Jim_Iain – Silhouette Live Post April 8, 21, 30 - B3B - TransAtlantic, Portugal Spain, France and the Norwegian Fjords

[the penguins]

On 5/29/2022 at 12:49 AM, jrmende63 said:

@Jim_Iain I tested Positive when I was testing to come home to the US ( This was the same day I came off the Silhouette from the Norwegian Fjords cruise.) I sent my husband home as he tested negative. I was in self quarantine for 10 days at Sheraton Heathrow. I called Celebrity and the lady gave me an email to send the required docs to. I have done this and as they told you she said they would pay for 5 days. Does this sound like what you had to do? 

Hubby tested positive the day after he got back to the US. We were coughed on by a lovely American couple that were back to back on our cruise. Not covering their mouths ,  no masks and Obviously sick. 5 days later ....yep...I test positive.

I am sorry you did not get to do this Fjords with us. They were gorgeous.

Just a few points to clarify the interesting discussion on this thread.

We were on the Fjords Cruise (7 to 14 May) and the subsequent 12 night  Baltics cruise.

Fjords - passengers 2400, no attempt to social distance, very few masks and Covid cases amongst passengers reached just over 1%. No actual numbers announced. No testing for B2B passengers.

Baltics - passengers just over 1000 (more crew than passengers), no attempt to social distance, very few masks. By day 9 Covid cases amongst passengers had reached over 3% (the highest number announced was 37 passengers but after that nothing) Compolsary mask wearing in the theatre was introduced first followed by "strongly recommended" in all other indoor venues except when seated and or eating/drinking. Nothing was done to enforce the latter.

I believe if passengers were routinely tested at 7 days (as the crew are) Covid cases would way exceed the figures currently being announced.

Quarentining - the use of this phrase when referring to the UK is totally misleading. There are no requirements to quarantine in the UK - you are recommended to self isolate but are under no obligation to do so.

Disembarkation in Southampton - if you board a cruise in Southampton and disembark from the same cruise there are no Passport checks. This applies to all cruises not just Celebrity.

[Jim_Iain]

I suspect that the number of recent cases are related to the current strain of the virus.  My understanding is that even though milder symptoms it is more virulent.    

 

We are currently having a surge in Northern California (SF Bay Area) and have today surpassed the Fall Surge.  One of our 5 Counties imposed indoor mask requirements today. 

 

I would have to agree with your statement that if they tested all passengers at 7 days or even upon disembarkation you would see a much higher covid count.    I was surprised to hear from so many that had tested positive after leaving the ship.

[abbydancer2003]

37 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I suspect that the number of recent cases are related to the current strain of the virus.  My understanding is that even though milder symptoms it is more virulent.    

 

We are currently having a surge in Northern California (SF Bay Area) and have today surpassed the Fall Surge.  One of our 5 Counties imposed indoor mask requirements today. 

 

I would have to agree with your statement that if they tested all passengers at 7 days or even upon disembarkation you would see a much higher covid count.    I was surprised to hear from so many that had tested positive after leaving the ship.

I’m in Northern California as well.  I follow two cruise lines Facebook groups and every day there are a lot of post about feeling crappy the day they got home and it was covid.  
 

I’m currently working the California primary because I had covid too close to the cruise I’m supposed to be on this week.  We’re all masked.   Here’s todays mask set. 
 

i guess I’m now super boosted. 

[Jim_Iain]

Even though they say if you tested plosive you are "immune for at least 3 months", I've pulled out my N95's and started wearing again both inside and when close to others.  

[abbydancer2003]

6 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Even though they say if you tested plosive you are "immune for at least 3 months", I've pulled out my N95's and started wearing again both inside and when close to others.  

Me too. 

[Benthayer Gonbak]

My concern would be if I were a carrier so I’d keep wearing my N95s too. 

[Jim_Iain]

11 minutes ago, Benthayer Gonbak said:

My concern would be if I were a carrier so I’d keep wearing my N95s too. 

My doctor while in the UK indicated that if still in my system my viral load would be so low after 5 days that I was free to come out of quarantine with or without a mask.   But then again UK had dropped all regulations even the requirement that I quarantine even for the 5 days.  

 

I was infected over a month ago and have tested negative both PCR and Antigen so feel pretty safe we aren't infectious. 

[Benthayer Gonbak]

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

My doctor while in the UK indicated that if still in my system my viral load would be so low after 5 days that I was free to come out of quarantine with or without a mask.   But then again UK had dropped all regulations even the requirement that I quarantine even for the 5 days.  

 

I was infected over a month ago and have tested negative both PCR and Antigen so feel pretty safe we aren't infectious. 

 

Thanks.  I’m hoping I don’t need to learn the rules for quarantine, but I doubt that’s really possible.  Crazy little virus just keeps keeping on! 

[destiny217]

Celebrity Silhouette not showing on cdc Cruise Ship Status Dashboard.  Anyone know why?

[Ipeeinthepools]

12 minutes ago, destiny217 said:

 

Celebrity Silhouette not showing on cdc Cruise Ship Status Dashboard.  Anyone know why?

yep. It’s no longer operating in us waters

[jrmende63]

On 6/3/2022 at 4:01 AM, the penguins said:

Just a few points to clarify the interesting discussion on this thread.

We were on the Fjords Cruise (7 to 14 May) and the subsequent 12 night  Baltics cruise.

Fjords - passengers 2400, no attempt to social distance, very few masks and Covid cases amongst passengers reached just over 1%. No actual numbers announced. No testing for B2B passengers.

Baltics - passengers just over 1000 (more crew than passengers), no attempt to social distance, very few masks. By day 9 Covid cases amongst passengers had reached over 3% (the highest number announced was 37 passengers but after that nothing) Compolsary mask wearing in the theatre was introduced first followed by "strongly recommended" in all other indoor venues except when seated and or eating/drinking. Nothing was done to enforce the latter.

I believe if passengers were routinely tested at 7 days (as the crew are) Covid cases would way exceed the figures currently being announced.

Quarentining - the use of this phrase when referring to the UK is totally misleading. There are no requirements to quarantine in the UK - you are recommended to self isolate but are under no obligation to do so.

Disembarkation in Southampton - if you board a cruise in Southampton and disembark from the same cruise there are no Passport checks. This applies to all cruises not just Celebrity.

First off...I am a US citizen. I was required to quarantine per my country's rules. Since I wanted to go home, I did what I was required. Secondly, Why would I spread that horrid virus to others by going out into the public?? 

[Benthayer Gonbak]

3 hours ago, jrmende63 said:

First off...I am a US citizen. I was required to quarantine per my country's rules. Since I wanted to go home, I did what I was required. Secondly, Why would I spread that horrid virus to others by going out into the public?? 

 

i have yet to figure out precisely what the US requires to return if you’ve tested positive.  Do the airlines refuse boarding if you’ve been positive in the last 10-14 days?  Or is a negative test enough?   Who pays for the quarantine if you get off in the UK since they don't require quarantine?  Jim and Iian seemed to struggle, at first, with trying to make sense out of the rules but certainly had room in their plans to make lemonade out of lemons!   
 

i know at one time the rules were also different if you were asymptomatic which is a whole ‘mother can of worms. Even for just returning to work seems to be fluid.  
 

i have little doubt that if I get COVID I will most likely be hospitalized, but I still like to try to understand what the rules might be if by some miracle I don’t end up hospitalized!  
 

So far I’ve not traveled on any public transportation that everyone wasn’t either tested or vaxed, but that will change in September if I cruise from Florida.  
 

 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Benthayer Gonbak said:

 

i have yet to figure out precisely what the US requires to return if you’ve tested positive.  Do the airlines refuse boarding if you’ve been positive in the last 10-14 days?  Or is a negative test enough?   Who pays for the quarantine if you get off in the UK since they don't require quarantine?  Jim and Iian seemed to struggle, at first, with trying to make sense out of the rules but certainly had room in their plans to make lemonade out of lemons!   
 

i know at one time the rules were also different if you were asymptomatic which is a whole ‘mother can of worms. Even for just returning to work seems to be fluid.  
 

i have little doubt that if I get COVID I will most likely be hospitalized, but I still like to try to understand what the rules might be if by some miracle I don’t end up hospitalized!  
 

So far I’ve not traveled on any public transportation that everyone wasn’t either tested or vaxed, but that will change in September if I cruise from Florida.  
 

 

The only requirement is a negative test 1 day before the departure of your flight for the United States.   They don't ask any questions about past testing.     FYI also on United masks were no longer required, but some of the flight crew and maybe 10% of passengers wore masks.

 

If you continue to test positive (in our case we tested positive for 11 days after the first positive.   you can obtain a Certificate of Recovery  

 

Instead of worrying about passing the test we chose to get a Certificate of Recover which an be acquired after 11 days from when you tested positive.

 

When you fly home you airline will have a Ready to Fly Portal and you upload you passport etc and then at 1 day prior to your flight you will get an email letting you know to upload  your test results or you positive test results and a COR.    About 30 minutes late your documents will have been approved and you can then finish check in and issue you boarding pass. 

 

When we tested there was no quarantine requirements in the UK but they recommended 5 days of isolation.  We were already planning a visit to stay with Family in Scotland but didn't want to stay with family until we tested negative.    None of this was required by UK protocols but what we felt comfortable with  

[Benthayer Gonbak]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

The only requirement is a negative test 1 day before the departure of your flight for the United States.   They don't ask any questions about past testing.     FYI also on United masks were no longer required, but some of the flight crew and maybe 10% of passengers wore masks.

 

If you continue to test positive (in our case we tested positive for 11 days after the first positive.   you can obtain a Certificate of Recovery  

 

Instead of worrying about passing the test we chose to get a Certificate of Recover which an be acquired after 11 days from when you tested positive.

 

When you fly home you airline will have a Ready to Fly Portal and you upload you passport etc and then at 1 day prior to your flight you will get an email letting you know to upload  your test results or you positive test results and a COR.    About 30 minutes late your documents will have been approved and you can then finish check in and issue you boarding pass. 

 

When we tested there was no quarantine requirements in the UK but they recommended 5 days of isolation.  We were already planning a visit to stay with Family in Scotland but didn't want to stay with family until we tested negative.    None of this was required by UK protocols but what we felt comfortable with  

I recently returned from Italy, on Delta, no mask requirement but crew were wearing them.  I couldn’t remember if the ready to fly asked about previous positives, or whether it was just asked at the test site.  It’s never been clear what that question is for, even though it has a 10-14 day limit as I recall.  Sure wish there was a clearer explanation of what that’s for, I’d hope just for COR. 
 

Like you, I’d go for the COR too.  So far I’ve not have to make that decision.  I do have 2 cruises close together next year that I really don’t want to mess each other up!  The first one is RT from the US so no ending test. There’s a max of about 20 days between them so testing positive when I get home could be a bummer!  

[the penguins]

7 hours ago, jrmende63 said:

First off...I am a US citizen. I was required to quarantine per my country's rules. Since I wanted to go home, I did what I was required. Secondly, Why would I spread that horrid virus to others by going out into the public?? 

I totally agree. My point was that people have been using the word " quarantining" as if it is the same in all countries. In some countries you may indeed be required to stay in a hotel room for specific period and have your meals delivered.  Whereas in the UK you are not legally restricted to staying in a specific hotel nor indeed to staying in doors at all. You are free to make choices and I recall Jim and Iain enjoying a walk in the New Forest. 

[Jim_Iain]

9 hours ago, the penguins said:

I totally agree. My point was that people have been using the word " quarantining" as if it is the same in all countries. In some countries you may indeed be required to stay in a hotel room for specific period and have your meals delivered.  Whereas in the UK you are not legally restricted to staying in a specific hotel nor indeed to staying in doors at all. You are free to make choices and I recall Jim and Iain enjoying a walk in the New Forest. 

You are 100% correct.   Prior to being escorted off the ship by a hazmat squad that looked like Ghost Busters we were told UK has NO RESTRICTIONS on quarantine at all.   It was up to us if we chose to isolated or could just do as we pleased.   We did isolate initially but then would go to places where we would not be in contact -  that was a personal choice to protect others. 

 

Even though we were masked up they dumped us in the same baggage area full of other guests except our baggage was covered in plastic but just in a different area. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

45 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

You are 100% correct.   Prior to being escorted off the ship by a hazmat squad that looked like Ghost Busters we were told UK has NO RESTRICTIONS on quarantine at all.   It was up to us if we chose to isolated or could just do as we pleased.   We did isolate initially but then would go to places where we would not be in contact -  that was a personal choice to protect others. 

 

Even though we were masked up they dumped us in the same baggage area full of other guests except our baggage was covered in plastic but just in a different area. 

On the Apex , they knock on the door and said go to deck 2 and leave , 

there was no help to take the luggage off the ship , also Celebrity gave anyway our passports to Dutch  immigration , cost a 223€ cab to get them back😡

[Benthayer Gonbak]

8 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

On the Apex , they knock on the door and said go to deck 2 and leave , 

there was no help to take the luggage off the ship , also Celebrity gave anyway our passports to Dutch  immigration , cost a 223€ cab to get them back😡

Jim and Iian left at the end of the cruise, they were tested for a B2B or they wouldn’t have known, yet, that they were infected.

 

im interested in whether you were at the end of your cruise, or how you discovered you were infected.  
 

I’ve heard of passports being held in foreign ports but not that there was a big problem getting them back.  This would predate COVID.  In many countries you can’t even checkin to a hotel without a passport so immigration keeping it seems counter productive. 
 

i’d be interested in knowing whether your insurance covers the cab fare.

[MDTrip]

If you test positive on the ship, does X report you to the Netherlands government, thus requiring you to quarantine in Amsterdam?

[Jim_Iain]

14 minutes ago, MDTrip said:

If you test positive on the ship, does X report you to the Netherlands government, thus requiring you to quarantine in Amsterdam?

My cruises did not go to the Netherlands.   Silhouette is based in Southampton   In my case the UK had dropped all regulations including quarantine if you test positive in the UK.   Instead they SUGGEST you quarantine for 5 day.

 

There have been a couple threads including @Ex-Airbalancer above who had experience in the Netherlands.   In his case Celebrity took his passport and turned it over to the Dutch Authorities who only returned after his quarantine.   He had lots of trouble getting it back.    I will let him give his personal experience.

[Benthayer Gonbak]

1 hour ago, MDTrip said:

If you test positive on the ship, does X report you to the Netherlands government, thus requiring you to quarantine in Amsterdam?

From all the reports from the Caribbean it would appear that part of clearing a vessel can now include the number of COVID cases.   Since it’s not uncommon for ships to be cleared by the ship having your passport, nearly everywhere else,  I would expect that the cruise line has very little say in what is required of them.  Certainly, if the requests were out of the norm a cruise line could refuse to enter their jurisdiction thus effectively skipping a port but for the EU that could be more than a simple skipping of one port!  
 

Hopefully, Ex-air  will fill in the details about where they were in the cruise etc.  

Edited June 11, 2022 by Benthayer Gonbak

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

My cruises did not go to the Netherlands.   Silhouette is based in Southampton   In my case the UK had dropped all regulations including quarantine if you test positive in the UK.   Instead they SUGGEST you quarantine for 5 day.

 

There have been a couple threads including @Ex-Airbalancer above who had experience in the Netherlands.   In his case Celebrity took his passport and turned it over to the Dutch Authorities who only returned after his quarantine.   He had lots of trouble getting it back.    I will let him give his personal experience.

I never tested positive for Covid , had 6 negative test on the ship , I was a close contact with my wife !

Netherland immigration only want the information on the people who test positive on the ship , Celebrity in their wisdom handed over the passport to immigration without our permission 

Celebrity original said we would get the passports back as we got off the ship , but they were gone when we went to get off the ship 🙄

My wife was at day 10 when we dock and had tested negative for the 2 days before , using a self test 

No one in the Netherland quarantines now 

[jrmende63]

On 6/6/2022 at 10:32 PM, Benthayer Gonbak said:

 

i have yet to figure out precisely what the US requires to return if you’ve tested positive.  Do the airlines refuse boarding if you’ve been positive in the last 10-14 days?  Or is a negative test enough?   Who pays for the quarantine if you get off in the UK since they don't require quarantine?  Jim and Iian seemed to struggle, at first, with trying to make sense out of the rules but certainly had room in their plans to make lemonade out of lemons!   
 

i know at one time the rules were also different if you were asymptomatic which is a whole ‘mother can of worms. Even for just returning to work seems to be fluid.  
 

i have little doubt that if I get COVID I will most likely be hospitalized, but I still like to try to understand what the rules might be if by some miracle I don’t end up hospitalized!  
 

So far I’ve not traveled on any public transportation that everyone wasn’t either tested or vaxed, but that will change in September if I cruise from Florida.  
 

 

As of Sunday, it won't matter as the entity that required the negative test one day before my flight, the CDC, has canceled the requirement of a negative test to enter the US. 

As for who paid for my hotel stay.....I did with Celebrity reimbursing me. But my hotel had a quarantine package. It was nice for them to have the package.

[Benthayer Gonbak]

10 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I never tested positive for Covid , had 6 negative test on the ship , I was a close contact with my wife !

Netherland immigration only want the information on the people who test positive on the ship , Celebrity in their wisdom handed over the passport to immigration without our permission 

Celebrity original said we would get the passports back as we got off the ship , but they were gone when we went to get off the ship 🙄

My wife was at day 10 when we dock and had tested negative for the 2 days before , using a self test 

No one in the Netherland quarantines now 

what a nightmare.  I can’t even imagine how I’d react although I’d probably start with the embassy!  
 

I’ve even worried about a May cruise, next year, being too close to the next cruise and not being negative when I need to enter Portugal. 

[Benthayer Gonbak]

2 hours ago, jrmende63 said:

As of Sunday, it won't matter as the entity that required the negative test one day before my flight, the CDC, has canceled the requirement of a negative test to enter the US. 

As for who paid for my hotel stay.....I did with Celebrity reimbursing me. But my hotel had a quarantine package. It was nice for them to have the package.

That requirement being lifted is for 90 days, as I read.  I’m still curious what the question about 10-14 days  affects.