Silhouette around Britain staycruisecations

[laslomas]

41 minutes ago, teabear said:

All this complete and utter nonsense with testing requirements and useless testing providers (I had managed after pretty much 8 hours of trying over 3 days to get an appointment with Eurofins that I could actually get too, given up on them and arranged a booking at Southampton airport which meant me having to travel down 2 days earlier than usual and having that cancelled) has made me get in touch with Celebrity and demand they allow me to change my July 3rd booking to August -  I insisted on speaking to a manager - got their name etc and pointed out - maybe a bit stridently - that the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (as amended) takes precedence over their T's and C's and requires anyone trading in England to set such terms within the fairness (s62) and transparency (s68) (bleated on about other legal stuff such as the "last shot doctrine" - wont bore you further) and that Celebrity had singularly failed in this regard .  Got transferred to a more senior guy in the States - he was less than happy but after me rabbiting on about reputational harm and encouraging aggrieved passengers to take action - agreed to switch me over without any penalties etc - transferred me back to the UK (I think) and all done and dusted.   Not sure if this will help anyone else stuck in the testing maelstrom, its possible they just did this to get rid of me!

 

Trying to jump through the hoops to get on the cruise is definitely taking most of the fun out of the planning. I am glad you got satisfaction in the end.

 

My testing centre seems to be on an industrial estate (I checked it on Google maps and Street View) and it shows a small overflowing car park and the roads in the area have minimal parking. Could be very stressful if I cannot find parking. Goodness knows if there is disabled parking or even disabled access!!

 

Your final comment makes me wonder.....are they concerned they have overbooked the first cruises.......??

[vino123]

it seems like this whole PCR testing thing is a bit of a money making racket. The private test I booked as a back up is in an industrial premises in Newark and the Eurofins  one via Celebrity is at a back street travel agents in Grimsby!

Both locations are a 2 hour round trip for us . Our local Boots only offers postal tests,  I'm inclined to keep the private booking as its an evening one so much more convenient for my husband as he wont have to take time off work but the payment receipt I have is only in my name and Celebrity needs a receipt with both names to reimburse the costs. I have e mailed the company to ask for one but haven't had a reply yet.

 It really doesn't have to be so complicated if only they would offer us antigen tests at the port especially as we are all fully vaccinated. 

[Riquelme]

After all the issues with whether 30th was ok for the PCR test I decided to contact the company where we are booked to check I was taking everything they needed with me.

Good job I did as whilst the guy was extremely helpful, he advised that they were not yet set up to do them and he doubted that they would be by next Wednesday!

He also mentioned that his 2 office staff had yet to be trained on how to do the tests. Naively we expected trained medical staff to be doing them.

 

Based on this information we are now having to look elsewhere to get our test done.

 

This is our first time with celebrity and to say we are disappointed, frustrated and annoyed with their admin and communication is an understatement.
 

[dalesmouse]

11 minutes ago, Riquelme said:

After all the issues with whether 30th was ok for the PCR test I decided to contact the company where we are booked to check I was taking everything they needed with me.

Good job I did as whilst the guy was extremely helpful, he advised that they were not yet set up to do them and he doubted that they would be by next Wednesday!

He also mentioned that his 2 office staff had yet to be trained on how to do the tests. Naively we expected trained medical staff to be doing them.

 

Based on this information we are now having to look elsewhere to get our test done.

 

This is our first time with celebrity and to say we are disappointed, frustrated and annoyed with their admin and communication is an understatement.
 

Time to get on  to Twitter?

 

[CambsCruiser82]

I've just called the hotel that they are running it from at Stansted because my brain was going all over place wondering if I was going to turn up and there be no-one there :). Luckily the person at reception knew what I was talking about and told me where the meeting room was that they are doing the tests in so phew! 

 

I've never been so stressed before a cruise!

[upwarduk]

2 minutes ago, dalesmouse said:

Time to get on  to Twitter?

 

Or FB. They reply quickly. 
I think it might be the same person who covers the Social media, Jack has frequently replied to me, although on occasion it has been Sam.

I have x2 Express passes in my name and not one for my husband, even though it shows both of us checked in. 
Jack is flagging with the web team and will get back to me.

[dalesmouse]

2 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

Or FB. They reply quickly. 
I think it might be the same person who covers the Social media, Jack has frequently replied to me, although on occasion it has been Sam.

I have x2 Express passes in my name and not one for my husband, even though it shows both of us checked in. 
Jack is flagging with the web team and will get back to me.

I imagine with all the enquires Jack is flagging in every sense of the term . Probably needs a nice relaxing cruise holiday....😉

[madmedic]

8 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

Or FB. They reply quickly. 
I think it might be the same person who covers the Social media, Jack has frequently replied to me, although on occasion it has been Sam.

I have x2 Express passes in my name and not one for my husband, even though it shows both of us checked in. 
Jack is flagging with the web team and will get back to me.

I have 2 Xpress passes for my husband but none for me even though I am lead passenger. I was told it would be flagged to IT as well but no one got back to me so I wouldn't hold your breath! An agent at Celebrity told me I would be able to board without it anyway! Not convinced, yet another layer of stress. 

[upwarduk]

6 minutes ago, madmedic said:

I have 2 Xpress passes for my husband but none for me even though I am lead passenger. I was told it would be flagged to IT as well but no one got back to me so I wouldn't hold your breath! An agent at Celebrity told me I would be able to board without it anyway! Not convinced, yet another layer of stress. 

I’m sure in the past we only needed one Express pass, but I thought I’d better make sure.

I printed out our vaccination information yesterday from the NHS app, just in case we couldn’t access it at the port.

[madmedic]

1 minute ago, upwarduk said:

I’m sure in the past we only needed one Express pass, but I thought I’d better make sure.

I printed out our vaccination information yesterday from the NHS app, just in case we couldn’t access it at the port.

That's reassuring to know. We have already got our vaccination status printouts because we are in Wales and had to send for them. No App for NHS Wales yet. 

[royallondon]

2 hours ago, teabear said:

All this complete and utter nonsense with testing requirements and useless testing providers (I had managed after pretty much 8 hours of trying over 3 days to get an appointment with Eurofins that I could actually get too, given up on them and arranged a booking at Southampton airport which meant me having to travel down 2 days earlier than usual and having that cancelled) has made me get in touch with Celebrity and demand they allow me to change my July 3rd booking to August -  I insisted on speaking to a manager - got their name etc and pointed out - maybe a bit stridently - that the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (as amended) takes precedence over their T's and C's and requires anyone trading in England to set such terms within the fairness (s62) and transparency (s68) (bleated on about other legal stuff such as the "last shot doctrine" - wont bore you further) and that Celebrity had singularly failed in this regard .  Got transferred to a more senior guy in the States - he was less than happy but after me rabbiting on about reputational harm and encouraging aggrieved passengers to take action - agreed to switch me over without any penalties etc - transferred me back to the UK (I think) and all done and dusted.   Not sure if this will help anyone else stuck in the testing maelstrom, its possible they just did this to get rid of me!

With the 48 hour “cruise with confidence” guarantee, would it have been possible to obtain a 100% cruise credit and then apply it to the August cruise?  
 

Regards

[little britain]

I find it somewhat ironic that MSC are currently sailing successfully carrying both vaccinated and unvaccinated guests.   I know many who refused to go with MSC because of their open to all policy.

A test before boarding ensures all are negative. Daily temperature checks are taken, another test half way through the cruise is taken, and again temperature checks even when you are lining up to disembark.  And this system is working.

 

X and RCI seem to be overcooking this.  If MSC can do it... now carried upto 7000 UK passengers since restarting - why can't they?

 

And MSC are considerably cheaper! 

Edited June 23, 2021 by little britain

[38anchor]

I think the most alarming part of this whole PCR shambles is that no-one is taking responsibility with both Celebrity and Eurofins saying it is the other...

 

And I would have thought that taking a PCR test should be undertaken by someone with 'some' medical knowledge... what are the safety measure in place? Using these 'backstreet' locations feels even more 'dodgy' and like I have already said, I really don't want some travel agent/hotel worker/office worker who had possibly been given 10 mins training (by a video or email I am guessing) to be sticking a swab down my throat or up my nose. At lest using Boots or a clinic there should be a little more comfort in the fact they are reputable outlets and have been doing this for a while and will be continuing to do so. I am under the impression that these Eurofin locations are only temporary for the Celebrity cruisers. 

 

I think we are going to stick with our local provider - albeit we will be out of pocket as its more than the £100 but at least it makes me feel more comfortable.

 

Now, if only they would sort their Communications out and clearly state if its 72 hours before sailing or boarding. Sorry but twitter conversations don't fill me with confidence and if they have made a decision its any time 3 days prior to boarding then that should be CLEARLY communicated to everyone and posted on the website. and emailed. The fact the email they sent us last night was incorrect AFTER an apparent decision was made just leaves me with no confidence. 

 

Celebrity - you should be utterly ashamed of the complete shambles you have made of this and the absolute lack of trust your customers now have in your ability.

[beardedladies]

If you think things are bad now, I dread to think what's going to happen on July 3rd when inevitably Eurofins fail to complete some tests in time (based on past reports, the fact lots of these testing centers are new, and another report I saw from someone who phoned theirs and was told their appointment was too late in the day to be included in the daily pick up of tests.... if that was a two day before appoinment then oh dear!).

 

And we haven't even factored in what happens with inconclusive/failed tests (you know there will be some).

 

There are going to be plenty of very upset people both at the terminal and online I suspect.

 

I am starting to be very glad I booked for the latter half of August, I hope they can get some semblance of an operating system in place by then. Or better yet scrap it completely in favour of quick anitgen tests for all.

[cublet]

Hello,

 

The X website has an updated table of requirements vs countries.

 

The PCR test for UK departures now says "72 hours prior to boarding".

 

What worries is me to what set of rules will the check-in agents be working - if any!

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[little britain]

The first RCI cruise sails on 4/7.  We are still waiting to be told of testing requirements (or tbh of any details!) but assume they will be the same; which will double the pressure on Eurofins during that 72 hr window. 
 

People used to rush to want to be first on… now will every one want the last boarding slot to give Eurofins et al time to get their results back? Chaos! 

Edited June 23, 2021 by little britain

[delondin]

22 minutes ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

The X website has an updated table of requirements vs countries.

 

The PCR test for UK departures now says "72 hours prior to boarding".

 

What worries is me to what set of rules will the check-in agents be working - if any!

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

This has said boarding before the latest query was raised. 

[Mim Lloyd]

I got my email from Celebrity yesterday afternoon inviting me to book our Eurofins tests for our cruise on 17 July. Luckily they have a testing site set up in a hotel in Liverpool City Centre (my home town), so we're all going there and then having a lunch and shopping afternoon. We've decided to use Eurofins because apparently they have a guarantee with Celebrity that test results will be issued before the cruise. It will be interesting to see if it all works out when cruisers on the early July sailing report back.

 

But Celebrity and Eurofins need to get their acts together to sort queries out. I had a problem with trying to book my son's test, I kept getting an error message. For 2 hours yesterday afternoon and another 2 this morning, I was bounced back and forth between Celebrity and Eurofins, with both of them saying I had to direct my problem to the other, with Eurofins even trying to direct me to a 'helpline' number which is actually the phone number for an online travel agency and nothing to do with Eurofins or Celebrity. It was all so frustrating and stressful. Think it's sorted now, but time will tell .....

[Spike11]

On 6/20/2021 at 11:12 AM, teabear said:

Thats strange - just booked myself in for July 1st at 17:00-18:00???????

We have now booked a test at the airport for 15th July. I would be grateful for any feedback on how it goes on the 1st. After all the problems with Eurofins we have decided to book our own test and I have to say that the booking process was 100% better than the celebrity/ Eurofins system which by comparison appears to be quite amateurish and cobbled together at the last minute.

[upwarduk]

I have read that Eurofins will not be ‘active’ until 28.06.21.

 

Also just seen the attached, from Celebrity on a Social Media site.

Edited June 23, 2021 by upwarduk

[HDR_1978]

Hello everyone, I'm booked on the 23rd JULY 2021 departure from Southampton on Celebrity Sillhouette around the UK. I've just received a travel agent email that Scotland is entirely excluded on this departure too now.....it's Dover / Belfast / Liverpool / Portland only for the entire week. Oh well.

Good to know Boots PCR test is acceptable, thanks for that. I've been ringing round asking about RT-PCR tests and no-one (including the Boots I rang) had a clue what a RT-PCR was and couldn't answer the question!

Edited June 23, 2021 by HDR_1978

[delondin]

I think with all the negative reviews and the fact that Eurofin still thinks we are in Singapore and are recommending Raffles for our test (even though Celebrity sent me a link to fix this which surprise surprise it didn’t) we will look for a test elsewhere. I so wanted to go through their provider but when I read stuff that the venues are not trained etc it is so worrying. 

[madmedic]

7 minutes ago, HDR_1978 said:

Hello everyone, I'm booked on the 23rd JULY 2021 departure from Southampton on Celebrity Sillhouette around the UK. I've just received a travel agent email that Scotland is entirely excluded on this departure too now.....it's Dover / Belfast / Liverpool / Portland only for the entire week. Oh well.

Good to know Boots PCR test is acceptable, thanks for that. I've been ringing round asking about RT-PCR tests and no-one (including the Boots I rang) had a clue what a RT-PCR was and couldn't answer the question!

 

32 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

I have read that Eurofins will not be ‘active’ until 28.06.21.

 

Also just seen the attached, from Celebrity on a Social Media site.

That's good to know as we booked our Boots test as we would have to drive 4 or 5 hours to our nearest eurofins test site! Interesting to know that we were told Boots use the eurofins labs. Bet they (eurofins) won't guarantee our results are back in time though. 

[delondin]

4 minutes ago, madmedic said:

 

That's good to know as we booked our Boots test as we would have to drive 4 or 5 hours to our nearest eurofins test site! Interesting to know that we were told Boots use the eurofins labs. Bet they (eurofins) won't guarantee our results are back in time though. 

I have read On social media that they guarantee result back before sailing. What worries me is if you have a 12 noon check in you could be still sitting in the port waiting till 6 pm for your result. Great if you’re positive. How many people have you infected meanwhile. 

[little britain]

1 hour ago, HDR_1978 said:

Hello everyone, I'm booked on the 23rd JULY 2021 departure from Southampton on Celebrity Sillhouette around the UK. I've just received a travel agent email that Scotland is entirely excluded on this departure too now.....it's Dover / Belfast / Liverpool / Portland only for the entire week. Oh well.

 

Blame Krankie for that, not Celebrity.