steverk

7 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Thanks for sharing this, @steverk!

Has Celebrity asked everyone, or at least those with proximity contact to the two who tested positive, to be re-tested in a few more days to confirm zero spread?

I would think that might be necessary given the week-long incubation period, but at the same time you now have everyone off the ship and it’s… sort of..? not their problem any longer.  

I can only say that they didn't suggest it to me.

This week I saw a gang at st. Maarten and curacao. 

Somethings getting ready to go down. I can feel it 

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

Other than the obvious, how "normal" of a cruise did it feel?

Surprisingly close.  The only things I noticed were:

• Dealing with the pre-boarding changes the week prior to sailing.  My advice to anyone following me, read every email in detail.  The repeats looked just like the important ones.
• The crew wore masks the whole time, but the guests didn't
• There were way fewer people on board.
• The buffet seemed very normal, but the crew served your food.
• In Barbados we had to go with a Celebrity excursion to exit the ship.  All other ports were normal, but nearly empty.

We've docked in st. Maarten.  It's hard to believe we are at the end of the cruise. 

We fly out this afternoon. Unless something happens, this will be my final post on this topic.

It's been a great cruise and celebrity has worked especially hard to make it a success. I want to thank them for all of the hard work and bold step to be the first ones back.

8 minutes ago, Sharla said:

Only if they are blue, or military, or both.

Ok. Gang it is then!

18 minutes ago, Sharla said:

Henceforth a group of ships shall be called a Gang.

Or a navy?

1 hour ago, barjpoe said:

Thank you for your 'live' reports

You're welcome.  I'm very happy to report the truth so the rumors stay under control 

I'll gladly be the ginny pig! This is probably my only opportunity to sail with almost nobody on board

Hmmm. Perhaps they're getting ready to invade!

16 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Based on their shore excursion schedule, I see one of two ways

 

1) They picked up covid around the same time as they did their pre-cruise test, so it was too soon for the test to pick it up

2) They were exposed to covid in Barbados, same day as the post-cruise test. But the test picked up not true infection, but just the concentration of the virus in the nasal passage from exposure, and the back to back tests picked that up.

 

In the UK there have been concerns around mass testing of vaccinated people and having people test positive due scenario 2, and not because the virus was reproducing internally.

I agree with your observation about the timing.

I'd guess a pre cruise stay in st. Maarten as we were restricted to ship based shore excursions in Barbados.  The "bubble" was meticulously maintained in Barbados, but we were freetovisit st. Maarten.

My snorkeling excursion in Barbados skipped the beach because it  couldn't be adequately isolated. 

19 minutes ago, Louvanh said:

ABC news reporting two guests are remaining in St. Maarten until negative but what an atmosphere just waiting for next positive or the anxiety of being seated near the two for past 4 days. What a great time. 

I agree it would be very disconcerting to have been in close contact. I'm on board now. Since we don't know who it was, we can only trust celebrity's contact tracing to tell us.

Most people on board are taking it in stride and enjoying the sea day.

16 minutes ago, LovetoCruise87 said:

Again, the protocols were put in place for just this reason, and they are working.

The Healthy Sail Panel have done a great job in putting this together.

We can certainly say the protocols are being followed.  Now we find out if they work.

And, yes, they did a great job putting the protocols together. If I didn't think they would work, I wouldn't have taken this cruise 

I'm not surprised GMA did a report on the ship.  They have a crew on board. They must know chaos is not an accurate description,  but they probably wrote that headline weeks ago. 

34 minutes ago, Biff215 said:

Didn’t have time to stay and watch the story, but Good Morning America ran it at the top of the show and referred to it as “chaos”.

"Chaos" hmmmm. I'm on the ship and my description would be "normal" while everyone tries to avoid the elephant in the room.

Other than the crew, I've only seen one person wearing a mask.

There's so few people on the ship that it's hard to tell if some people are hiding in their rooms, but I do find people out  and about.

33 minutes ago, CruiseRoyalDad said:

Hey Matt, do we know what they did with the passengers that test positive until safe return to shore? 

They announced on the ship that the patients were moved to isolation rooms.

According to my room steward, all of the people who were in contact have been tested negative and released.

There's been no further announcements on the ship about the status of the two patient's 

I'm not sure what happened with the q&a, but I went to the theater and they had a discussion about the classic ocean liners. Interesting talk, but not what I expected. 

Good morning everyone! As most of you already know a lot has happened since my last real entry.

We visited Curacao and had a great time.  I've never been there before but found it very scenic and walkable.  It's now my favorite Caribbean port! I'm definitely going to have to come back.

Of course that was overshadowed by the 2 COVID cases on board. The only real information I've seen is from the Captain's announcement yesterday.  I'm going to assume that no news is good news.

The mood on board is hard to discern and even harder to describe. 

Last night was formal night.  My wife and I aren't really interested in formal night so we went to dinner in the buffet followed by the show.  Both were nearly empty.  However, it isn't clear if that's because of the announcement (which came out just before dinner) or because people really like the lobster.

This morning we went to the MDR for breakfast.  The staff were their usual joyful selves.  The passengers seemed mostly normal, but we had to be reseated as one of the passengers didn't want anyone nearby.  No problem. With so few people there were plenty of tables.

The crew is out scrubbing everything this morning.

At 10:30 the senior staff are scheduled for the usual meet the passengers and take questions session.  I'm sure it will be interesting.

Otherwise, I'm planning on enjoying my sea day and get ready for disembarkation tomorrow.

10 hours ago, MLH said:

Any word from the captain or staff about the 2 covid cases?

 

Nothing other than the announcement last night that it happened

2 hours ago, cruisellama said:

For the more up to date O/Q (& Edge) class ships,  is the muster station visit accomplished though use of a WOW band swipe at the station?

I can't speak to the edge class. Millennium doesn't have WOW bands 

46 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

 

Captain made the announcement at 5:15 eastern time. There aren't many more details other than those scheduled for their departure test for tomorrow could be tested today.

17 hours ago, BarbieBell said:

We haven’t heard anything from RCI on our Aug 22 cruise being moved from the Indy to the Odyssey.  It’s kinda aggravating as we are traveling with friends who got notification of the change and even have a cabin assignment.  By having to wait so long, I fear our cabin may be right under the pool, or worse, maybe our cruise will be cancelled in lieu of reduced capacity.  Not even our MEI agent had been able to help!

 

 

I haven't heard anything from royal about my October Indy cruise that has moved over to Odyssey other than an email saying our cruise planner purchases were cancelled.  I was confused because I didn't know I HAD an Odyssey cruise!  Since I'm on Celebrity Millennium, I went over to the next cruise department and asked.  They were able to confirm that I was moved from Indy and even gave me the room number.  I checked the Royal app, and it shows the same.

However, the Internet on Millennium is slow enough that I'm unable to log in to the cruise planner to find out about possible excursions.  It's kinda frustrating, but I like the idea of sailing on Odyssey, so I'm going to look in to it in more detail when I get home.

I'm on Millennium and can attest that this was a very easy process.

1. Go to the app and select "safety" within about 24 hours of boarding.
2. Watch a video and follow a couple other steps, including listen to the emergency horn recording (5 minutes total)
3. Walk to your muster station, which in my case was the theater. 
4. Check in with the crew member there and get a sticker on your card.
5. Enjoy your day.

Since we had 6 hours between the start of boarding and the end of the muster drill, there were no crowds and nothing was closed down.

It's very different, and doesn't feel "right" to an experienced cruiser, but that's all there is to it. Very unobtrusive.

Good morning everyone!  Sorry I didn't get to an entry yesterday.

Yesterday, we were in Aruba and took the half day off road adventure. It was a lot more fun than a typical bus tour, but didn't photograph very well.  However it was fun and I didn't realize just how much of Aruba is desert.

First, the 4 wheel vehicles were similar to army trucks.  They had bench seats and were not crowded,  They did have a lively ride and you did come back needing a shower.

Stops included a rock formation, two natural bridges, a lighthouse and a beach.  If you go on this excursion, keep in mind that bathrooms cost a $1 each.

I'm getting ready for a bus tour of Curacao, so I'm going to cut this a bit short.

10 minutes ago, cruisellama said:

Better chance of winning with less people playing 

Yes! We've already won 2 ship magnets and a drink mug

Today's a sea day and nothing unusual to report.  In fact, it's remarkable just how normal the cruise is.  They're doing the usual game shows. Having the usual entertainment.  

Tomorrow we'll be able to explore Aruba on our own.

The only odd things are that the crew wear masks and there are no lines for anything.