Celebrity Infinity December 5 2020

[wagontrail]

Have been booked on this five day sailing to Cozumel and Key West for over a year. According to Celebrity this sailing is still a go. There has been no mention if we will have to be tested for Covid prior to sailing. Maybe this cruise will be like boarding an airplane. Just put on the mask and travel. I have flown several times during the past few months and other than wearing a mask it was no big deal. If this sailing does happen I will report back to advise what the protocols were. Keeping fingers crossed as I sure miss cruising.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, wagontrail said:

 

Have been booked on this five day sailing to Cozumel and Key West for over a year. According to Celebrity this sailing is still a go. There has been no mention if we will have to be tested for Covid prior to sailing. Maybe this cruise will be like boarding an airplane. Just put on the mask and travel. I have flown several times during the past few months and other than wearing a mask it was no big deal. If this sailing does happen I will report back to advise what the protocols were. Keeping fingers crossed as I sure miss cruising.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Good on you and I sure hope it goes!!  I just wish CDC would say something, anything more.  RC has submitted their detailed proposals, I hope CDC responds before 9/30.  I am scheduled for a cruise 1/30/21, I'll be watching for your report.  Good luck and bon voyage!!!

[jelayne]

The recommendations from the Healthy Sail Panel are posted in another thread on this forum.  It is a very lengthy document but there is a condensed version of the recommendations  near the beginning of the document. While there could be some changes that the CDC requires I believe the document is the best info on what protocols we will have.  And yes test, masks, social distancing, no leaving the ship unless on a ships tour, the list continues.

 

We were booked on the 12/5 but moved to the 2/22 sailing.  We didn’t think the Infinity would be among the first group of ships sailing when they start up. 

[kwokpot]

38 minutes ago, wagontrail said:

 

Have been booked on this five day sailing to Cozumel and Key West for over a year. According to Celebrity this sailing is still a go. There has been no mention if we will have to be tested for Covid prior to sailing. Maybe this cruise will be like boarding an airplane. Just put on the mask and travel. I have flown several times during the past few months and other than wearing a mask it was no big deal. If this sailing does happen I will report back to advise what the protocols were. Keeping fingers crossed as I sure miss cruising.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I think you have a bit of wishful thinking there. There's been no mention of testing because they haven't finalized all the changes. However the CLIA has adopted a baseline of rules that all member cruiselines have to follow and testing is one of them. So you can bet 100% that if your cruise does in fact sail, you will need to be tested.

https://cruising.org/en/news-and-research/press-room/2020/september/clia-and-its-cruise-line-members-announce-mandatory-core-elements-of-health-protocols

[llawrence]

We were on the cruise right before you....celebrity has not cancelled yet......we found out that because we used FCC we could not get a refund....we lifted and shifted to next year even through we may not be able to go. ( age, health, etc.)....Celebrity would not give us any options...we went as far up the ladder as we could......

[LGW59]

28 minutes ago, llawrence said:

We were on the cruise right before you....celebrity has not cancelled yet......we found out that because we used FCC we could not get a refund....we lifted and shifted to next year even through we may not be able to go. ( age, health, etc.)....Celebrity would not give us any options...we went as far up the ladder as we could......

Celebrity does SO many things right, awesome staff, wonderful ships, food always great.  They just don't handle all of these concerns the same for everyone, as we can all see on the many many posts here.

[Algebralovr]

We are on the Dec 23 Constellation cruise out of Tampa, and made final payment on Tuesday.  Today is the actual final payment due date.  

I think we are all just waiting to see what happens.  We won't know for another couple of weeks if the cruise lines will be allowed to sail in November as they are hoping. 

 

Before they can sail, they have to get the crew back, along with getting the ships into place.  Infinity and Constellation are both in the Med, waiting, with minimum crew on board.  The crew will need to be quarantined before they actually board working cruise ships, more than likely.  I'm guessing that IN will probably go back to India to pick up crew from there, since there are so many, and that will allow them to quarantine that group of crew for the trip back across the Atlantic.  It is possible that CN will pick up crew from Europe, since it will be easier for the crew who are in Europe to get to Greece to join CN rather than all the flights.   They might use Solstice to pick up crew from the Philippines, Bali, and others along the way from SE Asia and come back on a TransPacific, hard to say.  Again, though, that would allow for the full quarantine and to move crew.  They could then charter flights from San Diego to Miami to move them over to the east side of the US for the Caribbean season.  Since the Aus/NZ cruises have all been canceled through the end of the year, they might do some cruises out of CA and down to MX with Solstice, Eclipse and Millennium, or sail those ships through the Canal to hit the Caribbean.  No way to know.  Maybe a mix of the two.  Millennium was already through Revolution, so maybe she would replace Constellation out of Tampa?  I'm likely dreaming here.  We just don't know.  

 

The crew can be tested at home, then again before boarding, then be in quarantine on the trip back to the US.  Remember that all the ships will need to be checked over before passengers are allowed on board as well.  Meaning, they will need to start moving ships and people next week to be able to sail on November 1.  

 

Based on the required movement of people and ships, if they don't start moving people around in another week or two, I'm pretty sure the early November cruises will be canceled, but we will have to wait and see. 

 

It is a giant logistics problem to solve.  

[DragonflyCruiser]

We had that trip for Jan, 2021.  Yesterday I rescheduled it for next year.  The stress was getting to me over it all.  Even if it does go the fact that the Covid 19 test would need to be obtained 5 days prior to sailing wasn't going to work.  It's hard to schedule and we had planned to spend some days in Fla prior to sailing.  For us, it was just too much.  We have an Alaska trip planned near the end of the season.  I'm hoping they have the details all working by then.  Lift & Shift ends the end of Sept.  If you plan to do this better check to see what is still available.   Best of luck to you!

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

2 hours ago, Algebralovr said:

We are on the Dec 23 Constellation cruise out of Tampa, and made final payment on Tuesday.  Today is the actual final payment due date.  

I think we are all just waiting to see what happens.  We won't know for another couple of weeks if the cruise lines will be allowed to sail in November as they are hoping. 

 

Before they can sail, they have to get the crew back, along with getting the ships into place.  Infinity and Constellation are both in the Med, waiting, with minimum crew on board.  The crew will need to be quarantined before they actually board working cruise ships, more than likely.  I'm guessing that IN will probably go back to India to pick up crew from there, since there are so many, and that will allow them to quarantine that group of crew for the trip back across the Atlantic.  It is possible that CN will pick up crew from Europe, since it will be easier for the crew who are in Europe to get to Greece to join CN rather than all the flights.   They might use Solstice to pick up crew from the Philippines, Bali, and others along the way from SE Asia and come back on a TransPacific, hard to say.  Again, though, that would allow for the full quarantine and to move crew.  They could then charter flights from San Diego to Miami to move them over to the east side of the US for the Caribbean season.  Since the Aus/NZ cruises have all been canceled through the end of the year, they might do some cruises out of CA and down to MX with Solstice, Eclipse and Millennium, or sail those ships through the Canal to hit the Caribbean.  No way to know.  Maybe a mix of the two.  Millennium was already through Revolution, so maybe she would replace Constellation out of Tampa?  I'm likely dreaming here.  We just don't know.  

 

The crew can be tested at home, then again before boarding, then be in quarantine on the trip back to the US.  Remember that all the ships will need to be checked over before passengers are allowed on board as well.  Meaning, they will need to start moving ships and people next week to be able to sail on November 1.  

 

Based on the required movement of people and ships, if they don't start moving people around in another week or two, I'm pretty sure the early November cruises will be canceled, but we will have to wait and see. 

 

It is a giant logistics problem to solve.  

Pacific Coast cruises are a no go until at least March in my opinion.  Canada has no desire to open its borders to tourism until COVID is under control in the US.  COVID is rampant in Mexico and Americans currently not welcome to cross at our nearby border crossing.  Also remember several Mexican port cities have active drug cartel action.  Ixtapa controlled by gangs at night for example.  Add in the private island suggestion on start-ups - are none on west Coast - of cruising and the requirement that ports have agreements to evacuate sick passengers off a ship and Mexico becomes less and less likely until after a vaccine is well in place.

Remember Princess is the only line regularly doing West Coast US runs.

It certainly is a huge logistics problem.

[llawrence]

I think Dragonfly said is best.   It’s the stress of not knowing.  We lifted and shifted, not because we didn’t want to cruise sooner.... but we were afraid the line would cancel after all our plans were made. The  stress of remaking plans and recovering monies spent is Daunting.   Celebrity is trying to do the best they can, but I don’t feel they are responsive to their customers.   We are 50 year plus cruisers and the stress of cruising now is greater then anything we have ever seen. 

[Algebralovr]

1 hour ago, DragonflyCruiser said:

We had that trip for Jan, 2021.  Yesterday I rescheduled it for next year.  The stress was getting to me over it all.  Even if it does go the fact that the Covid 19 test would need to be obtained 5 days prior to sailing wasn't going to work.  It's hard to schedule and we had planned to spend some days in Fla prior to sailing.  For us, it was just too much.  We have an Alaska trip planned near the end of the season.  I'm hoping they have the details all working by then.  Lift & Shift ends the end of Sept.  If you plan to do this better check to see what is still available.   Best of luck to you!

 

Our situation was that we are not eligible for Lift and Shift.  Our Dec 23 cruise is a Canal Touch cruise, and is 12 nights.  Celebrity is not offering 12 night Canal Touch cruises on M or S class ships in the 21-22 season, so the three they are offering in 20-21 are non-eligible for Lift and Shift.    It really stinks. I'd have happily moved to a 12 night on Equinox that was just a Caribbean, but we were not allowed.  We would also have accepted a 11-night out of Tampa, but again, not allowed.  

 

The not knowing is definitely the issue!

Edited September 24, 2020 by Algebralovr

[llawrence]

This is what I don’t understand.....we did our lift and shift to a different boat....with a different itinerary.  Maybe it is the customer service agent....he gave us three choices.....different prices, different dates, etc.

[DragonflyCruiser]

I guess we were lucky it all worked for us. I did read the rules and knew it would. Same ship class. Within 4 weeks of original date+a year. Same # of days. Same itinerary. But if all that isn’t possible they should be willing to do something. Just not fair. Not your fault. I would appeal it to a higher source if you can.