ABC Islands

[zwallace]

Merry Christmas to all cruise critic readers. It doesn't feel very merry reading the news this morning. I read Bonaire is requiring a negative test 48 hours prior to getting off at their island. I also read Aruba and Curacao refused Carnival passengers getting off at their islands due to having a small number of positives on board. We're supposed to sail to these 3 islands January 3rd. Asking for opinions as to whether you think Celebrity will even sail with this itinerary or instead change the ports, or perhaps just cancel the cruise entirely. Or maybe they'll start requiring everyone to mask up outside their cabins, not my idea of a relaxing vacation as I find myself gasping for air when I have one on. I'm thinking about canceling before the 48 hour window closes. Being from Missouri, it'll be a miracle if our flights don't get canceled anyway. I think I'm just done with trying to cruise. 

[WonderMan3]

5 minutes ago, zwallace said:

Merry Christmas to all cruise critic readers. It doesn't feel very merry reading the news this morning. I read Bonaire is requiring a negative test 48 hours prior to getting off at their island. I also read Aruba and Curacao refused Carnival passengers getting off at their islands due to having a small number of positives on board. We're supposed to sail to these 3 islands January 3rd. Asking for opinions as to whether you think Celebrity will even sail with this itinerary or instead change the ports, or perhaps just cancel the cruise entirely. Or maybe they'll start requiring everyone to mask up outside their cabins, not my idea of a relaxing vacation as I find myself gasping for air when I have one on. I'm thinking about canceling before the 48 hour window closes. Being from Missouri, it'll be a miracle if our flights don't get canceled anyway. I think I'm just done with trying to cruise. 

Cruises are going to continue to sail to these islands as long as they continue to have a ship-by-ship policy and are only turning away a ship with confirmed positive cases. Of course cases could appear onboard at anytime so it's a total crap shoot on whether you will make it to a port or not. Some islands may start to close their ports to all cruise ships soon but I imagine some will never do that in order to avoid a serious hit to their tourism economy coming into high season. You have to be comfortable with the fact that you may wind up on a sailing where you are forced to miss most or all ports.

Edited December 25, 2021 by WonderMan3

[jelayne]

I read in the morning paper that the Carnival Freedom was denied entry to both Aruba and Bonaire due to a undisclosed number of passengers and crew had the virus.  

[cruisestitch]

4 hours ago, zwallace said:

Merry Christmas to all cruise critic readers. It doesn't feel very merry reading the news this morning. I read Bonaire is requiring a negative test 48 hours prior to getting off at their island. I also read Aruba and Curacao refused Carnival passengers getting off at their islands due to having a small number of positives on board. We're supposed to sail to these 3 islands January 3rd. Asking for opinions as to whether you think Celebrity will even sail with this itinerary or instead change the ports, or perhaps just cancel the cruise entirely. Or maybe they'll start requiring everyone to mask up outside their cabins, not my idea of a relaxing vacation as I find myself gasping for air when I have one on. I'm thinking about canceling before the 48 hour window closes. Being from Missouri, it'll be a miracle if our flights don't get canceled anyway. I think I'm just done with trying to cruise. 

 

[davekathy]

1 minute ago, cruisestitch said:

🎱

My Magic 8 Ball says the same exact same thing. 🎱

Edited December 25, 2021 by davekathy

[cdn_tbird]

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

My Magic 8 Ball says the same exact same thing. 🎱

It's an 8 Ball Conspiracy... Mine says that every time I ask "Will I will the lottery" 😄😄😄

 

[davekathy]

6 minutes ago, cdn_tbird said:

It's an 8 Ball Conspiracy... Mine says that every time I ask "Will I will the lottery" 😄😄😄

 

I trust my Magic 8 Ball. I received it 63 years ago today. 🎅I'm older but... 

[Lastdance]

I just scrathced off a Florida lotto ticket and got nothing.  Got it in a Christmas card.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Lastdance

[cdn_tbird]

2 hours ago, Lastdance said:

I just scrathced off a Florida lotto ticket and got nothing.  Got it in a Christmas card.

Should've checked your Magic 8 Ball... Could've saved you some time and effort. 😛

 

[son3cruisers]

Unfortunately, this is the reason why we cancelled our upcoming ABC cruise in March . Just too unpredictable right now. 

Like the previous poster said, if you are good with random port stops and don’t mind a change in schedule, enjoy being in the Caribbean and make the best of it. For us, we were really looking forward to finally visiting these specific ports.

We will wait and try again next year. 

[SNJCruisers]

I couldn't care less about ports in the Caribbean.  On a 12 day B2B on the Apex in January and a 14 day B2B on the Mardi Gras in February.  Am cruising for the ship and will not be getting off at any of the ports.  Am hoping that hundreds of people cancel so that the occupancy percentage will be slightly lower.

[zwallace]

Well I snagged the corner aft on this cruise so if we have negative tests and the  airline gets us to Florida, we're going to sail. I can be happy just lying out on that huge deck. We've been to Aruba and Curacao twice. I was looking forward to Bonaire for the snorkeling excursion but not a deal breaker.  I've went back and forth all day but have decided to go for it if we can. 

[neenee61]

I would be happy cruising to no where and going round and round in circles.  We are still a " no cruise ship country ' and not holding much hope  for my Eclipse cruises in Nov 2022 & April 2023.

Fingers crossed for the Edge 2023/2024 season.  Not really wanting to do long hauls to cruise at the moment. Blooming hard work cancelling, rebooking and trying to keep track.

Seasons greetings to all and praying for a kinder 2022

[Ipeeinthepools]

4 hours ago, neenee61 said:

I would be happy cruising to no where and going round and round in circles.  We are still a " no cruise ship country ' and not holding much hope  for my Eclipse cruises in Nov 2022 & April 2023.

Fingers crossed for the Edge 2023/2024 season.  Not really wanting to do long hauls to cruise at the moment. Blooming hard work cancelling, rebooking and trying to keep track.

Seasons greetings to all and praying for a kinder 2022

 

I hope you're wrong about the Eclipse cruises in early 2023. 🤞

[Ipeeinthepools]

5 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

I couldn't care less about ports in the Caribbean.  On a 12 day B2B on the Apex in January and a 14 day B2B on the Mardi Gras in February.  Am cruising for the ship and will not be getting off at any of the ports.  Am hoping that hundreds of people cancel so that the occupancy percentage will be slightly lower.

 

It's all about me.

[isdoo]

Currently heading towards the ABCs - not aware of any planned changes. 

 

[Purplsmurf]

Since Aruba opened up in July 2020 they have always required a negative PCR test (antigen not allowed for island entry) within 3 days of arriving on the island. Effective tomorrow, it will now be required within 2 days. It shocks me that since cruising has begun again that they haven’t required this testing for cruisers. Wonder if it will now change since their numbers are going up. As someone who frequents the island for our land vacay, We feel that EVERYONE should have to have a negative test upon arrival….jmo…

[neenee61]

I'm not feeling very confident at all. Our cruise pause is announced every 3 months or so. A good friend at PO Aust is still stood down with no restart in near future. For early 2023 cruises to go ahead I would think the Eclipse Would be here from Oct 2022 to April 2023, being our summer cruise period. Couldn't see them coming over for a shorter period,,,,,but het who knows in these crazy times. I know our government would be looking at any outbreaks of any ship so they can justify their 'no cruise ' rule.

[nocl]

9 hours ago, Dwight1 said:

My $. 02. With each passing day the number of cases on board will increase, even if only slightly. But these islands I think for political reasons are denying entry to ships quickly and at very low levels on the ships with excellent tracing snd quarantine procedures. By January the entry to many islands will be very problematic. My 2/21 cruise I made payment snd will see how it goes the first week of February. Right now I see the situation developing by then as less than 50% that I will go. I’ll cancel and get my FCC for my 2/18/23 cruise. I really appreciate Celebrity’s policy of FCC up to 48 hours before sailing and to use for a cruise within one year of your original sail date. My next cruise is 3 days less than the year!!!

Most of the Island locations have requirements for air  and small boat visitors to individually test before landing or in some cases soon after.

 

The cruise lines, because of their protocols, have had the ability to land passengers without having to test within the normal timeframe for others.  This is due to the high level of vaccination, together with the testing before boarding.  This was considered to be sufficient to keep the chance of Covid on board to be low.

 

Now that there are cases popping up in relatively large numbers, counting in 10's, not ones, they are putting more stringent requirements in place for ships with known cases.

 

Even though Mexico does not require tests of air visitors, in this case the ship did have identified cases.  Mexico sill would have allowed ships to visit in both Cabo and PV, if those ships, which had known cases of Covid, tested each passenger before allowing them ashore.  The ships declined.

 

Far to cumbersome and expensive for the ships to meet individual requirements of each location such as testing of each passenger going ashore.  Much easier for them to bypass the port and tell passengers that they could not land.

Edited December 27, 2021 by nocl