dan722

On 3/23/2022 at 1:18 PM, shel003 said:

So since posting this question, I’ve done a TON of research and am scheduled to go in June 2023.

 I’ve found that unless you can transfer out of your chair, the best accessible excursions are booked through the cruise line.  I don’t know what celebrity offers, but Princess (who I’ll be sailing with) offers quite a few choices.  I plan to go to the Totem Pole park in Ketchikan and then roll around Creek Street on my own.  In Juneau, we’ll be doing a whale watch and visiting Mendenhall Glacier.  I did read about an accessible helicopter tour here, but you won’t be able to get out onto a glacier.  In Skagway, the train is accessible and I’ve heard the town is very accessible to your on your own.  I booked a private tour with tours by locals, but I can transfer to a regular vehicle as it’s not lift equipped.  I believe Icy Strait Point is a tender stop so not sure how accessible it will be.
 

As for warmth, I’ve heard to dress in layers as weather is unpredictable.  Having water proof outer layers is also key.

 

I hope this helps!

Thanks... i've found somethings too. I am trying to get the whale watch through Celebrity, but they have yet to reply even though the tour provider says it's accsssible. Also doing the train in Skagway.

I would   be grateful for any info on private accessible tours in JUNEAU, SKAGWAY, ICY STRAIT POINT, KETCHIKAN, and VANCOUVER

will be cruising on celebrity in August of  2022. 

I am a full-time power wheelchair user. We have cruised many times but only in the Caribbean.
I'm also interested in what type of warm clothes might be needed.

Thanks in advance.

4 hours ago, jelayne said:

I haven't been on the Silhouette but thought the Retreat Sundeck was 2 levels 15 & 16 is there another Retreat Deck?

You are correct, the Retreat is on 15 and 16. But since I use a wheelchair there was no way to get to 16.

4 hours ago, vms said:

Thank you for this info! I was planning the HOHO bus tour in Cartagena through the cruise line so I wouldn't have to get a taxi, so it is helpful to know that I would need a taxi anyway.

I think if you buy the ticket from celebrity they also take you downtown. But I'm not sure about.

Just a brief review of our recent cruise to the southern Caribbean. We sailed from Port Everglades on March 7. On the Silhouette.
The captain only referred to himself as Capt. George so I'm not sure of his full name. We were told by a staff member
that the ship was 35 to 40% full. The number she quoted was 1160. It was shocking to see usually crowded spaces
nearly empty. The captain twice in the 11 days we were on board mentioned COVID cases. The first time he said
but the number of positives was less than 1%. The other time towards the end of the cruise you mentioned that
the positive numbers were up to about 1%. He also mentioned that most were crewmembers. That really surprised me
because you rarely saw any staff person or crewmember without a mask.

We had won a move-up offer to a sky suite so this was a new experience. How amazing!
We were beginning to feel a little too pampered towards the end of the cruise because the crewmembers
were so attentive and determined to meet our every last need and that seemed a bit much at times.
It was a very nice experience. This was our 15th cruise on celebrity, and was thoroughly enjoyable.

We did eat in lumenea. The food was excellent but we were a bit disappointed that the menu had
fewer options than the MDR or Blu. Typically we sail Aqua class and are very happy in Blu.
We did eat in Blu one night, Tuscan Grille one night, Murano one night, and Qusine one night.
The service was good and all of these restaurants, and a little better in the suite restaurant.
I will say that after dining in Murano for so many years it really could use some updating.
I don't think we would dine there again unless we were certain that the menu had changed with some new items.

The retreat deck was nice but totally lacked any shade whatsoever. Unless you got one of the two shaded cabanas you were out of luck.
The retreat sundeck did have ample shade. The retreat lounge was very nice. Great service and wonderful staff. Disembarkation
from the retreat lounge is the easiest I have ever done.

We did get off the ship in Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, and Cartagena. We were hoping to use the hop on – hop off bus
in Cartagena but the bus no longer comes to the port. You can purchase tickets from celebrity or several online
places. But to use the ticket you must take a taxi to downtown Cartagena.
On the islands we did our own exploring. Interesting things to do in all of these three little islands.
We also stopped in the Bahamas but did not get off the ship.

We didn't attend any of the shows in the theater. There was typically one or two every night.
The other on board entertainment was pretty good, bands and an a cappella group.

For some reason most of the cruise was extremely windy. And since this was our first cruise sense 2020
I don't know if that is unusual or not. Otherwise the weather was about as perfect as you could ask.

I would encourage anyone who is thinking of cruising anytime soon to go for it. I think you are likely to experience
a greatly reduced passenger load.

Thanks for all the help!

We will be sailing next week and I am wondering if anyone can tell me if there is a requirement as to how you show your test results from the COVID 19 test?
Do they have to be printed? Is it okay just to show them on your phone? I know the vaccine card has to be in the celebrity app and the original copy, but I have
not seen any information on if the virus test result has to be shown or available in a certain way. Any experiences from recent cruises?

Thanks, Dan

• Ship: Silhouette
• Length of Cruise: 11 days
• Cruise Sail Date: March 07. 2022
• Date email offer received: Feb 10
• Captain’s Club Tier : Elite
• Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA: Celebrity Direct
• Current Cabin: Aqua Class
• Bid?  Yes/No: Yes

If YES -  Bidding Details:

• Cabin Category: Sky Suite
• Bid Offer:  $1,000pp
• Notification Date: Feb  24, 2 022
• Accepted / Rejected: Accepted

Has coronavirus gotten any better or worse?

Any information you find regarding the coronavirus situation would be very helpful.
And since you are on the silhouette which we will be cruising on in March, any
information on current state of the ship would be great. Looking forward to following!

Dan

13 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

We had one case on the 12/4-12/11 sailing and two or three on the 12/11-12/18.  
Of course there was 1071 passengers and 1070 crew on the first sailing and 982 passengers on the second.   The sailings after that, Christmas and New Years were much more crowded.

 

Thanks for that information John. I am very curious how many will be on our early March cruise.
Just by looking at what's still available on this cruise seems pretty full. But there's no way I know of
to find if Celebrity is booking the whole ship or reserving some space for quarantine or to keep
the crowd smaller. With the coronavirus situation seemingly improving drastically in most areas
I am optimistic that we will be cruising in March.

Dan
 

3 hours ago, jalves said:

1 - 

We sailed on the Reflection 1/29/22 sailing:

1.  Not quite sure what you are asking.  When we boarded the ship we heard that they had gone 10 sailings without a reported case.  Unfortunately on this sailing there were 2 cases reported.  It didn't affect our attitude towards the ship at all.

 

2  I didn't notice any distancing special situations.  It may be that the ship being only ~1/3 full didn't result in overcrowding.  Everybody wore masks when in interior spaces of the ship other than when you were eating/drinking.

 

3.  Non whatsoever.  

Thanks,sounds hopeful.

3 hours ago, jalves said:

1 - 

We sailed on the Reflection 1/29/22 sailing:

1.  Not quite sure what you are asking.  When we boarded the ship we heard that they had gone 10 sailings without a reported case.  Unfortunately on this sailing there were 2 cases reported.  It didn't affect our attitude towards the ship at all.

 

2  I didn't notice any distancing special situations.  It may be that the ship being only ~1/3 full didn't result in overcrowding.  Everybody wore masks when in interior spaces of the ship other than when you were eating/drinking.

 

3.  Non whatsoever.  

good to know. I just remember reading about double digit cases  in January and lots of quarantining. Want no part of that.

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 We are scheduled on an ABC islands cruise departing March 28th on Silhouette. 

 

 1. Right now Celebrity's policy is on their website as was linked earlier.  Mask are required in the terminal ashore, in the casino, in the theater, and maybe other areas where social distancing may not be possible.  We will comply with whatever the rules may be and may even go above and beyond by wearing our mast in public places and we will also do social distancing unless it is impossible. 

 

We sailed on a B2B on Reflection in December.  Mask were not required onboard but we wore ours frequently.  The only time I felt uncomfortable was when we were in the casino at the roulette table so the mask rule in the casino is a precaution that I believe is justified. 

 

2.  I do not believe the current mask requirement has any negative impact on our cruise ambiance.  We tend to keep to ourselves for the most part and enjoy a lot of relaxing times on our balcony or at one of the lounges.  Having to wear a mask is a minor inconvenience in our opinion.  

 

3.  Having done two past ABC island cruises we do not anticipate any problem doing what it is we want to do on the cruise.  We may take some shore excursions, either private or through the ship, or we may not.  We typically play it by ear unless there is an activity we really want to do on or off the ship. 

 

Thanks, great to hear this.

7 minutes ago, canderson said:

@dan722

I noticed that you asked the following in another post:

 

"Have you been able to get off the ship and wander around the city?

We will be sailing in March and wondering what to expect."

 

Under current circumstances, and although March seems very soon to you, it's a long way off in terms of what may or may not be happening then with regard to specific ports.  All here are advised to stay tuned to the following Celebrity web page which is updated frequently with specifics for many ports:

 

Scroll down to "While Ashore".   You'll find each of the ABCs mentioned there with current status.

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/us-travel-requirements

 

 

Great idea, will do.

2 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

OP....

 

1.  This was taken from Celebrity's WEB site...

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/health-and-safety

 

2.  Sailed in July, at the start up.  So, the requirements were quite new and they were seeing how it all worked out.  Most self serve areas (i.e. Buffet) are no longer self serve.  Crew is serving.  Personally, I liked that change.  Other than that, our sailing(s) embarked about 40% capacity.  That number has fluctuated probably 5% up or down, generally speaking. So, distancing really wasn't a "thing".  Plenty of room for everyone to spread out.  The "Silent Disco" was probably the exception, but was fun and no one that I am aware of contracted anything.  Thinking the curtailed capacity is going to end sooner than later.  So, enjoy the limited capacity sailings while you can.  

 

3.  No issues  or hesitations doing anything on board or on shore.

Thanks for that information! I'm hoping for a small crowd in our sailing also.

yes, I have seen several, mostly a while ago.  Hoping for some more recent information, but anything is helpful.

Could you please comment on the situation with the coronavirus on the ship?

Have a mentioned anything about people with positive tests or quarantining?

Have you been able to get off the ship and wander around the city?

We will be sailing in March and wondering what to expect.

Thanks for your time!

Thanks for that information. Hoping fora similar cruise.

More responses

Being fully aware of cruise critics recent decision to prevent people from posting opinionated comments regarding Covid 19, I would like to ask the following questions.

1. What is the current status as you know it on any celebrity cruise ship that you have or are sailing regarding coronavirus?

2. Can you describe what the cruise ambience is like regarding distancing and mask wearing?

3. Do you have any hesitation about doing usual cruise activities?

Any other comments would be greatly appreciated. Please do not criticize anyone or give any information that is less than factual.
In March we are hoping to take a cruise to the ABCs that was originally scheduled March 2020. I really want to take this cruise but also have an idea of
the possible risks or lack thereof.

Thanks in advance.

THANKS

42 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Online only I believe.

 

Here is the link to the Optum store where Celebrity has teamed up with to provide 2 or 3 packs.

https://store.optum.com/celebrity-cruises/

 

You can buy them from www.emed.com as well in a 6 pack which is a bit cheaper per test.

 

Both are proctored by Emed.

We will be cruising in March. I am wondering where we can buy the protored tests. I can find the home tests but there is no proctoring metioned. 

Not much more to add. I was kind of expecting this. Just got the email 30 minutes ago.

Thanks to both of you for your replies. We are looking forward to this new ship. I'm curious how celebrity thanks people will find out the things you have mentioned without posting them on a forum like this?

I would've never even thought anything about choosing dining in advance or using an app to check in and do other things.

One more question regarding dining, if you reserve dining at a certain restaurant, for a certain night what if you change your mind? Also is it necessary to choose/reserve all of your nights dining before even trying the various options?

What if I reserved Cyprus for one night and realized I really liked the food and wanted to try it again. I wouldn't know that until after I had been in the dining and would lessen my chances, I assume, for booking that venue again. Is there other things to know about this whole process?

Thanks for your time!