brontravel

Early 40s.  I'm married and have two young adult children.  I gave up asking husband and friends to cruise with me.  So I cruise mostly solo now.  And I prefer it this way.  

15 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just talked with one of the assistant CDs and he said Celebrity is capping their booking capacity at 70% right now. No estimate as to when it will go higher. That means the Apex maximum capacity right now is about 2037 passengers.

Interesting. I spoke with Retreat land concierge yesterday and was told they are still capped at 50%. I told her I had heard otherwise and she even double checked with her manager. 

On 10/19/2021 at 6:05 PM, scottbee said:

Oh the delicious irony that Canadians with mixed vaccines are considered fully vaxxed, but potentially an American with a 14day Pfizer/Pfizer wouldn't be.   I can't see that staying in place..

 

That timeline is only for mixed doses. 

On 10/4/2021 at 10:09 PM, macmax said:

It's because MSC requires that everyone carry Covid insurance and Canadians can't purchase any as long as the Level 4 Avoid Cruise Ship Travel is in place. 

Except that there are multiple insurance companies offering Covid insurance even while there is an advisory in place. 

9 hours ago, cnkgirl said:

Hi Brontravel is there a chance you could email me so I could ask you a couple of questions my email is cnkgirl@telus.net

Email sent. 

4 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I have a related question to Canadians that are traveling.  How are you able to get travel insurance with a travel advisory in place?  Thank you.

I called many many different insurance companies and finally found that Johnson insurance would cover for Covid even while an advisory was in place. 

Update:  I boarded the Celebrity Edge in Fort Lauderdale last Saturday with my two doses of AZ and had no issues. They even let me stay an extra week. Sailing past Cuba as we speak. 🙂

I printed my receipts I received by email from Ontario government and they were accepted to board last Saturday on Celebrity. 

Just now, cnkgirl said:

Thank you all for your responses but I just spoke to another travel agent that said Astra Zeneca is not approved for cruising because they follow the CDC guidelines 😞 i’m going to talk to my celebrity cruise planner tomorrow hopefully I will find out something different 🤞

Please call Celebrity directly. There is nothing in the CDC guidelines that says AZ is not an accepted vaccine. It just was never approved by the FDA for emergency use in the USA. I am a travel agent. I was told by my Celebrity Cruise sales rep that it wasn’t accepted. She even went higher up to confirm. Came back and said the same thing. But I was certain they were wrong because if it wasn’t accepted their website would list it specifically like they did with the other brands. 

Hi there. There were no questions asked when I boarded with my two doses of AstraZeneca. They even let me stay an extra week. Lol. I had received conflicting information but as it got closer I called again and had two different celebrity reps tell me they would be accepted and that I was good to go. Was still a sigh of relief when they let me on. Lol. 

4 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Under the current GOC regs, you can not fly into Canada for 14 days if you have tested positive. So if a Canadian passenger tests positive, I really don't know what Celebrity would do. As you can enter Canada by land, I'd ask them to fly me to the airport closest to the port of entry nearest my home. I could then cross into Canada, get a ride home from a family member and go through the mandatory self-isolation period at home. That approach, of course, isn't feasible for those living far from a port of entry. Then the options for both you and Celebrity become far more limited.

 

Like @ilovetotravel1977, I've seen no reporting as yet of any Canadians faced with this predicament.

I believe that the rule only applies to commercial airlines. I’m sure they wouldn’t deny a Canadian coming in via medical transport, or a private plane. Whether or not you are actually allowed to go home from the airport you land in would be another question. You might be stuck going into a quarantine hotel. 

Well here’s hoping mine is okay. It looks just like that but all hand written. My husband had the same thing last week and was able to use it to fly so I think I’m fine there. 

Thank you for sharing. I just got my negative antigen test results from Shoppers and it’s a little less official looking than I expected. Just a form with written out personal information and then the pharmacist wrote the testing info, result and signed. There is a Shopper’s Drug Mart sticker on it with my name and receipt of payment that makes it seem a bit more legit. Just wasn’t what I was expecting. Is this what you had as well?

Celebrity just changed their policy to two days prior for testing as well. It starts September 13th. 

12 hours ago, MR_T said:

Yes understand that but the current advisories are avoid all non-essential travel & all cruise travel outside of Canada so wouldn’t that exclude emergency medical for any travel anywhere these advisory’s are in place? 

Your best bet is to call an insurance advisor directly.  But all travel advisories are backed by a reason for those advisories.  So there are policies out there that will cover you as long as your illness/injury is unrelated to the advisory.  As far as cruising goes, it gets more difficult as some companies do not like that Avoid All Travel Level 4 advisory.  But it doesn't mean that all companies are denying coverage.  I have a travel policy with my hubby's work, they wouldn't commit to any coverage so I sought out more extensive coverage.  I would suggest companies like Manulife or Johnson to call and have your questions answered.  

5 minutes ago, MR_T said:

But dosent this exclude general medical emergency coverage? (non-covid) 

It only excludes medical emergencies that are related to the travel advisory. But then states that the exclusion doesn’t apply to Covid. 

46 minutes ago, scottbee said:

For those with mixed AZD1222 (AstraZeneca/Covishield/Vaxzevria), I'd like to offer up the following good news email I just received from Celebrity:

----
 

 

Hello Everyone,

 

Please Note that AstraZeneca and Covishield are one in the same – both are AstraZeneca. This combination is NOT considered a mixed dose and is accepted for sailing so long as the guest is fully vaccinated and received their second dose at least 14 days prior to sailing.

 

 

 

 

xxx xxxx

Celebrity Cruises Reservation Representative

Celebrity Cruises  |  Trade Sales & Support

email: xxxx@celebrity.com

Consumer Website: http://www.celebritycruises.com
Travel Partner Website: http://www.cruisingpower.com
Servicing Phone Number: 800-437-3111

 

Excellent!  Thank you for sharing. I emailed a couple weeks ago and am still awaiting a response. I do like to have things in writing. 

On 8/23/2021 at 10:27 AM, Robjame said:

Our group travel insurance is through Johnson. I called today (August 23) to verify coverage and the answer has changed since I phoned about 3 months ago.

 

"As long as the Canadian advisory is to avoid ALL cruise travel, Johnson will not cover us for health insurance for cruise travel."

I don’t know if it varies from plan to plan or province to province but I just purchased a plan with Johnson (not through a group) and received my 2021/22 booklet. This is how it is noted in the exclusions.  Am I misunderstanding this?  I read it that I will have Covid related medical coverage even if there is an advisory. It says nothing of the advisory level. 

14. Any medical condition you suffer or contract, or any loss you incur in a specific country, region or area while a travel advisory of “Avoid non-essential travel” or “Avoid all travel” is in effect for that specific country, region or area and the travel advisory was issued by the Government of Canada before your day of departure, even if the trip is undertaken for essential reasons.This exclusion only applies to medical conditions or losses which are related, directly or indirectly, to the reason for which the travel advisory was issued.
If the travel advisory is issued after your day of departure, your coverage under this insurance in that specific country, region or area will be restricted to a period of 10 days from the date the travel advisory was issued, or to a period that is necessary for you to safely evacuate the country, region or area, after which coverage will be limited to medical conditions or losses which are unrelated to the reason for which the travel advisory was issued, while the travel advisory remains in effect.
For Emergency Medical Insurance benefits, this exclusion does not apply to medical conditions or losses related to Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), even while a travel advisory related to COVID-19 is in effect.

First rep from Celebrity told me no to two doses of AZ. Decided to wait a few weeks and call again. This time I’m being told yes, it’s fine. I sail September 11 so I guess I will find out soon enough. I did also double check in the vaccine receipt portal and both my doses say AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. 

I looked into insurance with Johnson Medoc. The policy sounds promising. But will be calling for confirmation after I review the entire booklet. 

4 hours ago, LouCoop said:

Vaxzevria is the same as Oxford but what I forgot to mention was that my first dose was Covishield.

On my provincial proof of vaccine it says AZdose1 and AZdose2 but the lot numbers are different.

On the written paper given by the nurse at vaccination center it says covishield for dose 1. 

My TA told me Romania are very strict with proof of vaccination she told me not to take any chances even though my proof of vaccine says AZ for both doses the lot numbers being different would probably not be accepted.

Hmm. Interesting. I’ve never received anything other than my email from Ontario government. Both say AZ. Lot numbers are different. Was never told it was any different. Now I may have to ask my doctor. 

21 hours ago, LouCoop said:

We had to cancel our Viking cruise, should have left today, because of my two AZ doses.

Some countries don't accept our AZ doses which was the case for Romania were we were starting our cruise. They only accept the one called Vaxszeria which was given out in the UK.

Because we have cancelled so many cruises since 2020 we decided to not book anything else in 2021. Our next booked cruise is in March 2022 with Princess. I do hope the whole situation with other countries and the US will be solved by then.

 

Isn’t Vaxzevria the same as Oxford AstraZeneca?   They just changed the name. So unless your vaccine says Covishield then you should be ok?

1 hour ago, tert333 said:

I was told today that AZ is fine for US cruises.   So if you have 2 AZ vaccines you should be good.  My DW has AZ and Covishield.   When she got the documents from the pharmacy, they both said AZ, but when she went onto the Ontario website, one said AZ and one Covishield.

Thanks. It’s my plan to call Celebrity again in a couple weeks because things might update or get better clarified. But I’m determined to cruise somewhere in September. On any cruise line. So if others are accepting it I guess I should be able to go somewhere. 

My receipts simply state AstraZeneca. I imagine that if it was Covishield that it would say so?   AZ is approved by WHO but Celebrity website does say that some countries they depart from require a specific vaccine. Many people were telling me that AZ wasn’t being accepted so I contacted a rep and she confirmed with me that it wasn’t accepted for US sailings. 

I have a cruise booked with Celebrity for September out of Fort Lauderdale. A rep told me that even with two doses of the same brand (AZ) I won’t be considered vaccinated on sailings out of the US?  Has anyone else been told this?  Their website doesn’t say this anywhere. Has anyone found a cruise line that has specifically said they will accept it?  I’m not giving up hope, as things have been changing week to week. But just curious if I might have alternative options out there.