WhiteSoxFan

"We are saddened to learn of the passing of a guest, and our hearts go out to the family. Out of respect for them, we won't provide any further comment."

Based on this statement from RC I'd say the rumors may be correct.

I've been very pleased with my MEI agent Beth.  On our last 2 bookings, one past one on Celebrity Beyond and an upcoming on Celebrity Summit, she has been able to offer us group rates that saved me over $900 combined.  The latest also provided $150 of additional OBC versus the offer that was current when I booked.

I decided to do a mock booking to see how it compared with our upcoming sailing on the Celebrity Beyond in January.  The Beyond is also brand new but obviously isn't the size of, nor have all the family bells and whistles as, the Beyond.

I chose a Jan 2025 sailing as I thought it was a fair comparison.  On Beyond we have a IV so I chose an ocean view IV cabin.  My Beyond sailing was $ 3,878 and includes the Premium Drink Package, Gratuities, Surf (slow) Internet & $300 OBC.  The price on Icon was $1600 more and did not include any internet or drink package.  I think I'll stick with X or the older RC ships for now thank you.

14 hours ago, SpicyCherry said:

So true!! The picture could be of anybody's test, including the family pet!! It's time to just rip off the Band-Aid and let's get it on!!!

Self testing is effectively equal to no testing.  Not much of a point to it.

I totally agree with point #1 about printing your COVID results and would add your see pass to that.  I'm not sure what the obsession is with having it all on your phone and having to swipe back and forth.  We had all our paperwork printed and in hand prior to entering the building for our Apex sailing last month and it could not have gone faster or smoother.

As a side note we had 11:30 check-in and actually arrived at 11:00.  We walked right up to the line labeled for 11:30 and they let us right in. we were on the ship in 10 minutes.

We completed the Binax Now proctored home test three weeks ago before our Celebrity Apex Cruise. A couple words of warning.

I purchased 2 at home test as did my daughter & SIL.  My test went off without a hitch. My wife's, however,  did not.  When she went to put the drops of solution into the test card all she got was a foamy bubble exiting the bottle.  The bottle was effectively empty.  Luckily, and probably improperly,  they allowed her to use the solution in my bottle to  complete the test.  We told my daughter who is on the west coast and hadn't taken hers yet.  When she went to take hers she had the same issue, empty solution bottle.  She had to get her husband out of bed to take his so she could also use his solution.

Not sure if this is common or if it had anything to do with the fact that these tests were beyond their original expiration date but within the 3 month extension.

Other than that hiccup everything else was amazing. Loyal to Royal for 13 cruises but Celebrity definitely has a great product.

I would imagine that if the CDC comes out and says you need a booster to be considered "fully vaccinated' then yes.  Until that time I doubt it.

IHU could be a big nothing burger.  First sequenced in early November weeks before Omicron.  It hasn't really taken off whereas Omicron obviously has.

We have a Celebrity cruise booked for January and I received an email yesterday stating that all final payment for all cruises through March 31st would have 60 day final payments.  Not sure why there is a difference with them and Royal.

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

Because it takes an average of 5 and up to 14 days for covid to do its thing after you've been exposed.  Think of it like a flash flood. Even though the massive rain storm might have ended a couple miles upstream, it'll still be flooding for a while as the run off continues to go into the streams

Makes sense.  I'm curious how they determine the current R0.

On 8/11/2021 at 5:13 PM, smokeybandit said:

44 states (including DC and PR) have seen peaks in their reproductive rates, which means cases will start dropping soon nationwide.  This is consistent with how Delta ran its course in other countries.

 

https://covidestim.org/

I'm trying to wrap my head around how the R0 for Florida has apparently dropped below the magic number of 1 yet case load is continuing to increase. (so far)

In regards to COVID and any seasonality, we only have 18 months under our belt. I don't think we can learn much about how seasonal it may be.

I'm keeping my January sailing, if its anything like last year it should be at the peak of the holiday surge.

14 hours ago, Jill said:

Royal has had masks inside for several weeks now. 
 

Honestly I’m surprised (well not really) that Carnival went full steam right out of the gate. So help me if there’s some major outbreak because of them, I’ll be really . It was their transferring of crew from infected west coast cruises to east coast ships that was reckless last year. I can’t really fault them for the whole Princess thing as no one knew what they were dealing with initially.

You’d think though with all the crap that happened to that line, they’d be super cautious with their re-start. Obviously not. 

A thread on CC says that 10 people on a Carnival Horizon facebook group have tested positive since returning home.  Carnival confirms there is a "small number" of cases on the Vista.

In one way they are already doing this. It's called Celebrity. 

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

It's worth noting that RC doesn't publicize the Air2Sea website anymore. So anyone who doesn't know any better is going to be calling instead of browsing flights online.

Not sure why Royal has set it up this way.  It's very easy to view and price flights on Celebrity's website.

I tend to agree with you. In the short term, however,  these are things to consider as possible impediments.

@JeffB

You are using Florida cases as your guide on the Delta but i know here in Illinois the number of Delta cases was doubling every 10 days.  Also there are increasing rates of Delta in certain parts of Missouri, and other parts of the country, where the vaccination rate is low.  As cruisers come from all over this is at least a consideration.   I'm not saying it will have a negative impact, just that it has potential.

I do think that US cruises will be successful to the point that the public finds the number of cases that will undoubtedly occur to be of a sufficiently low level as to allow the continuation and expansion of cruising.  That said I do not think the industry would have been nearly as successful had they started back in September 2020.  The whole US surge that occurred late fall early winter could have been disastrous to the industry.

IMO the overwhelming thing that has everything pointing in the right direction is not the policies and protocols, although they are important, but the vaccine.  Vaccinations work and are driving levels of cases down dramatically in places that have embraced it.  IMO cruising could have, and should have, been possible earlier than it has started but possibly only by a few months.  Just my humble opinion.

2 hours ago, PG Cruiser said:

This time there were two who tested positive and the cruise went well.  At what point does Royal make changes to the cruise itinerary and maybe even shorten a sailing?

I'm not that much concerned with getting COVID because I have been vaccinated.  I'm more worried about the disruptions to the cruise because of COVID related situations.

This would be my concern also.  This time it was only 2 under 16 on a reduced capacity cruise with every adult vaxxed.  

So what may (stressing may) possibly occur when the pax count increases, Florida sailings have unvaxxed adults in addition to the unvaxxed children and we have a  surge in the delta cases among the unvaccinated (and possibly more breakthrough cases)?  Just a question, not a prediction.

15 minutes ago, JeffB said:

Sure, but I'm 99% positive Celebrity isn't leaving this to chance. I would think it's being managed internally through bookings granted or denied. Speculating but what's probably happening right now is that they have some kind of gating criteria that dictates when they start asking people seeking bookings to voluntarily reveal vaccination status hoping to avoid having to do that at all.  That's a slippery slope legally but I also have no doubt Celebrity's legal team knows exactly how far they can go wit this. It would not be good PR if a curise journalist got a hold of it and framed a story in bad light.

Celebrity has been upfront with the fact that they are sailing from Florida with 95%+ vaccinated. Regardless of how they choose to manage that, anyone that is not vaccinated and thinking about booking a Celebrity cruise should know things may not turn out in their favor.  Of course, sometimes they never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

9 minutes ago, cruisinghawg said:

I agree! Also someone mentioned earlier about C contacting everyone before the cruise to find vaccination status and as such may deny them boarding is not correct. They are looking at how to schedule their shows or performances.

Which part is not correct?  They are definitely contacting people and asking if they would like to say they are vaccinated and willing to prove it.  As far as denied boarding there is a lot of speculation only because, under the CSO, they have to sail with a 95% or greater vax rate.

19 minutes ago, JeffB said:

Meanwhile RCL goes it's own way. I could see Celebrity's approach working or blowing up in their face. It's a tough call for Lutoff-Perlo.

Based on my feelings from what I've read here and on the CC Celebrity boards there seems to be a higher level of preference for 95% vaccinated pax among the =X= crowd.  Certainly with the older demographic this makes sense.  

I believe the person that posted that was sailing out of Florida.

Found this on the =X= boards.  I like the part about fraudulent docs.

I think this has been out for a while.  There was a little discussion on the CC Celebrity board about how they would maintain the 95% requirement which is still in place until July 18th.  Would people be denied boarding if they exceeded the threshold?  I believe that Celebrity was asking people if they would be willing to provide proof of vaccination.  Maybe they have already got the information and run the numbers and are good. 

Celebrity is approved to sail under conditional sailings, they are not doing any test sailings so they must comply with the 95% condition or get test sailings approved.  With the Edge and Equinox all set and approved to sail I don't see them changing things.  It will be interesting how they plan to comply with the 95% condition.