Testing Positive for Covid onboard Silhouette transatlantic

[jetblue]

Day 8 (last day yay!) I can honestly say I've never been more excited for a cruise to end. Unfortunately our disembarkation details are still not clear. I've asked for clarification twice now and been told someone would reach out to me later, we'll see if that happens today as I have a car scheduled to pick us up at the port and want to make sure we will be out in time.

 

Room service today is slammed, took 2 hours from ordering to get food today. They told us they have a lot more people to attend to today than previously so I assume that means more covid positive passengers today, possibly from people getting tested on the ship today for tomorrow's cruise or onward journey.

 

The Captain did mention increasing covid cases today on his announcement but left the details at "over 1%", so based on my high school algebra, between 1%-100% of the ship has covid. Hopefully much closer to the 1%.

 

Anyway, that's all for now, we're packing our bags and will be back later with updates.

[capecodmercury]

3 hours ago, Wedgeh said:

There's definitely been a number of reports of this on the princess boards - most of the people who are testing positive onboard are either on a longer cruise or B2B.

This does raise an interesting question.   I don't want to hijack this  very informative thread, (Thank you David for posting this and the class you have demonstrated throughout), but I do wonder if the cruise lines and cruisers will start to focus on shorter cruises?  

 

I don't cruise often,  but when I do, 10 days is the shortest I usually look at.  But, reading about David and Steven's experience on this TA makes me wonder if I should start looking at the shorter cruises.

 

Anyway, I hope everything turns out copacetic for David and Steven and the trip home comes together.  I have no doubts they will be making a new memory to replace this trip soon.

[Purplsmurf]

Did you husband ever get his test yesterday? Maybe I missed it in this thread,  as I don’t remember seeing it. Hope you will enjoy a few days in London before your trip home. Safe travels to you.

[Cruising89143]

17 minutes ago, capecodmercury said:

This does raise an interesting question.   I don't want to hijack this  very informative thread, (Thank you David for posting this and the class you have demonstrated throughout), but I do wonder if the cruise lines and cruisers will start to focus on shorter cruises?  

 

I don't cruise often,  but when I do, 10 days is the shortest I usually look at.  But, reading about David and Steven's experience on this TA makes me wonder if I should start looking at the shorter cruises.

 

Anyway, I hope everything turns out copacetic for David and Steven and the trip home comes together.  I have no doubts they will be making a new memory to replace this trip soon.

Just read an article this morning on Cruise News Daily. Short cruises in the Caribbean are up 41% for 2022. I wonder if Celebrity will try to join leaders Carnival and RCI? 

[Forecheck]

This thread has confirmed for me that although my Wife and I are anxious to return to Cruising , that we will not put ourselves in the situation to be "jailed " on board a Cruise ship during what is supposed to be a vacation ..

 

Kudos to the op for their patience and handling of their predicament! !!

[FlorenceItaly]

We cancelled our 24 day August cruise, and instead booked(with reluctance) a 7 day end of July.  

@jetblue David, wishing you and Steven all the best.  I am not sure I could have handled it as graciously as you are.  If I find myself in the same situation you will be my inspiration!

[Jim_Iain]

Just now, farawayatsea said:

If you  are from an  EU country (which I am),  with an EU passport,   you should be able to  disembark in Portugal, Spain or France without difficulty.  Not sure what the position is for UK citizens post Brexit.  

I think you would find it more difficult than you would suspect.  You may not have problems with customs etc, but you will be stopped by ships security if you try to disembark with your luggage.  The only way you can do this is to apply for early departure and be given permission after paying a fee. 

 

If you only had a back pack or "accidentally missed the ship"  it might be possible but then I suspect you will have fun retrieving everything from your room.

[jetblue]

57 minutes ago, Purplsmurf said:

Did you husband ever get his test yesterday? Maybe I missed it in this thread,  as I don’t remember seeing it. Hope you will enjoy a few days in London before your trip home. Safe travels to you.

 

Yes they finally did test him at 8pm last night and it came back positive.

[RichYak]

50 minutes ago, cruisingator2 said:

Just read an article this morning on Cruise News Daily. Short cruises in the Caribbean are up 41% for 2022. I wonder if Celebrity will try to join leaders Carnival and RCI? 

That's not what the article says. It says short cruises are making up 41% of the Caribbean market in 2022 vs 38% in 2019. It's an uptick to be sure, but nowhere near a 41% uptick.

[Cruising89143]

1 minute ago, RichYak said:

That's not what the article says. It says short cruises are making up 41% of the Caribbean market in 2022 vs 38% in 2019. It's an uptick to be sure, but nowhere near a 41% uptick.

Excuse me my mistake. Now hopefully we put this thread back on topic.

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, farawayatsea said:

If you  are from an  EU country (which I am),  with an EU passport,   you should be able to  disembark in Portugal, Spain or France without difficulty.  Not sure what the position is for UK citizens post Brexit.  

Not as simple as you think. You would either have to "officially" check out, settle your account etc at which point you would find out if what you intend is "legal". Or you would leave without doing anything officially thereby being a no show which would delay the ship's departure and inconveniencing everyone else.

 

[runningtide]

I dont want to hijack this post, but I noticed something last night regarding Covid issues on Celebrity vs RCI boards. Considering RCI has about twice the number of ships, many some of the largest in the world, and the RCI boards are many times more active than Celebrity...., it's curious almost no discussions about Covid issues except for testing and boarding requirements. This particular post was very important and informative, along with a personal connection with Dave and Steven,   but there are many related Covid post scattered over the first couple of active Celebrity board pages. 

I understand there are subtle differences between Celebrity and RCI guest, especially younger families with children. 

Do they know something we don't..., or are not as concerned as many of us are ? 

 

Maybe we need to scrap the lawn club and install a couple of Flow Riders  🙂

 

All the best my friends........See you on the next tack !

 

[farawayatsea]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

I think you would find it more difficult than you would suspect.  You may not have problems with customs etc, but you will be stopped by ships security if you try to disembark with your luggage.  The only way you can do this is to apply for early departure and be given permission after paying a fee. 

 

If you only had a back pack or "accidentally missed the ship"  it might be possible but then I suspect you will have fun retrieving everything from your room.

It’s a moot point but if I decide to leave the ship for whatever reason, settling all bills etc, I really cannot see how the cruise line could refuse or indeed charge me. It’s not a prison ship. I accept there would be no possibility of a refund. 

[PTC DAWG]

6 hours ago, Tigrou said:

 

 

Yet the herding instinct appears to outweigh anything else with some people. The ship is sailing at 50% capacity. There’s plenty of space. But yet again I’ve just had to move seats because someone decided that out of all the dozens of empty seats in the Martini Bar area they had to sit within a few feet of me. It’s happened time and again this cruise, in the Sky Lounge and in the theatre, now here too.

 

I don’t understand it during normal times but certainly not under current circumstances.

 

 

I agree with this sentiment totally....I don't understand people..

[bmc alabama]

27 minutes ago, runningtide said:

I dont want to hijack this post, but I noticed something last night regarding Covid issues on Celebrity vs RCI boards. Considering RCI has about twice the number of ships, many some of the largest in the world, and the RCI boards are many times more active than Celebrity...., it's curious almost no discussions about Covid issues except for testing and boarding requirements. This particular post was very important and informative, along with a personal connection with Dave and Steven,   but there are many related Covid post scattered over the first couple of active Celebrity board pages. 

I understand there are subtle differences between Celebrity and RCI guest, especially younger families with children. 

Do they know something we don't..., or are not as concerned as many of us are ? 

 

Maybe we need to scrap the lawn club and install a couple of Flow Riders  🙂

 

All the best my friends........See you on the next tack !

 

IMHO it is because lines like Celebrity and Princess run longer duration cruises, so you see it more on the ships.  For lines like RCCL and Carnival, running 3-7 night cruises, people tend to develop it after they are off the ship, and then, you wouldn't be able to specify exactly where you got it...

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, jetblue said:

 

Yes they finally did test him at 8pm last night and it came back positive.

Sorry to hear that.  I hope Steven recovers soon.  And I hope you get more info on how your disembarkation will be handled, and that everything from here on out to getting home goes as smoothly as possible. 
 

All the best to you both. 

[ChrisNY2]

8 hours ago, ace2542 said:

But in UK that is what is being done now and more countries now as we move forward. I would wear the mask on the flight. I would also have topped myself by now had I been in the cabin like these guys . I really would have ended my own life rather than be locked in for 2 weeks. It is almost as bad as Black Dolphin the Russian jail. It is not bad the American Supermax at least in Supermax your TV works.

 

But "move forward" means to take personal responsibility. One shouldn't fly with the flu or with chicken pox, and one shouldn't fly with COVID either.

[jetblue]

So debarkation... Go figure I've been told 3 different things now. Someone will come and collect us in the morning and that will happen at either 8am, 8:30am, or 8:45am. They sure aren't making it easy to schedule a car out of here. Apparently the UK border force will be boarding the ship tomorrow morning at 6am and would like to see every passenger face to face. Because of this, the ship has decided that covid passengers must be seen last and no begging will change that. So our isolation is extended a couple of extra hours thanks to ship policy.  Freedom is so close I can basically taste it!

 

And that brings us to the final quarantine cruisine! All from Luminae tonight, with bags packed and ready to go, our last meal onboard...

 

Burrata

Peppered Tuna

Raspberry Pistachio Vacherin

[tinaincc]

3 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I agree with this sentiment totally....I don't understand people..

Some people are not afraid of catching anything.  I sit at bar tops at a restaurant and would sit at the Martini Bar if given a chance, shoulder to shoulder with someone in hopes of striking up a great conversation.  

[NBliving]

David, thanks again for posting details of your quarantine. It’s a shame CoVid passengers are last to depart after all you’ve been through! I hope you are in fact able to leave at one of those times given and not detained any further. Please let us know what happens next. If you have to quarantine further or can fly home. 
Best Wishes for your return home!

[tinaincc]

8 hours ago, ace2542 said:

But in UK that is what is being done now and more countries now as we move forward. I would wear the mask on the flight. I would also have topped myself by now had I been in the cabin like these guys . I really would have ended my own life rather than be locked in for 2 weeks. It is almost as bad as Black Dolphin the Russian jail. It is not bad the American Supermax at least in Supermax your TV works.

Same here - Id much rather get an Airbnb in a foreign country than be locked in a cruise cabin. I would forfeit any funds at that point. 

[the penguins]

3 hours ago, farawayatsea said:

It’s a moot point but if I decide to leave the ship for whatever reason, settling all bills etc, I really cannot see how the cruise line could refuse or indeed charge me. It’s not a prison ship. I accept there would be no possibility of a refund. 

Read the full terms and conditions. Not all ports allow disembarkation you are on a cruise not a point to point ferry. They can and do charge fees. On our trans Pacific a few passengers wanted to disembark in Japan to avoid paying the China visa fee. They were told they had to have the visa as the ship was routed to China. 

[5waldos]

8 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Read the full terms and conditions. Not all ports allow disembarkation you are on a cruise not a point to point ferry. They can and do charge fees. On our trans Pacific a few passengers wanted to disembark in Japan to avoid paying the China visa fee. They were told they had to have the visa as the ship was routed to China. 

And having investigated this specific thing was told that disembarking in Portugal was not an option. But this is rather an empty discussion since nobody is actually doing this. 

[bEwAbG]

OP, have you decided how long you're going to stay in England?  I know you said a few days ago that you would be looking to get home ASAP.  I think I'd be inclined to spend at least a week just getting over any lingering effects before trying to test and fly back as I think that would just be another level of stress to deal with (changing flights if you don't test negative, etc.).  The medical advice is still that anyone with a positive diagnosis should try to stay away from others for 10 days, so that's the math I would use in determining when it's ok to fly.  Plenty of lovely places to stay in England where you could enjoy some time recuperating (but with actual luxury touches).

[farawayatsea]

Sorry to labour the point but Portugal is an EU country and I have an EU passport.  Be similar to telling someone in the US they could not disembark in Boston when they boarded in New Jersey.