Celebrity cancels Bermuda stops due to excessive testing

[LadyBerard]

4 hours ago, SHIP TRAVELER said:

Different perspectives abound here.  I wish the Summit was not going to stop in Bermuda in Oct 2022.  It is costing us $80 US (and some paperwork) for a few hours and we will not even be getting off the ship.  We cannot board the Summit until we pay the $80.  I hope the requirement will be dropped and you have a good time in Bermuda.

We are also on the Summit repo, and already paid our $40 pp two days ago to Bermuda.  I figured since Celebrity didn't cancel Bermuda with the other ships which it did, we'd pay our fee and do the Bermuda Authorisation when it became available.

[Charles4515]

23 minutes ago, canderson said:

 

Assuming between 2,000 and 2,500 pax per visit (and with fuller ships, that's now a low range), that leaves them with between $80,000 and $100,000 per ship for uninsured medical expense.  I'd say that their rationale covers a lot more than "expenses related to Covid", especially with omicron being the dominant variant.

 

Bermuda has 19 cruise ships scheduled at port during September.  Using the above figures, that nets them between $1,520,000 and $1,900,000 in fees just in the month of September.

 

They have $22,000,000 in their budget through March 2023. They are collecting from all visitors, air and private yacht too. All residents who go abroad have to test on return. Yes, it covered buying vaccines and other covid expensives. Covid medicines. Hospitalizations of their own residents. I do believe they need that money. A small island of 65,000 residents can't spread it out like 300,000,000 million. They don't have an industrial economy. 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Charles4515

[LGW59]

9 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

They have $22,000,000 in their budget through March 2023. They are collecting from all visitors, air and private yacht too. All residents who go abroad have to test on return. Yes, it covered buying vaccines and other covid expensives. Covid medicines. Hospitalizations of their own residents. I do believe they need that money. A small island of 65,000 residents can't spread it out like 300,000,000 million. They don't have an industrial economy. 

Bermuda is the 4th richest country in the world, per capita, they can afford it.  We should do a quid pro quo, and if their residents want to come her, charge em to do so and make them take a test.

[mfs2k]

39 minutes ago, canderson said:

that leaves them with between $80,000 and $100,000 per ship for uninsured medical expense

 

Not to mention their travel authorisation requires pax to have Covid medical insurance. 

[canderson]

45 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

They have $22,000,000 in their budget through March 2023. They are collecting from all visitors, air and private yacht too. All residents who go abroad have to test on return. Yes, it covered buying vaccines and other covid expensives. Covid medicines. Hospitalizations of their own residents. I do believe they need that money. A small island of 65,000 residents can't spread it out like 300,000,000 million. They don't have an industrial economy. 

With a GDP of $7B and only about 62,000 residents (GDP $113,000 per capita), I think they can probably handle it if they choose to allocate wisely.

 

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, LGW59 said:

Bermuda is the 4th richest country in the world, per capita, they can afford it.  We should do a quid pro quo, and if their residents want to come her, charge em to do so and make them take a test.

That is misleading. Many companies use Bermuda as a tax haven. Bermuda has a debt ove 3.5 billion. 

[Charles4515]

42 minutes ago, canderson said:

With a GDP of $7B and only about 62,000 residents (GDP $113,000 per capita), I think they can probably handle it if they choose to allocate wisely.

 

Bermuda has a debt of over 3.5 billion. That per capita is misleading as many corporations have headquarters listed there for tax advantage. 

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, mfs2k said:

 

Not to mention their travel authorisation requires pax to have Covid medical insurance. 

Only required for unvacinated visitors.

[LGW59]

5 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

That is misleading. Many companies use Bermuda as a tax haven. Bermuda has a debt ove 3.5 billion. 

It’s still a fact

[Charles4515]

10 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

It’s still a fact

One that does not mean much. 

 

Oh you poor cruisers. You can't afford $40. Bermuda's mistake was not to raise port taxes. None would notice.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Charles4515

[cruisestitch]

What about airline pax and private ships?  I think that is why the organize it the way they do.

 

still, many countries with far fewer health resources aren’t charging this entry tax

[canderson]

24 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Bermuda has a debt of over 3.5 billion. That per capita is misleading as many corporations have headquarters listed there for tax advantage. 

Per capita, that's about half of the debt here in the U.S.  We should be so lucky.  Again?

[Charles4515]

3 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

What about airline pax and private ships?  I think that is why the organize it the way they do.

 

still, many countries with far fewer health resources aren’t charging this entry tax

 

Airline passengers and private ship passengers have to do the Travel Authorization. 

 

The US has a travel authorization and fee. 

[canderson]

6 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

Airline passengers and private ship passengers have to do the Travel Authorization. 

 

The US has a travel authorization and fee. 

ETSA app is $10 for many countries as part of the VWP,  including the UK (so one assumes Bermuda) citizens.

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by canderson

[Charles4515]

5 minutes ago, canderson said:

Per capita, that's about half of the debt here in the U.S.  We should be so lucky.  Again?

Again? While I think ending the Bermuda Travel Authorization and fee is long overdue. Their governement is shooting itself in the foot. It is amazing how many crybabies it has drawn out. 

[Charles4515]

8 minutes ago, canderson said:

ETSA app is $10 and a many countries are exempt as part of the VWP,  including the UK (so one assumes Bermuda) citizens.

 

An ESTA costs $21 and UK and Bermuda tourists must have one. What they are exempt from is having to have a Visa.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Charles4515

[canderson]

4 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Again? While I think ending the Bermuda Travel Authorization and fee is long overdue. Their governement is shooting itself in the foot. It is amazing how many crybabies it has drawn out. 

Just pointing out a few numbers that raise questions about some of the justifications I've seen for it.  Not crying about anything.

 

As an aside, 1,800 of the 62,000 residents work at the very modern and well equipped King Edward VII.  I'd say they're in a pretty good position to deal with current issues.  We have only about 1 per 50 here in the USA.

 

[canderson]

3 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

An ESTA costs $21 and UK and Bermuda tourists must have one. What they are exempt from is having to have a Visa.

Previously corrected text, though I see the price has gone up.

 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

3 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

One that does not mean much. 

 

Oh you poor cruisers. You can't afford $40. Bermuda's mistake was not to raise port taxes. None would notice.

It's not that we can't afford $40.  Of course we can.  It's the aggravation of jumping through their bureaucratic hoops and the testing required.  Which would not be required were we not going to Bermuda.

[jwlane]

5 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

spread it out like 300,000,000 million.

What country has 300 trillion?

[Charles4515]

16 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

It's not that we can't afford $40.  Of course we can.  It's the aggravation of jumping through their bureaucratic hoops and the testing required.  Which would not be required were we not going to Bermuda.

You highlighted the $40 in your post. I have read enough of the whining to see that it is about the $40 for a lot of you. I agree that they created unecessary bureaucracy. They should drop the form but their requirements are not difficult to comply with. If they dropped the form and only collected the $40 the crying would continue. 

[Charles4515]

7 minutes ago, jwlane said:

What country has 300 trillion?

Atlantis.

[jwlane]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

Atlantis.

Is this the dawning?

[Georgia_Peaches]

14 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/bermuda-cruise-call-cancellations-covid-rules/

As I haven’t visited the celebrity board in a little while, this is the first I’m learning of this. Thanks for posting. 

[canderson]

38 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Is this the dawning?

I think that was Aquarius.