Lagranger36

The information at the top of this thread is very outdated.

we just sailed on Oasis over thanksgiving (2022) and almost none of the above is true.

Current situation:

- no reservation

- no time limit / number of slots

- any time drop off

- no activities limitation

now, all this being said it was extremely busy and we often had to wait 15-30 minutes to get checked in.

From just two weeks ago, in addition to public ferry to Hamilton.

On 6/19/2022 at 4:33 PM, shof515 said:

where do you see 4 days out from embarkation? on ncl sail safe page says you get covid testing 2 days out
https://www.ncl.com/sail-safe#t4m1

 

the confusion here is that Bermuda requirements here: https://www.gov.bm/applying-bermuda-travel-authorisation says 4 days out. this is what caused the op confusion

Yeah, where I got confused is that the NCL site also directs you to country level requirements which “May supersede NCL requirements”, but I’m assuming that’s only if they are stricter.  We could have easily tested at the port for the same price ($75) but it was nice not having to wait until then to find out that we were all negative. 

11 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Oops, it's way too late for a Saturday afternoon to scramble for Antigen Rapid testing in NYC, assuming you are staying here overnight and/or arrived here already.  Yes, you will need to produce those negative test results as part of the check-in tomorrow.  NCL's pier testing partner, Euro Fins inside Pier 88 can do that for a fee, for your convenience, of course - #ouch #ouch.  I am doubtful that you can find any urgent care centers within the city that's open this evening & can provide the results quickly - also, for a fee.  

 

How many of you ??  If you can make it to one of the open & available mobile testing location in the morning, run by the NYC's Dept of Health's partners - they are free, for example - this one is on Lower East/Chinatown Manhattan - at Columbus Park, somewhere near Baxter Street & Bayard Street - usually parked near a fire hydrant.  They open at 8 am and will do both PCR and Antigen together, free & quick ... usually no lines or just a short one. 

 

You will need a mobile/smartphone and an email address to register & verify the SMS code, and additional immediate family members can enroll - results will/should be digitally available in 30 minutes (sometimes, take 45 to 60 minutes) - save the results in PDF format to smartphone, show that at pier check-in.  If there are 3 of you, this probably will save you easily $200 or more - even if you have take a taxi over or Uber it, back to the hotel or wherever you are staying nearby - and then, hustle over to Pier 88 for a midday check in. 

https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/covid-19-testing-sites/

 

Appeared you aren't on this Sunday's roll call or else the helpful folks there would've alerted you and possibly helped avoid this last minute "crisis"  Not that Walgreen's didn't have problems with their online systems & issuing test results ...  Good luck !  

Thanks but I was able at find a lab to take them this morning.  We would have been screwed either way because Walgreens still hasn’t gotten results back to us from Thursday.  Assuming no positives were home free

1 hour ago, MsTabbyKats said:

CityMD....urgent care and no fee if insured.  They'll give u a printout in less than half an hour.  My local one opens Sunday morning.

Thanks!  Was able to get in at Bloom Labs

My family and I are supposed to depart NYC for Bermuda tomorrow on NCL Joy.  I had originally gotten us all PCR tests on Thursday because I misread the requirement.  Now I read the NCL requirement and it looks like it needs to be within two days (Friday), whereas the Bermuda requirement says 4 days if it’s PCR.

Am I screwed?  Should I scramble to get us all antigen tests tomorrow? 

Hello - a question for you if you happen to stumble upon it.  Does the kids club seem to be open, and if so, is there any stipulation on ages? 

Hi - since you had a toddler with you, could you confirm whether or not there was the kid club available?  I've been reading online and it's hard to tell whether it's available at all, available for only 5+, or normal operations.

I'm headed for Joy on June 19th.  Thank you!

39 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

I'll do my best ::

Yes, sporting events are on all day at Craft Social. When we were on, it was NFL playoff weekend. I bet the games will be on at the Rooftop Garden as well. Soccer and hockey were on as well.

 

I do not recall seeing any video poker at the bar, but I wasn't looking specifically for them. 

 

There is no casino bar, it was converted to Craft Social. Slots that are in the casino bar on Edge are now a very big screen TV.

 

I believe there is a Texas Hold Em table. 

 

 

mac_tlc

Agree with all the above.

I’ve been in apex twice and both times they had a single TX Holdem table.  A couple of days they had tournaments in the afternoon and then there were cash games going each night around 730 or 8 until past 1:00 AM.

4 hours ago, foreverlost said:

I'd booked a 6 night cruise for my son and I for his 5th birthday, he's slated to turn 5 while we're on board and can't be vaccinated before the trip. We're going to Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. I logged in today to see that we can't even leave the ship unless we're on an excursion now? Can I essentially buy my way off with an excursion and then we can go explore, or are we going to have to be on the boat or an excursion the entire time? I'm not interested in spending 6 days on the boat, but having to be on constant excursions when we're not onboard sounds exhausting and miserable for both of us, not to mention expensive. I feel awful because he's super excited about the trip, but I'm starting to wonder if I should just cancel. It would be his first cruise and I've only been on two prior to this (music cruises and I didn't do any excursions, just wandered towns) so I'm out of my depth here, I'd be super grateful if those with more experience could weigh in!

Some of the ports will allow you to roam about after an excursion is over.  The reality is that the ‘bubbles’ are mostly theater.  If you get dropped off at a beach or downtown for two hours you’re going to interact with countless dozens of people. We had our two toddlers on a ship a few weeks ago and it was pretty much a joke.  

1 minute ago, vandy said:

Sooo are more people cancelling bc they don’t want to wear a mask or bc they are worried about catching omicron ? 

Both, but not worried about catching it.  Worried about it disrupting the experience (e.g. being denied entry to a port, catching it and being quarantined, services declining because of it, etc.)

46 minutes ago, Ashland said:

You will receive an FCC.

This is incorrect.  I’m on a Dec 20 cruise and I just got a refund basis the change in protocol.  Took some urging but it happened.

Anyone have any experience with adventure ocean on freedom in the recent months or weeks?  
 

hearing that it’s pretty bad - just want to know what I’m in for

Thanks! 

I have brought my 5 and 3 year olds on Celebrity in the past month.  I’d say it’s completely fine and they’ll have a good time, but RCL will have way more to keep them entertained.  If you think of the waking hours between 7 am and 10 pm, it’s hard to fill it all up when the only real kids activities are the Kids camp and pool.  I think you’ll have more fun if your kids are more engaged/busy.  

7 hours ago, weregoingcruising said:

This looks like a full pay table. Is this what you have played on the ship? I thought they used short pay tables on the ship compared to a lot of Vegas casinos.

They do.  The better pay table is the 5-4-1 as opposed to 6-3-1.

UTH table is the worst table I’ve seen anywhere.  Trips pays 7-6-5-3 where most Vegas tables are 8-7-4-3.  Also, quads pays 20-1 as opposed to 30-1.

6 hours ago, little britain said:

What was the entertainment? I usually find on X it’s a bit arty - lots of arial activity…. I’m thinking as it’s a multicultural audience it will be visual rather than a comedian?

 

Im guessing no Brits on board due to Greece still being on our Amber list ( 10 days quarantine). 

They had a ‘tree of life’ show which was basically 45 mins of songs and singing around a tree with some aerial activity.

they also had a comedian (Steve Caouette”

lastly, they had a production show called “Rockumentary” which went back in time to a bunch of iconic rock performances (Woodstock, Monterrey, etc.).  It was really good.

Times we’re 7:30/9:30 except for the comedian which was at 10:45 for unexplained reasons.  We actually got to know him and it sounded like he was planning to negotiate earlier start times.

Few Brits/Europeans in this one overall.  Guessing they already had to be out of the UK to make it there.

10 hours ago, eckosd2 said:

Thanks for the info! Do they have an active roulette table? Any chance do you know if they use the standard 0/00? Do you know what the BJ table minimums are on board?

Active roulette yes and it’s double zero.

BJ minimums $10 at 6/5 pay for BJ.

Lastly WiFi is indeed awful… I did a day pass with my phone in port today and it’s way faster to be off WiFi. 

4 hours ago, ocdb8r said:

 

Read posts above, I mentioned there has been no request to wear masks while sunbathing or in the pool (this is consistent with Greece guidance on land). Walking to or from the pool areas, we wear masks....and always indoors unless eating or drinking (which is clearly applied liberally as just having food or drink in front of you seems to be sufficient justification for no mask).  For example, we wear our.mask while being seated for dinner, but are quickly given a small paper envelope to our them in and have them off through the whole service, whether we are actively eating or not.  It's really not very onerous. At shows, we're typically having a drink and thus don't wear our mask.

 

Agree with ATLJC, mask wearing was clearly the norm in Athens, but in Santorini and now in Mykonos, looking like 75% of locals not really bothering. Exception seems to be food establishments where masking is more common by staff.  But even inside Santorini shops, few staff wearing masks.  I spoken with one shopkeeper who said 90% of the island is vaccinated and they are ready to get back to normal.

 

A couple of ship notes:

 

Eden is a gorgeous space, but seems underutilized.... I suspect due to low passenger numbers (they are clearly trying to concentrate entertainment in fewer venues to encourage "decent" attendance.

 

Caravan was VERY enjoyable last night and we would see it again.  Short but sweet.

 

We upgraded to "stream" wifi and I think it's abysmal (for the pricing).  However, I suspect they actually prioritize the popular streaming "services" as they work well....but we purchased to get more usable "quick" wifi and for regular browsing I find it still very unsatisfactory (speedtest registers 2.5Mbs down).

 

Any other questions?

Just chiming in to confirm as I’m also on board and others may have noticed that I took an interest in this topic on other threads.  
 

‘Enforcement’ so to speak on the ship is light but most are computing so it’s not needed.  No one minds when you’re outside lounging, drinking, smoking, etc without a mask on.  Interestingly about half of the folks in the casino had no masks last night (sitting at tables even) yet no sign of enforcement.  Seems like the staff aren’t really interested in confronting anyone which I can understand given the full vax rate and low occupancy.

In port, the ship’s tour operators have been impotently trying to enforce mask wearing even outside.  However, when folks saw that 90% or so of locals and other tourists aren’t wearing them and it’s 90 degrees out compliance has quickly declined.  We went off on our own in Mykonos and never wore a mask until the boat ride back and never felt out of place nor did anyone say anything to us.  Restaurant employees commonly wore them but uncommon in shops.

I can report back on Cyprus and Rhodes but we feel comfortable not wearing them outside for the most part so far.  It’s amazing how annoying it now feels having not worn them for ~two months in the US.

I can oblige 

17 minutes ago, angelsil said:

 

This is where I'm at. I don't get the application of the mask ordinance on a fully-vaccinated ship. It just doesn't make sense to me. I'm not an anti-masker at all. I have no issue wearing them on shore or even indoors in situations where folks aren't vaccinated, even though I am myself. It doesn't stop me from vacationing as I did two vacations last year fully masked. But the whole point of having a vaccinated ship is to make masks and social distancing unnecessary.

 

 

I was planning on booking this. It's not a deal breaker, but good to know. At least they're reaching out to you.

 

 

This - 100%. A lot of Celebrity apologists in this thread keep telling us to expect 'evolving situations' which is fair. But as things evolve, we aren't being told what and certainly not why. Is the masking rule on the ship a Greek requirement? We still don't know. It's all speculation in this thread.

 

The lack of communication creates confusion and distrust. The onus here is on the company to proactively inform their customers when changes are happening and, if they're being transparent, the reason behind the change. If I weren't on this board, I doubt I would even know that masks were being required on the ship because when I booked it the company line was very different. That's the level of poor communication we're dealing with and it speaks poorly to Celebrity.

I agree re: your points on Celebrity.  The way it was communicated on June 9 did not really suggest it was a ‘change’, despite their public messaging saying all cruises that were vaccinated would be mask free.  So, it’s unclear whether there’s a change in policy and why that is. Alternatively, it’s possible that was always the case (masks would be required on Greek home port cruises) and Celebrity made a mistake in their messaging or deliberately chose not to be transparent. 
 

Either way, there are likely hundreds of people who booked between early May and early June and made plans expecting an unmasked cruise. 

1 hour ago, yorky said:

I’m simply stating the position on mask wearing in the UK as it stands, it’s seen as one of the best ways, along with social distancing to help avoid cross contamination. We have to wear our masks at work at all times when driving and are still restricted to two individuals in a car with one sitting in the back seat. We are of course doing well on vaccinations but until everyone that wants to be vaccinated is I don’t see the rules on mask wearing changing. Even though I’ve had both jabs I’m happy to carry on wearing a mask if it helps stop me from passing it on to others, there is still not enough evidence to show you can’t still be a carrier of the virus yet show no symptoms yourself. I believe will will need to live with it, but we need to get everyone vaccinated before we drop our guard in my view.

It is patently false that there is not enough information on transmissibility.  There is ample evidence both empirical (studies of individuals shedding viruses and on outcomes (validated studies on spread of COVID in communities - the same way they confirmed vaccine efficacy). Try the CDC website.  Spreading this kind of information only prolongs the anxiety and discourages people to get vaccinated.

19 minutes ago, harkinmr said:

I don't disagree that as soon as we have reached an acceptable level of herd immunity in this country we will all have to move on from this.  But there may still be an unacceptable level of risk elsewhere in the world, and precautions and restrictions will continue whether we as Americans like it or not.  That we will have to be able to accept and live with as international travelers.

 

You have gone back and forth with a lot of posters here about masking protocols elsewhere in the world and how those protocols don't make sense or comply with US masking norms for fully vaccinated persons.  Then you want to travel to those other countries and impose US mores there, and somehow Celebrity is supposed to solve the conflict for you.  I don't think that is going to work well.  But, hey, best of luck with your campaign.  We'll be watching to see how it all turns out.

Ever hear of “obligation to dissent?”  You see something nonsensical, you speak up.  That’s all this is, I don’t expect the rule to change. If we all did that we’d have a much better critical thinking apparatus in this country. 

10 minutes ago, yorky said:

No, it’s required by law in many places unless you have an exemption. I can be sacked for refusing to wear one at work. My understanding is even two shots does not give 100% protection. We still have individuals admitted to hospitals who have been vaccinated. 

Hundreds of thousands of people get hospitalized with the flu each year yet we’re not masking up for that. The R0 and lethality of COVID while fully vaccinated is lower than that of most strains of the flu.  We can’t eradicate the flu and we probably won’t eradicate COVID.

 At some point we need to accept a level of risk and move on from this. 

4 minutes ago, HSTeacher1 said:

We have been preached to by our better for the last 16 months to follow the science, but now that the science says masks for vaccinated people are pointless we have moved on to personal attacks to coerce compliance.  

 

I have not worn a mask in a couple months, and I will not wear one with the exception of when I fly commercial (way too much for work).   And I only do that because of the law and I have to travel for work.  Not because it does a darn thing.

 

-Dan

I’m with you 100%.  I wear it in the couple situations where it’s required and not otherwise.