MsDolly

3 hours ago, nickiford said:

They have changed the language again on the Govt website, they have eliminated saying just those arriving by land and sea and now it says "if selected" for the test will need to quarantine until they get the results.  It will take them some weeks I imagine for this to apply to all people.

 

 

Someone in the Government needs to shake their heads.  How do they expect this can happen and why do they want to spend the money testing fully vaccinated and previously PCR test residents coming home.  I can live with a random sample but 100%, crazy!

1 hour ago, JessyCruises said:

They provide it at no cost. They have us come down on the last full day of the cruise. Results are back in 30 minutes or so.  We sailed on Odyssey in Aug/Sept and the process has not changed.

Thank for confirming this, just got off the Emerald Princess and they too provided it but it was done after clearing customs.  Prefer doing it on the ship!

34 minutes ago, Josie201 said:

I don’t know if I’ve seen any discussion among Canadians as to what form of vaccination proof is accepted by the cruise lines. I believe the provinces have a myriad of documents.  And no I have no idea where my little book of vaccines from childhood is.  I note the Celebrity FAQS refers to the CDC card, which we of course don’t have, or the NHS system from England, and it says no photos or photocopies.   So I’ve got the PDF from Ontario.  Can I print and bring this or ?   I think I also have to upload this as part of my check in.  
 

What have been Canadian experiences for showing documents ?  

Good question I was just looking at a cruise for next month and was more focused on insurance, Alberta does have an App that confirms vaccination hope that might work.

one more thing to stress over 🤦‍♀️

1 hour ago, ilovetotravel1977 said:

https://news.paxeditions.com/news/cruise/bc-bypass-option-cruise-ships-would-be-devastating-victoria-harbour-auth-ceo

 

Just read this article.  

 

Well, our government just shot us in the foot again. 

Visiting our son in Victoria right now, tourism is down many businesses have closed up, sad but of course that could have happened even without the cruise ship ban.

Of course AK wants this to continue, means more stops and dollars for their state.  Does it make for a great cruise, perhaps but Vancouver/Victoria have plenty to occupy cruise passengers time in port.

Once all the ships are back up and running Vancouver will be needed as an Embarkation point to handle the volume so I don’t see this proceeding .

3 hours ago, grimpil said:

its not that easy. If you test pos with a pcr test you will likely test pos for up to 3 months even though you aren't contagious so you likely can't wait it out.  Currently Canada still requires a neg PCR test for your return home. You would have to do a 14 day isolated quarantine at the mercy of a quarantine hotel. Not sure how you decide which hotel that would be. I expect it would be up to the health unit that you tested in... and the cost? I work at a covid assessment center and we are seeing numerous people testing pos that are fully vaxxed even though they have minor or no symptoms. If your cruise is 4-5 months away im sure the rules will have changed by then, perhaps Canada will eventually accept a rapid antigen test for return home

Yikes, not worried for myself and husband, we can take the 14 days in quarantine no problem, but we are traveling with my son and family, now this would be a problem for the 4 of them!

I got my third shot recently too, and am grateful Alberta decided to allow it for folks with mixed does.  Haven’t cruised yet but have plenty booked.  I certainly am hopeful it corrects the perceived issue for boarding the ships 🤞

28 minutes ago, grimpil said:

you should be more worried about your return PCR test, if you happen to test pos you are looking at a 14 day hotel quarantine before returning home. Precruise you only need a rapid antigen test

Forgive me if I am not understanding your post, when you say a 14 day hotel quarantine before returning home, is there someone there to actually enforce this?  Of course I understand I’d be contagious but wouldn’t I just have to stay put till I test negative?

Ages ago my family booked our airfares for this coming February, we are leaving on the Thursday prior to our Saturday cruise, we’ll need a test to board the plane which given the early hour of our flight has to happen on Wednesday so it isn’t any good by Saturday for the cruise.  In our situation we’ll all need another test soon after arrival in FLL, so I am very much interested in what others have found.

I have my fingers crossed that in the next 4-5 months this may change but I know that is just my wish and perhaps not realistic ☹️

22 minutes ago, iancal said:

I picked up a prescription in Calgary yesterday. There we four or five people in line to get a third covid shot for travel.

 

The pharmacist told me they had a steady stream of customers and bookings for this.

We both now have our third shots (for different reasons), after reading about the third shot not being a full dose we checked with the pharmacist today to confirm that wasn’t the case at least with us, WHEW.

8 hours ago, Sue from Canada said:

I saw the show.  The AIDA NOVA is not a ship I'd go on.  I hope the series will have  a HAL ship.

 

Believe a HAL ship is on next week and the Sky Princess is a couple of weeks from now.

4 hours ago, tert333 said:

I sent a note to the CDC regarding 1AZ and 2 Pfizer, but got a generic answer back which did not answer my question. 

 

Princess cruises in their presentations (go on facebook and look for a presentation last month, under John Chernesky at princess)  have publicly stated that they would accept 1AZ and 2 PFizer or 2 Moderna vaccines.

 

Celebrity has given me two answers.  The first was they would not accept 1AZ and 2 mRNA vaccines.  However, someone else send in a request through chat after I asked and was told that they would accept 1AZ and 2mRNA vaccines.  I also received a similar answer

 

I believe that the boosters they are giving in Ontario for the immune compromised is the same dose as the other vaccines given.  However, agree there is discussion that the true "booster" may be different than the original vaccine.

 

 

Dear lord will this crap ever end.  Did what I was told took the mixed vaccinations, today I got a third shot to try to meet the requirements of 2mRNA vaccine doses but now my third shot might not be enough.  If that is the case I give up, nothing more I can do!

17 minutes ago, XLVIII said:

Good news if you live in Alberta. Starting September 1, the province will be offering a third dose of MRNA vaccine to upcoming travellers who got Astra / MRNA mixed vaccines.

 

https://globalnews.ca/news/8153392/alberta-covid-19-3rd-doses-vaccine/

 

"The province will offer mRNA vaccines to Albertans who are travelling to a jurisdiction that does not accept visitors who have been vaccinated with the Covishield/AstraZeneca vaccine or those who received mixed doses."

 

😀😀😀

OMG you have made my day.  Sign me up I am tired of being a prisoner!

I prefer an ocean view balcony, but you can’t beat the pricing sometimes on the other two types.

The only additional comment I will make in favour of CP over BW is the noise level.  With all that goes on at the rear of the ship it can be an issue.

4 hours ago, XLVIII said:

Are you able to get a third shot in Alberta? We’re in Calgary too and would love to have that option. So far I’ve only heard of Quebec and Nova Scotia considering third doses. 

You will need to find a receptive Pharmacist, we live outside of Calgary now and have one willing to give it and has done so for others and another who was not willing.  Much like getting information on this from Royal it’s a crap shoot what answer you’ll get 🤷‍♀️

1 hour ago, JRG said:

 

Causing what exactly?   Not being finicky,  just keeping the same plane of thought.

 

(if the effect is the same as in Problem A,   then it is Problem A and not a new Problem C)

CovidShield is not accepted in most of Europe, limits where we can cruise/travel.  I think the timeline between shots is the least of our issues so I am going to opt for a third shot to match the Pfizer shot I received in June (more than 42 days ago).

2 hours ago, Russ Lomas said:

We feel the same as you.  We did everything asked of us to ensure we were classified as "vaccinated" for our cruise in August, and then this appeared out of nowhere.  Hopefully since there are 2 ways to interpret what is printed on their website, they will clarify if the dates apply to all or just those mixing vaccines.  Even their supervisors seem to read it differently.

 

Thanks for emailing Mr. Bayley's office.  I am just hoping that if enough people do this, then it will be looked at sooner rather than later and clarification can be provided to all of us.

As a fellow Canadian equally as frustrated with this situation, I understand why the cruise lines are doing this but of course that doesn’t help the millions in Canada being denied the ability to cruise and also travel to certain countries just by trusting our government.

I spoke with my Pharmacist today and apparently we can get a third shot, wonder how long that will happen before the government puts the brakes on.  My next trip is not till February but when the border opens I would like to take a road trip and if things go as I expect they might we will need to be fully vaccinated as we demand of them and I will still not meet the requirements without a third shot.

I would like to be patient but not sure I can ☹️

2 hours ago, Robjame said:

We wouldn’t. We chose our next cruises based on the passengers and crew being fully vaccinated.

With the realization that policies can change, we have asked our TA to receive assurance that should upcoming cruises change from the fully vaccinated policy, we could get a full refund.

with every member of my family vaccinated with Pfizer for both shots but me it may be the only way I could sail with family or my husband now that “mixed vaccines” are considered unvaccinated 

Can anyone confirm whether or not any of the car rental companies in Miami have a location at the Pier or at least a shuttle pick up from the port.

Thanks

5 minutes ago, pinnacleking2021 said:

this is how i feel i got vaccinated but i don't care who cruises but i will care if they require mask wearing to accommodate unvaccinated guests 

i too am vaccinated and was hopeful I would be cruising with others who were as well, the thought of wearing the mask to accommodate others not vaccinated would definitely give going a second thought if that was a requirement.

Not looking forward to being stuck in my cabin unable to enjoy my expensive vacation due to an outbreak ☹️

2 hours ago, candide333 said:

Just got the Elite email. Better late than never. 

Two hours after you but I just finally got my copy too!

Was able to get into the booking site earlier today by signing in, decisions decisions!

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I didn't get the email but have attached the PDF and Excel files that they had released to TAs. 

2021-2022WestCoastReferenceFlyer.pdf 528.51 kB · 13 downloads 2021-22WestCoastSailingSchedulewithfaresandamenities.xls 105.5 kB · 8 downloads

Thanks so much for this!

I haven’t seen the email either and I was hoping to book, grrrr

Can only speak to the clamshells, yes if you want one in the front row you’ll need to be there early.  Top of the clamshell had venting that allowed for airflow which was nice all the time protecting us from the sun.  Because the side are mostly solid (except for vented section) we felt very private east to relax inside.

We really like them and buy one every time we are in Labadee.

14 hours ago, twangster said:

Last year's snowbird migration on Adventure skipped Sydney due to weather.  No refunds offered.  On that occasion the port offered anchorage and tendering but since it was too windy to dock the Captain wisely declined since tendering would be unsafe.

 

Perhaps the Nova Scotia ports don't refund the ship if they fail to make port due to weather.  I could see the port arguing they still have to pay people to show up even if a ship makes a last minute decision to skip.  It's not the port's fault the weather was bad either.

 

At any rate, no refund last year for skipping Sydney, NS.

  

I was on this sailing, first we were told they would be returning the port charges and when they hadn’t appear by the last day of the cruise I asked again as was told they weren’t going to return them.  Reason given to us was that the overall port charges had increased since the cruise was released so missing a port did not create any excess to the cruise line to return back.

While we are not happy with this I am not sure how much effort I am going to put into getting $20 back!

41 minutes ago, JaneStarr said:

 

I’ve run into this ridiculous issue with B2B cruise air myself. It was with last April’s Transpacific from Sidney to Honolulu and then to Vancouver.

 

If you can get them to (temporarily) unlink your reservations, you *may* have access to book flights online yourself.

 

Celebrity air phone reps weren’t able to get me airfare anywhere near the Flights by Celebrity online quoted price.

 

They insisted that the prices I could see through Celebrity online were just “estimates” and would change from moment to moment. They were also unable to get the direct flight shown through the online search. The connections offered were unacceptable, very expensive and on different airlines.

The phone agents finally admitted to me that they do not have access to the same “bucket” of choice air fares and have to go into a different system when booking by phone (maybe they said Amadeus?).

I was given conflicting information as to why. The most logical explanation seemed to be that linking my B2B bookings locked me out of online air booking.

 

Eventually, I was able to sign into my first reservation and book the exact flights that were initially quoted online— and at an even lower price!  It took repeated attempts over several days to get the booking to take.

 

At that point, my reservation for the second cruise had somehow gone “offline”. This was after I begged the Captain’s club/OneTouch reps to unlink them so that I could handle the air online myself. (I believe the reservations were unlinked for a short period of time.)

Because I was fortunate to have suite bookings, a wonderful  Celebrity OneTouch shoreside concierge went to bat for me. Unfortunately, her hands were mostly tied, but I was finally able to resolve the issue myself.

 

Nobody could officially ever explain why this worked. Once the flights were booked, the concierge made sure our reservations were properly relinked.

 

Jane

PS Sorry if this is confusing. 

Wow, while we would like the more direct flights at the price quoted online I really don’t have your perseverance.  Good to know I am not alone and if I didn’t have another option I could perhaps come at this as you have.  I will end up spending more per person but I will also be flying home in seats upgraded to business, that will help us feel better about the extra cost and travel time!

Thanks for posting 

The flight system is very unfriendly to customers doing b2b repositioning cruises!  

I finally managed to get one reservation number to accept a multi city reservation that didn’t match the cruise routing but then it wouldn’t allow me to purchase it.  I called the Flights by Celebrity 1-800# and after a half hour on the phone with them they could find my flights but couldn’t sell them for the amount on their website, their price was almost double.

i tried to book them as two one ways but that price was ridiculous on one of the two legs.  Celebrity rep said he would try again today and call me back first thing today, but surprise surprise he has not.

Interestingly I can still pull up the flights on their website but today the price is $10 cheaper.  Another frustrating call is in my future but I am not holding out much hope.

Anyone else had this problem?