Back to Back vs/ no Back to Back allowed?

[39august]

Why is Celebrity not allowing back to back cruises from St. Martin or Greece? RCI and Crystal are both booking b2b's from Nassau. 

[WestLakeGirl]

Several hypotheses
 

abundance of caution

st. maarten wouldn’t allow it

Celebrity can’t afford the hundred dollar discount for back to back cruises right now

It’s easier to zero out the ship and do deep cleaning between cruises when you have no carryover passengers

[cruisestitch]

I am going to guess that Nassau’s rules allow B2B while St.Maarten doesn’t but that’s just a guess.

[jelayne]

Risk adverse.  If passengers are only on for 7 days the chances of someone testing negative when boarding, then contracting the virus, showing symptoms in 7 days, and exposing others is far less than if they are on the ship for 14 days.

They want to get ships sailing and a significant outbreak could be a disaster.

[Miaminice]

Simple fact... no rumors necessary and money issues are not involved.
 

Both, Greece and St. Maarten, only allowed cruises under certain conditions - no B2B is one of them.

 

It‘s been a condition in Greece since late summer 2020 when TUI Cruises were the first to cruise there with Mein Schiff 6.

 

In other words... it’s not specific to Celebrity or Royal but to the destinations.

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by Miaminice

[Ken the cruiser]

What will also be interesting to see is if CDC will block cruise lines from allowing B2B cruises on their start-up Phase 4 restricted cruises out of US ports, hopefully beginning around the middle of July.

 

On page 33 of the CDC CSO it states:

 

"(2) The ship operator must not sail or offer to sail on an itinerary longer than 7 days. CDC may shorten or lengthen the number of days permitted to sail based on public health considerations and as set forth in technical instructions or orders."

 

I guess it comes down to the interpretation of the word "itinerary". We're hoping they will as we have a B2B booked on the Edge in late July. But, if not, we'll be quite content to just start cruising again out of US ports, fully vaccinated of course. 😎

Edited May 1, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[39august]

Yes, but CDC has no control over Greece, St. Martin,  or Nassau. That is why I wondered about different rules for different non-US ports. Thanks Miaminice. That makes sense. 

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, 39august said:

Yes, but CDC has no control over Greece, St. Martin,  or Nassau. That is why I wondered about different rules for different non-US ports. Thanks Miaminice. That makes sense. 

But, if you were Celebrity, besides avoiding any bad press as suggested by @jelayne in post #4, and wanted to use the 7 day Athens, Southampton and St Maarten start-up cruises as "real world" supporting data in your Phase 2 CDC protocol submission to subsequently get Phase 2B "test cruise" approval, you might. 

[harkinmr]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

But, if you were Celebrity, besides avoiding any bad press as suggested by @jelayne in post #4, and wanted to use the 7 day Athens, Southampton and St Maarten start-up cruises as "real world" supporting data in your Phase 2 CDC protocol submission to subsequently get Phase 2B "test cruise" approval, you might. 

If they are going to go the test cruise route (instead of vaccinated sailings) any real world data from June cruises would be late in coming.  I imagine they would want to get their approvals for test cruises in place during the next 30 days.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, harkinmr said:

If they are going to go the test cruise route (instead of vaccinated sailings) any real world data from June cruises would be late in coming.  I imagine they would want to get their approvals for test cruises in place during the next 30 days.

Very true. But, of course, Celebrity made the no B2B decision out of St Maarten, Athens and Southampton (for whatever reason) long before they knew what modifications CDC was going to publicize Thursday. I would imagine Celebrity would now be opting for the 95%/98% rule to bypass the test cruises all together.

[Ken the cruiser]

53 minutes ago, 39august said:

Yes, but CDC has no control over Greece, St. Martin,  or Nassau. That is why I wondered about different rules for different non-US ports. Thanks Miaminice. That makes sense. 

I guess Seabourn didn't get the word as they are booking B2Bs out of Athens starting April 12th.

 

Seabourn Ovation will offer two seven-day cruises exploring ports throughout the Greek Isles, with itineraries designed to enable guests to book back-to-back voyages to create a 14-day Wonder of the Aegean journey with different destinations on each. 

 

Seabourn to reboot operations in July 2021 from Athens (latteluxurynews.com)

 

Update: I just called NCL and they are also allowing folks to book B2Bs out of Athens.

Edited May 1, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I guess Seabourn didn't get the word as they are booking B2Bs out of Athens starting April 12th.

 

Seabourn Ovation will offer two seven-day cruises exploring ports throughout the Greek Isles, with itineraries designed to enable guests to book back-to-back voyages to create a 14-day Wonder of the Aegean journey with different destinations on each. 

 

Seabourn to reboot operations in July 2021 from Athens (latteluxurynews.com)

 

Update: I just called NCL and they are also allowing folks to book B2Bs out of Athens.

your posts are always so cogent, fact based and non professorial.

[39august]

Well, so much for that theory!

[DaKahuna]

I am anxiously watching the ‘back to back’ situation.  We have a Celebrity areflection cruise scheduled 4-11 December and a Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas 11-18 December.  
 

[LGW59]

12 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

I am anxiously watching the ‘back to back’ situation.  We have a Celebrity areflection cruise scheduled 4-11 December and a Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas 11-18 December.  
 

from what countries?

[DaKahuna]

Florida, USA.  The Reflection cruise is out of Fort Lauderdale and the Symphony cruise is out of Port Miami. 

[LGW59]

5 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

Florida, USA.  The Reflection cruise is out of Fort Lauderdale and the Symphony cruise is out of Port Miami. 

purely an arm chair quarterback here, but my moneys says it will be a go. Fingers crossed!!!

[DaKahuna]

40 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

purely an arm chair quarterback here, but my moneys says it will be a go. Fingers crossed!!!

My fingers and toes are crossed.  Got a great deal on both cruises and am hoping it all comes together after the disappointments of the last 14 months.

[ipeeinthepool]

9 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

I am anxiously watching the ‘back to back’ situation.  We have a Celebrity areflection cruise scheduled 4-11 December and a Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas 11-18 December.  
 

 

I wonder about the questions in the pre-cruise health questionnaire and if that will cause a problem for you.  I suspect that they will ask if you have been out of the country in the last 10-14 days and if they may require a PCR test if you have ben out of the country.

[cruisestitch]

10 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

I am anxiously watching the ‘back to back’ situation.  We have a Celebrity areflection cruise scheduled 4-11 December and a Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas 11-18 December.  
 

Changing ships and changing embarkation ports means that this is not considered a back to back situation.

[Fouremco]

3 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Changing ships and changing embarkation ports means that this is not considered a back to back situation.

I agree, I think people are using the b2b term two broadly. It traditionally refers to consecutive cruises on the same ship. 

 

4 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I wonder about the questions in the pre-cruise health questionnaire and if that will cause a problem for you.  I suspect that they will ask if you have been out of the country in the last 10-14 days and if they may require a PCR test if you have ben out of the country.

Yes, this may well be the stumbling block. Mind you, I doubt very much that they would challenge or attempt to verify negative responses. It's a potential problem, like fraudulent proof of vaccination, but posing a lesser health threat IMO. 

[DaKahuna]

14 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I wonder about the questions in the pre-cruise health questionnaire and if that will cause a problem for you.  I suspect that they will ask if you have been out of the country in the last 10-14 days and if they may require a PCR test if you have ben out of the country.

We will fill out the form honestly.  
 

Isn’t one of the protocols for leaving the ship to be tested?  I wonder what bearing, if any, that would have with the new ship. 
 

Then again, a lot of things of things can and will change between now and December.

[ipeeinthepool]

5 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

We will fill out the form honestly.  
 

Isn’t one of the protocols for leaving the ship to be tested?  I wonder what bearing, if any, that would have with the new ship. 
 

Then again, a lot of things of things can and will change between now and December.

 

I think they are providing a antigen test when you get off the ship.  I'm concerned that they may want the better PCR test to board the ship if you have been out of the country in the last 14 days.

[DaKahuna]

Just now, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I think they are providing a antigen test when you get off the ship.  I'm concerned that they may want the better PCR test to board the ship if you have been out of the country in the last 14 days.

I share that concern.  Will have my TA check into it once we get closer to the sailing dates.

[Ken the cruiser]

56 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I think they are providing a antigen test when you get off the ship.  I'm concerned that they may want the better PCR test to board the ship if you have been out of the country in the last 14 days.

Just curious, what gives you the inclination the CDC would require a PCR test, for any reason regardless of where you have been prior to sailing, if you have proof you have been vaccinated. It's not what the CDC said on April 29th when they clarified what was presented in their "Thursday letter" to the cruise lines. However, they did say embarking passengers would be given a simple viral (antigen) test upon embarkation, but only on the Phase 4 restricted sailings which will hopefully start in mid July. 

 

Testing: The CDC will update its testing and quarantine requirements for passengers and crew to closely align with the CDC’s guidance for fully vaccinated persons. Fully vaccinated individuals no longer need to undergo NAAT testing, they may now take a simple viral test (NAA or antigen) upon embarkation. This testing change is for the restricted revenue sailings in Phase 4 of the CSO.

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/24896-cdc-aims-for-july-start-up.html

 

However, if you have a cruise booked especially after Nov 1st, I would not be too worried about the rules being applied now to the Phase 4 restricted cruises as I'm sure they will definitely change again by then. But, as we all know, stuff can change ...

Edited May 3, 2021 by Ken the cruiser