Are Vax and Unvax differentiated on Celebrity now that everyone can cruise?

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 minute ago, jelayne said:

This reads like it may from been from  the restart when the number of unvaccinated were primarily  children.

Excellent point!  Here's hoping you are on to something!

[itzfitz]

1 hour ago, BridgeMates said:

Just a question....

how effective Now are the original 2 shots we received when the vaccinations first came out early in 2021?

We have followed up with all of our additional boosters, but I know there are people who only got the first two shots.

As I understand it,  to board the ship today we just have to present our Vaccination Card.  There may not be any follow up boosters on it.

So, if the original 2 shots are still effective, why do we need boosters?  and if the original vac's aren't still effective, then maybe those without boosters should be considered UnVac'd!

Just asking......😟

 

 

 

In my opinion, they are still just about as effective as the first 2 boosters!  I had the original series and then got Omicron (a mild case to be sure).  I should have some natural immunity at this point, so no new boosters for me.  

[GORDONCHICK]

4 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Excellent point!  Here's hoping you are on to something!

This is why I thought it was important to know when the cruise was booked and when the email was received.

[cruisestitch]

This is pretty much what Royal was doing last February.  There were areas of the ship where unvaccinated (mostly children at that time) could not go.  Schooner Bar was one that I recall. I believe the casino was another.  The theater also had differentiated seated.  Wrist bands identified who was vaccinated and who wasn’t,

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 minute ago, cruisestitch said:

This is pretty much what Royal was doing last February.  There were areas of the ship where unvaccinated (mostly children at that time) could not go.  Schooner Bar was one that I recall. I believe the casino was another.  The theater also had differentiated seated.  Wrist bands identified who was vaccinated and who wasn’t,

I understand why they would have done that before lifting the vax requirement, especially before the vax was approved for children.  But Celebrity have made the decision to drop the vax requirement for all passengers.  Segregating vaxed from unvaxed only serves to stigmatize certain groups of passengers!

 

BTW...I'm not yelling at you...I'm just yelling lol! 

[JLMcruise]

8 minutes ago, jelayne said:

The  notice is addressed to Travel Partners and is a form for TAs to complete did  you get this from your TA or direct from Celebrity?

This reads like it may from been from  the restart when the number of unvaccinated were primarily  children.

 

Have you asked your TA about this, or contacted Celebrity?

 

Maybe one of our ever helpful and knowledgeable  TAs who are on these boards can shed some light on this.

Agreed! Research first prior to panic. 

[RichYak]

40 minutes ago, Lena11033 said:

I mean if you are traveling together what's even the point of separating at dining?

Even if you are total strangers, there is no point in this. The practice of segregating the unvaxxed was dubious at best in 2021 and I was never comfortable with it. At this point, it can only be described as hurtful.

[dlh015]

I was wondering about that 'Travel Partner' tag...

 

We must await the OP for info on the questions being brought up here...

 

I'm in the 'old info forwarded by the TA'  court...at the moment...lol... 

[jelayne]

15 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

I was wondering about that 'Travel Partner' tag...

 

We must await the OP for info on the questions being brought up here...

 

I'm in the 'old info forwarded by the TA'  court...at the moment...lol... 

Which may be a old protocol that the TA didn't know changed.

[dlh015]

1 minute ago, jelayne said:

Which may be a old protocol that the TA didn't know changed.

That's my current view as I (think I)said...however, isn't knowing that sort of thing part of the TA job??

 

I might consider changing my TA  or at least speaking with them about it.

[hovank]

I am our group leader, not a TA.   I received this email today, 26 SEP 2022.  We booked about two weeks ago for a NOV cruise.

[dlh015]

15 minutes ago, hovank said:

I am our group leader, not a TA.   I received this email today, 26 SEP 2022.  We booked about two weeks ago for a NOV cruise.

Thanks for clarifying! 

 

Celebrity has gone bonkers then...have you called them about it??  Although I would hate to have to brave the support line...perhaps they have supplied a separate phone number??

[hovank]

And FYI, the email came directly from Celebrity, not a TA.

I just hung up the phone with Celebrity and was told the dining room is still separated seating by vax and unvax.  The entire purpose of my posting here was not to speculate, but to get some input from anyone that may have recently traveled on Celebrity to provide input as to how it is currently being done.  Thank you again...

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, hovank said:

When we booked, we had to state whether vaccinated or unvaccinated.

For the doubting Thomas'--  Here's the Celebrity email.

 

Dear Travel Partner,

Attached is the list of your group clients travelling on a future Celebrity Cruises. Please review and complete all pages of this form advising of your client's dining seating preferences and identify who would like to dine together during their upcoming cruise. Completed group dining forms must be submitted to CelebrityGroupSupport@celebrity.com no later than XXXXXX days to sailing. General guidelines: We commit to seat your clients as close to your request as possible; however, we ask for understanding if some of the requests cannot be accommodated due to seating limitations.

Health Protocol Guidelines:

•Groups that are 100% fully vaccinated will be seated together at their assigned dining time.

• Groups with both vaccinated and unvaccinated members will be split for dining: º Group guests will eat at the assigned time in early or late dining but will be seated per vaccination status: • Vaccinated group members will be seated together in the vaccinated area of the dining room. • Unvaccinated group members will be seated by household or stateroom with physical distancing in place in the unvaccinated area of the dining room. • Vaccinated parents will be seated in the unvaccinated area of the dining room with their unvaccinated children. º Due to the limited availability in the unvaccinated dining room area, vaccinated group members may not elect to sit with unvaccinated guests from different staterooms or households. • Table sizes may vary by homeport. %DiningSummaryTerms% • If vaccination status is blank, guests will be seated as an unvaccinated guest. Final dining assignments are printed on your client's SeaPass card, which is received upon boarding. For further questions regarding this form or other specific dining needs for your group, please contact your group specialist.

Celebrity Cruises

------------------

Check which best describes your group:

______ Group has guest(s) with mobility/disability needs that require special seating arrangements. **For guests with mobility issues or other disabilities that may require special seating accommodation in the dining room, you must contact your group agent coordinator for further assistance. **

______ Entire group should be seated in the same area of the dining room. This option is used if all guests know each other, are cruising together, and would like to dine together. Vaccinated and unvaccinated guests will be seated in separate areas of the dining room, except as noted in the health protocol guidelines above.

______ It is not necessary for the group to be seated together except guests marked as "Dining Together". This option is used mainly for promotional groups where the guests do not know each other and do not wish to dine together. If there are any guests that wish to dine together, please identify them below. Below are the names of the guests travelling in your group. Please mark the guests who would like to sit together in the Dining Together column. For example, mark the first group of guests who wish to sit together with a "1", the second group of guests with a "2", etc Guests travelling in the same stateroom will always be seated at the same table unless otherwise requested. Note: Due to table size limits, all guests marked to be seated together may not be seated at the same table but will be seated near each other in the vaccinated or unvaccinated areas of the dining room.

 

Appreciate but one question.   Did you book and get this before they just dropped the requirement of passengers being vaccinated or after.    Just curious.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, itzfitz said:

In my opinion, they are still just about as effective as the first 2 boosters!  I had the original series and then got Omicron (a mild case to be sure).  I should have some natural immunity at this point, so no new boosters for me.  

Me too...Except for me due to a mistaken wrong manufacuting early on I had 5 vax mixed Moderna and Pfizer and still got the Omicron variant.

[Jim_Iain]

9 minutes ago, hovank said:

And FYI, the email came directly from Celebrity, not a TA.

I just hung up the phone with Celebrity and was told the dining room is still separated seating by vax and unvax.  The entire purpose of my posting here was not to speculate, but to get some input from anyone that may have recently traveled on Celebrity to provide input as to how it is currently being done.  Thank you again...

Appreciate the clarity.   Obviously they do have a protocol for but wondering how the manage on a fully booked sailing.  

[hovank]

Jim-lain...we booked two weeks ago (14 SEP 2022 to be exact), AFTER Celebrity announced all vax and unvaxxed guests were allowed to travel and welcomed aboard.  I received the email today, 26 SEP 2022, regarding the seating arrangements for our group.  No TA is involved in forwarding old emails.  The dining seating arrangement email came directly from Celebrity.  Thank you!

[C-Dragons]

2 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Appreciate the clarity.   Obviously they do have a protocol for but wondering how the manage on a fully booked sailing.  

I wonder if Suite guests will be getting a similar notification soon?
 Luminae is smaller than the MDR.

[dlh015]

5 minutes ago, hovank said:

Jim-lain...we booked two weeks ago (14 SEP 2022 to be exact), AFTER Celebrity announced all vax and unvaxxed guests were allowed to travel and welcomed aboard.  I received the email today, 26 SEP 2022, regarding the seating arrangements for our group.  No TA is involved in forwarding old emails.  The dining seating arrangement email came directly from Celebrity.  Thank you!

Once again, thanks for the clarification. I was hoping there *was* a TA and that it *was* old info. (As you saw in my post...)

 

Sadly, and quite distressingly, that is not the case. As C-Dragons posted, I wonder if other dining venues will be observing this protocol. I, for one, can state that it will certainly not make me feel any safer.

[C-Dragons]

10 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

Once again, thanks for the clarification. I was hoping there *was* a TA and that it *was* old info. (As you saw in my post...)

 

Sadly, and quite distressingly, that is not the case. As C-Dragons posted, I wonder if other dining venues will be observing this protocol. I, for one, can state that it will certainly not make me feel any safer.

It will  be interesting to see how X handles all the pre-paid Specialty Dining reservations.

[ColoradoMom!!]

Hovank,

 

Thank you for sticking with this and publishing the e-mail.  I also would have initially responded in a variation of "this is so absurd, there must be some explanation that we're missing", but it seems like Celebrity will either surprise us all and have these separated dining rooms, or have to walk back this bizarre new policy.

 

Can't wait to hear......

 

[JLMcruise]

1 hour ago, hovank said:

And FYI, the email came directly from Celebrity, not a TA.

I just hung up the phone with Celebrity and was told the dining room is still separated seating by vax and unvax.  The entire purpose of my posting here was not to speculate, but to get some input from anyone that may have recently traveled on Celebrity to provide input as to how it is currently being done.  Thank you again...

CEC Manager Team-EngagementCenterSeniorLeadership@celebrity.com  I would email them and have someone call you to clarify the email you received and that you are speaking with someone who knows.

[cruisestitch]

Royal was able to figure it out.  I have confidence Celebrity will too.

[cangelmd]

5 hours ago, BridgeMates said:

Just a question....

how effective Now are the original 2 shots we received when the vaccinations first came out early in 2021?

We have followed up with all of our additional boosters, but I know there are people who only got the first two shots.

As I understand it,  to board the ship today we just have to present our Vaccination Card.  There may not be any follow up boosters on it.

So, if the original 2 shots are still effective, why do we need boosters?  and if the original vac's aren't still effective, then maybe those without boosters should be considered UnVac'd!

Just asking......😟

 

 

 

The simplest answer to your question is that the boosters, for a brief time, boost your resistance to infection, which for people like me, going on a transatlantic and needing to produce a negative, observed test, might make the difference in boarding or not.

The reason to go get the new bivalent booster is that it is tailored to the new highly infectious omicron variants.

The original shots still greatly reduce your risk for severe disease and death, but by the time omicron started to become dominant, the second booster was doing almost nothing to prevent infections. Severe disease and death was also starting to creep up a little, but there is still no solid evidence that the original shots “stopped working”. Remember prior to the new bivalent shot, the boosters were just repeats of the same genetic material in slightly different doses. It’s thought that this shot will decrease infection and transmission as well as stopping any increase in severe disease and death.

Less transmission means fewer chances for the virus to mutate.

[chuly]

We just got off the Infinity last Saturday.  We did not witness any segregation of passengers in the dining room, theater, casino or anywhere else for that matter.  We had no idea who was or was not vaccinated on the ship. Because I’m immune compromised my husband and I apart from maybe 2 or 3 waiters were the only ones wearing masks onboard.  We asked to be seated apart from others in the dining room but most tables were very close to each other and we saw different people sharing large tables.  At least on the Infinity that is not happening.