Celebrity cruises from St. Maarten - Worth the hassle?

[histiomom]

@Jason26We are headed down on Friday — also from Bham — also on that super early 530am flight.  If you don’t mind sharing, where did you get your PCR that they turned around same day?  We were tested yesterday at Walgreens but they told us it would be 2-4 days so has me a bit worried.  Looking for another place to possibly retest for faster results in case Walgreens doesn’t come through for us.  Super excited to be onboard on Saturday!!!

 

Thanks,

Donna

[Jason26]

4 minutes ago, histiomom said:

@Jason26We are headed down on Friday — also from Bham — also on that super early 530am flight.  If you don’t mind sharing, where did you get your PCR that they turned around same day?  We were tested yesterday at Walgreens but they told us it would be 2-4 days so has me a bit worried.  Looking for another place to possibly retest for faster results in case Walgreens doesn’t come through for us.  Super excited to be onboard on Saturday!!!

 

Thanks,

Donna

Donna,

 

It was a place called Any Lab Test Now off the I459 Acton Rd.  Be very specific as to the Rt-pct with the Naso-pharangyl swab, although I’m not sure

St Maarten is playing close

attention to the type of nasal swab.   It does cost $249 per test, but we’ve requested Blue Cross reimbursement.  Hopefully your Walgreens test  come back. If not, this place is great.

 

Jason

[histiomom]

Just now, Jason26 said:

Donna,

 

It was a place called Any Lab Test Now off the I459 Acton Rd.  Be very specific as to the Rt-pct with the Naso-pharangyl swab, although I’m not sure

St Maarten is playing close

attention to the type of nasal swab.   It does cost $249 per test, but we’ve requested Blue Cross reimbursement.  Hopefully your Walgreens test  come back. If not, this place is great.

 

Jason

Thank you!!!  Wow @$249.  I am surprised they don’t bill BCBS directly but either way it will be worth it to us if Walgreens doesn’t come through to avoid missing the trip.  We also have BCBS so would do the same as you. Thanks again.  Hope your cruise is going wonderfully well.  Enjoy!    

[fsr44]

1 hour ago, Jason26 said:

I’m on the Millennium now.  The hassle with the testing and travel is not too bad if you have the right plan.  We tested at a facility that turned around our PCR test on the same day.  So we tested Wednesday afternoon and uploaded our results that night.  Approval come in within a few hours.  We, however, arrived in St Maarten a day before and I’m glad we did.  It was nice checking out of our hotel at 10:00, grabbing breakfast and taking a cab at 11 AM to the cruise port.  Even though our check in was at 12:30, Celebrity allowed everyone to come into their air conditioned facility and we were on board by 12:15.  Honestly, I remember thinking how exhausted those that fly in the day of the cruise would be.   To be fair, we had a 5:00 AM flight to Atlanta; flying from Miami may not be that early.

 

Regarding the post cruise experience at the airport.  Thanks to this wonderful platform at to those that travelled on the first couple of cruises, we changed our plans.  We had the Celebrity tour with airport drop off.  We decided to cancel that and book a post cruise island tour with a company called D & A taxi.  We have  5 total and they can accommodate all of our luggage.  Our plan is to take that tour, grab lunch before we arrive at the airport around 1 PM for a 3:11 PM flight to Atlanta.  Not sure how that will work out, but I would imagine it will be better than standing outside the airport for a few hours.  By the way, the island tour for 5 was less expensive than the Celebrity transfer.

 

Perhaps I’ll feel differently after the cruise, but I would absolutely take this cruise again.  We have around 575 people on this cruise and it’s a chance of a lifetime.  Ironically the smaller crowd provides more opportunities to have the discussions with other passengers and the crew.  The cruise is absolutely wonderful and we’ve met so many great passenger and crew members.
 

Bottom line, there are some hoops to jump through and there are some hassles. If you have the right plan, it’s absolutely worth it.

 

Jason

Hi Jason,

Thank you for this.  We've decided to stick with our July 10 Millenium, and we're planning to take your approach to departure day.  Would you please consider posting an update after you return home to let us know how it goes? We would greatly appreciate it.

Enjoy your cruise!

[pumpkin 11]

Totally worth the hassle. The crew treated us like royalty, and the food (especially in the buffet) was great. The lower capacity made it feel very luxurious. It was about as luxury as you can get on a mainstream ship. Millennium is looking great for a 20 yr old ship too - just don't care for the artwork as much as the other M-class ships.