New Rules for Bermuda Cruise passengers. Aka this will affect my Beyond cruise in October

[Charles4515]

2 hours ago, alyssamma said:

I''ll be there with you. These new rules are confusing af. I'm hoping it is an error on their website, otherwise we need to test the day of the cruise.

 

That's what's confusing...how can X enforce that? It's not realistic for all pax to test that morning and I assume they're not doing rapids at the pier...so how can they deny boarding?

The wording on the website does not match their actual law which I have read which says port of embarkation. It appears the error and confusion is caused by whoever changed the website to announce they were allowing unvaccinated travelers making a cut and paste error. What is on the website does not make any sense. We shall see but I think the website wording is a mistake.

[mfs2k]

3 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

The wording on the website does not match their actual law which I have read which says port of embarkation. It appears the error and confusion is caused by whoever changed the website to announce they were allowing unvaccinated travelers making a cut and paste error. What is on the website does not make any sense. We shall see but I think the website wording is a mistake.

It seems these rules are being modified every 60 days anyway in Bermuda. They have time to make adjustments before the transatlantic and repositioning cruises from all the cruise lines. 

[verizon]

If the $40.00 fee don't go away I am afraid the Caribbean islands may follow in a very short future.

[Charles4515]

39 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

It seems these rules are being modified every 60 days anyway in Bermuda. They have time to make adjustments before the transatlantic and repositioning cruises from all the cruise lines. 

They have truly botched it and confused things with the new wording on their website. If they really mean how it is worded now they are out of their minds. I don't think so though. I think it was only supposed to allow unvacinated travelers. But you never know, we shall see.....

[wrk2cruise]

Seems to be the theme with updating requirements.   Celebrity is currently really botching theirs.  Seems each country's website has something different.

[mfs2k]

 

Bermuda is out of the way anyway unless you're on a Transatlantic crossing

 

[Charles4515]

43 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

Bermuda is out of the way anyway unless you're on a Transatlantic crossing

 

I have done the Summit repositioning cruise a few years ago but I don’t think we did Bermuda but maybe we did. The only port we had to do was Aruba or Curaçao to comply with PVSA. I think you will probably do Bermuda. The transatlantic probably won’t.

[bookitdanno]

5 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

The wording on the website does not match their actual law which I have read which says port of embarkation. It appears the error and confusion is caused by whoever changed the website to announce they were allowing unvaccinated travelers making a cut and paste error. What is on the website does not make any sense. We shall see but I think the website wording is a mistake.

@Charles4515. Can you possibly point me to the actual law? I am curious. Thanks

[canderson]

8 hours ago, mfs2k said:

I am the OP. 

I am on the 9 night Celebrity Beyond repositioning cruise out of Bayonne New Jersey on October 26. Stops in Bermuda, Aruba and Curaçao. Debarking in Fort Lauderdale. 

Ah, there's the source of the confusion.  Lack of date.  The "October" Beyond cruise before yours is the TA which ALSO stops in Bermuda, and has the added issue of testing en route since Bermuda is scheduled many more than 4 days from embarkation.

 

The "not" news is that for vaccinated pax, nothing changed.

[mfs2k]

4 minutes ago, canderson said:

The "not" news is that for vaccinated pax, nothing changed.

 

Not completely true...  The wording of the August 22nd Bermuda rules says that Vaxed passengers must be tested 2 days prior to arrival as opposed to 2 days prior to embarkation...  We shall see if it's updated. 

[Charles4515]

16 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

Not completely true...  The wording of the August 22nd Bermuda rules says that Vaxed passengers must be tested 2 days prior to arrival as opposed to 2 days prior to embarkation...  We shall see if it's updated. 

The chart at middle and bottom of the website says embarkation. And the chart was updated to include unvaccinated passengers. So I think what is on the chart is what they mean.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Charles4515

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

16 hours ago, mfs2k said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if Celebrity cancels stops in Bermuda. 
These new rules are a pain in the butt. 

 

I wish they would!  This is all nonsense and a cash cow for Bermuda.  They already got $40 out of me this year and now they want another $40?  My response is that I do not get off the ship in Bermuda and will not spend so much as a penny there.

[canderson]

4 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

Not completely true...  The wording of the August 22nd Bermuda rules says that Vaxed passengers must be tested 2 days prior to arrival as opposed to 2 days prior to embarkation...  We shall see if it's updated. 

The 2 days prior to arrival has always been there based upon number of days since embarkation, a distinction not properly drawn in the text.  We've been talking about that in the WB TA threads for a long time because it presents the unique problem of full-ship mid-cruise testing.  For cruises that arrive more than 4 days after embarkation, testing is required within 2 days of arrival.

 

Cruises off the east coast have been making Bermuda an early stop to avoid the complication.  For cruises that arrive within 4 days of embarkation, as yours will, a test within 2 days prior to embarkation is sufficient.

 

The clearest explanation is the chart that Bermuda provides here below the text, and is clearer and much more specific than the text above it.

https://www.gov.bm/cruise-travel-authorisation

I'll grant that their contradictory text info is about as much fun as Celebrity's.

 

[canderson]

Looks like @Charles4515 beat me to it while I was slow-typing on this silly phone!

[Definitas]

We were on a TA back in March and the first port of call was Bermuda. At that time 100% of passengers had to be tested for Covid and 100% had to have the Bermuda TA. We were on a back to back with the preceding Caribbean cruise and were given a letter a few day into the first leg saying if we didn’t get the Bermuda TA before arrival back in Fort Lauderdale and if we didn’t test negative, we would have to leave the ship and would be denied reboarding for the second leg, which made for a very tense week. I would never choose a cruise with Bermuda as a port ever again in case the rules change again and we were put in the same situation.

[njhorseman]

43 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

The chart at middle and bottom of the website says embarkation. And the chart was updated to include unvaccinated passengers.

In rereading the chart I think this isn't the updated version for the new rules, because the only unvaccinated passengers referred to are those 11 years old and under .They haven't updated it for unvaccinated passengers ages 12 and up who will now be eligible to cruise.

That having been said, I still agree with you about what the rules will say once they are updated.

[jelayne]

We are on the TA and the Bermuda charts seems pretty clear to me that vaccinated need

1 the  Bermuda Travel Authorization

2 a negative supervised test within 2 days. before boarding in. Barcelona 

3 a supervised test on the ship within 2 days of arrival.

 

Currently the X website for Barcelona does not address the unique Bermuda requirement only the unique Greece requirements 

 

We will plan to met the Bermuda requires until the stop in Bermuda is cancelled 🤞

or the.X website spells out the requirements specifically for the TAs.

[PinkSandGirl]

43 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

The chart at middle and bottom of the website says embarkation. And the chart was updated to include unvaccinated passengers. So I think what is on the chart is what they mean.

 

This chart only shows Unvaccinated 11 years and younger so this seems to be the chart with current rules, not the new rules as of August 22nd, 2022.   

 

I checked the website again and this chart is still there.  It's under the June 3rd section.  Above this chart on the website you can click for more information for Unvaccinated 12 years and older and it has the current rules, not the August 22nd effective rules.

 

🍹

[Charles4515]

42 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

In rereading the chart I think this isn't the updated version for the new rules, because the only unvaccinated passengers referred to are those 11 years old and under .They haven't updated it for unvaccinated passengers ages 12 and up who will now be eligible to cruise.

That having been said, I still agree with you about what the rules will say once they are updated.

They need to fix the website. I get a headache reading it. 

[oceancrusin]

The other issue I have with Bermuda is the type of test they require.

COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT)

   “COVID-19 PCR test” (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction),

   “COVID-19 LAMP test” (loop-mediated isothermal amplification), and,

   “COVID-19 TMA test” (transcription mediated amplification).

 

They're not even accepting a RAT (Rapid Antigen Test), unless I'm reading something wrong, or not understanding the test types. I can get a RAT test in Canada from Costco for $15. The only other test I'm aware of that we can pay for is a PCR test, which is $169.50/person (including tax).

[Straughn]

Celebrity has four ships doing TA's that stop in Bermuda in October: Beyond, Edge Silhouette and Reflection.  That is a lot of passengers to test on each ship. And as someone pointed out earlier, there may be a number of asymptomatic passengers or those not reporting that they are ill. Do they really want to deal with all this? Plus, if the ship has too high an infection count, Bermuda might refuse to let the ship dock. I have had that happen twice in Caribbean.

 

I am on the Silhouette TA and it would be fine with me if they canceled Bermuda and sent us just about any place else.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Straughn

[Texed]

The itinerary for Apex October 29, 2022 transatlantic has been changed.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Texed

[GRBlizz]

4 minutes ago, Texed said:

The itinerary for Apex October 29, 2022 transatlantic has been changed.

No news on Silhouette October 20, 2022 TA, which plans to overnight in Bermuda.

[canderson]

20 minutes ago, Texed said:

The itinerary for Apex October 29, 2022 transatlantic has been changed.

I think the 12 October Beyond cruise (the first TA with a Bermuda stop) will be our S class test case.  Reflection doesn't sail until last, 31 October, so figure that gives those of us on that sailing a couple of weeks to deal with the Bermuda protocols if we don't hear sooner.

[bookitdanno]

Let's hope they scrub it from the Summit repo Boston to Miami, October 15.