and the service were great.

 

It was a lovely evening.

 

We shared some apps: 

smoked chicken wings

braised short ribs

 

and the sliders (we did not order these but our waiter insisted, that this was a very good appetizer - it really was)

for entrées we had the ***** Burger

 

 

, a ribeye steak

 

and a filet mignon

 

I was looking forward to the Cookie desert having read so much about it and ...

 

it lived up to my expectation.

 

 

Great review!! I felt the same way on our Edge cruise back in April.  My only regret was going to Luminae the last two nights, it was extremely crowded and probably the place I caught the virus.  We had lunch every day at Le Grand Bistro.  Unlimited specialty dining was the best perk that came with our Villa and we loved every lunch at Le Grand Bistro.  Keep enjoying your cruise!! and thanks for taking to share your experiences with us. 

17 hours ago, sfoltz said:

Its been several years since I have cruised on Celebrity. I am booked in a RS on the 9 night September 8th cruise on the Equinox.  It is my understanding that I have unlimited dining in all specialty restaurants.  I have never dined in Luminae (on any ship).  Should I forego dining in Luminae and book specialty restaurants for all nine nights?  If no, is there any opinion on how many times I should dine in Luminae versus the specialties?  Thanks for any information & opinions that you can provide.

We had lunch every day at Le Grand Bistro, it was wonderful.  This is a link to a video I made with every lunch we had there. We mixed Luminae with some specialty dining, we went to Eden,  Fine Cut Steakhouse and the Rooftop Garden Grill. Regret going to Luminae the last couple of days, it was too full. https://www.instagram.com/tv/Ccg3ppVIbF3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

7 hours ago, carolina_yankee said:

 

Some doctors are advising patients to not use Paxlovid if their symptoms aren't severe. There is growing evidence of rebound COVID related to Paxlovid. It both happened to a friend of mine and to none other than Dr. Fauci. Another friend's doctor did prescribe Paxolovid for him but told him not get it filled unless his symptoms got worse. They never did so he recovered on his own.

 

That's the problem with COVID, last year's, last month's, even last week's protocols aren't necessarily appropriate to this week. 

 

With the regard to quarantine, I think the cruise lines might be best served by simply offering a quarantine cabin rather than requiring it. I can see in the case for separate cabins in the case of negative-testing partner, but it should be personal choice.

Patients are supposed to start Paxlovid within five days from symptoms onset, you shouldn't  wait until your symptoms get worse.  Paxlovid stops the replication of the virus, and is the best tool we have right now to avoid being hospitalized.  Besides that, COVID is not a cold, COVID is an inflammatory disease with serious cardiovascular and neurological sequelae.  If there is a drug that will stop the replication of the virus in my body, I'll take it! BTW, I already took it after getting infected on the Edge.

About the rebound, on the original Paxlovid studies, this "rebound" was also seen on patients taking the placebo. This phenomenon is called COVID rebound and  has  been seen in patients that didn't take Paxlovid.  As a matter of fact, it happened to a good friend of mine, a doctor, that got infected back in December 2021.  A week after testing negative he was feeling better, decided to play some tennis and all the symptoms came back with a vengeance.  If you want to read a little bit more about the topic, here are some links.  

https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1365

https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/study-finds-few-covid-19-patients-get-rebound-symptoms-after-paxlovid-treatment/

On 6/28/2022 at 11:47 AM, chemmo said:

The pjs were not available on our last cruise, we were told they had supply issues so don’t build up your hopes too high!

On the Apex the PJs were embroidered with our initials.  On the Edge not and mine was the wrong size. 

10 hours ago, Mark_K said:

Things that are doable with 500-600 passengers aren’t necessarily doable with three or four times as many passengers.

Last year they did ours the day before debarkation with official results for us to upload to fly home.  It is doable, but right now they have no interest in going back to this policy 

11 hours ago, Tony UK said:

Funny how I read through the terms and conditions for our next booking when a friend has had on board problems.....

 

DID YOU KNOW that if you develop covid symptoms or test positive within 14 days of the end of your sailing you are required to report to Celebrity as soon as possible in addition to your local health authority.(version December 2021)

 

I had been critical of no follow up.....now I know it is down to all of us to provide the information!!

I did report my positive three days after the end of my Edge cruise but I never received an email or call back from Celebrity.  I also reported my positive to the CDC through the V-Safe app and they did call me back.  I was really impressed and had a long talk with the lady that called me about cruise ship's protocols, including the fact that post cruise positives are not being reported. 😉

FYI someone on a FB group shared this email to report the post cruise positives:  

16 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Agree.  On an Azamara cruise several years ago the CD provided exact numbers: 67 CC members out of 499 passengers for an account of just over 13 percent.  And that was on a heavily subscribed thread for an India-to-Europe passage.  The "average" cruise thread is somewhere below 10 percent, if that high.

 

Earlier post attempted to correlate COVID measures today with data from the earliest days in February 2020.  Non sequitur.  Two years ago the medical community did not understand COVID-19, its virulence, its variants, and its threat to humans.  Today the general guidance, for those of us vaccinated and boosted, is to try to live with following careful protocols.  Challenge, of course, is to understand and fully follow those protocols.  Based on comments here on CC following protocols on board has been lax, at best.  The TA we were on in March had maybe 10 percent of people masking inside, even in close quarters like the theater.  Six days later those testing for return to the US were running around 20 percent positive (94 out of around 500 tested).  Scary numbers.

 

We do need to remember that about 90 percent of cruisers have no idea of CC and of course do not post or comment.  "Woe is me" posting is unhelpful, but is human nature as many want others to sympathize.  

 

If we want to continue "cruising" we, and the industry, must do better with enforcing protocols developed by the medical community.  None of this "its fake news" stuff.  Keep ourselves and others around us safe.  I am somewhat disappointed that cruise lines/ships are not enforcing protocols as fully as possible.  On that TA I mentioned, masking was optional.  That was until the positive tests then masking became required.  Too late.  We are schedule for a cruise starting and ending in Italy in late June.  We will mask and social distance, and avoid crowds.  😷

I agree with you, we have to follow the science and Celebrity is doing the opposite.

Right now we know that vaccines/boosters won't protect us for a long time against the variants. If half the passengers had their last shot six months ago, it is not safe to be with them, without masks indoors. Asking for a negative test taken two days before embarkation, doesn't work.  Last year we were on the Apex first cruise, and we were tested in the pier.  I believe in testing, lots of testing, to identify the positives early on.  A friend of mine just returned from a Viking river cruise and they had to provide a saliva sample every day.  I don't know, who is doing  Celebrity's number but I wouldn't be surprise me if daily or every other day testing, will be less expensive than having passengers in quarantine and doing back to back cruises, until they get better. 

Wishing you a great and safe cruise in June.  Our next one starts in Amsterdam and ends in Italy, though we will fly to Spain on debarkation day and flew home two days later.  If we test positive I prefer to be in Spain. 😉

7 hours ago, bananavan said:

For everyone who has been so supportive and kind, I finally tested negative.

Our bags are packed and we are awaiting reassignment.

We will fly home tomorrow.

So many of you have lifted me up in hope.

I pray none of you ever find yourselves in my position. 
Thank you. 

I'm so happy for you!!  Safe travels!

19 hours ago, Homosassa said:

If you read my post, you would see that I have worked diligently on acquired immunity (double vacced, doubled boosted).  Natural immunity is just supplemental and just needs to last for my next cruise in June.

Hope you have a wonderful cruise! IMHO, some people develop better immunity than others and I even think that some are never going to get this desease, even if they are exposed to the virus.  Those of us that already had it once, might be prone to get it again.  I keep seeing patients with a history of repeated infections, while their spouses didn't get it. 

16 hours ago, Guppy99 said:

irresponsible of her in my opinion.  

Why do you think the doctor is irresponsible?  She didn't give the patient the Paxlovid prescription for a "just in case" scenario, as she should.  

On 5/13/2022 at 4:47 PM, suzyluvs2cruise said:

Last night I tested positive! Bit of a cold, maks being required and Capt said 3% of guests were positive. I did a self test...which was positive...so I called medical who tested again with another positive result. Luckily DH is negative. Options were to quarantine onboard....and stay on for next cruise.

.as last day of cruise is tomorrow or go to Amsterdam hotel. We opted to stay onboard. Flights have been changed and we'll now see the British Isles from our Infinite Verandah. Will definitely miss our SS and butler Lloyd but felt this wass the best choice for us.

I'm really sorry Suzy, hope you recover soon.  @bananavan I keep seeing a correlation between The Retreat and most positives.  While the rest of the ship is not sailing at full capacity, the Retreat and Luminae are, 

On 5/13/2022 at 11:32 AM, Homosassa said:

I found the phase two study article on the use of Paxlovid for prophylaxis after infection.

 

Short version: There wasn't a significant difference in the percentage of exposed patients in the lack of development of  Covid  with those given Paxlovid and those given a placebo.

 

For anyone trying to understand why Paxlovid is not available on cruise ships because of the contraindications and indications for use, here is the Pfizer news release.

 

https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-shares-top-line-results-phase-23-epic-pep-study 

this is a study about prophylactic use of Paxlovid after exposure, not infection.  Which means giving the drug to someone that was exposed to the virus but we don't know if this person is going to develop the disease. Does it make a difference? it doesn't.

 There are prophylactic protocols for accidental exposure to other virus like HIV, and keep in mind that one of the drugs in Paxlovid was developed for HIV patients. Paxlovid is really good keeping people out of the hospital and IMHO will be an excellent tool on a cruise.  I turned positive three days after my Edge cruise and the same day started to take Paxlovid, seven doses later (4 days) I was already negative. 

On 5/12/2022 at 10:45 AM, Homosassa said:

I have another cruise planned for the end of June.

 

As I came home with a very mild case of Covid from my last cruise in February, I have developed my own plan to help lessen the chances of becoming ill on my next cruise.

 

In the past, my husband have done all we could do to protect ourselves against becoming ill. We are vaccinated and boosted  (single for the February cruise, now double boosted). We masked and social distanced (even on the cruise).

 

Well, I did finally contract a mild breakthrough case (so mild I though it was an allergy caused by the very high pollen count except my eyes weren't itching) as did my husband.

 

We have now decided to not worry so much about the Covid and hope that both our acquired immunity and limited natural immunity will make future infections mild because of the cross linkage of the already present antibodies with new strains.

 

As we both volunteer at our local state park in an indoor facility, we come into contact weekly with visitors from all over the US and around the world and will probably be exposed to Covid several times.

 

I rather be ill at home than on the cruise ship.  That is assuming that I realize I might have Covid.

 

We will take precautions (masks, etc) starting about three weeks before testing for the next cruise, but until then, I am working on the natural vs acquired immunity part of Covid protection. 

Please don't count on the natural immunity,  you can find good information on this Twitter thread https://twitter.com/g0ingmad/status/1525063913896812547?s=20&t=lsRMraXWetWi-9TggKYYFw

2 hours ago, donna1009 said:

HOME TESTS. Do not officially test unless absolutely must. Remain in control. I was on Edge TA, we tested throughout privately. The quarantines required for positives officially obtained are far too extreme for this mild variant. It’s the only way to enjoy your vacation in peace. Hopefully soon all these extreme protocols will be eliminated. Poor Banana had to deal with her situation. Not sure how many others were in quarantine, but my guess is nearly half the ship was infected or would be infected by the end. Most were privately testing and cruise ship will never know. Everyone was vaccinated, more immunity will build up, the only negative is dealing  with symptoms like a common cold (for most) 

No problem with people testing privately, but I do have a problem with positives spreading the virus, making their own protocols.  It doesn't matter if you are vaccinated or already had the virus, it is wrong and irresponsible. Yesterday the Eclipse and the Apex passengers were ordered to use masks again.  After a common cold people don't have an elevated risk of a DVT, stroke, heart attack  or PE, and I'm not going to start talking about Long COVID. This is not a common cold.