WhiteSoxFan

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'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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ok, so I need a home test that doesn’t need to be supervised? How will they know it’s me that did the test. Or that I took it within 3 days before?
 
why even test at all then?

You have more faith in people self reporting than I do.

The EU's equivalent to the CDC, the ECDCs relaxed health protocols in as step wise fashion beginning in March of this year. At present very few EU countries have any requirements for proof of vaccination or pre-entry COVID testing to enter them. 
Cruise ships sailing from EU member state's ports follow ECDC's guidelines promulgated through Healthy Gateways, an arm of the ECDC (link below if interested). For all intent and purpose these guidelines for cruise ship operations are identical to those of the CDC's. If you've been watching, the Omicron variants BA-4 and 5 are currently predominating in the EU and in the US and are responsible for increased numbers of infections. To be clear, by other measures such as ED visits, hospitalizations and deaths, most health agencies are not recommending re-instituting prophylactic measures to slow the spread of SARS2. Health agencies have moved from pandemic readiness to emergency readiness to sustainable readiness in the last 9 months. Most prophylactic measures to prevent the spread of SARS2  are now recommendations.
https://www.healthygateways.eu/Portals/0/plcdocs/EUHG_Operational_guidelines_CoV_June2022.pdf?ver=2022-06-10-140149-413
I suspect Viking Cruises in this discussion that no longer require pre-cruise testing are doing so based on "attack rate" (sometimes measured by % positive of R values - rate of increase in new cases) for the ports they are visiting. When they are low there are portions of the Healthy Gateways Guidelines that allow some flexibility in imposing or eliminating mitigation measures for boarding. I suspect Viking and Princess are relying on that flexibility to do away with pre-boarding testing. That could change in a moments notice if attack rates in those ports rise.
I've talked about this before. Cruise ships are unique in their capacity to harbor a COVID outbreak. We've gotten to where we are in the cruising industry by insuring guests and crew members are fully vaccinated and implementing well tested protocols to deal with the unfortunates who do come down with COVID while sailing.  For the most part, few are catching COVID on board and outbreaks (as defined by the CDC) are rare. The reason for that are the steps taken by the CDC and ECDC to reduce spread. You can like them or dislike them but there is some proof in the pudding that is incontrovertible. 
There are cohorts of cruisers that from a risk standpoint shouldn't be hurrying up to eliminate pre-cruise testing or vaccination requirements to board in US or European ports. It is what it is and we seem to be managing returning to normal in the cruise industry pretty well. In the absence of proven screening and surveillance measures we dislike but nonetheless reduce the risk of COVID outbreaks on cruise ships, I'd hate to see public health agencies see rising COVID infections aboard cruise ships, using the detailed reporting that the lines are using, and believe they have to return to more demanding COVID mitigation procedures and policies and convince decision makers that its time to limit cruising again.   
     

The four use any time for whatever you want drink vouchers per day is worth far more than the limited-selection happy hour drinks ever were.

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.

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.

Here is a pic of the Mariner docked at Terminal A.  You can see how close the garage is to the terminal.  From the pictures I've seen it appears the bag drop area is underneath the garage beside the terminal building.
 

With all of the resources available to the cruise lines and the fact that they ALL seem to be doing very similar things, why not consider the possibly that they are not the ones who are wrong or crazy?  And while we are at it, why is the press at fault for not looking at all of the data when so many people are making decisions about vaccines, masks, etc. based on a few random internet posts?  Just a thought.