Softball20

I cancelled our January 3 sailing yesterday, and we were able to just transfer everything to a new sailing later in February and just pay the difference in price.  

For those on board now or just recently back, how has it been getting on and off for port days or for embarkation?  Is it like the "herding cats" situation of pre-covid days, or is Celebrity finding ways to get the guests off the ship in an orderly and socially distanced way?  Still debating whether we are sailing on the Equinox next week or putting it off.  

Have they given any indication of any more cases on board?  

17 minutes ago, biscuitsandhoney said:

We will be on the ship Jan 3 too. Looking forward to the exceptional crew 🙂

We are supposed to be on January 3, too - our 35th anniversary.  Playing it by ear until this Friday 😞

3 hours ago, lovrccl said:

We did Equinox earlier this month, no issues. Felt safe.

Thanks. Were the tables appropriately spaced in the dining rooms?  How about pool loungers?  

Going on the Equinox on January 3 - also curious to know how things are on board. 

We are supposed to sail on January 3 - at this point we are still going, but monitoring things closely.  We are both vaccinated and boosted.  I'm just really curious about the safety protocols on the ship -- are dining tables spaced in the dining rooms, are the crew members masked, etc.?  We aren't doing any Celebrity excursions, so I'm not worried about bus capacity.  Just curious how people feel on board.  

Thanks!

Thanks for the replies.  I did the test - negative -yay!   I have ordered a couple more for the actual cruise.  There is another difference in the test, by the way, there are no real directions other than a little pictorial on the test card!!  Luckily I had done a couple of these Binax tests before, so I was familiar with the process.

As for expiation dates, there was a card on the inside of the packaging noting that the expiration dates have been extended by the FDA for three months past the expiration date of the kit. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! 

Just now, Jim_Iain said:

They two kits are identical except a couple things.    The Monitored tests of course have a monitor and the home kits don't.   The home kits have two tests inside while the Proctored ones only have one.    I also noticed that the Home kit has a eye dropper bottle of reagent (since you use it for 2 tests) while the proctored have a single use pipette with reagent.   The price of the Proctored is higher.

 

I have used both and having a get together tomorrow and sent kits to all those attending to pre-test.

Thanks. So it looks like I'll be able to use it today and I'll just have to get more for my sailing.

I know that for pre-cruise testing it has to be proctored.  What I want to do is use one of my kits, which is exactly the same as the Binax kits one can buy elsewhere, before my cruise.  I just want to do one for Christmas eve peace of mind, and I'll order more, which I will do proctored for my cruise.  The binax ones I've done in the past show the results on the test itself; I just don't want to open one of these Celebrity coded boxes to do it for today if it won't give me my results without a proctor, and thereby negating it for use in the future.

Does anyone know if the test kits we get from Celebrity are the same kits we could buy (when available) on our own and give the results without having to be proctored? I would like to test today for Christmas, and the stores are out of kits.  I have my pre cruise kits for our January cruise so I figure I'll just use one now and order more for my cruise (if they don't come in time, I have a local place where I can do a rapid test pre-cruise).  I don't want to open the box, however, if I can only get the results in the proctored format.  

Thanks!

Nassau is one of our ports in a couple weeks and I'm just curious about safety protocols while in port.  Are masks required indoors, for cab drivers, etc.?  

We did a foodie walking tour in Nassau several years ago while in port (we usually do them in the different places we travel). I can't recall which one we did, but it was definitely not a ship's excursion. It was great!  Lots of good food tastings at several different places, including Graycliff.  Definitely worth it!  

Does anyone have any idea of what type of Covid safety protocols local vendors, cab drivers, etc. are required to take?  Just a little curious about whether there are mask requirements still in place.

Thanks!

On 11/6/2021 at 8:35 PM, mjwaruba said:

 

I did actually find an urgent care near here that will be open on New Year's day and will do the rapid testing!  I called a few of the locals CVS's - none open or doing testing on NYD.  I'll also probably order the at-home kits -- I'm just wondering if any of their tele-med "guides" will be on duty on NYD???  I sent a contact form to that company but haven't heard back. 

Thanks!   I just sent them a contact form to see if they will have any of the tele-med reps available on New Year's Day for the "virtual visit."   I've done the at home tests before - super easy.  

Luckily, I also found a nearby Urgent Care that will be open on New Year's day and will be able to do the rapid testing.  Nice to know that we have options.

I'm in the same "boat" for our January 3 cruise as I'm pretty confident that there won't be anyplace open in Hilton Head/surrounding areas on New Year's Day for my January 3 sailing, and if they are, getting results back in time will be tedious at best, given how long they've taken in the past.  Does someone have a link to these home proctored tests?  

Thanks!

Thank you for your quick response... brilliant..and I agree - spend the few extra dollars than fuss with luggage and second train transfer...

That is what I will plan . Much appreciated.

No problem. It was so easy having that door to door service right from the station in Rome to the ship. Rome Cabs gave us detailed instructions, along with pictures, as to where to meet them and we were off.

What we ended up doing was really pretty easy. We were in Florence for three days pre-cruise last May. We flew into Rome and were able to get on the direct train to Florence from the airport. There is one in the morning, and we just made it. On the way out of Florence we took a train from Florence to the Termini in Rome. From there, instead of dealing with luggage on the regional trains from Rome to Civitavecchia, we had Rome Cabs pick us up in a car at the Termini (for four of us with our cruise luggage) and drive us directly to the port. It was only minimally more money, but it was so much easier than having to change trains at the Termini and then having to figure out how to get from the train station in Civitavecchia to the port with all our luggage. Well worth the extra $$. We had originally thought of renting a car once we got to Rome on the front end, but we really didn't want to deal with parking and all the "no traffic zones" in Florence. This just made sense and worked.

We used Roberto Mirabile's services a couple weeks ago. While we did not have Roberto, his driver, Sebastian was terrific. We did go to Castelmola first, which is typically combined with a trip to Taormina. We had been to both before, but our friends traveling with us had not been to either place. Sebastian took us to several spots in Castelmola we had never been to. In Taormina, we were on our own. It's such a beautiful town - even with all the military presence in town as it was the day before the G7 summit started. One of my favorite places in Italy.

We have also used Sicily Life tours in Sicily before, both for Taormina and Palermo. They always do a good job, too.

Did you got to Rome Termini Station? I'm curious what the taxi ride costs into City Center. We will be staying near Piazza Navona.

We didn't. From there Rome Cabs picked us up to take us to the port at Civitavecchia. A cab to Navona shouldn't cost too much from the Termini.

Luggage is stored at the end of each car in the train.

 

This may be a situation where it is worth the money to pay for the porter service (€5). They will carry and place your luggage on the train, which will make your life a lot easier. More information here, bottom of page: http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en/Services/Luggage-transport-services

 

I don't think the luggage transport service will work for you because you're not overnighting in Naples prior to the cruise. If anything went wrong and they didn't get the bags to you on time ...

 

From the train station in Naples to the port there is a fixed fare of €11 for a taxi. To get this fare you must tell the driver you want it before the trip begins/before he engages the meter. Be prepared for some theatrics, drivers have been known to resist giving the fixed fare and will sometimes try and convince foreigners that it either doesn't exist, or doesn't apply, etc. Politely stand your ground and in my experience they eventually give up the act and get on with the ride. If they try and tell you that the cruise port isn't included (because it's not spelled out on the list) simply tell them to take you to Molo Beverello, which is spelled out. It's adjacent to the cruise port and uses the same parking area as the cruise port.

 

You can download the fixed fare info from the city's web site here: http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/1193

I wish we had known about the luggage porter! We just did the train from FCO direct to Florence and then from Florence to Rome three days later. It all worked great, but the porter would have been helpful. Filing this away for next time!

We just got off the Reflection on Monday. While on board, our daughters sent us some chocolates as an anniversary gift. My daughter mentioned to me yesterday how hard it was to do this on Celebrity's site. She noted that not only was it incredibly hard to find the place on the site to do this, when she did, there was practically no information on what types of gifts might be available. She finally called Celebrity to complete the purchase. When the rep asked her what she wanted to send, she told the woman that there wasn't really any way to see all the options on the website. While helping her make the purchase, the rep did say that they were in the process of re-doing their site - whatever that might mean.

Just wanted to take a minute to thank those who chimed in with advice for our travels. We did actually make that 11:08 direct train to Florence despite being a few minutes late in landing and having to wait in line at a second window to purchase the tickets as the first agent's computer went down mid purchase! Getting through the airport to the train station at the airport wasn't too bad. We didn't find the lift (although I won't get in one of those tiny European elevators, anyway), but it wasn't too bad getting all the luggage up and down the various escalators as we worked in shifts. Getting taxis in Florence to our apartment was no problem at all. On the flip side leaving Florence, we called for two cabs the night before we were to leave for Rome and they came right on time. Once in Rome, Rome Cabs was there waiting for us to take us directly to the ship. We opted for this as opposed to having to switch trains and then having to get to the port from the train station in Civitavecchia. Couldn't have been easier, even with all of our luggage!