prmssk

Pre-cruise testing is still required for all cruises out of Canada (and the US and Greece) on all cruise lines. Those countries need to drop their requirements for the cruise lines before that testing will go away.

I don’t think any cruise line is looking too hard for cases on board anymore and it seems a lot of people are choosing not to self-report now that people don’t need to pass a test to get back in their home country at the end of their cruise. So it may not result in more people in quarantine.

This appears to be changing. Turn down service happened automatically on the Caribbean Princess in June.

I'm not sure even the cruise lines have accurate data as so many people are choosing not to report symptoms anymore because they don't want to have to quarantine. And people who don't test positive until they get home don't report back to the cruise line. With less testing happening (beyond the pre-cruise test), the cruise lines aren't going to have much data. I just assume that when case numbers are high on land, they are likely high on a cruise ship. Anyone who isn't comfortable hanging out at a restaurant/bar/concert at home, probably shouldn't go on a cruise.

The booster/vaccine doesn't cause positive PCR or antigen covid test results. There's no live virus in it.

It happened automatically on the Caribbean Princess just a few weeks ago. And it has been available upon request all along so room stewards have still been in the hallway in the evenings for those rooms that requested it. I personally like it.

Your room steward will be in your hall every morning and every evening as they clean rooms and provide turn down service and so you are likely to bump into them a couple times a day. How much you interact with them beyond greetings is up to you and how often you need things from them.

Well said. As I type, I'm getting over covid I picked up during a cruise on another line last week. Three out of the eight in my group got it, in each case only half of a cabin - I can't even begin to guess why some got it and others didn't. I'm just glad that with vaccines our cases are mild. I wouldn't have made any different choices as far as our cruise goes and I can't wait to get back on a ship again. That is the choice I am making but we all have to make our own choices and be comfortable living with those choices.

They are usually e-mailed out on disembarkation day and they give you two weeks to complete it. Ours usually end up in the junk folder. Plenty of others report not getting it at all.

My guess is because of how long those cruises are especially when you add a B2B before it (likely 21 days or more), the risk goes up of Princess having to provide space for quarantine (and the added burden on crew to serve those in quarantine) and possibly medical care. With shorter cruises, a lot of people don't test positive until they are home and Princess is no longer responsible.

We were on the Caribbean Princess from June 18 - July 2 and not tested on turnaround day. Princess changed the wording on their website a number of weeks back to indicate they would only be doing B2B testing (at least in North America) when the second leg is a transatlantic/transpacific or full transit Panama Canal cruise.

On the Caribbean Princess I was told they didn’t go up but considering the mess of the transition to the new package and prices I don’t necessarily trust the answer I got. I wasn’t charged extra but there were other drinks last week that I thought I would be but wasn’t. Maybe someone this week will (or next) will have a clearer answer.

When we stopped there last month, we parked at a pier walking distance to Old San Juan and the forts - it's a super easy port to explore on your own.

A few weeks ago (right after the price increase), on the cruise planner the price to upgrade from classic to premium was $16.80 (including gratuity) per person per day for my spring 2023 cruise, now it is $17.10 (including gratuity) for that same cruise and I see the FAQ now mentions an upgrade price of $18 (including gratuity). I have no idea what price to believe. I become elite after a cruise this fall so have held off purchasing the upgrade for next year's cruise but maybe I should have just bought it earlier.....

Celebrity does not even require both people to buy a package. One can have no package and the other can buy the classic. Or one can buy the classic alcohol and the other the premium alcohol. Unlike some other cruise lines, Celebrity treats each guest in the stateroom separately when it comes to drink packages. There is no need to both buy the same and then upgrade one. Each person should just buy the package they want (or no package) from the start. Source: Celebrity Drink Package FAQ and personal experience - https://www.celebritycruises.com/faqs/beverage-packages Does everyone in my stateroom need to buy a Drink Package? No, all packages are for single guest use and cannot be shared by multiple people.

The two servers at Vines didn't have a menu on the Caribbean Princess last week and didn't really know what was covered by what package. I saved screen shots in a sub-folder (Vines-New) in this Google Drive folder but the QR code link where I took those screen shots only worked for part of the first day (June 25) so I don't know that it is accurate at all. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12whWAkXXP7K8Al6zWXT09134H-8PwZdr With regard to wines, I tried cross-referencing the various menus to see if I could figure out what their house wines might be and couldn't come to any conclusions. I also don't think they had gotten in stock many of the new wines that are on the menus I could find so I don't think anything I saw last week is representative of what the beverage package will look like next month or later this year. Hopefully people on the cruises to come will report back on their experiences.

No, Celebrity does not require both people to have the same package. And there is no difference to pay when you are talking about non-alcoholic drinks because there is no dollar limit for individual drinks on either package. So if something isn't covered (like Perrier on the Classic package), you pay the entire amount plus gratuity. The rule about paying the difference only applies to alcoholic drinks for those with the alcohol packages.

Previously both guests 1 and 2 had to book the same fare package (so if one booked Plus, the other also had to) but I remember that being worded more clearly in the Terms & Conditions/FAQ than what I now see (and what you quote). Maybe they have made a change recently that allows for certain exemptions. I'm curious if anyone else has any insight.

The question relates to the non-alcoholic packages (which don't have a dollar limit per drink - they just list the drinks that are covered). According to Celebrity's website, the Classic Non-Alcholic package includes premium coffees. The Premium Non-alcoholic package includes specialty coffees. I would assume both premium and specialty coffees would be from Cafe al Bacio as I don't know where else you get pay coffees on the ship. It could be that Celebrity is just interchanging two different words that have the same meaning.

For non-alcoholic beverages not covered under the package you have you pay the entire amount. There isn't any specific dollar limit for non-alcoholic drinks. They just list what is included in each package. I can't tell you what the difference though is between premium and specialty coffee.

On the Caribbean now and it is not working. Servers don't know what is covered and don't even always have the new menu (like Vines). Things listed on new menus aren't available yet. Charges (or a lack of charges) on our account don't match what we expect based on the drinks we ordered (except for an issue with lattes and frappes for a minor with a Coffee & Soda package, the charges have been less than we expected so we haven't complained). They weren't ready for this rollout and its going to take more than a couple weeks to work the kinks out (at least on the Caribbean).