St. Maarten cruise booked!

[Fouremco]

28 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

For what it's worth, here's what Celebrity has posted on their web site where they state "A negative rt-PCR test is required within 120 hours prior to boarding in St. Maarten."

 

Meet Our Team of Health & Safety Experts | Celebrity Cruises

Yes, 120 hours prior to boarding the Millennium in St. Maarten but 72 hours prior to your flight to St. Maarten. That gives you an extra 48 hours to spend on the island if you choose to arrive early.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Yes, 120 hours prior to boarding the Millennium in St. Maarten but 72 hours prior to your flight to St. Maarten. That gives you an extra 48 hours to spend on the island if you choose to arrive early.

 

Here is the link regarding this issue. In the middle of paragraph 1 under COVID-19 test requirements, it reads. Interesting, it also mentions FDA approved antigen tests:

 

1.  For travelers from the USA, US territories and Canada the time frame remains 120 hrs. prior to departure. This will remain in effect as long as the national health authorities of the USA and Canada do not require differently for their traveling citizens.
2. Alternatively, travelers originating from the USA and Canada can do an antigen test for the SARS-COV-2 virus obtained from a naso-pharyngeal swab performed within 48 hours prior to departure to Sint Maarten. All FDA approved antigen tests including those with Emergency Use Authorization only (EUA) are accepted. Tests performed outside of the 48 hours period and home tests will not be accepted.

 

Travel Requirements – Sint Maarten EHAS (stmaartenehas.com)

[Ken the cruiser]

47 minutes ago, nocl said:

Have you had a chance to check it out?

Just got an initial call from our PVP and he's definitely chasing this issue down with the various powers that be, so stay tuned.

[nocl]

Just now, Ken the cruiser said:

Just got an initial call from our PVP and he's definitely chasing this issue down with the various powers that be, so stay tuned.

Thanks

[Fouremco]

15 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

Here is the link regarding this issue. In the middle of paragraph 1 under COVID-19 test requirements, it reads. Interesting, it also mentions FDA approved antigen tests:

 

1.  For travelers from the USA, US territories and Canada the time frame remains 120 hrs. prior to departure. This will remain in effect as long as the national health authorities of the USA and Canada do not require differently for their traveling citizens.
2. Alternatively, travelers originating from the USA and Canada can do an antigen test for the SARS-COV-2 virus obtained from a naso-pharyngeal swab performed within 48 hours prior to departure to Sint Maarten. All FDA approved antigen tests including those with Emergency Use Authorization only (EUA) are accepted. Tests performed outside of the 48 hours period and home tests will not be accepted.

 

Travel Requirements – Sint Maarten EHAS (stmaartenehas.com)

Thanks, Ken, you're right. I was referring to the greater international requirement, but the US and Canadian requirements are slightly different. 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, Fouremco said:

Thanks, Ken, you're right. I was referring to the greater international requirement, but the US and Canadian requirements are slightly different. 

I was also glad to see the reference to the optional 48 hour antigen test requirement. From what I understand X will be providing that test onboard for folks to be able to fly back home. In theory it should also apply to those folks disembarking in St Maarten and staying a few days (or temporarily disembarking the ship while in port if they are booked on a B2B).

[gone2c]

Does anyone know when boarding will start.  Cruise will not sail until 10 pm.  I will arrive on island at 1:22 pm.  I think I need to plan my day.  I've been to St Maarten on several different occasions so have seen the usual tourist attractions already.

[Jamesatgsu]

Does anybody know what the boarding times will be? 

[lhsail]

2 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Yes, 120 hours prior to boarding the Millennium in St. Maarten but 72 hours prior to your flight to St. Maarten. That gives you an extra 48 hours to spend on the island if you choose to arrive early.

Does this mean we can’t spend three nights prior to the cruise?

[Yowat]

TA says we CANNOT DO BACK TO BACK CRUISES due to testing requirements

Edited March 26, 2021 by Yowat

[Yowat]

14 minutes ago, Yowat said:

My daughter's birthday is in May so we spent the last 28 hours on the phone with Celebrity trying to get the last 2 cancelled cruises (last year Panama and this year Italy) cruise credits transferred to June bookings of the 1st and 2nd cruise out of St. Maarten.  

 

Daughter got the airline credit applied around 2AM with AA calling her back.  Now we get an email from the TA that says we CANNOT DO BACK TO BACK CRUISES.  Needless to say we are upset.  This was to be our first experience with Celebrity Cruise Line.  Well we have decided the hassle is just not worth over $12,000 we have spent just to experience this cruise line.  We will be asking for a full refund and going back to Royal where we had no issues with the FCC's or bookings.  Also the airfare was extremely high for round trip to St. Maarten.  To say they are owned by the same parent company, Celebrity need to get their act together.  At this point to experience this cruise line it would have to be FREE.   2 suites just became available.  

 

Edited March 26, 2021 by Yowat

[Host Anne]

2 hours ago, gone2c said:

Does anyone know when boarding will start.  Cruise will not sail until 10 pm.  I will arrive on island at 1:22 pm.  I think I need to plan my day.  I've been to St Maarten on several different occasions so have seen the usual tourist attractions already.

I haven't seen anything about boarding times yet but I have heard departures from St. Maarten will be at 10:00 PM.  I'm working to pull together all the various details I am getting but my "real" job prevents me from getting back to that project.  I hope to have something with more details to share this weekend.

 

By the way, you do NOT have to use Celebrity shore excursions (as of this moment in time).  

 

Keep in mind (and I've heard this phase way too much the past year) that things are fluid and will be evolving.  Each port of call is going to set their own mandates that we will have to follow....and chances are they will not all be the same.  We have to be respectful of what each port of call asks us to do.  I booked knowing that things could likely change.  My only goal is to step on a ship and support the crew and cruise line....oh, and maybe our favorite store for bourbon in St. Maarten!

[Fouremco]

36 minutes ago, lhsail said:

Does this mean we can’t spend three nights prior to the cruise?

Three nights won't be a problem.

 

As @Ken the cruiser pointed out, for US and Canadian passengers, you have 120 hours, not 72 hours, for your PCR test window for entry to St. Maarten. Let's look at both test requirements:

 

Let's say that embarkation is on Sunday at 2:00PM. In order to meet Celebrity's 120 hour test requirement, the test has to take place no earlier than Tuesday at 2:00PM. 

 

For entry to St. Maarten,  you need to factor in the time it takes to get your result and the time it takes to fly, as you have to have the result before boarding your final flight leg. So let's say your test is Tuesday at 2:00PM and it takes a full 24 hours to get your results. That means you could fly out on Wednesday after 2:00PM and have four nights if you wanted. Depending on the amount of time it takes to get your results and the nature of your flights, 4 nights might be close but 3 nights shouldn't be a problem.

[lhsail]

7 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Three nights won't be a problem.

 

As @Ken the cruiser pointed out, for US and Canadian passengers, you have 120 hours, not 72 hours, for your PCR test window for entry to St. Maarten. Let's look at both test requirements:

 

Let's say that embarkation is on Sunday at 2:00PM. In order to meet Celebrity's 120 hour test requirement, the test has to take place no earlier than Tuesday at 2:00PM. 

 

For entry to St. Maarten,  you need to factor in the time it takes to get your result and the time it takes to fly, as you have to have the result before boarding your final flight leg. So let's say your test is Tuesday at 2:00PM and it takes a full 24 hours to get your results. That means you could fly out on Wednesday after 2:00PM and have four nights if you wanted. Depending on the amount of time it takes to get your results and the nature of your flights, 4 nights might be close but 3 nights shouldn't be a problem.

Appreciate your thorough information. I did call Celebrity Air and shortened our stay to two nights. Have to get the St. Maarten seal of approval as well. I’m sure by August testing and requirements will be totally different. 
 

On a positive note, the Celebrity Air rep was very helpful and very familiar with all the requirements. 

[Von & John]

14 minutes ago, Host Anne said:

...  My only goal is to step on a ship and support the crew and cruise line....oh, and maybe our favorite store for bourbon in St. Maarten!

 

Please share...

What is your favorite store for bourbon in St. Maarten?

[Host Anne]

8 minutes ago, Von & John said:

 

Please share...

What is your favorite store for bourbon in St. Maarten?

He's a big Blanton's fan which you can barely get in the US any longer.  The store on St. Maarten has about five different Blanton's options (or they did when we were last there). They have a rather large selection of bourbons.  He also purchases some Irish whiskey here as well.  The only hassle is very carefully packing it in luggage to be checked.  🙂

 

The store is http://www.gulmoharsxm.com/  The Mahtani family are wonderful people!!!!

[Host Anne]

12 minutes ago, Von & John said:

 

Please share...

What is your favorite store for bourbon in St. Maarten?

 

Darn...I meant to add...I LOVE Talkeetna!  We were seriously considering an Alaska land vacation this summer before the cruise came along.  I'm genuinely concerned for all of our cruise friends that live there and make their living from cruise ship passengers.  

[D. B.]

I was tracking the Celebrity countdown Clock on their website that said booking would open a 6:00 AM (pacific daylight savings time) So I set my alarm and got up Early and logged on to Celebritie's website and is said All Inside and Oceanview cabins were Sold Out..?

   I booked a Veranda cabin as we have tons of FCC's from 6 cancelled sailings.

I think Celebrity may have decided to moved Crew members into the Inside and Oceanview cabins so none of them has to Share a small Crew Cabin ?

  This would also reduce the number of passengers on the ship to help maintain Social Distancing.

 As for the Airline tickets I had checked them out late the evening before so I had some idea of what was available.  So right after booking my June 12 cruise I went  directly to Celebrities Flights page and the same flights I saw on Travelocity were available at the same price so I grabbed them. SFO to SXM requires one stop so I found the shortest total flight time was a stop at ATL.

   Price was not bad but as more people chose these flights you can bet the Airlines will see them selling and jack up the fares.

 D. B.

[George C]

We booked air today with celebrity, celebrity rep was very helpful, flight is not ideal only nonstop first class is Saturday the day we cruise, would have liked to fly in a few days before but flight times required extremely early times. Ship doesn’t leave till ten pm or so and we land at 3 so should have plenty of time. Flight is about twice what it would cost to fly to Florida.

[TFree]

12 minutes ago, D. B. said:

I was tracking the Celebrity countdown Clock on their website that said booking would open a 6:00 AM (pacific daylight savings time) So I set my alarm and got up Early and logged on to Celebritie's website and is said All Inside and Oceanview cabins were Sold Out..?

   I booked a Veranda cabin as we have tons of FCC's from 6 cancelled sailings.

I think Celebrity may have decided to moved Crew members into the Inside and Oceanview cabins so none of them has to Share a small Crew Cabin ?

  This would also reduce the number of passengers on the ship to help maintain Social Distancing.

 As for the Airline tickets I had checked them out late the evening before so I had some idea of what was available.  So right after booking my June 12 cruise I went  directly to Celebrities Flights page and the same flights I saw on Travelocity were available at the same price so I grabbed them. SFO to SXM requires one stop so I found the shortest total flight time was a stop at ATL.

   Price was not bad but as more people chose these flights you can bet the Airlines will see them selling and jack up the fares.

 D. B.

I am quite sure that Celebrity announced a few days ago that only verandah and higher cabins would be made available.  So "sold out" in this context just means not available.  

 

Tom & Judy

[Host Anne]

23 minutes ago, D. B. said:

I was tracking the Celebrity countdown Clock on their website that said booking would open a 6:00 AM (pacific daylight savings time) So I set my alarm and got up Early and logged on to Celebritie's website and is said All Inside and Oceanview cabins were Sold Out..?

   I booked a Veranda cabin as we have tons of FCC's from 6 cancelled sailings.

I think Celebrity may have decided to moved Crew members into the Inside and Oceanview cabins so none of them has to Share a small Crew Cabin ?

  This would also reduce the number of passengers on the ship to help maintain Social Distancing.

 As for the Airline tickets I had checked them out late the evening before so I had some idea of what was available.  So right after booking my June 12 cruise I went  directly to Celebrities Flights page and the same flights I saw on Travelocity were available at the same price so I grabbed them. SFO to SXM requires one stop so I found the shortest total flight time was a stop at ATL.

   Price was not bad but as more people chose these flights you can bet the Airlines will see them selling and jack up the fares.

 D. B.

 

TFree is correct.  Celebrity is not allowing guests to book inside nor oceanview cabins on the Millennium cruises this summer.  You could only book a veranda or higher.  That was announced prior to their opening reservations.

[Projunior]

I am booked on the July 17th sailing out of St. Maarten with the Aruba, Barbados, Curacao itinerary. This thread has discussed the St. Maarten COVID requirements, but what about the ports? Each have their own, including a requirement for a recent COVID test.

 

Aruba does not allow antigen tests, although St. Maarten does. Aruba requires a molecular test such as rt-PCR. If you follow the St. Maarten rules and do an antigen test before flying to St. Maarten, will you be forced to remain on the ship in Aruba? 

 

However, by the time the ship docks in Aruba, any rt-PCR test you took before you left home will be out of date and exceed the Aruba requirement that the test be within the last 72 hours. 

 

If these rules remain in place, how can anyone leave the ship? 

 

Aruba has also instituted the mandatory purchase of "Aruba Visitors Insurance" as well as an "ED card" that must be purchased online within 3 days of arrival.

 

Barbados and Curacao have similar hurdles in place.

 

I don't see Celebrity addressing these aspects. 

 

I am having second thoughts that the hassle of it all is not worth it.

Edited March 26, 2021 by Projunior

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just got an initial call from our PVP and he's definitely chasing this issue down with the various powers that be, so stay tuned.

 

4 hours ago, nocl said:

Thanks

Just talked with our PVP and he has extended our holds until next Tuesday as he hasn't received a definitive B2B answer yet from his manager. As a side note, he did talk with a person in the "cruise review" office that is getting a lot of complaints when she has to call folks to tell them they have to cancel their B2B cruise. I know, that doesn't sound promising. BUT, we're still hoping for a more positive result next week after the powers that be have time to think about it over the weekend. 🤞

[lazydayz]

The way I look at it is they (Celebrity and the ports) have a few months to work everything out.  I am not going to stress over the details, which could change multiple times before I step onboard on July 24.  

[Host Anne]

24 minutes ago, Projunior said:

If these rules remain in place, how can anyone leave the ship? 

 

Aruba has also instituted the mandatory purchase of "Aruba Visitors Insurance" as well as an "ED card" that must be purchased online within 3 days of arrival.

 

Barbados and Curacao have similar hurdles in place.

 

I don't see Celebrity addressing these aspects. 

 

I am having second thoughts that the hassle of it all is not worth it.

 

My understanding at the moment is that Celebrity is working with each port on the protocols they will each require.  I don't believe Celebrity would have pulled these itineraries together if they didn't have some level of comfort that passengers could get off in every port.  My guess is that they won't share information with us until they finalize details with each port.  For me, I'm going on this cruise to support the crew and Celebrity.  If there is a port where we can't get off (I really don't think that will happen but these days who knows) it certainly won't affect our cruise.  I do expect each port to have their own mandates but I also think they want us there or Celebrity wouldn't have put them on the itinerary in the first place.

 

I felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions earlier this week but little by little more information is being shared.  I'm not one to be patient typically, but I know how hard all the cruise lines have been working to get us back on board so I reminded myself that this has been a year of hell for the cruise lines, their staff/crew and all those in the ports of call we'll be going to.  I have found new patience.