COVID reimbursement questions.

[Pennstatedj]

Hooskydo, we tested positive on Tuesday on our own, then went to a Dr who tested us that same day. We then called X before our scheduled test at CVS on Friday prior to our Sunday departure. We called and were told we had a choice. We chose cash return. We never received any kind of confirmation or had to prove anything. They took our word. 

[mimbecky]

I'm reading conflicting information (no surprise).  Is reimbursement for quarantine hotel and new flights for cruises departing US only?  I read something that said they will not do any reimbursement for European quarantining etc.

Thanks

M

[hooskydo]

This is an update for anyone interested. We got off our ship on April 15th.  I emailed information requested on April 28th. Got a response today, May 4th, confirming they got my email and let me know it would be at least 14 days to get to it due to all the covid related emails. So I am happy I finally got a response and an estimate timeline. Yay!

[Jim_Iain]

On 4/29/2022 at 3:57 PM, LorraineP said:

On Celebrity home screen on bottom nothing is popping up to chat. 

 

The Chat function is only available when an Agent is logged on and not on a current call.   I happen to know as I was once a pop up agent on Celebrity site.  

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

On 5/4/2022 at 2:31 AM, mimbecky said:

I'm reading conflicting information (no surprise).  Is reimbursement for quarantine hotel and new flights for cruises departing US only?  I read something that said they will not do any reimbursement for European quarantining etc.

Thanks

M

 

Time will tell.  They gave us a letter when we were offloaded in Southampton last week.   They said they would cover up to $250 per day and $100 pp per day for food.    You could either arrange own accommodation and transport or Celebrity would do it for you.    With all the failures on the ship we decided to do it ourselves.  No indication of number of days that are covered or how to file a claim.  No one on the ship seemed to know.

[RWilbourn]

I was on the May 6-15, 2022 Celebrity Equinox cruise.  This was my fourth cruise since March 2020 but the only time I have ever contracted Covid.  I felt like I had a bad case of the flu with a lot of coughing. 

 

I think Celebrity’s Covid strategy is to identify infected passengers and isolate them.  Other than receiving a bottle of generic Nyquil Cold liquid, I noticed no treatment effort. 

 

I don’t know how I got Covid but my cabin attendant was replaced (with no explanation) on the same day I noticed Covid symptoms.  Also, when I ate in the main dining room that night, the waiter who had previously served me was not working despite his name still being on the table card.  So two Celebrity people I had come in regular contact with both disappeared at the same time.  Also, I was in the medical facility and it appeared to me to be full of Covid cases.  Despite being assigned an appointment time and escorted to the facility, it was so crowded I was placed in an examination room with another Covid patient.  I was then moved to what appeared to be the operating room.  Yet, I didn’t hear any more Covid updates from Captain Matt. 

 

Getting complete and accurate information was difficult.  The room service number I was given connected me to standard room service.  No one with Celebrity told me I could order off the main dining room menu which is much better than the standard room service menu.  I discovered that option from a cruise social media website.  In addition to the Covid passenger disembarkation information, I was given all the regular disembarkation information – most of which did not seem to apply to Covid passengers.  I was told I would be moved to a new cabin.  Thankfully, no one ever moved me.  I was not believed when I truthfully said I was the only occupant in my cabin.  Celebrity’s records showed two other people assigned to my cabin with me.  I discovered this error early in the cruise and asked Guest Relations (GR) to fix it.  I was assured by GR that it would.  Apparently, it never did.  I still wonder who Joni and Kolleen are.  

 

On departure day, as directed I waited in my cabin for someone to come get me.  After two hours I called GR and was promised someone would be there within 15 minutes.  No one came.  I tried GR again and after a long wait on hold, someone picked up, and then the line immediately went dead.  After three hours of waiting, I just left my cabin dragging my two large suitcases – one with clothes and the other with my scuba diving gear.  Thank goodness that I did.  While I was flagged by the computer and not allowed to disembark through the regular exit, I was told to go to deck 2. 

 

To disembark from the ship a person coming from Celebrity imposed quarantine must prove he a) has his own car, b) a rental car reserved to drive himself home, or c) a local hotel room reserved in which to quarantine.  I had made a rental car reservation.  To leave the ship, I presented my reservation confirmation showing on my phone.

 

Except where the Covid passenger has his own car, he must allow Celebrity to transport him to a car rental place or his quarantine hotel.  I was transported in a very nice vehicle to Budget rental car at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport.  Note, the driver of the Celebrity provided car did nothing to confirm I entered Budget.  I could have easily gone into the airport terminal and tried to board my flight.  Instead, I rented the car and canceled my flight. 

 

I believe many people would rather not report they are ill than go through what I went through.  Covid for most otherwise healthy people is somewhere between a non-event and the flu.  Those who don’t need to move away from uninfected companions will be tempted to keep their Covid symptoms secret.  As noted, I didn't receive treatment and I was treated like a nuisance by the medical staff.  Additionally, the information I received was incomplete or contradictory.  In fact, the only time I had a real conversation with a doctor was when she called me to investigate my claim that I had no companions in my cabin.  Also, I got boring food (until I learned from the internet that I could order off the main dining room menu), had to quarantine, and since I couldn’t honestly fly home, I had to drive 900 miles.  Additionally, most Covid passengers are moved to another cabin and some report they receive an inferior cabin. 

 

The government recently sent me several Covid tests and I wish I had brought them.  If I had, I would have used them first.  Note, Celebrity’s initial Covid test of me was NEGATIVE.  But they always test you a second time.  Moreover, once they know you have symptoms, they can keep testing you as much as they want to.  By contrast, once you get a positive result, they stop testing you.  My request for a third test was refused.  One positive test result by Celebrity's medical personnel and your pleasure cruise is over.

 

Even if I had tested positive using a self-test, knowing what I know now I would have just self-quarantined until the cruise ended or five days elapsed.  Is there a difference between self-quarantining and Celebrity quarantining?  Yes.  A lot!  The Celebrity documents I received say:

 

“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines provide for a minimum of five days of isolation.  On days five and six, we will administer an antigen test.  If either of these test results are positive, you must isolate for 10 days onboard.”

 

According to a doctor I know who manages Covid treatment for a large hospital, a positive antigen test does not mean a person is still infectious.  Unless they have fever, he says that after five days they are no longer infectious.  However, in most instances, they will continue to test positive for Covid. 

 

If my doctor friend is correct, that means most Celebrity Covid passengers will end up being unnecessarily quarantined on board for ten days.  Note that Celebrity indirectly confirms what my doctor friend told me.  In the documents Celebrity gave me Celebrity states, “If your sailing ends more than five days after your initial positive test, you do not need to continue isolating after you disembark, and you may continue your travel home.”  (emphasis in original)  In other words, if you got a positive Covid test on day 5 you must quarantine onboard through day 10.  But as soon as you walk off the ship, even if before day 10 you suddenly no longer need to quarantine.  In that instance, Celebrity thinks it’s perfectly okay for you to hop on a crowded airplane and fly anywhere in the world. 

 

Also, not reporting mild symptoms and self-quarantining may be easier for Celebrity since Celebrity avoids having to be the CDC's enforcer and doesn’t have to report there was another Covid case.  My experience makes me wonder whether the cruise lines really want you to report mild to moderate Covid symptoms. 

 

Another thing I might have done differently is to consider keeping my flight.  I was by myself.  That made the 900-mile drive home especially difficult – a drive that necessarily resulted in me coming into contact with many people including drive-through servers at fast-food restaurants, people in and around public restrooms, and the front desk staff at the hotel where I overnighted.  Additionally, someone had to clean my hotel room and my rental car.  Even assuming I was still contagious, would it have been safer overall for me to fly two hours home with a mask on - thus getting away from everyone quickly - instead of driving 900 miles over two days across three states?  I wonder.

 

One potential advantage of reporting Covid symptoms is Celebrity says it will reimburse some of my travel expenses.  Specifically, the paperwork I was provided states that for those who drive home in a rental car, “The costs associated with the car rental can be reimbursed, up to $150 per day.”  Of course, it cost me well over $300 to rent a car, stay one night in a Hampton Inn, and pay for modest meals during my drive home.  Also, despite a week ago submitting my reimbursement request along with copies of my receipts and separately calling and being promised a return call (the rep I spoke to said his supervisor would call me but that never happened), Celebrity has not acknowledged my submission. 

 

doc20220524101645.pdf

[bananavan]

4 hours ago, RWilbourn said:

I was on the May 6-15, 2022 Celebrity Equinox cruise.  This was my fourth cruise since March 2020 but the only time I have ever contracted Covid.  I felt like I had a bad case of the flu with a lot of coughing. 

 

I think Celebrity’s Covid strategy is to identify infected passengers and isolate them.  Other than receiving a bottle of generic Nyquil Cold liquid, I noticed no treatment effort. 

 

I don’t know how I got Covid but my cabin attendant was replaced (with no explanation) on the same day I noticed Covid symptoms.  Also, when I ate in the main dining room that night, the waiter who had previously served me was not working despite his name still being on the table card.  So two Celebrity people I had come in regular contact with both disappeared at the same time.  Also, I was in the medical facility and it appeared to me to be full of Covid cases.  Despite being assigned an appointment time and escorted to the facility, it was so crowded I was placed in an examination room with another Covid patient.  I was then moved to what appeared to be the operating room.  Yet, I didn’t hear any more Covid updates from Captain Matt. 

 

Getting complete and accurate information was difficult.  The room service number I was given connected me to standard room service.  No one with Celebrity told me I could order off the main dining room menu which is much better than the standard room service menu.  I discovered that option from a cruise social media website.  In addition to the Covid passenger disembarkation information, I was given all the regular disembarkation information – most of which did not seem to apply to Covid passengers.  I was told I would be moved to a new cabin.  Thankfully, no one ever moved me.  I was not believed when I truthfully said I was the only occupant in my cabin.  Celebrity’s records showed two other people assigned to my cabin with me.  I discovered this error early in the cruise and asked Guest Relations (GR) to fix it.  I was assured by GR that it would.  Apparently, it never did.  I still wonder who Joni and Kolleen are.  

 

On departure day, as directed I waited in my cabin for someone to come get me.  After two hours I called GR and was promised someone would be there within 15 minutes.  No one came.  I tried GR again and after a long wait on hold, someone picked up, and then the line immediately went dead.  After three hours of waiting, I just left my cabin dragging my two large suitcases – one with clothes and the other with my scuba diving gear.  Thank goodness that I did.  While I was flagged by the computer and not allowed to disembark through the regular exit, I was told to go to deck 2. 

 

To disembark from the ship a person coming from Celebrity imposed quarantine must prove he a) has his own car, b) a rental car reserved to drive himself home, or c) a local hotel room reserved in which to quarantine.  I had made a rental car reservation.  To leave the ship, I presented my reservation confirmation showing on my phone.

 

Except where the Covid passenger has his own car, he must allow Celebrity to transport him to a car rental place or his quarantine hotel.  I was transported in a very nice vehicle to Budget rental car at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport.  Note, the driver of the Celebrity provided car did nothing to confirm I entered Budget.  I could have easily gone into the airport terminal and tried to board my flight.  Instead, I rented the car and canceled my flight. 

 

I believe many people would rather not report they are ill than go through what I went through.  Covid for most otherwise healthy people is somewhere between a non-event and the flu.  Those who don’t need to move away from uninfected companions will be tempted to keep their Covid symptoms secret.  As noted, I didn't receive treatment and I was treated like a nuisance by the medical staff.  Additionally, the information I received was incomplete or contradictory.  In fact, the only time I had a real conversation with a doctor was when she called me to investigate my claim that I had no companions in my cabin.  Also, I got boring food (until I learned from the internet that I could order off the main dining room menu), had to quarantine, and since I couldn’t honestly fly home, I had to drive 900 miles.  Additionally, most Covid passengers are moved to another cabin and some report they receive an inferior cabin. 

 

The government recently sent me several Covid tests and I wish I had brought them.  If I had, I would have used them first.  Note, Celebrity’s initial Covid test of me was NEGATIVE.  But they always test you a second time.  Moreover, once they know you have symptoms, they can keep testing you as much as they want to.  By contrast, once you get a positive result, they stop testing you.  My request for a third test was refused.  One positive test result by Celebrity's medical personnel and your pleasure cruise is over.

 

Even if I had tested positive using a self-test, knowing what I know now I would have just self-quarantined until the cruise ended or five days elapsed.  Is there a difference between self-quarantining and Celebrity quarantining?  Yes.  A lot!  The Celebrity documents I received say:

 

“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines provide for a minimum of five days of isolation.  On days five and six, we will administer an antigen test.  If either of these test results are positive, you must isolate for 10 days onboard.”

 

According to a doctor I know who manages Covid treatment for a large hospital, a positive antigen test does not mean a person is still infectious.  Unless they have fever, he says that after five days they are no longer infectious.  However, in most instances, they will continue to test positive for Covid. 

 

If my doctor friend is correct, that means most Celebrity Covid passengers will end up being unnecessarily quarantined on board for ten days.  Note that Celebrity indirectly confirms what my doctor friend told me.  In the documents Celebrity gave me Celebrity states, “If your sailing ends more than five days after your initial positive test, you do not need to continue isolating after you disembark, and you may continue your travel home.”  (emphasis in original)  In other words, if you got a positive Covid test on day 5 you must quarantine onboard through day 10.  But as soon as you walk off the ship, even if before day 10 you suddenly no longer need to quarantine.  In that instance, Celebrity thinks it’s perfectly okay for you to hop on a crowded airplane and fly anywhere in the world. 

 

Also, not reporting mild symptoms and self-quarantining may be easier for Celebrity since Celebrity avoids having to be the CDC's enforcer and doesn’t have to report there was another Covid case.  My experience makes me wonder whether the cruise lines really want you to report mild to moderate Covid symptoms. 

 

Another thing I might have done differently is to consider keeping my flight.  I was by myself.  That made the 900-mile drive home especially difficult – a drive that necessarily resulted in me coming into contact with many people including drive-through servers at fast-food restaurants, people in and around public restrooms, and the front desk staff at the hotel where I overnighted.  Additionally, someone had to clean my hotel room and my rental car.  Even assuming I was still contagious, would it have been safer overall for me to fly two hours home with a mask on - thus getting away from everyone quickly - instead of driving 900 miles over two days across three states?  I wonder.

 

One potential advantage of reporting Covid symptoms is Celebrity says it will reimburse some of my travel expenses.  Specifically, the paperwork I was provided states that for those who drive home in a rental car, “The costs associated with the car rental can be reimbursed, up to $150 per day.”  Of course, it cost me well over $300 to rent a car, stay one night in a Hampton Inn, and pay for modest meals during my drive home.  Also, despite a week ago submitting my reimbursement request along with copies of my receipts and separately calling and being promised a return call (the rep I spoke to said his supervisor would call me but that never happened), Celebrity has not acknowledged my submission. 

 

doc20220524101645.pdf 327.17 kB · 5 downloads

They gave you NyQuil? 
I was told to take Tylenol every 8 hours. 
Oh, and did I have a fever? How would I know? I did not have a thermometer and placing meh hand on my forehead was rather useless because my hand was hot too. 
So on Day 2 (OF TWELVE) I was sent a thermometer. 
Dont tell them, but I packed that sucker in my carryon. 
I am on hold for the "Covid number", which happens to be the same number I would call to book a cruise. They said my wait time would be TWO and A HALF Minutes. Initially I thought that they were going to say 2.5 hours.

I am speaking to a ..................sorry, there are no words. Total nimrod. 

For those who tested positive onboard, send your positive result to celebrityengagementcenter@celebrity.com 

There was never any coordination between the ship and shore for us. 
And I would have to say that the Plan of Operation is to have us disappear. 
I will not disappear. 
 

Edited May 24, 2022 by bananavan

[bananavan]

Just to help others out. 
The Rep will ask you if you have a pen and paper to write down this address:
celebrityengagementcenter@celebrity.com. 
What the rep means is, get an email ready with the Positive covid results already attached to an email and send it to this address when he or she tells you to. 
I am refusing to hang up. (Sorry to anyone else in th Queue. 
 

[bananavan]

Well, they finally shook me off the line after an hour and three quarters.
That was because I finally relented due to the impending arrival of  my mini me 2 year old granddaughter  We had not seen each other for two months and both of us were aching to spread chaos around the world like stardust. 
I was told that my booking was a "Group booking". 
They had no idea that a Transatlantic takes two weeks.
They assumed that because our cruise originated in Port Everglades and my husband was Covid positive on Day 8 that he obviously was not on the ship at the time of diagnosis. 
If my husband was Positive for Covid, why would I be asking for pro rated as well? 
I told them that I was not permitted to eat in any dining room, sit down anywhere and take my mask off, and could only eat my meals and have a drink  on my lap in my Suite. That seemed unbelievable to them. 
Trust me, we are on the same page. It was damn unbelievable. 
Nobody seems able to understand why this happened, or that it did indeed happen.
(But we were told that if we disembarked, we were on our own. If we stayed on we were in Quarantine until we completed  Italy's sadistic treatment of American hostages who stupidly cruised into an Italian port) 

Then I was told that it had to be taken care of by the Retreat team because we were Retreat guests. 

Then I was told that this had to be investigated further . I was passed on to a Retreat specialist. 
She then asked how I could have been in isolation if I was able to get off the ship for that exciting visit to the hospital in Palma De Mallorca. 
And then she asked if she could call me back once they had investigated further. 

Later, while my cell phone was charging and I was having a cuddle with my granddaughter some person named Erin called. 
I have the message saved. 

She apologized because her shift had ended at 5 (Am? PM? No clue) and that she had returned to the office (REALLY, come on, you have live roosters in your office?) to follow up on my questions. 
She would call me back when she was back to work. 
Sure. 
But there is no way I will be waiting for that call. 
I am up. I have been since 5 am. My circadian rhythm is off. 
I will keep you posted. 
They simply want to have us go away.
Well, we tried that and look at what happened. 
We got stuck in Quarantine for a head cold, and a positive test for who knows what. 
 

[bananavan]

On 4/28/2022 at 12:15 AM, hooskydo said:

We were on the Apex.

I am supposedly going to hear back this evening. 
I have a voice message from the Retreat person. 
Apparently she had to leave early yesterday due to something. 
She would be back at her desk at 12:30 today, Central time. 
I called at 3 EST. 
I was told she would call back at around 5-5:30. Dang I wish I had asked if that were Central or Eastern Standard. 
I will keep you posted. 
I am like gum on the bottom of a shoe (really I am more like dog excrement) but I am trying to be nicer these days.) I am hard to shake off.

 
 

[RWilbourn]

My post above states in its last paragraph:

 

One potential advantage of reporting Covid symptoms is Celebrity says it will reimburse some of my travel expenses.  Specifically, the paperwork I was provided states that for those who drive home in a rental car, “The costs associated with the car rental can be reimbursed, up to $150 per day.”  Of course, it cost me well over $300 to rent a car, stay one night in a Hampton Inn, and pay for modest meals during my drive home.  Also, despite a week ago submitting my reimbursement request along with copies of my receipts and separately calling and being promised a return call (the rep I spoke to said his supervisor would call me but that never happened), Celebrity has not acknowledged my submission. 

 

Here's an update to that paragraph.  A week ago I emailed CelebrityEngagementCenter@Celebrity.com   I included a cover letter totaling my expenses by category (rental car, gas, food, hotel) and attached my receipts.  I asked for complete reimbursement even though that amount totaled more than $150 per day for my two days of travel.  I also attached the letter I received from Celebrity while onboard doc20220520162221.pdf that outlined my reimbursement rights.  That letter does not mention any reimbursement for the portion of my cruise when I was quarantined but I wish it had.  I did not attach the Covid "Positive" report I received but I also wish I had.  

 

I did not hear from Celebrity so I called the regular Celebrity reservations number.  That was a waste of time.  I was on hold for over an hour and never got anyone.  I also called the Captains' Club desk.  (1-844-419-6824)  The person I spoke to did not know what to do but promised he would have a supervisor call me back.  No one ever did. 

 

Today I again called the Captains Club line.  I got the same person as before but this time he was helpful.  He was able to find my reimbursement request to  CelebrityEngagementCenter@Celebrity.com  He informed me that so far, no one had looked at it but he would.  He did and immediately asked me to send him a copy of my Covid "Positive" report.  So I did.  

 

Once he got it, he told me he would have to call me back and this time he did.  When he called he said he would approve my reimbursement request for $349 (which is more than $150 per day).  Also, since he received my Covid Positive report, he could refund three days of my cruise which I had not requested in my earlier letter.  

 

He then took my credit card number and said I should receive my refund in 30 to 45 days.  That seems like a long time but I didn’t complain since I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth and, in any event, I don’t think complaining would help.  I’m just glad to have found someone who is trying to assist me.  We’ll see if I actually receive the promised refund.