phoenix_dream

Sounds like you're insinuating I don't understand this. I certainly do. My point is we get mixed messages. And while our own doctors know our health history, etc., and may be extremely capable in their own right, they are not necessarily experts in the field of viruses which the doctors I am referencing are.

These are expert doctors affiliated with some of the top hospitals in the country. Would never rely on a newscaster for sure.

And yet the medical experts on the news in the Chicago area recommend not to wait. I guess if I was confident in my own doctor I would follow their advice, yet at the same time it means ignoring the advice of very respected, highly ranked medical experts. The bottom line is that no one knows for sure

And with this latest variant causing symptoms in as few as 2 days you might have picked it up on the trip home. No way to know for sure.

There was a big sign at our Vancouver Eclipse embarkation that no plastic bottles were allowed and soda cans or canned water were limited to 6. Never saw that before so don't know if it was a Celebrity thing or a Canadian thing.

Are you willing to share the company? That sounds awfully inexpensive for that much coverage

Not true. It spreads primarily through air but according to the CDC as well as the Canada equivalent of same there is a risk on surfaces albeit much lower

Insurance may reimburse you but it doesn't make travel arrangements for you, at least none that I know of. I'm expecting that's what they meant

That's a valid point. At the same time. Celebrity skews towards an older crowd which I'm thinking (,perhaps incorrectly) makes it less likely that there are many asymptomatic cases. I believe there are a good number that won't self-report. But there were enough to push most ships into orange status when that was a thing. I know it didnt take many to reach that level. I think though that the big issue is the media. At any hint of a decent sized breakout the media will go bonkers again and make it seem like the world is ending. That's the real issue I think.

You don't catch a cold from cold and wet conditions. You catch a cold (or Covid or whatever virus) by being in contact with someone who is ill. Just because you and maybe some others in your FB group got sick doesn't mean it is nothing more than theater. It helps (the key word being helps, and not prevents) keep the numbers onboard down. It is not perfect and never will be. The cruise lines cannot take the chance of another large outbreak like those in early 2020. The press coverage would sink them (pun intended). I do think testing will go away sometime soon, but I also expect them to continue to require vaccines and maybe even boosters to keep the severity of the illness reduced.

I love Aqua Class, primarily for Blu. But in this case I agree with those who say keep that cabin specifically for the views. Going through the Inside Passage in particular is beautiful and you will have great optics. Any other cruise I would move to Aqua because of Blu.

I have sailed Celebrity on 65 cruises. I generally eat at the buffet for a light lunch daily, and on occasion have eaten there for breakfast. While I can't say I've never seen some of the "disgusting" buffet habits people talk about I can honestly say it is very rare. Most people, especially these days, are very aware of food safety issues. In 65 cruises I have never (to my knowledge) caught any kind of disease from eating at a self-serve buffet. While I would prefer a crew-served buffet in the Covid era as just an extra measure of safety, I would not hesitate to eat there still (and have on my 8 cruises since restart last year). And for the record, I occasionally will grab a french fry or potato chip off my plate while I'm browsing (without touching my fingers to my mouth). Not sure why anyone would find that offensive, but whatever....

We always send out laundry the first day as we arrive to port several days early, and have done so on many, many cruises. We also have sent out laundry up to 2 days before ending. They don't iron your clothes unless you pay extra and don't claim to. The clothes are washed in hot water and dried in a hot dryer for sanitary reasons unless you tell them otherwise (or so I've been told, haven't tried that). We have been sending laundry out for years, on literally 30+ cruises, and only one item was ruined - a pair of black socks was faded. Your choice of course, but we will continue to send out our washable clothes - t-shirts, underwear, pj's, etc.

Agree. I'm 70 years old now and in reasonably good health. So how long would I wait? I don't know how many more years I can stay healthy and cruise, which I love. Pre-vaccination was one thing, when the chances of me being seriously ill were much higher. And even now, I also freak out about the possibility of catching Covid and having to quarantine, but I've sailed 8 times since restart anyway and will continue to do so. Hoping my luck holds out but if not I'll figure out a way to manage. As long as I am not likely to get deathly ill, I need to live my life while I still can. To the OP's question - the main thing I tell myself is even if 5% of people catch it on the ship, that means that 95% don't. I hope to remain in that 95%!

Then let me tell you a story about a now infamous spring break cruise on Connie a number of years ago. Sailing out of FLL, we had 700 kids onboard from two local colleges - so a lot of them knew each other. It was before all included, but near the beginning of drink packages. The 21+ were buying shots for their under 21 friends and dumping them in refillable cups. You couldn't use the pools as they completely commanded them. There were shouting matches in the MDR across the tables. Drunk teenagers were running down the hallways at night randomly knocking on doors and shouting. Girls in bikinis so tiny you could hardly see them were gyrating on top of lounge chairs at the pool. I personally noticed at least one drunken maiden needing to be wheelchaired back onto the ship. A couple of young men were disembarked in Cozumel for breaking pool furniture (bet that was an interesting call home to their parents!). The senior staff actually held a meeting mid-cruise called "taking back the ship". They strengthened control of the drinking habits and I don't know what else but it got better after that.

Wow - when was this? Cartagena has a beautiful area at the port with a lot of tropical birds, a little shopping, plenty of shade, restrooms, etc.. I know once you walk to the ship boarding area it is not nearly as nice so I'm guessing that's where you were?

The point is that these items were always included as a part of what you pay for in suites, which is a considerable amount of $$. People booked suites on future cruises expecting this to be included and now it is not. At home I also have to pay if I want someone to come to my home and clean. Should I now be having to pay the room steward an extra charge for cleaning my suite? If I had a pool, I'd likely be paying someone to come clean and maintain that as well. Should I be charged for that onboard? Just a couple of examples. It always was, and should remain, included in the price of the fare. That's my opinion. We are free to disagree.

I don't disagree as to the reasoning. What I don't like is the continued nickel and diming approach. One of the nice things about Celebrity was always that it was more classy than many of the other mid-stream lines. This was particularly true in suite class especially since LLP took over. To me some of the little (and not so little) extra charges are just plain tacky. Suite prices are already sky high on most sailings and have been completely booked on most sailings since re-start even when other capacities were much lower. I may be alone in this but I would rather they just add a few $$ to cabin prices than take a piece by piece approach.

You have to test within 2 days, and your boarding day doesn't count as a day. So for a September 11 cruise you can test on the 9th or 10th. You do not need to test before leaving the ship, nor do you need to test to fly to the US. And while it's possible that Celebrity may cease testing before then, it likely won't apply to this cruise as Canada tends to be more strict about Covid and they may still require the 2 day testing.

That was one of my first thoughts when reading the original post. Yes, it's hot. That was known before anyone decided to get off the ship. If it's too hot for you, then you have the option to stay onboard. And in the example of waiting in line for an hour, no one is forcing anyone to do that. Until final boarding time you are free to wander and take care of yourself. I can only assume the people in line had the ability to walk over to said craft fair and find some shade and drinks? Yes, tendering can be a pain. But it's a choice. You can't always assume you'll have mini yachts to comfortably take you to and fro. If the Captain suddenly has to move the ship it's not being done for serendipity - there is a reason. It's a pain for them as well. And I'm not clear what you expected the Celebrity tender crew to do as this was an unanticipated event, and they had no chairs, shade, or drinks to offer. If in the future you want to pick cruises without tender ports or stay onboard, that is certainly your choice.

I agree. Also, there are no priority boarding lines any more for anyone except suites and Zenith members.

I agree. The suite prices are usually very steep to begin with. To charge extra, let alone that much extra, for those items is out of line IMHO.

100% agree! We always do this, and never more important than flying these days.

I have very mixed feelings about the test/don't test. How many positive people does it prevent from coming onboard? Only the cruise lines know and they aren't telling. If it's a significant number then they would be very foolish to cancel the testing requirement. If not, then it is a lot of stress for little value. We need to keep in mind that another huge outbreak would make the news in seconds and there goes their reputation again, like 2020 all over again. They can't risk that. I wouldn't want to be a cruise line CEO these days! At the very least, I'm hoping that if someone gets sick, they are allowed to quarantine in their room like they can with norovirus. That alone would make it much less stressful. I think more people would be honest about potential symptoms if they knew they wouldn't be moved.

And maybe this is stating an obvious point, but if the OBC is from a travel agent you can't use it ahead of time. Only Celebrity OBC can be used. The TA OBC doesn't get posted until onboard.