OysterD

Sheesh. Why should they do that. What has the cdc got to do with anything when it comes to a European citizen testing positive for covid in Europe, several days after they get home from a cruise on a Maltese flagged ship sailing in European waters? I guess some people are just never going to let this go are they. If you're so worried about covid, don't cruise. It's never going away, people will be catching covid on cruise ships (and everywhere else in life) forever more. The vast majority of people are just getting on with things now and not spending every waking moment worrying about something which currently has a mortality rate of less than 0.02%. Cruising has to get back to normal, at full capacity, with minimal or no restrictions (like everything else) otherwise the cruise lines all go bankrupt. If you don't like the idea of ships at full capacity, don't go. It's that simple.

A lot of people moaned when the UK government lifted all covid restrictions, dropped all self isolation requirements and stopped free testing, four months ago. These moaning people said "now isn't the right time". Luckily they were ignored and life here has largely been back to complete normality for the last 4 months. Again, if now isn't the right time to lift testing requirements for cruises, then when is? What will change in the next year or two? Everyone who wants to be vaccinated is already. There's nothing else that can be done. Maybe you're waiting for a miracle cure? In which case you'll be waiting an awful long time because we've had centuries to find a cure for the flu or common cold and there still isn't one. Should people have to test before they stay in a hotel? What's the difference between going on a cruise for a week or staying in say the Bellagio in Vegas or a Sandals resort in the Caribbean for a week? Are people upset if the Vegas resort hotels are operating at more than 50% capacity... my guess is no, so why are we even having a discussion about how awful it is that cruise ships are finally filling up and getting back to normal?!

That's what it was called, perks extra! I was going to post a question on here asking if anyone had noticed the package thing which will give upgraded drinks plus a few other things had disappeared, but I couldn't remember what it was called. So yes, I have noticed its disappeared for our Sept cruise also.

Covid has been around for just over 30 months now. Covid is going nowhere, it cannot be eliminated, it will always be around. Just like flu and colds. It's here forever. Do you think people should be tested for covid before boarding a ship forever more? You said its a bad idea having 40k people untested in a stadium, so do you think for the rest of our lives we should take covid tests every day before we do anything which involves interacting with other people? If you don't think we should have to take tests before cruising or going to a stadium etc for the rest of our lives, at what point should the testing stop? What will change in a year or 2 years? More than likely, nothing, so why not just stop the testing malarkey now?

I hope the opposite, why should cruise ships be the exception now. Tests aren't required for pretty much anything else, infact nothing else here in the UK at least.

Personally I'm glad to hear that the ship is crowded and busy! Life must get back to normal and sailing at half capacity or less for too long would ultimately mean none of us will be sailing at all a year from now when the company goes bankrupt!

We are booked on an 11 night Reflection cruise at the end of September. We are trying to decide whether to take advantage of the current 1st night discounts at either Murano or the Lawn Club but want to weigh up whether we would prefer to do a specialty restaurant on another evening depending on the nightly menu in Blu. The app currently shows menus for days 1-7 in Blu but then days 8-11 it shows as 'venue closed'. This far out from the cruise, are the menus shown in the app just guidelines or are they what will actually be served on nights 1-7 and then for some reason the other days just aren't showing up? If the menu for night 1 is accurate we would probably just rather eat in Blu and then choose another night for one of the specialty restaurants and forgo the 1st night discount. Thanks!

Looking at booking aqua cabins on Beyond for later this summer and noticed on the Celebrity website when you click on 'view gallery' of photos for an aqua stateroom, they have a couple of interior photos of Blu and also one photo/rendering (it's so hard to tell the difference sometimes!) of what looks like outdoor seating for Blu. The deck plan of Beyond seems to indicate there is a fair bit of outdoor deck space right outside Blu on deck 5 but it doesn't show any outdoor tables/chairs like it does for Eden just a little bit further down the deck from Blu. Anyone know or heard if Blu will be getting outdoor seating on Beyond, because if so, that would be brilliant. One of my favourite restaurants together with outdoor seating, perfect!