mredandchis

I like the Spirit class the best and second the Dream class.  

Be ready for everything to go belly up.  We have done several B2Bs and always had the same room because of some of the horror stories we have heard.  This pass January an elderly couple told me at the B2B meeting, waiting to be walked to customs, that they had to have a second room a floor higher on the next cruise.  Steward told them no problem.  I saw them later and asked how it went and he was pretty angry about it.  He went to his new room and no bags, so he went to his old room and the old card no longer worked.  It took a bit to find a steward and they didn't have the time because of all the work on the turn around but they opened his door to get his bags. Now he had a issue because the main elevators were being used to transport bags on board so he had to travel down to open elevators to get his bags upstairs and of course the elevators were crowded and it took some time to get the job done.  

they are very busy during the transition and it is difficult for them to make it happen.

Thanks, we have the extended family going next month on the Mardi Gras and everyone is in a different vaccination status. My wife and I have both had a booster but are eligible for a second booster. My daughter and her husband have not had a booster but are eligible and the grandkids are still not quite eligible for a booster but will be at sailing time.  So the question was , Who is considered fully vaccinated and there was no consensus so we decided to go with the 2 day prior test and hopefully all will be ok for boarding.

9 hours ago, Ilovesailaway said:

You mean you have to test within 48 hours, not obtain the test within 48 hours correct?

I am about to order the tests now for our cruise in a few weeks but I will test the Friday before our Sunday departure.

Correct.   The testing scares me as everything is a big unknown.

We were booked on the Mardi Gras on dec 26 and have a child not yet eligible for the vaccine.  With the 24th being a holiday and saturday actually christmas we thought that getting the PCR and the results would be dicey so me moved it to June when she will be vaccinated.

10 hours ago, JeanieTheMom said:

I did! It was wonderful! We had to have a Covid test the last sea day. They tell you which lounge to meet in. It doesn't take very long. That's the only difference from a B2B before the shut down.

Thank you so much, I was thinking that will be the case.

I get mine from CVS and they take them but you have to get them within the 48 hrs before the day of the cruise.   For example for a saturday sailing you must do it no earlier than thursday.

I did some searching and couldn't find anything, but wanted to know if there are any additional procedures between cruises on a B2B?

I enjoy this reading.  As far as luggage dropped with the porter, Carnival will try to locate it wish some success but if it makes it into the ship it will go on the cruise without you and when the ship returns they will Fedex it to your home. 

13 hours ago, Ilovesailaway said:

We are 24 days out from an awesome cruise to Bermuda. I just got a text from another person on this cruise that our itinerary was just switched to Bahamas. I went on carnivals web site and sure enough its changed. They just did it... I checked earlier and we were still Bermuda.

This will piss off a lot of people. The Bermuda cruise costs twice as much.

I wonder when and if carnival will notify me? They didn't bother to let me know about my last cancelled cruise.

I would like to see what the results are for you as far as how Carnival handles it.  

This is happening on a lot of cruises.  There seems to be certain ports that the cruise line opts to go to if there is a problem with a port.  One thing is that it is out of their control and up to the port or nation itself.  Things are slowly getting better and heck I am just happy to sail.  

We did have a Christmas cruise booked and decided to move it to Jun 2022 because we have a young one that isn't eligible for the vaccine and getting the test would be very dicey.  Carnival moved it for us at no charge.  I appreciated that. 

On 10/19/2021 at 4:05 PM, Virga said:

 

Thank you for that link!  I had finally found a Belize press release that seemed legitimate, but this has even more information.  The article indicates that there were 1441 crew, so 1.8% - but that's still higher than I'd have expected the CDC to still consider 'acceptable.'  I've snarked a bit ever since I discovered the color coding - who puts yellow as a higher threat than orange?? And why not give us even a tiny bit of transparency with which to estimate our risk?  But all in all, I've operated on the assumption that their thresholds would be quite conservative.  It is apparent that their  'red flag' threshold is higher than mine.

 

Mostly, I'm beyond frustrated with the lack of transparency.  If Belize had not 'outed' them, I don't believe we'd know anything beyond, 'The CDC is keeping a close eye on things on this ship.'  I do have high confidence that cruise lines consider limiting spread to be in their best interest, but it irks me that I don't have access to the data to look out for my best interests.  

Totally agree it would be of a great benefit to know and be able to decide for myself what I feel is a good or bad risk.  I hate having to rely on bureaucrats. And that 'orange' thang seems backwards to me also.

I don't know of any way to get that information.  The cruise lines are being monitored by the CDC. Also the rules may loosen up Nov 1.   But if you are afraid of the virus can you still enjoy the cruise?  The cruise ships are running with a 95 percent herd immunity which no community has reached but at the same time it is a group of people in closer quarters,

3 hours ago, Bostwick girl said:

This is not true. August 30 cruise on Magic we had 12-12:30 time. Arrived right before 12, there was no line and they let us on in. October 7 on Magic, arrived 11:50. Was a long line outside to go in, they were going to send us to the back of the line, then because it was just at noon, told us to go on in the terminal. I’m not sure what times the long line people had, but we went in at our arrival time.  Going again October 31 with the same time slot, so we shall see how that goes.

 

Sep 18 on Magic also, I arrived 15 mins early and was still not thru security when my group was called.  

On 10/17/2021 at 9:51 AM, Zhaan said:

We'll be driving to a Carnival cruise in January. It's going to be hard to get to the port at an exact time due to driving. We don't know our check-in time yet, but if we get there early or late (but before the final boarding), how strict are they in this COVID era about your arrival time? Can you still arrive earlier than your time or if we get there early will we have to kill time before going to the port?  Thanks!

Hi we sailed from Port Canaveral last month.  I was 15 minutes early and they didn't blink but there was some staff checking the paper that has your time on it.  If driving in give your self time to drop off bags and then get over to park and walk back across the street.  There was a roped snake line and I would guess maybe 200 or so people in it.  At the end of that line they did the covid check-in and really looked over the paper work and matched it all to a photo Id.   That was before security and they did turn people around.  Then after security we had to go to the old fashion desk check-in like it was a few years ago.  The terminal was pretty tight over all with people bunched up.  

10 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Please educate me on which one and a ballpark year.  Been cruising on Carnival for 35 years and I don't ever remember there being one.

It may be a thing of the past.  It was on one class of Carnival ships yet I dont remember which one.  It was right outside the comedy club to the right of the entrance.  There was a opening in the floor that you had to walk around to enter the club.  The cigar lounge had a bar and was very peacefull

11 hours ago, kdr69 said:

You mean in the Casino?  Thats the only area i know of "indoors" on a ship where you can smoke.  Indoors sort of implies you can smoke anywhere inside the ship.

Not always true, on some ships there is a cigar lounge we can smoke in.  

3 hours ago, BrotherCraig said:

 

 

Look at the UK and other countries for example.  UK opened everything  back up during the height of the Delta virus saga and then numbers dropped rapidly and continue to drop.  Scientists and doctors are predicting the South to see a big decline in a couple of weeks and the northern states to continue to surge for a few weeks. 

You are an optimist, and I really like an optimist and you may be right.

With the UK,  I have been in shock with the decline and the vaccination rate is only 57% full and 67% with one dose .  Some are saying they hit herd immunity. 

India is also dropping but it appears they got to a herd immunity the natural way. 

Meanwhile Israel is losing the battle even with higher vaccination totals.  

I am concerned of some sort of shut down here in NC as we will be maxing out our ICUs before end of month.  

I do think that the cruise companies are also very concerned about the way this variant is spreading.   I will do what they ask until this variant is contained.  

1 hour ago, freewilly said:

Ok.. so we leave cruise on Monday… is CARNIVAL requesting slow PCR or rapid test. 

the rapid test. 

1 hour ago, BrotherCraig said:

These new guidelines won't be around very long.  I give it a month or two.

i sure wish you are right.  I am sure there will be a lot of push back in the next few months.

1 hour ago, parachutes63 said:

What kind of test do you need. Rapid antigen or Rapid PCR? My state offers free testing for both with results in less than 24 hours via email.

I just called my POC and Carnival and he said the antigen test.  

I have 4 cruises scheduled before end of year.  Just told the wife about this thread and she is cancelling all 4 as we cannot get the test and still make it to the boat.  We dont have smart phones so I would have to have the results in 48 hours and there is just no way the labs can do that.  

On 8/2/2021 at 3:49 PM, historyteacher41877 said:

I was just listening to the La Lido Loca vlog on youtube.  He just got off the Celebrity edge and said it was a 98% vaccinated ship.  They announced every covid case and by the end of the week, there were 7.  The ship sails with 2900 passengers at full capacity.  For arguments sake here, lets say they sailed with 1500.  Those 7 positives represent .4% of that of number. So 99.6% of passengers didnt get covid thanks to vaccines.  Now I know what some might be thinking and that how do you know they did not transmit it to others that will test positive this week.  So lets bring that number to 50.  Thats 3.3 %.  96.7% of the vaccinated passengers were fine if 50 people tested positive after the cruise.  Am I off with this thinking?  Shouldnt the cruise lines and the cdc be touting these numbers as proof?  I am no expert so curious what others think. 

I think you are correct but there is one thing the public fails to think about.  Everyone can catch covid19, because the virus doesn't ask you for your shot card.  The virus moves in and tries to establish a beachhead in the respiratory system.  But in short order antibodies push it out but during the window of time a person would test positive.  So you will have "breakthrough" cases.  I think the cruise lines are doing a great job and controlling outbreaks especially with this Delta variant.  My concern is peoples over reaction to the situation.  

1 hour ago, sailingships said:

I dont understand what you mean here. The passengers can travel to the port while they are waiting for the results. Carnival doesnt require a paper document. The instructions about the 72 hour PCR test on their protocol page states it can be electronic. on  your phone.  Even if the results dont show up till the morning of your cruise your still good, Just show them your NEGATIVE on your phone.

Thanks for your response,  I am just thinking christmas eve and christmas day there wont be any PCR test run or just a few.  

28 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Rcl just announced today that all pax must get tested 3 days prior to boarding.. even if you are vaccinated. Their boards are blowing up. Color me unhappy.  Celebrity is only covering until oct I read. They are pushing it more and more on the pax. Its suspected rcl new policy is because of the celebrity positive pax. The cruiseline protocols getting worse and worse. 

Some how I feel I am moving to becoming an ex-cruiser.  The cruise lines need to support those that support them.