Celebrity will be restarting cruising out of St. Maarten on June 5th with Millennium

[Fouremco]

20 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

I think some parents may not be worried due to the fact that children generally seem not to have severe symptoms when they get COVID.  

I'd hate to think that there are parents who would actually take a "who cares, if they get it, it probably won't be too serious" attitude. We have four grandkids in school, with multiple levels of safety, and our kids worry about them every day. They would never risk exposing them just to go on a cruise this early.

[drakes2]

9 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

What school or city in Ontario is that teacher from?  do you know personally?

St. Sophia school in Mississauga, Ontario. 11 students and 7 staff affected with covid 19. School has now been closed. My kids went to another school on the same street during the 80's. I lived in the area for 23 years. 

[elaineb]

On 3/19/2021 at 12:47 PM, Oldsweets said:

Did I read something incorrectly or are they also doing a restart from the Bahamas in mid June.  Still looking for that story

RCCL will say from the Bahamas, and Celebrity from St Martin.

[cruiserchuck]

43 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I'd hate to think that there are parents who would actually take a "who cares, if they get it, it probably won't be too serious" attitude. We have four grandkids in school, with multiple levels of safety, and our kids worry about them every day. They would never risk exposing them just to go on a cruise this early.

 

I agree, and am not yet near ready to take a cruise or fly on an airplane.  However, there are millions of people out there traveling by airplane and other means right now.  I am very worried we are going to see another surge like we saw after the November to January increase in travel.  At this point, I believe the Government should be doing more to discourage travel and other in person gatherings (including school) until more people have the chance to get vaccinated.

[hcat]

Different  places, diff experiences so far so good here in suburbs ny.  Some schools are all  digital( not very successful,), some are open, some hybrid. A few close down now and thrn after Covid cases are reported.  Nerve wracking!

 

 gs returned to a pvt daycare...well known...in May/June at age 4.

Lots of worry and concern.!

 

Parents returned to work ( essential workers) and we watched the baby.  4 yr  old immediately  started to overcome  and reverse the social and learning regression experienced while in the home setting ( no contact with other kids),   and  so far has done well.  His math and science and language  development are excellent & they are starting to read!

 

Class size was down to 5  to 7 in a large rm... Only teachers and children were alllowed  inside the building..daily temp tests, masks etc.   Numbers have been allowed to increase, mask are now optional and the social distancing also a bit relaxed... he had a great b day party  there last week.

 

So far no one got sick other than 1 parent..and proper  precautions taken.

 

Dreading kindergarten in the fall...fewer protections will be in place!

Not sure vaccinations for youngsters will be  happening without more study.

They def wont plan any cruises!

[RD64]

2 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

What school or city in Ontario is that teacher from?  do you know personally?

Every Ontario school board (on their website) has a COVID advisory page that lists every school in the school board - and the number of student infections, teacher infections, and the number of classrooms which are closed.

 

I have a friend who works for one of the GTA school boards, and she is at home for 14 days as one of the students in her class was diagnosed with Covid. That class is one of the classes currently listed as “closed”.

Edited March 20, 2021 by RD64
Addition

[nocl]

Keep in mind that there is a reason why summertime is the off season in the Caribbean and traditionally there have been few cruises during that time period.

 

If you like really hot than you might enjoy it.

 

I expect that Celebrity and RCL are hoping pent up demand for cruises over comes all of the other issues with the locations and time frames.

[ChucktownSteve]

7 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Maybe I missed it but I don't see where drakes2 implied where the teacher got it, she just stated that she is an elementary school teacher.  If I said that a young lawyer in my area is in hospital with COVID would that imply he got it in his law firm?

So then what is the relevance that the first person was a teacher or in your example is  lawyer?  It's not.

[Oceangoer2]

2 hours ago, RD64 said:

Every Ontario school board (on their website) has a COVID advisory page that lists every school in the school board - and the number of student infections, teacher infections, and the number of classrooms which are closed.

 

I have a friend who works for one of the GTA school boards, and she is at home for 14 days as one of the students in her class was diagnosed with Covid. That class is one of the classes currently listed as “closed”.

I researched myself and found the pertinent school the poster mentioned.  I know the area and just wished to know which school she herself had knowledge of.

[BoundForSea]

Hi gang. What is the final payment date on Celebrity right now? I ask bc Im seeing and hearing tid bits that US may open cruisinh wide open on May 17th. Its going to be a bit of a gamble if they do as I have a paid voyage on Equinox in July, and if bookings this week will require full payment past final payment date, and then they open cruising from FLL, I’m gonna be somewhat irked. 
 

Thanks

[wrk2cruise]

Final payment for US reservations is 90 days for most sailings.

[Ken the cruiser]

16 minutes ago, BoundForSea said:

Hi gang. What is the final payment date on Celebrity right now? I ask bc Im seeing and hearing tid bits that US may open cruisinh wide open on May 17th. Its going to be a bit of a gamble if they do as I have a paid voyage on Equinox in July, and if bookings this week will require full payment past final payment date, and then they open cruising from FLL, I’m gonna be somewhat irked. 
 

Thanks

Would it be possible for you to provide a link to the article where you read cruising may start back up May 17th?

[BoundForSea]

15 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Would it be possible for you to provide a link to the article where you read cruising may start back up May 17th?

 

[KKB]

Just a POV.

DH & I are both teachers & our schools have been fully open all year, with the option for remote if families choose. In a district of 40K+ students we have had as many as 50 students or staff/day contract COVID. We wear all masks, clean obsessively, social distance as much as we can, plexiglass dividers at lunch, classroom cohorts has much as possible. I was not convinced this was the right thing last August but have been pleasantly surprised how well things have worked. I believe masks have the strongest impact.

DH & I were in Las Vegas March 6-13 last year as things were shutting down. We have flown 4 RTs since then. We had the luxury of middle seats open the 1st 3 trips, but not the last one. We mask, clean, spend as much time outdoors as possible, tho we certainly were indoors often. We were basically at home from March-August except to get groceries, takeout or golf. We do go out once/week with friends for trivia at a new bar to help it get going--not too crowded & DH & I wear our masks the whole time. DH only takes his off to take a drink; I use a straw.

What I've learned is that with precautions, one can have a number of "normal" life experiences with minimal risk. (BTW we have recently bumped up to KN94 masks with the new variants; I lost it & only had a medical mask in my purse the other day--it felt so thin it made me uncomfortable!) 

Neither of us has gotten COVID though we know a number of people who have.  We get our 2nd Pfizer shot Friday!

I would LOVE to take a cruise sooner than later & am happy to take precautions!

[BoundForSea]

44 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Would it be possible for you to provide a link to the article where you read cruising may start back up May 17th?

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/24591-cruising-in-the-u-s-in-may-biden-eyes-relaxing-travel-restrictions.html

[Host Jazzbeau]

Why is Brazil on this list?  I thought they were doing very badly against Covid.

[HMR74]

The dynamics and permutations of possibilities are mind-boggling on this.

 

 There is a possibility there is a game of chicken being played between the CDC which had been dragging its heals  on the  test cruises and now RCCL is the first  to throw down the gauntlet to CDC by designating a Caribbean port as home port.   It's a game of business and politics chicken. Who blinks first?

 

Give the leverage to the CDC as they can wait in theory forever and cruise lines cannot. The CL's probably for business reasons have to be up and running by thanksgiving at close to if not at 100% (including selling inside and ocean view cabins-how many inside cabins are on the RCL mega ships). How much longer can they borrow or dilute stock? Thanksgiving because that's when prices go up for peak season and they just cannot miss this peak season coming.

 

Things we do not know are plentiful .

 

A major  risk to the entire sector is if there are covid problems on the Celebrity cruises mentioned here. CDC would have a field day if covid problems surface--the old " I told you so" -so I suspect Celebrity will be doing everything they can think of to make these first cruises extraordinarily low risk, and enjoyable, but the only way to totally eliminate risk is not have a cruise, and I still am concerned that CDC wants to eliminate risk.

 

A problem in the non US port game plan is the infrastructure in these ports to be home ports is non existent. Think of the food provisions alone. Miami and FT Lauderdale can handle the huge volume, for provisioning and handling passengers for several cruise lines daily and multiple cruises for each CL. . If a few thousand passengers arrive by fight on a sail date,  they, the "non US home ports")  need a number of buses to handle going back and forth and many of the ports just do not have the capacity, nor the capital needed to hold people for just a night or two.  And who wants to commit to big spending on infrastructure if it turns out they go back to the US near term ? It may not be a big problem with the Millennium with just 1,000 passengers, but how and where do you place  /move thousands of passengers if there are a few ships going on weekends. 

 

Yes, these are business issues.And its the logistics and permutations that are not easy to nail down.

 

The mask issue might actually  be the easiest. I seem to recall the CDC saying that once on board ship, we do not  have to wear masks , provided of course the appropriate "bubble " (my term) is  there (brings into play excursions) .

 

I also interpreted that May 17 issue  being for a relaxation of the inbound proof of testing negative. There are a number of inconsistencies the including the immigration surge where untested people are being released into the country and as I understand it the RPF for someone to do the testing  at the border was released just this past week for biding.

 

There are a lot of unknowns on this and I apparently cannot control, nor have any influence  on any of them. I just rebooked a Nov 2021 Thanksgiving RCCL cruise to the same one  in 2022 due to the uncertainty (sans lift and shift) , and now I am beginning to be concerned about spring 2022 cruises I have.  It is what it is. Some entity or group of entities involved in this will have to back down. Just a business perspective observation.

 

I do not envy the top project manager at Celebrity on this. This comment is long: imagine the "playbook"  of the project manager on this whole thing. March 25 -if that's the open booking date, there are not a lot of days left.

 

TTFN

 

 

 

[PTC DAWG]

Honestly, those worried should just stay home...

 

Let the rest of us get on with life.  

Edited March 21, 2021 by PTC DAWG

[Gracie115]

8 hours ago, KKB said:

Just a POV.

DH & I are both teachers & our schools have been fully open all year, with the option for remote if families choose. In a district of 40K+ students we have had as many as 50 students or staff/day contract COVID. We wear all masks, clean obsessively, social distance as much as we can, plexiglass dividers at lunch, classroom cohorts has much as possible. I was not convinced this was the right thing last August but have been pleasantly surprised how well things have worked. I believe masks have the strongest impact.

DH & I were in Las Vegas March 6-13 last year as things were shutting down. We have flown 4 RTs since then. We had the luxury of middle seats open the 1st 3 trips, but not the last one. We mask, clean, spend as much time outdoors as possible, tho we certainly were indoors often. We were basically at home from March-August except to get groceries, takeout or golf. We do go out once/week with friends for trivia at a new bar to help it get going--not too crowded & DH & I wear our masks the whole time. DH only takes his off to take a drink; I use a straw.

What I've learned is that with precautions, one can have a number of "normal" life experiences with minimal risk. (BTW we have recently bumped up to KN94 masks with the new variants; I lost it & only had a medical mask in my purse the other day--it felt so thin it made me uncomfortable!) 

Neither of us has gotten COVID though we know a number of people who have.  We get our 2nd Pfizer shot Friday!

I would LOVE to take a cruise sooner than later & am happy to take precautions!

 

So glad to hear a good report about in person schooling. So few do well with remote learning, it's vital that schools reopen.  CDC has reduced the 6FT social distancing to 3FT with masks on in schools, hopefully more will open. 

 

We have also flown twice in the last year, wore our KN94 masks each time, took all advised precautions possible and thankfully have not gotten COVID.  

 

While I don't intend to cruise from St. Maarten in the summer it's not because of any fear, just don't enjoy the extreme heat. If the cruise were from Bermuda or some other more northern port we would be happy to go, masks on and whatever other precautions may be necessary. 

[Empehi]

I feel Celebrity flights would be the way to go when taking the St. Maarten cruises. If you think about it, everyone flying to the island will have to have a negative COVID test (so should be a pretty safe flight). I also feel that Celebrity will fly people in the day of the cruise with the cruise departing around 8PM.  This way no one would be able to move around the island and pick something up a day or two before the cruise. Also, the hotels down there are usually booked in one week or longer stays thus finding thousands of rooms for one night pre cruise may not be doable. Oh well - this is my take on things.

In any event .... best news in over a year.

[kittywife77]

I for one am eager to see the UK pricing on these cruises. All the health protocols seem pretty robust and sensible to me.

[Oceangoer2]

2 hours ago, Empehi said:

I feel Celebrity flights would be the way to go when taking the St. Maarten cruises. If you think about it, everyone flying to the island will have to have a negative COVID test (so should be a pretty safe flight). I also feel that Celebrity will fly people in the day of the cruise with the cruise departing around 8PM.  This way no one would be able to move around the island and pick something up a day or two before the cruise. Also, the hotels down there are usually booked in one week or longer stays thus finding thousands of rooms for one night pre cruise may not be doable. Oh well - this is my take on things.

In any event .... best news in over a year.

Good thinking...re the hotels and exploring the island.  We always fly in a day ahead, but in this case, and with X flights...better not to push the envelope and follow protocols until things stabilize.

[HMR74]

15 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Good thinking...re the hotels and exploring the island.  We always fly in a day ahead, but in this case, and with X flights...better not to push the envelope and follow protocols until things stabilize.

the  logistics on this are huge--But important for all cruises in future.

eg. it makes sense to have the apparent charter flights leave from Miami the day of the cruise--perhaps one from west coast and one from Midwest and further north east coast.

 

then its everyone's responsibility to get to the respective city, or will celebrity also be able to provide feeder flights, in which case the charters can all go out of Miami.

 

As I mentioned before the logistics permutations of this are huge, and implications for future are huge

 

for example, I can see the fall 2021 transatlantics (how many will there be anyway) coming into  San Juan or other port in the Caribbean, and the TA's to asia , or repositioning to South America, if those are happening, going out of say Acapulco. (or the ships come and go without passengers to get to embarcation ports with few restrictions)

It can all be done but a of of work and some good luck

 

All I am saying though is there are a lot of empty boxes to be filled in for planning all this. It is one thing to have an idea, another to implement the idea with few problems, none of them show stoppers.

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by HMR74

[jelayne]

13 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Good thinking...re the hotels and exploring the island.  We always fly in a day ahead, but in this case, and with X flights...better not to push the envelope and follow protocols until things stabilize.

Unless X is chartering direct flights  from multiple locations connecting flights are needed to get to SXM.  We fly out of DFW and there are no direct flights.   If they do charter planes some passengers  would have to fly to get to the charter.

[Sam.Seattle]

On 3/20/2021 at 7:30 AM, K.T.B. said:

 

Teachers in classrooms with 20-30 kids and able to maintain the distancing vs being on a ship with 2 to 3 thousand people pushing forward in an effort to first off the ship at a port.  

 

Yep, noooooo problem there!

Let's see.....

 

Attending School

* No Covid Test required for Kids

* No required vaccine for teachers.

* CDC - 3-ft distance Okay.

* Barriers no longer recommended by CDC 

 

Expected St,Maarten Celebrity June Cruise:

* Negative Covid Test required for passengers under 18-years old.

* Vaccine required for adult passengers and crew.

* Social distance? It will be interesting to learn more here, but here are my assumptions:

               *  Recorded life boat drills with staggered reporting to muster station.

               *  Staggered and enforced embarking and debarking times.

               *  Reduced capacity.

               *  Increased cleaning requirements.

 

Concern about 2,000 to 3,000 people pushing to be first off or on the ship:

  *  Just wait to be the last person(s) embarking or debarking.  Problem solved! This is a pre         pandemic choice people make on their own.  For that past decade we have arrived to port late and debarked last and usually don't have experience people pushing since the herd as past.  

 

Comment that teachers in class rooms with 20 - 30 students are able to maintain the distance:

  * What distance?  The CDC 3-foot recommendation?

  * Who said the 3-ft social distance will not be recommended or required on a ship?

  *  Should I assume Kids follow rules better than adults?  Maybe...

 

I am so very proud of my DW who happily is back in the class room with the kiddos.  To assume an elementary school teacher can maintain a 6-foot distance with the kiddos has not been in a class room lately.  SCHOOL TEACHERS ARE HEROS and ESSENTIAL WORKERS!  

 

Thanks again Celebrity for thinking out of the box and providing everyone the opportunity to cruise again it they want to...

 

CHEERS!

🍸

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Sam.Seattle
Added Martini Glass! :-)