drarill

3 hours ago, cwayne said:

This study had over 52,000 people in that had had covid.  If I had had covid and gotten over it and my own body produced antibodies then I wouldn't get the vaccine and risk the side effects.  You get the vaccine to protect you from someone who is infected.  I'm sure that things will be modified as it goes along.

you get the vaccine to protect yourself from the virus, you get the vaccine to protect your family and those around you.  Getting vaccinated is also a social responsibility, IMHO

1 hour ago, sunonfire said:

I see that Carnival has released a list of their cruise directors. I was wondering if Celebrity has released their Captain and  cruise director list. There used to be a spreadsheet with the information.

This gentleman is the Apex Cruise Director.  Looking forward to meet him next week!!!  https://www.instagram.com/thatcrazysicilian/

• Ship:  APEX
• Length of Cruise: 7 nights
• Cruise Sail Date: June 19, 2021
• Date email offer received: June 2, 2021
• Captain’s Club Tier: ELITE 
• Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA:  TA
• Current Cabin: Sky Suite (SS-1)
• Bid?  Yes/No: yes

If YES -  Bidding Details:

• Cabin Category: Edge Villa, Royal Suite and Celebrity Suite
• Bid Offer: EV:  $2850 p.p.(minimum was $2,000)  RS:  $2,000 p.p.  (minimum was $2,000) C.S $1950 (minimum was $1500)
• Notification Date: June 7, 2021
• Accepted / Rejected; Accepted for R.S. 

General Comments (offer details, etc.)

Minimum to maximum bids were: 

Iconic: $8,000 - $15,000 per person

Penthouse: $3,500 - $9,500 per person

Edge Villa: $2,000 - $8,000 per person

Royal Suite: $2,000 - $8,000 per person

Celebrity Suite: $1500 - $7,500 per person 

1 hour ago, slanik said:

We are sailing on the Millennium on June 26th.  I received an email today offering us to bid and "MoveUp".  This is our first ever time cruising in a Sky Suite.  I will add that we booked directly with Celebrity.  It's already a splurge for us.  My husband is retiring and we're celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary.  The lowest bid to move from a Sky Suite to a Celebrity Suite is $600 per person, Royal Suite minimum is $800 pp and the Penthouse Suite is a minimum bid of $1500 pp.  I just can't justify the extra money.  Plus we are cruising alone this time.  We usually go with a group.  If we had more people then perhaps a larger suite would be worth it for entertaining.  We'll stick with the Sky Suite and enjoy the "Suite Perks".

Wow!! your move up bids are much better than ours on June 19th.  We are also on a Sky Suite  but  we booked through a TA.

The minimum bid to move from the Sky Suite to a Celebrity Suite is $1500 per person.  Royal Suite and Edge Villa $2000 per person; Penthouse $3500 p.p. and $8,000 p.p to move up to the Iconic Suite. 

5 hours ago, Seany527 said:

Here are some other highlights from the evening.

 

Sail-away was listed online as 10pm. Once we boarded “All Aboard” was listed in “Celebrity Today” as 9:15 and in actuality we pushed back from the pier at 8:40. So plan your dinner reservations accordingly if sailaway is important to you. To be honest, it was fairly low key with some cheering, clapping and the horn of the ship. No more than 50 people were actually on the pool deck but that may have been because they changed the time. 

When I arrived back in the room there was a notice on the door about scheduling your COVID test for your return flight back to the USA. 
 

To schedule the test you use your smartphone to scan a QR code. Next you create an account with your passport and home address info. Then you can schedule your test. If you don’t have a smartphone then I guess you can’t schedule a test and therefore you’re stuck on the ship forever. 
 

Test appointments were on Thursday and Friday from 8am to 5:55pm. The tests were available in 5 minute intervals with 4 slots per time.

 

 

Some people have been asking about safety protocols for COVID and overall it’s what you would expect to see at home. As I explored the ship, I did find some new signage which I will post tomorrow along with answering some questions. 

Thank you!!! we are booked on the Apex first sailing!!!  enjoy your cruise and thanks for taking the time to share all this info with us.

46 minutes ago, KKB said:

SO sad---I was really hoping someone would!!

Check this out.  Looks like a "live" to me 

1 hour ago, tnt10 said:

There have been no cases of fully vaccinated people getting Covid and experiencing serious or life threatening symptoms.  There is no evidence that it has happened, and studies have shown this to be true.

This is more political hype and not backed by evidence.

It's called breakthrough infections, extremely rare but real. Vaccines are effective, but we still need a larger percentage of the population fully vaccinated.  This is the link to the CDC COVID 19 Breakthrough Case Investigations and reporting https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html

BTW, I vote for banning those faking their vaccine credentials from cruising for life. 

On 5/12/2021 at 12:59 PM, Kreative03 said:

Got an email from Celebrity to fill out my preferences for our suite on Monday, and got a call from the Retreat Concierge team yesterday. I'm starting to think this 6/19 cruise from Athens is really going to happen.....

 

Anyone have any good pre-cruise requests we can make beyond what the form asks?  Traveling in a large party (5 suites - 12 people) so we are looking forward to it. We were on the last Equinox  sailing 3/7-3/13/20 -- right as everything shut down -- so we are excited to be a part of the restart.

 

 

Just found out that my husband booked this cruise to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary.  Last week 11 friends decided to join us, we have seven suites for thirteen people.  Also really excited to be a part of this cruise too, still waiting for a call or email  from the concierge 

I just found out that my husband booked the Apex maiden voyage, on June 19th, two weeks ago. We are going to  celebrate our anniversary with 11 friends!! 🛳️🇬🇷🛳️

3 hours ago, upwarduk said:

 Booked Silhouette 6/08/21 yesterday. Then I read the April Captain’s Club newsletter and realised that we will get DOUBLE points for our sailing, as the booking is before 28/08/21.

Not sure about the 100 PUP points for booking by 05/05/21, but I have applied any way. (post 2568.)

I'm 49 points away from Elite +, I just need to convince my husband of booking something before the Cinco de Mayo 😀

6 hours ago, zanderblue said:

That’s me fully vaccinated with Novavax vaccine. Just needs to be approved now 😊.

I’ve had a headache, aching joints and COVID arm in last 24 hours, convinces me even more that I’ve had vaccine this time round.

 

My son received his third Novavax/Placebo shot this week. Didn't had any strong symptoms, but was tired. Like you I didn't think he received the vaccine the first time.  

21 hours ago, GlobalMethod said:

Greece will do it ... maybe ... (I say it this way since they change things often overnight) ...

https://news.gtp.gr/2021/01/26/greece-has-4-phase-plan-vaccination-greek-island-residents/

Thanks for the link!!! 

11 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Maybe the potential threat posed to the residents of Santorini is judged by Greek authorities to be more serious than that posed to residents of Athens. The latter has significantly greater medical facilities than those on the island, and is far better equipped to deal with any cases resulting from your wanders about the city.

Maybe, Celebrity is planning to vaccinate every resident in Santorini. Less than 12,000 people   https://santorinigreece.net/info/

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

This morning I got 3 points. This afternoon I got 7 more for a total of 10 points (3+2+5). Yay!!

I also received 10, now I'm 49 points from Elite +

7 hours ago, cruise kitty said:

Hi, which trial were you in?  DH & I (& 2 of our adults kids) were team Pfizer...  we received our white cards & they were happy to fill out & stamp our yellow vaccine cards for travel.

 

& yes... the blood draws lol, tons of fun along with all the deep nose swabbing, I go for another blood draw at the end of the month 🙂

 

Anyhow, nice to "meet" another participant 🙂

My son is a participant on the NOVAVAX trial and they decided to do a cross over to avoid unblinding them.  He will get his "third" shot, and hopefully the vaccine,  next week. BTW, everyone at our home received a different vaccine.  My husband and I received Pfizer and Moderna's back in December and my 21 y/o daughter got  J&J two weeks ago. 

I really hope that Novavax vaccine becomes an alternative for those hesitant to the mRNA and adenovirus vaccines. Protein subunit vaccines, like Novavax, have been proven safe and effective. 

9 hours ago, cangelmd said:

Something  I have thought about but haven’t read about too much is that I assume Pfizer and Moderna (probably AZ too) are working on a booster with updates for variants? I would think they/we would want to immunize for variants if possible.

Am I correct that they have recruited or re-recruited people from the original trials  to monitor for waning immunity? Otherwise, the only way to know if a booster to the original strain is needed is if cases start to rise. 
 

I agree that the data and analyses I have seen lean in the direction of Covid looking more like a virus with lifelong or near lifelong immunity from vaccination. I’ve seen one or two experts start to say that, but with lots of caveats. No one in ID or public health is ready to speculate clearly in the media because good news equals do exactly what you want to do - losing sight if the fact that good outcomes are based on vaccination and many many people aren’t vaccinated yet. 
 

I think the evidence points toward Covid gradually disappearing into the great mass of corona viruses and being indistinguishable from a cold for people under 50. But that’s only when virus circulation goes down worldwide and we stop inducing variants. And I could be way way wrong in the end.

They have,  check this gentleman's Twitter profile. He already got his booster shot. https://twitter.com/ichaydon/status/1377693412065898496?s=20

16 hours ago, TeeRick said:

OK I just had Moderna shot #2.  

 

Dr. and Mrs. TeeRick will be ready to travel and cruise in two weeks.  Outstanding!😀

Really happy for both of you.  My daughter got the J&J last week and my son will get his third shot on the Novavax trial, as part of the crossover,  in two weeks.  This will make us the vaccination poster family 😂😂,  my husband is #teamPfizer and I'm #TeamNovavax 😁.

Looks like vaccines are going to be the light at the end of the tunnel for universities too

https://gothamist.com/news/cornell-university-require-covid-19-vaccine-campus-students

https://universitybusiness.com/nsuflorida-cornell-roger-williams-will-require-vaccines-for-fall/

9 hours ago, TeeRick said:

hcat, the manufacturing plant in Baltimore was selected to make both the J&J vaccine and the AZ/Oxford vaccine.  Apparently an employee there mixed up a procedure (or ingredients) between the two.  Conflated them is a term meaning just that.  So the entire batch was "failed" according to the quality control and quality assurance standards under the universal rules called GMP.  Good Manufacturing Practices.  This is the Bible of manufacturing.

 

By the GMP system of checks and balances, the process worked, the mistake was discovered, and the batch was rejected.  It was still in the bulk stage meaning it was still in a single large amount prior to dispersing it into vials.  

 

I think that manufacturing two vaccines at the same plant can be accomplished.  But I have seen that when this is done, different teams of people are involved in separate parts of the plant.  So it is hard to understand how this could happen.  Statement from the company:

https://www.emergentbiosolutions.com/news/emergent-biosolutions-statement-status-current-manufacturing-covid-19-vaccines-companys

 

More on GMP.

https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/medicines-good-manufacturing-processes#:~:text=What is GMP%3F-,Good manufacturing practice (GMP) is a system for ensuring that,through testing the final product.

Rick, I read this article today, but is written in Spanish.  You don't need to speak Spanish to understand the graphs and tables, but if you do, much better.  The graphs and tables show all the plants where the vaccines are being manufactured in Europe. I wonder how many plants in the US are doing the same. 

1 hour ago, Love2cruise77 said:

 

 

Thanks!!

1 hour ago, Love2cruise77 said:

HI. Do you have access to the other itinerary?  

47 minutes ago, downsmead said:

It seems quite a few of us did not receive the 3 points for the steak image 😞. I presume because the tag information provided was incorrect as has been said here. The points are irrelevant to me as I am too far from the next level, but if I have taken part, following the instructions provided by X, then I feel miffed at not being awarded the points, having gone to the effort to participate in the exercise 🤷‍♀️.

I agree with you.  This activity required a lot of effort, but we really enjoyed it. We met Chef MIchy years ago on a wine/culinary activity, and liked her a lot.

 Tomorrow is the anniversary of our "Stay at home" mandate, it's been a long year and I really miss traveling and cruising.  Doing these activities have been fun and they keep me hopeful, hopeful of earning my points the old way soon!

7 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Some good news about the Novavax Covid vaccine which is a more traditional protein subunit vaccine.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccines-novavax/novavax-vaccine-96-effective-against-original-coronavirus-86-vs-british-variant-in-uk-trial-idUSKBN2B32ZO

Rick, hope you like this article. I did  https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/10/single-tree-species-may-hold-key-coronavirus-vaccine/616792/

10 hours ago, TeeRick said:

OK drum roll...........................

 

I am very happy to say that both TeeRick and Mrs. TeeRick have now received dose 1 of the Moderna vaccine.  It was a long time coming but finally accomplished.  I feel a great weight off my shoulders.  In another month (plus 2 weeks)  we will be ready to go!  Where I have no idea but we will be ready!😀

I'm really happy for you and Mrs. TeeRick!!!

Just heard this on Spain's news Chanel 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/eu-blocks-vaccine-australia/2021/03/04/c89b07c6-7cff-11eb-8c5e-32e47b42b51b_story.html