US cruisers stranded in Europe

[Tony UK]

1 minute ago, Bo1953 said:

Yes, and to heck with the residents of the port cities visited with little to no health care available in case of infection (serious) after all, why would we care as we are doing what we want to do and it is the locals who need to protecting themselves despite the difficulties that may entail.

 

Sounds like a real solid plan of exposing others with intended consequences for them, to me.

 

In health and bon voyage

Well we can fly to all the countries, in our case major eurpoean nations, we can stay there in hotels, call at the ports go on excursions and everything and fly home to the UK without any restriction or testing other than vaccination certificate. All the places have been suffering financially because of lack of tourism and are glad it is recovering. The only test we will require is to get on the ship...however the reality is that even testing negative you could be infected but not yet infectious! you could also contract covid between test and boarding the ship!

This needs to be re thought through now this virus is moving to an endemic disease.

[Ommadawn]

7 hours ago, terrydtx said:

The lessons and great advice from all above, is be prepared for the worse and be happy when it doesn't happen. If you do not have the time and funds to weather a prolonged stay outside your country this may not be the right time to travel. Fortunately, we do have the time and financially we can survive a prolonged delay and we will continue to travel at our own risk. We already have lost 2 years of our prime retirement travel time and refuse to lose any more.

 

My wife and I are taking a UK/Iceland/Ireland cruise out of Southampton next month. If we test positive trying to fly back to the US, we will have an extra week or so in the UK. If we need to return home emergency like, for whatever reason (heaven forbid a funeral or something), we will fly to Juarez, Mexico, take a car from Juarez to El Paso and then fly back home. You don't need a negative test when crossing by land, just by air.

[Tony UK]

4 minutes ago, Ommadawn said:

 

My wife and I are taking a UK/Iceland/Ireland cruise out of Southampton next month. If we test positive trying to fly back to the US, we will have an extra week or so in the UK. If we need to return home emergency like, for whatever reason (heaven forbid a funeral or something), we will fly to Juarez, Mexico, take a car from Juarez to El Paso and then fly back home. You don't need a negative test when crossing by land, just by air.

Yes we know people who flew to Canada and drove over the border and took a domestic US flight.

And yes it make it all an absolute nonsense!!

[edgee]

20 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Yes, and to heck with the residents of the port cities visited with little to no health care available in case of infection (serious) after all, why would we care as we are doing what we want to do and it is the locals who need to protecting themselves despite the difficulties that may entail.

 

Sounds like a real solid plan of exposing others with intended consequences for them, to me.

 

In health and bon voyage

Anyone can enter most of these countries by other means of transportation with zero testing or precautions. But you are saying that anyone who suggests that cruise passengers should be able to do so is horribly inconsiderate? At best your point is inconsistent and is without sound rationale just like many of the current Covid restrictions.

[Lastdance]

Whether you agree or disagree with comments on this thread, the information is vital in knowing what people are thinking, along with what they are doing.  Again, we all have choices to make about ourselves and about others.  Choose wisely, travel safely and stay home if this is not for you.  Information is power!

[canderson]

3 hours ago, ncgolferette said:

Anyone needing help in Barcelona after testing positive contact the schbelta clinic.  They were wonderful guiding us through the process of getting back to the States after my son tested positive the day after disembarking the Beyond.  The doctor issued Certificate of Recovery today and we are on our way home tomorrow.  It was one of the most stressful experiences this old lady has had in life. 

Good alternative.  For anyone wondering where it is, it's just a few blocks due south of La Sagrada Familia (about a 10 minute walk), not that you can exactly go due south anywhere in that part of Barcelona, mind you!

 

I think they're tied in with these folks:

http://laboratoriodeanalisisclinicos.com/

 

 

[p18750]

I read another solution to getting home from Europe that I had not considered. If you are not allowed to board your flight back to the US consider changing your ticket to fly back to Canada and rent a car and drive to the US and then take a flight back home. You can easily drive from Toronto ON to Bufalo NY in about three hours or from Vancouver BC to Seattle WA in about three hours. There is no testing requirement for flying into Canada from Europe nor for driving into the US from Canada or Mexico or for entering on a cruise for that matter. 

[canderson]

26 minutes ago, p18750 said:

I read another solution to getting home from Europe that I had not considered. If you are not allowed to board your flight back to the US consider changing your ticket to fly back to Canada and rent a car and drive to the US and then take a flight back home. 

Did you read what followed?  Go online and try to book a one way rental from CA to the US.

[MarkusToe]

The easyest way is, have a negative test.

How to get one, easy....

 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

3 hours ago, s0479 said:

Depends on when you sail - different rules for Europe too

 

For all Celebrity cruises scheduled to sail from the U.S. on or before May 17, 2022, if you test positive for COVID-19 during the voyage:
• Celebrity will cover the cost of necessary COVID-19 related medical treatment onboard the ship;
• you and members of your Traveling Party may stay onboard the ship to complete any required quarantine period, without needing to pay additional cruise fare, stateroom gratuities or taxes/fees to Celebrity for the same. As an alternative, Celebrity will coordinate and cover the costs of any required land-based quarantine for you and members of your Traveling Party;

Thanks for posting this but, based on some of the other responses, I have questions about how this is actually being handled by Celebrity. Potential scenario....positive test on next to last day of TA cruise on APEX that started in FLL on 4/30 and ends 5/14 in Amsterdam. What can a passenger expect from Celebrity? 

Edited May 12, 2022 by suzyluvs2cruise

[s0479]

14 minutes ago, canderson said:

Did you read what followed?  Go online and try to book a one way rental from CA to the US.

Yeah I tried that for other reasons other than COVID and couldn’t find one.  

[edgee]

4 minutes ago, s0479 said:

Yeah I tried that for other reasons other than COVID and couldn’t find one.  

Limo, bus or train works in some areas.

[p18750]

19 minutes ago, canderson said:

Did you read what followed?  Go online and try to book a one way rental from CA to the US.

OK, I went to costcotravel.com and I could book an intermediate sedan from toronto airport to buffalo airport for $300. Seems expensive but if the alternative is a week in a hotel in spain it looks pretty good. 

[p18750]

7 minutes ago, p18750 said:

OK, I went to costcotravel.com and I could book an intermediate sedan from toronto airport to buffalo airport for $300. Seems expensive but if the alternative is a week in a hotel in spain it looks pretty good. 

I guess my point is that you are not stuck in Europe because you either test positive or can't find a test. Practically the only place you cannot fly is the US, just about everywhere else lets you fly in and then if you can cross into the US then you are home free. 

If I were booking my flights now I would likely choose to fly from BCN to PHX via YYZ so I could get most of the way home with no risk of being denied boarding. Once I was in CA I could figure out how to get across the border. Rent a car, take a train, take a taxi to the border and walk across. I think all of these are preferrable to being stuck across the Atlantic Ocean but that is just me. Others can make their own decisions. 

[Ride-The-Waves]

24 minutes ago, p18750 said:

I guess my point is that you are not stuck in Europe because you either test positive or can't find a test. Practically the only place you cannot fly is the US, just about everywhere else lets you fly in and then if you can cross into the US then you are home free. 

If I were booking my flights now I would likely choose to fly from BCN to PHX via YYZ so I could get most of the way home with no risk of being denied boarding. Once I was in CA I could figure out how to get across the border. Rent a car, take a train, take a taxi to the border and walk across. I think all of these are preferrable to being stuck across the Atlantic Ocean but that is just me. Others can make their own decisions. 

I don't get it...  You would deliberately put others in harms way if you tested positive?  Just WOW!

[5waldos]

I guess being retired helps but gosh- a week in Italy or someplace really doesn't sound so bad. As long as I wasn't really ill. 

 

As far as the CoVid rules and regulations- they are complex and imperfect and confusing. Imagine trying to put together a plan which combined incomplete science (studies take time and we all want to know NOW!!! so scientists do their best with small and quick studies while the larger better designed and longer studies are being done), the needs and wants of a vast variety of people with very differing ideas, opinions, wants and needs, and multiple settings- it ain't easy folks. The people stuck with having to come up with these plans are doing their best in a fast moving situation. And yes, things change and seem sometimes random. But the idea is to keep as many people safe and alive as possible. And that has to be weighed against the inconvenience to others who are resisting these measures. And then a portion of those very people who you are trying to keep safe attack you verbally and sometimes physically. And call for you to be imprisoned at the least and some demand that you be hanged as a traitor. Pretty thankless job. 

 

 Makes me very glad that I am retired and no longer a researcher. 

[p18750]

26 minutes ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

I don't get it...  You would deliberately put others in harms way if you tested positive?  Just WOW!

Well, you could have TB, pneumonia, bronchitis, diphtheria, whooping cough and a hundred other infectious respiratory diseases and no test is required to fly to the US. Are you going to get tested for all of them before you deliberately put others in harms way?

Certainly if I felt sick or was coughing up a lung I would not get on a plane whether or not I tested positive. Doesn't that sound like a better philosophy?

[Ommadawn]

1 hour ago, s0479 said:

Yeah I tried that for other reasons other than COVID and couldn’t find one.  

 

Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas are basically the same city divided by a (very small at this point) river, The Rio Grande. Fly into Juarez, take a taxi or an Uber to the border, cross with your luggage by land legally, take a taxi or an Uber to the El Paso airport and fly home.

[jules27556]

9 hours ago, Plum Happy said:

I am not suggesting it, there are European countries that do not require their citizens to get tested to come back home.  I am sure if they felt that they weren't well, they would use a mask.  You have no idea right now flying on a plane who is positive because they don't have to wear a mask.  You need to take responsibility to protect yourself now.

My Dr advised me 2 weeks ago, that although having had the initial vaccines and both boosters it would not keep me from testing positive for Covid. And if you are asymptomatic, unless you get tested, you may not have any idea.  That certainly didn't reassure me.

      

I agree, it is a good idea to test prior to leaving the states.,  

 

That brings me to my question.  I am scheduled for an October TA from Italy to the US. If the reentry

test is not dropped, how do you get one?  I will have my cell phone only with me.  I am

confident that TMobile (my provider for over 18 years)  can show me how to see someone when talking.  However, even with an international calling plan I would be paying 5.99 per minute for any calls made while on the ship.  I have no idea how long you are on the phone for that type of test.

Ideally Celebrity would do the reentry testing, and charge guests for the service.

 

Thank you!  Julie

 

 

 

 

 

[Babr]

21 minutes ago, Ommadawn said:

 

Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas are basically the same city divided by a (very small at this point) river, The Rio Grande. Fly into Juarez, take a taxi or an Uber to the border, cross with your luggage by land legally, take a taxi or an Uber to the El Paso airport and fly home.

Juarez to El Paso is the easy part. Have you looked at flights to Juarez from Europe?

[canderson]

2 hours ago, p18750 said:

OK, I went to costcotravel.com and I could book an intermediate sedan from toronto airport to buffalo airport for $300. Seems expensive but if the alternative is a week in a hotel in spain it looks pretty good. 

See what happens if you try YVR to anywhere in Washington state where the OP of that thread was going.  I got nada from any major agency.

[Oceansaway17]

11 hours ago, Beachin2 said:

Exactly why we cancelled our TA for this year.  Long swim back to the US if you can't fly.

yes I agree the pond can be quite a lot of strokes.

 

We already have vaccines, testing, so no need to add plans for isolation to the mixture.

Me thinks if planes would go back to masking perhaps cases might not be so high.

oh well, hoping for best next year for my European trips.  Glad I got couple done in 2018 and 2019.

[jelayne]

34 minutes ago, jules27556 said:

My Dr advised me 2 weeks ago, that although having had the initial vaccines and both boosters it would not keep me from testing positive for Covid. And if you are asymptomatic, unless you get tested, you may not have any idea.  That certainly didn't reassure me.

      

I agree, it is a good idea to test prior to leaving the states.,  

 

That brings me to my question.  I am scheduled for an October TA from Italy to the US. If the reentry

test is not dropped, how do you get one?  I will have my cell phone only with me.  I am

confident that TMobile (my provider for over 18 years)  can show me how to see someone when talking.  However, even with an international calling plan I would be paying 5.99 per minute for any calls made while on the ship.  I have no idea how long you are on the phone for that type of test.

Ideally Celebrity would do the reentry testing, and charge guests for the service.

 

Thank you!  Julie

 

 

 

 

 

You do not need a test to enter the US by land or sea, only by air.  So arriving in tge US after you TA doesn’t require a test.

[asnaleah]

1 hour ago, jules27556 said:

My Dr advised me 2 weeks ago, that although having had the initial vaccines and both boosters it would not keep me from testing positive for Covid. And if you are asymptomatic, unless you get tested, you may not have any idea.  That certainly didn't reassure me.

      

I agree, it is a good idea to test prior to leaving the states.,  

 

That brings me to my question.  I am scheduled for an October TA from Italy to the US. If the reentry

test is not dropped, how do you get one?  I will have my cell phone only with me.  I am

confident that TMobile (my provider for over 18 years)  can show me how to see someone when talking.  However, even with an international calling plan I would be paying 5.99 per minute for any calls made while on the ship.  I have no idea how long you are on the phone for that type of test.

Ideally Celebrity would do the reentry testing, and charge guests for the service.

 

Thank you!  Julie

 

 

 

 

 

My understanding is that there will be no testing if re-entry to the US is on any vessel other than an airplane. Your TA sounds great - enjoy!

[WonderMan3]

This isn't really a cruise-specific issue. Any US citizen who does foreign travel regardless if by land or by ship could test positive and therefore become "stranded". It's the risk you take when traveling in the middle of a pandemic.