Content@Sea

The beautiful and graceful Wind Star and the Wind Spirit are both 148-pax ships. I have sailed on both, plus Wind Surf (342 pax) and the smaller ships are waaay more fun. It feels like you own the yacht personally.

Yes, there are less onboard diversions, but there is lots more camaraderie. Long-lasting friendships spring up. 

Nothing makes you feel more superior than standing on deck, with the awesome "sail-away" music pounding out as you sip your champagne and the dock slides away. The folk in their big ugly 12-story 5000+ pax ships gaze at you with envy, and wave. Just raise your glass in acknowledgement and smile. 

There's only one dining room and the food is always amazing. Wine at the table can be expensive, like $20+ bottle, but it's excellent.

You are permitted to bring your own wine on board without penalty from any port. 

Best trip I had was 14 days from Barbados through the Panama Canal and we debarked in Costa Rica. 

On 5/4/2020 at 2:29 PM, rmalbers said:

I think it's one of those things where something is needed but I'm not sure what!  On every X cruise I've been on, there have been a few people who should not been on a cruise ship.  There just needs to be some common since.  One time a poor old guy collapsed before we even got off the pier and was taken off the ship.  Another time there was an very old woman on a roll around bed type of thing who really didn't even look conscious, but I didn't stare, so I'm not sure what the deal was.  I wasn't on this X cruise but I think, was it last fall, an X ship returned to port twice within two days because of a medical emergency.   On a related topic, with all the stuff going on, I'm thinking the cost of travel/trip insurance is going to go way up and that is age/health determined so that may cause unhealthy people (of any age) to reduce travel so no 'form' will be needed.

"an X ship returned to port twice within two days because of a medical emergency.  "
We were on the Silhouette on 2020 March 6 S. Carib cruise (last one before shutdown) that left out of Ft Lauderdale but we returned two nights in a row to Miami to put people off when we were about 12 hours out each time.  Before that, when we were still in sight of land about two hours out, we stopped dead in the water and the Coast Guard came alongside with a medic boat and somebody/thing was handed out of the pilot's door. Nothing was explained to us except a Captain's announcement that the situations had "nothing to do with the current worldwide illness. "
 

We had to miss one of our stops, but were compensated with $500 cash refunds and $500 on board credit. X handled the situation very well IMO regarding the remaining pax.

Indeed, the Celebrity travel alert was updated four hours ago (EDT).

https://www.celebritycruises.com/travel-alert

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Now that cruise operations are on hold, Celebrity Cruises is concentrating all efforts on developing a cohesive return to service plan which will include enhanced health and safety protocols for all travelers. We are collaborating with the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other government and health officials to assemble new processes and standards for boarding as well as the cruise experience itself. These new processes and protocols are in the final stages of development. Once the full plan has been finalized we will be sure to share with our guests and travel partners. 

Earlier this year we announced travel restrictions for guests with chronic illness as well as a mandatory “Fit To Travel” form for guests 70 years of age and older with critical health conditions. We are now pleased to advise that, while subject to change, CLIA has confirmed these restrictions were lifted in early April after all cruise lines were required to suspend service. 

Rest assured, our number one priority has always been, and will always be, the safety and well-being of our guests and crew along with delivering amazing vacations. We look forward to sailing the world again and welcoming you back onboard soon.

We're not out of the woods, but it's looking better. 
Waiting for the definition of "new processes and protocols"... hmmm. 

I like to think that our collective voice of nearly 1000 posts has provoked their interest and response. Good job folks!
Over 70s are a powerful force, don't **** with us. We pay taxes, we pay attention.

9 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

My understanding is that the CLIA sets the broad policy framework for its members, and leaves it to them how to implement the policy within the framework. Thus we've seen different forms and different ages (70 and over versus over seventy) with different cruise lines. So if Celebrity chooses to go above and beyond the basis level of prevention, the CLIA is unlikely to object IMO.

 

Note that the alert is almost three weeks old. While it's possible that Celebrity hasn't made any change to its policy yet simply because the fleet has ceased operations until at least June 12, I believe that it is more likely that the April 3 alert didn't necessitate a change.

 

BTW, I hope you are right and that I'm wrong, as I'm a 70+ with a chronic illness and several thousand dollars in FCCs!

We're all gonna be just fine... looking on the bright side for all of us! 😷

"the fleet has ceased operations until at least June 12, I believe that it is more likely that the April 3 alert didn't necessitate a change"
Really good point! I am going to ignore this whole thing for now. My cruise isn't until October. The situation is very fluid, no matter how much we try to guess about the future...
There are more fun things to do right now! 💃🕺🎵🍹

4 minutes ago, travelordie said:

This is potentially great news as long as it filters down to the cruise lines and they act upon it.  I went to the websites of three cruise lines which are CLIA members:  Celebrity, Azamara and Scenic.

 

Both Celebrity and Azamara, as of today, state:

 

"The safety and well-being of our guests and crew is our top priority. All current travel restrictions and requirements were implemented as temporary measures. At this time, the Fit to Travel form for guests 70 years of age and older continues to be part of the health screening and boarding protocol."

 

So either CLIA has not informed these cruise lines of the change in policy or these cruise lines have taken it upon themselves to maintain this age discrimination.

 

Scenic does not mention any policy relating to those 70 or older which pleases me as we have a Scenic cruise planned for December.

Thanks for the additional research. I'm starting to get the feeling that by October, things will be more "normal."

The remaining issue will likely be our Philippine crews, who change ships frequently, as their contracts expire.  Philippines has pretty high C-stats.
 

12 minutes ago, downsmead said:

In the UK, they are now warning people in the 50 - 69 age group.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. That demographic is still pretty much in the pre-retirement group. 

The CLIA posted a new travel alert on 3 April 2020:

https://cruising.org/about-the-industry/policy-priorities/cruise-industry-policies/Health

There is no mention of AGE RESTRICTION or a DOCTOR LETTER.
"As part of their commitment to passenger and crew safety in the context of communicable diseases, CLIA’s Members have adopted the following policy for all oceangoing vessels:
 

All embarking persons are to receive pre-boarding health screening, to assist in preventing the spread of communicable diseases.

In light of recent developments related to COVID-19 the policy has been amended with preventative measures applicable to crew and others that board ships while passenger services are suspended. These measures are under constant review. Additional measures applicable to passengers will be considered as the industry approaches resuming passenger operations."

The advisory goes on to detail the measures...

What do you make of this? Seems that we may be off the hook???

Any advice on what to do?

1. My Celebrity cruise was booked through a Travel Agency in 2019 and deposit paid for Sydney - New Zealand -Sydney sailing in late October 2020. 

2. 10 days ago I found an incredible flight fare from MIA-SYD for about half usual of usual Qatar business class fare of $8000. I've been watching the fares for a while (Google flights) and booked immediately thru Amex Platinum Travel (5 x points) Non-refundable under any circumstances.

3. A few days ago, I was alerted to this thread and realized that the 70+ doctor letter thing was already in place six weeks ago. 

Immediately I queried my agent why I hadn't been alerted to the 70+ thing weeks ago. It's a travel agent's job to know about these things. Agent has no idea and has gone off to confer with her Celebrity contact.

If I had known about the age restriction, I'd have held off buying my air ticket until the dust settled. And might have cancelled the cruise totally. As others have pointed out, USA doctors are very aware of litigation/liability in signing such declarations. 

What options do I have on getting the travel agent to take responsibility for not keeping customers informed? And thus - my flight ticket expense.

Thanks for any/all advice. 🙂

On 3/20/2020 at 7:06 PM, bama4cruisin said:

Fourmeco, I wonder if we were on the same cruise. . . . I took this photo of The Eclipse as we walked back on our overnight in Curaçao in March, 2016.

Yes, I was there! And remember the stroll back from the shopping plaza with a bottle of Blue Curacao in my bag. 

2 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

If the cruise line cancels the cruise and you have air through them,  they will take care of flight cancellations and it will be part of your 100% refund or 125% cruise credit.   If I booked the air myself or through the TA they would only cover the change fees.   If you booked a non refundable airfare, good luck.

Thanks for that additional info. 🙂

 

On 3/29/2020 at 9:04 AM, Barcelona17 said:

I think as this discussion continues we each need to clarify what policy we are addressing. The policy regarding 70+ and COVID-19 is totally different than the policy requiring 70+ being required to obtain a doctor's note once COVID-19 is not an issue.

 

dcl

 

 

Good point! I am interested - as probably most of us - about "the policy requiring 70+ being required to obtain a doctor's note once COVID-19 is not an issue."

As somebody mentioned earlier - our demographic is historically the largest cruising segment. 

1 minute ago, Content@Sea said:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/11/proposal-white-house-cruise-industry-bar-people-70-ships/5020325002/

Doctor form here:
https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/Certificate-of-Medical-Fitness-to-Travel-form.pdf

"The form has to be signed by a licensed medical professional no more than seven days ahead of embarkation or seven days before the guest's travels began if they are traveling more than seven days before a voyage's start time."

I just noticed the extra spec... it was not on the info I previously read:
"or seven days before the guest's travels began if they are traveling more than seven days before a voyage's start time"

That gives us more leeway if flying to an overseas departure point. 🙂
 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/11/proposal-white-house-cruise-industry-bar-people-70-ships/5020325002/

Doctor form here:
https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/Certificate-of-Medical-Fitness-to-Travel-form.pdf

"The form has to be signed by a licensed medical professional no more than seven days ahead of embarkation or seven days before the guest's travels began if they are traveling more than seven days before a voyage's start time."

On 3/11/2020 at 4:00 PM, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

Celebrity already has my money for my April and May cruises.  If I am barred from going because of a stupid rule like this, they had better refund my money to my credit card!  I do not need a $10,000 future cruise credit.  This is age discrimination, pure and simple.

TOTALLY agree!  Anybody at ANY age is equally at risk.

What has not been addressed is the refund of airfare to cruise departure port. I have paid Celebrity deposit on 12-day NZ cruise out of Sydney in October. Business airfare from Miami to Sydney is typically >US$8000. Last week, I snagged a really good deal for $4200 RT on Qatar. 100% NON Refundable. Insurance does not cover this situation.
I was really excited about my deal until I heard 2 days ago about the >70s rule.

The exam has to within 7 days of departure, evidently. I'll already be in Sydney at that time, sightseeing before the cruise. What local Dr is going to certify a total stranger as fit to board?
What a mess!