Process Details for the Celebrity Millennium Sint Maarten Sailings

[sbrenskell]

14 minutes ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

Earlier this week when two or three guests on a MSC ship were diagnosed COVID positive, they were let off in Italy and the ship continued with its itinerary.  MSC did not mandate vaccines, while Celebrity did. MSC also does not have majority American cruisers. I sure hope that is not the "protocol" that ships sailing out of US ports with American cruisers implement.

 Well, if they let the passengers off at different ports when they cruise out of the US. I sure hope those passengers have a passport. If not, they will have a mess on their hands. 

Also, we (as far as I know) do not know where those passengers were from. They may have been from Italy for all we know. 

This was bound to happen because as we all know the vaccine does not keep you from getting covid. it does ,however, keep you from getting really sick from it. And it also protects you from the Delta variant(Pfizer and Moderna does.)

And when you test everyone on board you are bound to have a positive test(false positive or not.) Unofficial Travel Guide(Morgan) has said he has had positive cases while on cruises and it does not end up with the cruise being cancelled.  The cruise line does contact tracing and tests those people. We have been living with this virus for 15+ months. I think we got it pretty down by now.

Edited June 11, 2021 by sbrenskell

[Miaminice]

2 hours ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

Earlier this week when two or three guests on a MSC ship were diagnosed COVID positive, they were let off in Italy and the ship continued with its itinerary.  MSC did not mandate vaccines, while Celebrity did. MSC also does not have majority American cruisers. I sure hope that is not the "protocol" that ships sailing out of US ports with American cruisers implement.

of course it is! Part of the negotiations before being allowed to sail are arrangements with the ports to take care of infected passengers. They will have to leave the ship at the next possible port. And it only makes sense!

 

Read the fine print of the cruise contract. It basically says the same.

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by Miaminice

[FlyerTalker]

7 hours ago, sbrenskell said:

 Well, if they let the passengers off at different ports when they cruise out of the US. I sure hope those passengers have a passport. If not, they will have a mess on their hands.

 

Well, if they didn't have a passport, they surely didn't arrive in St Maarten in the first place.

[pixiedust777]

If you test positive while cruising you will be quarantined on the ship until the next port of call where you will be disembarked and transferred to a medical facility. Upon recovery or testing negative you will need to make arrangements to get home.

Do not cruise without a passport!

 

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by pixiedust777

[Susanb10567]

Any news from onboard from the rest of the testing?

[Jeremiah1212]

3 hours ago, pixiedust777 said:

If you test positive while cruising you will be quarantined on the ship until the next port of call where you will be disembarked and transferred to a medical facility. Upon recovery or testing negative you will need to make arrangements to get home.

Do not cruise without a passport!

 

 

They do pay for flights if you test positive. If you or a family member/someone in your party tests positive, Celebrity will pay all of the costs including flights home if necessary.

 

If you are identified as being a close contact to someone who tested positive, Celebrity will pay for flights only if you booked them through Celebrity Air. If you booked on your own, they will cover costs up until the point you needed to fly, which you would have to pay. 

[bup1224]

On 6/10/2021 at 10:56 AM, Seany527 said:

Hello everyone,

 

We are in beautiful Curaçao today.
 

I’ll give some updates about the past few days. 
 

Tuesday evening an announcement was made that Sint Maarten would now require visitors to have a negative COVID test 48 hours or less, prior to disembarking the ship. 
Overall this is a non issue as most people would require a test anyway to fly back home, but it does show the ever changing environment.
 

Aruba was very normal. Other than the streets next to the port being practically empty and some of the stores permanently closed, the whole experience while visiting was very nice. 
 

Over the past few nights at dinner, we took advantage of sitting along the aft windows of the deck 4 dining room. I was disappointed to see they added an additional 5, two person tables out of no where. As you can imagine, it made what was once a quiet peaceful dinner, much louder and more chaotic.
 

Today we are in Curaçao and things seem to be a little more restrictive than Aruba. Our tour is required to stay in the “bubble.”  Hand sanitizing before we enter the bus each time. 
We are at Mambo beach and cruise passengers are in a sectioned spot of the beach, which is very nice, with plenty of room. We are not allowed to approach the bar or grill. Everything will be brought to us. 
We have to wear masks at all times unless we are in our beach chairs or in the water. If someone from the cruise ship needs to use the bathroom, the bathroom is closed to other guests, we are allowed to use it and then it is cleaned. 
 

Things are much less restrictive than Barbados, but a little more locked down than Aruba. 
 

Life on board the Millennium continues to be amazing. 

Sean that definitely is strange in Curaçao.  I live here and that is not a Curaçao requirement (there is no a masks on the beach or outside requirement on my island) at all for anyone. Nor was the requirement for cruisers to be in the bubble. 

My guess is because of all the last minute changes,  the cruise sponsored excursion(s) chose to keep the bubble requirements.

Edited June 11, 2021 by bup1224
Typo

[WyKnott]

2 hours ago, Susanb10567 said:

Any news from onboard from the rest of the testing?

There's this account from The Points Guy.

[sbrenskell]

6 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Well, if they didn't have a passport, they surely didn't arrive in St Maarten in the first place.

There person I quoted from said cruises from the US.....

[downsmead]

16 minutes ago, sbrenskell said:

There person I quoted from said cruises from the US.....

I have read that they are Dutch so possibly live on St.Marten but would presumably been tested upon embarkation even if not tested under St. Marten requirements.

[drarill]

20 hours ago, AbbyCruiser45 said:

I think this is just a bad timing coincidence. Likely measures implemented by Greece, not in reaction to the cases on board. 

hope so 

[Mike45LC]

8 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Well, if they didn't have a passport, they surely didn't arrive in St Maarten in the first place.

Just to be my usual contrarian self, reports are that these two passengers were Dutch -- so speculation is that they could be St. Maarten residents, who might not need a passport on this cruise.

[Fouremco]

18 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

Just to be my usual contrarian self, reports are that these two passengers were Dutch -- so speculation is that they could be St. Maarten residents, who might not need a passport on this cruise.

As they were visiting other Caribbean islands on the cruise, they would have required their passports. Barbados, for example requires valid passports for all visitors.

[39august]

I've been to Barbados several times. Never asked to show a passport. 

[pixiedust777]

City News here in Toronto on the 5pm news reported that the couple that tested positive while on the Millennium were flown back home on a private plane. 
so that would mean that they were disembarked in Aruba and flown home.

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by pixiedust777

[Fouremco]

4 minutes ago, 39august said:

I've been to Barbados several times. Never asked to show a passport. 

I've never needed to show my passport when physically entering Barbados as a port of call either, but I've always had to show it to the cruise line when checking in. Passenger manifests, including passport details, are prepared by the cruise line and sent in advance to ports of call. In the past, some destinations had lesser requirements, but most now require a passport.

[jtwind]

6 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

If you are identified as being a close contact to someone who tested positive, Celebrity will pay for flights only if you booked them through Celebrity Air. If you booked on your own, they will cover costs up until the point you needed to fly, which you would have to pay. 

Is Celebrity's definition of close contact in print anywhere?

[Jeremiah1212]

43 minutes ago, jtwind said:

Is Celebrity's definition of close contact in print anywhere?

Not that I have seen or heard. The reporter from TPG who is onboard was determined as a close contact by being on the same shore excursion. 

[syesmar]

3 hours ago, pixiedust777 said:

City News here in Toronto on the 5pm news reported that the couple that tested positive while on the Millennium were flown back home on a private plane. 
so that would mean that they were disembarked in Aruba and flown home.

 

Interesting. Thanks for the info. A passenger onboard said they’ll be flown home tomorrow in a private medical aircraft. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2784744-two-test-positive-on-millenium/page/19/?tab=comments#comment-61263167

TPG’s reporter on board said they’re in an isolated cabin and will quarantine in a hotel after disembarkation until they test negative.

 

Best wishes to all!

 

[pixiedust777]

10 hours ago, syesmar said:

Interesting. Thanks for the info. A passenger onboard said they’ll be flown home tomorrow in a private medical aircraft. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2784744-two-test-positive-on-millenium/page/19/?tab=comments#comment-61263167

TPG’s reporter on board said they’re in an isolated cabin and will quarantine in a hotel after disembarkation until they test negative.

 

Best wishes to all!

 

To me this makes more sense.

I would take the information given from someone on board as more accurate than a news station that received the information from a third party. 

 

[syesmar]

12 minutes ago, pixiedust777 said:

To me this makes more sense.

I would take the information given from someone on board as more accurate than a news station that received the information from a third party. 

 

Yet two onboard have differing stories😉

(unless the flight is after a quarantine hotel).

After I saw this post, I heard on a story from MSNBC that they were told by Royal Caribbean Group the 2 passengers would be taken home via private plane after the cruise is over, and this article also mentions it. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/11/royal-caribbean-cruises-to-sail-despite-covid-cases-on-celebrity-ship.html

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by syesmar

[pixiedust777]

4 minutes ago, syesmar said:

Yet two onboard have differing stories😉

(unless the flight is after a quarantine hotel).

After I saw this post, I heard on a story from MSNBC that they were told by Royal Caribbean Group the 2 passengers would be taken home via private plane after the cruise is over, and this article also mentions it. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/11/royal-caribbean-cruises-to-sail-despite-covid-cases-on-celebrity-ship.html

 

This is like playing broken telephone when you were a child or witnesses giving a statement to police after an accident.

No reports seem to be exactly the same.

Bottom line the couple are being taken care of and they seem to be the only positive cases on this cruise.

It is turn around day so hopefully things will go well.

[sunbrookgal]

After all of this information. We have 2 passengers who test positive. We have them off the ship now. Departed in Aruba or St Martin? They are in isolation someplace. They will be released upon a negative test. RCL policy seems to say your removed from the ship at the next port and placed in a medical facility. What my definition of a medical facility is and RCL's may be slightly different. Who decides what is a medical facility anyway? RCL, Me ?  If say you are a family of 4, children say ages 11 & 13. One of us tests positive, were isolated and dropped off. Yes? Close proximity I'm thinking. Now Celebrity is not the kids ship, RCL is for sure. What I'm getting to is while they are open for cruising, its a small group who can. Families seem to be excluded from this. Ok, Buyer beware!

 

Peace, just random thinking its not yet time to sail. 

Edited June 12, 2021 by sunbrookgal

[BigAl94]

St Maarten residents seem unimpressed!  https://stmaartennews.org/new-cruise-rule-no-vaccine-needed-latest/?fbclid=IwAR1IOoSLEbgo1erkzC0p1ST75LrFwFBiHyOXeWK3nw5wsUHv6W3X3VMhMfs

[lhsail]

30 minutes ago, sunbrookgal said:

After all of this information. We have 2 passengers who test positive. We have them off the ship now. Departed in Aruba or St Martin? They are in isolation someplace. They will be released upon a negative test. RCL policy seems to say your removed from the ship at the next port and placed in a medical facility. What my definition of a medical facility is and RCL's may be slightly different. Who decides what is a medical facility anyway? RCL, Me ?  If say you are a family of 4, children say ages 11 & 13. One of us tests positive, were isolated and dropped off. Yes? Close proximity I'm thinking. Now Celebrity is not the kids ship, RCL is for sure. What I'm getting to is while they are open for cruising, its a small group who can. Families seem to be excluded from this. Ok, Buyer beware!

 

Peace, just random thinking its not yet time to sail. 

Celebrity’s policy includes the individual that tests positive and their traveling party.