canderson

Yes, that is the first schedule sailing for Constellation.  See you there!

Roll call here >> https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2718792-celebrity-constellation-november-7-2021-5-day-caribbean/page/1/

Constellation, whatever else happens, can't have the same problem as Summit since our cruise will be the first, and will have plenty of time to meet any 14 day requirement ahead of 7 November as it leaves dry dock in the next day or so.

Whoever on your cruise that is reporting this has it a little sideways...

"While the V.I. government has not issued any vaccine mandates for residents, it is now requiring all cruise ship visitors to be vaccinated if they are 12 or older, according to Royal Caribbean. Previously, unvaccinated passengers were allowed if they submitted to a strict testing protocol and limited their shore time to excursions run through the ships."

https://stthomassource.com/content/2021/08/04/cdc-declares-usvi-high-risk-cruise-visitors-must-be-vaccinated/

Safety is relative ... hence the fact that the cruise lines can operate at all.  They still catch positives aboard all the time. 

It's all about perceived risk/reward ratio, and everyone has their own threshold ... sometimes using good data, sometimes not, but resulting in many different decisions.

Between reduced capacity sailings and cancelations by pax who are deferring to later dates, inventory is all over the map right now.  If I was looking to book or switch to a particular cabin/class currently unavailable, I'd have my TA (and me!) checking daily.

Careful, retired dude.

It's really -1 and +1.

Don't forget who has gone to bat (solo, until Texas joined) for the cruise industry against the CDC regarding the whole CSO situation, and they're still awaiting an outcome on that.

Does assuring that the photo is in a portrait format (taller vs wider) have any impact on the resulting orientation?

Yup,  CONSTELLATION  is painted on, no stencils.  😊

Think she'll be in the X fleet for at least another season.  Hard to tell at this resolution, but looking at the bow, I'd say the power washing (hydro blast) job pulled off all of the old paint first.  None of that 'layered' look you get after a few dozen trips through the canals!  Looking sharp.

Good.  Thought I'd missed a major story element there somewhere.

So I'm back to "Who knows how long it's going to take to get this through the system?"

If not CC, then it was it Celebrity that decided to call a hiatus for CC gatherings due to CoVID?  What you quoted is what I now recall seeing before, which seemed to me at the time to indicate that CoVID was the reason being provided. 

"It is best to just put the official parties on hold for awhile until all Cruise Critic Roll Call members can gather together safely again at official parties hosted by the official partnership cruise lines."

At the time, we had a CC roll call going of over 100 for a TA that was cancelled.  Biggest one I've ever been party to.

17 minutes ago, nocl said:

Actually the CDC appeal was denied, because the CDC did not meet required standards for appeal.

Yes, that was in July.  But then the CDC went directly to a federal appeals court to put a hold on the district judge's ruling, claiming that legal errors combined with an overreach by the district judge were both issues.  What finally happened after that?  I never did hear.

Due out of dry dock tomorrow.  Looking forward to seeing what the next destination will be.  Anchorage somewhere in the Bahamas with half the rest of the RCCL fleet until the first week of November, or ???

Do I recall correctly that CC dropped these events due to CoVID?  Trying to remember the explanation that was going around.  Safest place a group could meet right now would be an X ship, but hey ...

2 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

 you are thinking of a different lawsuit, the one that NCL brought against Florida to challenge the state law prohibiting businesses from requiring patrons to provide proof of vaccination 

Good point.  It's the Florida (and now with Texas added) suit against the CDC that matters here. 

Problem is, the CDC found a friendly court in Atlanta for their appeal.  Who knows how long it's going to take to get this through the system. 

Another note:  My experience has been the you will find more options by calling than their system shows on the web.

Agree with Jim.  If X cancels, they eat the ticket, and nothing due until final is due.

As to fares, you have to shop, using X air as a data point.  They have offered me what must have been consolidator fares for international flights that the airlines couldn't touch - for the same flights.

8 minutes ago, kearney said:

But isn't the (Florida/CDC) injunction in place concerning the CSO? 

Only for NCL and their brands.  Don't know if NCL have any ships using non-US home ports since the restart that had planned to head this way, anyway.

8 minutes ago, kearney said:

Can someone explain why this would only apply to Summit and not all ships.. Honestly it sounds like people are just making things up at this point.

It appears that, providing the current rules stay in place, ships that have not been sailing out of a U.S. port *already* (post restart) will be subject to the 14 day rule.  With that in mind, it's not just Summit.  For example, other ships who haven't seen the U.S. since the restart also have their first future Florida based trips planned for later.  Those cruises are also at risk.  Summit was just the first one that this ruling impacts.

3 minutes ago, markeb said:

One thing people forget is operating outside the NSO also brought pratique into question.

But what would it have entailed to get 'out of jail'?  What sort of inspection?  Something that could have been accomplished fairly quickly?  Or are you suggesting a true quarantine?

Beware the Pemex pirates in Mexico.  Your card may work everywhere else you go there, but the attendants at a Pemex would much rather deal in cash where there's at least a chance they can short change you.  They'll put in a gringo's card, claim "error del sistema", and ask you for cash, which you'd better have handy or things get even more interesting!

14 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

The Cruise Critic member to whose thread I linked (from the Panama Canal forum) is an expert on the Canal. 

I think perhaps David McCullough might number among the 'experts' as well.  He 'wrote the book' on it .. literally (ref 'Path Between the Seas').  It  was from his lectures that I first learned about how tolls were levied.  Granted, that was before some rule changes that took place in 2007 (not 2020), making a bit of a mixed bag of it.  Per the Canal Authority link provided earlier:

In the case of passenger vessels, the ACP assessed tolls based on the maximum passenger capacity in accordance with the International Tonnage Certificate 69, or the vessel’s passenger ship safety certificate; vessels over 30,000 gross tons and whose PC/UMS ÷ maximum passenger capacity ratio is equal to or less than 33 were charged on a per berth basis. 

So it used to be tonnage, and now it is berths - maybe (not passenger count).  It requires calculations now.

Picking my next ship (Constellation) at 90.940GT, with a max pax berth count of 2170, we get

90940 / 2170 = 42, qualifying it for PC/UMS tonnage rates, not berth rates.

If it's changed again since 2007, I missed it.

Also, the rowboat story is real, not apocryphal.

29 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

For passenger ships, since 2020, there has been a toll based on maximum passenger capacity. Previously, it was based on the number of passenger berths. For details, see:

Hard to believe McCullough got it wrong.  My point of reference, to be fair, is Panamax, not anything that has transpired since the new locks opened.  PC/UMS once applied to all ships, including passenger ships.  Was certainly true for our last crossing in '14.

https://www.pancanal.com/eng/op/tolls.html

8 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

I thought part of the Panama Canal charge was x$ per passengers.  Not so?

No.  By 'tonnage', even for a rowboat.  There is a cute story about that.

7 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

Why do they bother putting cheap wine in your room? My god, who would by a $5 bottle of wine? Certainly not someone who can afford to book. Celebrity . 

Hey, that Pinot is a TEN dollar bottle!🙃

I've always thought it a bit insulting, but have always blown it off and left it behind.

4 minutes ago, ltcpda said:

    However, something makes me uncomfortable not having this in writing as I fear being refused boarding at the pier regardless of my discussion.

Thus far, I have seen ZERO reports of 72 hrs vs 3 day issues at the pier.