galleycook

Obviously they have jurisdiction of US porting ships, which is what this Bermuda/Charleston cruise was. Sheesh. And the cruise lines have the ability to opt in or out of the CDC program. If they opt in, they have to follow all rules, not just the ones they like. I'm not worried about catching Covid if the risks can be minimized. I'm not worried about having a car accident but I still have insurance and still drive defensively. Your opinion appears to be if you don't die from it, don't worry about. Tell that to the people have long term effects from catching it.And I do know of a few people who died from it and I suspect if they had a do-over, they would do things differently. The cruise lines do not need 100% capacity to make money. At 60%, they aren't going bankrupt. If you don't like ships being at less than full capacity, then don't go. It's that simple.

Well you have to know that you are positive to be isolated. Which means a test. The fact that you have a cough doesn't mean you have Covid. I was trying to point out if you have no controls/plans, it can spread quickly (which is exactly what you are saying). But I'd rather have controls and plans in place before the cruise.

I hope everyone that ends up testing positive within a few days of the cruise reports it back to Celebrity. They need to track all cases and then supply the correct information to the CDC.

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully mild symptoms and the recovery is quick. We tested ourselves Sunday night after arriving home and again on Mon. So far negative.

Lobster was served on the second last night and on the last night in Le Pete Chef.

I can't give you a percentage but can tell you what we saw or experienced. Service was slow in some restaurants. The line for the main dining rm was quite long on some nights. Not sure if if that was due to staff shortages or other factors. Service at the bars or Al Bacio was occasionally slow. Restaurant staff worked in more than one locations (I assume to help manage demand). We also saw some of the restaurant maitre d's helping in the buffet. Only saw someone cleaning the restrooms on two occasions verses multiple times everyday on our Dec cruise. There was always plenty of staff in the jewellery/store area though :).

How did the Diamond Princess end up with ship full of Covid.... it started with one person. I don't like testing anymore than many others. I'd prefer not to wear a mask. But I'm prepared to live with some inconveniences for the time being. Vaccines appear to be reducing the risk of catching it or at least lessening the severity. Another tool currently available (if we want to somewhat assemble as in the past) is testing. Unfortunately there are many who have and will see long term effects from contracting Covid. I know of dozens of people who have caught it and I'm fortunate not to have myself. I don't know when the right time to stop testing is. The CDC thinks .3% of passengers and or crew Covid cases should be investigated. That's a relatively small number. But it certainly sounds like many people who where scheduled for the cruise I was on ended up testing positive pre-cruise. And since many travel in pairs (or as a family), those numbers could have doubled on board. This would have easily been the .3% not including any others who tested positive later (there were cases on board). And I have to reiterate, testing does not stop Covid but it can reduce the spread. I didn't see anyone on board wash their hands upon entering the buffet. I'm assuming some did, but I never saw anyone. In fact I saw some use the restrooms and not wash their hands! Limited mask use where it was required. Helping yourself to food in the buffet, Etc.Maybe if everyone followed the rules, testing could be reduced and we won't have another 2 years of this. I never said it's a bad idea to have 40K people untested in a stadium. but why should that be the comparison. You may have what could be considered close contact with 100 people before, during and after an event in a stadium. On a ship, you see the same people over and over throughout the day and then repeat for the next week or two. I think the chances of contracting Covid from the 100 is much lower than on the ship.

If you call reducing the risk of spreading Covid smoke and mirrors, I have no idea what you thinking. Testing does not eliminate Covid, but it has the potentially to reduce it. That's obvious. Personally, I would rather have tests conducted prior to a cruise to catch those who might be positive before they get on the ship and potentially spread it. Even if I tested positive, and not spreading to others. The fact that you can go to a ball game where tests are not required does not change the fact that testing can reduce spread. Who said packing 40,000 untested and unmasked people into a stadium was a good idea anyway.

Well what do you find so horrible then? The "rules" you highlighted are not rules. You want to sail, you have to be vaccinated, you have to test before the cruise, etc. Rules are, wear the mask in the theater, the staff will serve in the buffet and you are not to help yourself, don't exceed the capacity of the pool, etc. Pre-pandemic, pools (ship or on land) had capacity limits. It appears they are changing the numbers now, not for general capacity but to reduce space between swimmers. Of course in a pool this is somewhat impractical but I assume being done with good intentions. My point regarding pool capacity was that the numbers are all over the place so its hard to follow this rule when there is no consistency.

Minimize may not be the best word in this case, but pre-testing absolutely reduces the risk of Covid spread. Even if one person is unable to sail because of a positive test, the risk of spread on board has gone down. We can never know by how much because it all depends on what the person would have done and what interaction they would have had with other passengers and staff, etc. The trip I was just on had many cancel due to positive tests, which meant the potential for greater spread on the ship was reduced. As you said, you assume people are capable of reading previous posts, which also assumes people are smart enough to not believe a pre-test guarantees no Covid on board. I doubt anyone believes "minimize or reduce" means no Covid on board. I'm pretty sure that passengers also realize that every time they go ashore in port, they can potentially be bringing Covid back with them. Considering what we have all been through over the past couple of years, no one is that naive.

I assume the sarcasm means you don't have a problem not following the rules. Wow. Are you the one who was picking up the danish in the buffet, smelling them and then putting them back down??

Testing 2 days pre-cruise minimizes the number of people showing up at the port only to be sent home. I'd rather know before I made the trek. Based on another thread, this happened on the cruise I was just on. Many advised they tested positive and had to cancel. Even if you contract it during travel to the port, most times it takes more than 2 days to show positive, so testing at the port will do little. I agree testing on the second or third day of the cruise will have a much better chance of catching those who contracted it during travel. However as we have recently seen, Celebrity decided they didn't want to test on-board as a requirement to enter Bermuda so they switched the itinerary on a few of the cruises, thus they didn't have to.

How would you know if they are filled to capacity?? The "capacity" numbers aren't consistent, so which is accurate. What you can say is that there has never been more than the lowest number posted as the max capacity. The point being, the ship should set the capacity consistently and then reasonably enforce it, just like the mask policy in the theatre and casino. Or, don't bother having a capacity/mask policy at all.

Your statement is valid if they change the rules before the game and not afterwards. We booked based on certain things, which have since changed just before the cruise (like changing the itinerary to avoid testing on board as an example). I've said this many times, testing will not stop Covid but it can reduce the spread and who wouldn't want to see that.

I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth but I believe they are suggesting it is slow due to the additional demand created by more passengers. There is only so much bandwidth to go around. Having said that, I have not found the internet to be too bad. It's not lightning fast but it's generally ok.

I went and checked this afternoon, just to see if anything has changed. Now the signs on each side have the same capacity on the outside (away from the pool) but twice the capacity on the pool side. Now it's 15 and 30 respectively. At least they are consistent at not being consistent. They may or may not have the staff to enforce the mask policy but it seems like they are just looking the other way regardless. The Cruise Director mentioned mandatory masks at the first theater show. He could have easily mentioned it again but I never heard it in any of the other performances that we attended. We were advised today masks are required in the terminal, where they were optional at embarkation just over a week ago. Lets see if this is enforced.

Funny you mention the pools signage and max count. The other day, one side of the pool says 10 max and the other side says 25 max! Which rule are you to follow? And even though you are required to wear a mask in the casino and theater, I have never seen full compliance. In fact on a couple of occasions in these two venues as many 20-30% without masks. Unbelievable.

We are on the Summit now and Tuscan booked up quickly. They have space available for late dinners (close to 9pm) only. If you really want to go, you should probably try to book as soon as you get on the ship or keep trying the app (if they open additional spaces). Good luck.

Testing cannot possibly stop all Covid spread. What it can do is reduce the spread and why would anyone not want to reduce the spread. Comparing a 4 hr flight or a 2 hr concert is not the same as 2000 + people living on a cruise ship for 7 days. Certainly we have to live it but there are safer ways to live with it. You are fortunate that your Covid was very mild. Many are no so fortunate.

Yes normally.............unless Celebrity decides to change the itinerary for no good reason (other than not wanting to test on board) and now tending is required (because the Wharf is already booked for other ships) Not only does the lack of the onboard test increase the risk of spreading Covid, the tenders are being packed, which also increasing the risk of spreading Covid.

Thanks for the feedback!

Wow, they don't want you doing this yourself?? I assumed it was like filling the hot tubs that some ships have on the balcony, except maybe takes a little longer. Can the temperature of the pool be adjusted throughout the day once it's filled? Depending on where the ship is sailing (colder or warmer itineraries), it might be desirable.

The show is a cartoon type video projected on the table from above. The video lines up with your plate and in a fun way shows how the course is prepared. When the food is finished being prepared in the video, the servers are standing next to you to place the course on the table and it is supposed to look like video presentation. Each course has its own video and is presented in the same way. They turn the lights off for better viewing while the video is played. In one of the menus, they went through the 4 seasons.It was about the chef starting a family, them growing up, moving away and then returning. Those were the 4 seasons. The course for each season was tied to that phase of their lives. Check You Tube. I'm sure there will be lots of videos about it either as part of cruise vlog or on their own. This will give you a better idea than my description. Its fun and as I said, we do both if we can but I wouldn't do the same show multiple times on the same cruise.

We like both. Le Petite Chef is a little less formal (imo) but the food is just as good. The menu aligns with the video (although other choices are available), but if you want them to sync up, then you wouldn't choose something else. It isn't just a meal but entertainment as well. Tuscan obviously has more choices and the food is excellent. Our experience has been that they have 2 different "shows" during the cruise for Le Pete Chef. The first half of the cruise is one of the them and the last half, the other. I don't know if that will be the case on your cruise. We usually do both LPC shows, and Tuscan at least once. I have attached the menus for both from our Dec Silhouette cruise. They may be the same. Le Petite Chef.pdfTuscan Grille Dinner Menu.pdf

I sure hope no one is paying $100 for a salad 😄