Celebrity will be restarting cruising out of St. Maarten on June 5th with Millennium

[Ken the cruiser]

39 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

Unfortunately this is your answer. It was published on Monday the 29th.

 

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/CEL_Healthy_at_Sea_FAQs.pdf

 

#7: Will you allow back to back sailings for guests that would like to take a longer cruise?

A: Unfortunately at this time we will not be allowing back to back sailings, please continue to check in with us for updates.

How do I find that link or is it just on a TA-accessible site as I can't seem to locate it on the Celebrity site?

 

Update: The reason I ask is because it's sounds like X is allowing B2B sailings on the new Apex itineraries out of Athens.

Edited March 31, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Fouremco]

52 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

How do I find that link or is it just on a TA-accessible site as I can't seem to locate it on the Celebrity site?

 

Update: The reason I ask is because it's sounds like X is allowing B2B sailings on the new Apex itineraries out of Athens.

They are on the website now:

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/ca/healthy-at-sea/faqs

 

However, the key Q&A cited by  @Jeremiah1212 and contained in the document he linked is NOT repeated in the FAQs on the Celebrity website. It would appear that they still can't make up their minds what to tell passengers interested in b2b.

Edited March 31, 2021 by Fouremco

[Ken the cruiser]

4 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

They are on the website now:

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/ca/healthy-at-sea/faqs

 

 

Interesting, there is no mention of the "no B2B sailings" in this posting.

[Fouremco]

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Interesting, there is no mention of the "no B2B sailings" in this posting.

Yes. I hit the submit button before entering the additional comment. Celebrity's ability to provide a clear, concise and consistent message continues to allude them.

[Jeremiah1212]

7 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Yes. I hit the submit button before entering the additional comment. Celebrity's ability to provide a clear, concise and consistent message continues to allude them.

 

The FAQ I posted does differentiate between Consumer and Trade groups. I have no idea why the rules would be any different unless the B2B mention is just an oversight. 

[Ken the cruiser]

OK, I just called Celebrity and got the official word that NO B2Bs will be allowed on ANY of the new summer itineraries being posted, to include those on the Millennium out of St Maarten, the Apex out of Athens and the Silhouette out of Southampton. When I mentioned the original B2B guidance that went out to the TAs in some form or fashion I was reading about on CC, he said the TAs were sent an email yesterday clarifying this NO B2B issue. So anyone booked on a B2B on any of these new sailings, beware. 

[Fouremco]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

OK, I just called Celebrity and got the official word that NO B2Bs will be allowed on ANY of the new summer itineraries being posted, to include those on the Millennium out of St Maarten, the Apex out of Athens and the Silhouette out of Southampton. When I mentioned the original B2B guidance that went out to the TAs in some form or fashion I was reading about on CC, he said the TAs were sent an email yesterday clarifying this NO B2B issue. So anyone booked on a B2B on any of these new sailings, beware. 

Good to hear that they have told the TAs. Did they mention adding it to the website FAQs for the consumers?

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, Fouremco said:

Good to hear that they have told the TAs. Did they mention adding it to the website FAQs for the consumers?

I'm not sure, but he did mention folks were initially allowed to book B2Bs. However, he gave me the impression that changes have since been applied to filter them out. Not sure if they were programmatic changes or by way of a "Review Board" intervening, much in the same matter when it's necessary to review B2B bookings for a PVSA violation.

[ChucktownSteve]

I understand the need to cruise again because I am in the same boat.  But is it cruise at any cost with costly flight worth a 7 day cruise to satisfy that?

 

When I looked at available St Maarten cruises, it appeared that the TA's locked up a lot of the cabins before they opened it to loyal XX cruisers.

 

I have a total of four booked cruises thru Jan 2003 and can't wait to begin them.  I'm hoping they get the bugs worked out by our first Apex cruise in  Feb '22.

[SeaHunt]

Hopefully Curacao will be in better shape to receive Millie by then:

 

https://www.curacaochronicle.com/post/local/covid-19-situation-worsens-in-curacao/

 

https://www.curacaochronicle.com/post/main/premier-rhuggenaath-announces-new-measures/

 

 

 

 

[loge23]

Thanks to Jeremiah1212 for the breaking news.

We immediately called our TA with this information. She, with us on the other line, immediately called Celebrity for clarification. The Celebrity agent who handled her call was not aware of this! The agent asked for time to contact their manager for further info and, after several minutes, came back on the line confirming NO B2B's! They added that an official notice will be issued next week to all reservation holders.

We're not about to fly to St. Martaan, at a considerable expense, for a 7 day cruise - which we normally avoid anyway as we like long cruises. So, the adventure ends.

Good luck and safe sailing to all who go through with this cruise! On to December with fingers firmly crossed!

 

[pumpkin 11]

5 hours ago, SeaHunt said:

Hopefully Curacao will be in better shape to receive Millie by then:

 

https://www.curacaochronicle.com/post/local/covid-19-situation-worsens-in-curacao/

 

https://www.curacaochronicle.com/post/main/premier-rhuggenaath-announces-new-measures/

 

 

 

 

“There are 33 intensive care beds in the CMC, 32 people with a corona infection are on such an ICU bed. An emotional Rhuggenaath said "the hospital is full". The hospital has 300 beds in total, half of which is already reserved for corona patients. This means that regular medical care is jeopardized.”

 

am i an idiot or does this math make absolutely no sense?

[drakes2]

11 hours ago, loge23 said:

We're not about to fly to St. Martaan, at a considerable expense, for a 7 day cruise - which we normally avoid anyway as we like long cruises. So, the adventure ends.

I tend to agree. Pre pandemic  my cruises were between 12 to 14 days in length. My province of Ontario, Canada is entering another lockdown at midnight April 2nd.  There goes our family Easter celebration. 

[Savvygrams]

On 3/19/2021 at 11:03 AM, ipeeinthepool said:

OK, who's going?

We are booked, and eager to cruise again. Vaccinated and fead6 to fly to St. Maarten!

[CroozFanatic]

What's the lesson here if NCL releases the Encore from Cozumel?

 

Book immediately. Grab the airfare. Don't book B2B. 

 

?

[nocl]

13 hours ago, pumpkin 11 said:

“There are 33 intensive care beds in the CMC, 32 people with a corona infection are on such an ICU bed. An emotional Rhuggenaath said "the hospital is full". The hospital has 300 beds in total, half of which is already reserved for corona patients. This means that regular medical care is jeopardized.”

 

am i an idiot or does this math make absolutely no sense?

Was that a rhetorical question?

 

Two parts     ICU    capacity 33, Corona patients filling 32.

 

Total hospital beds which may include both ICU and non ICU beds = 300 capacity of which 150 are filled with Covid patients.  If he has included ICU in the full bed totals then the 150 consist of 32 ICU patients and 118 Covid patients that are in the hospital but not in ICU.

[ipeeinthepool]

6 hours ago, Savvygrams said:

We are booked, and eager to cruise again. Vaccinated and fead6 to fly to St. Maarten!

 

Congratulations, please keep us updated on the cruise

[TheMettins]

On 4/1/2021 at 8:46 AM, CroozFanatic said:

What's the lesson here if NCL releases the Encore from Cozumel?

 

Book immediately. Grab the airfare. Don't book B2B. 

 

?

Even w/ a reduced capacity of let's say 1,500 pax... the Coz airport is tiny, can it handle the load?  We enjoyed a land vacation there in January, our AA flight had 40 people and they had to stop the luggage conveyor belt because it was overloaded.  We would definitely consider leaving from Coz, so I hope they can figure something out!  134 days till the Millennium from St. Maarten 🤞     

[George C]

We are definitely looking forward to our July 3rd cruise to celebrate my wife’s July 4th birthday, price of our royal suite went up over 1k per person in last week now they are no longer listed. Ship shouldn’t be crowded since at least currently there not selling inside or outside cabins, just cabins with balconies. Only hassle was trying to find convenient airfare. 

[Fritz Mom]

Don't forget your sunscreen or this may happen!