Live(ish) from Summit - 7/17

[Kreative03]

A photo dump, as I go along my sea day…

Bakery in Oceanview cafe, Retreat Lounge, entry to Oceanview, Pool deck in late afternoon, mast grill, camp at sea, and sunset bar

[Kreative03]

Yesterday Barbados, today at sea. We ended up doing the catamaran with turtle stop as our ship sponsored excursion. It was an excellent choice as always even if the kids didn’t want to spend a lot of time in the water. I think I sanitized my hands no less than 8 times before I boarded the catamaran, and masks were required from stepping off the ship until onto the boat, and vis versa. You were allowed to browse the terminal shops post excursion, and if you did not have an excursion we were told that certain government taxis were available to escort you to several sites as part of retaining the idea of a bubble tour. YMMV.

 

We did Tuscan Grill for dinner. This is the first time we’ve been in several years, and weren’t impressed. Service was fine, food was fair. The items they excelled at were great; others were so far off that I was concerned. For example, I had the lemon garlic chicken and it was sickly sweet with no discernible garlic notes. The meatballs on the other hand were fantastic, as was the lemon marscapone cheesecake. We will go again one more time, so I will have an open mind for the next visit.

 

Hit up the spa for a massage that was pleasant but expensive. All of the spa employees are still wearing masks and I’m not sure if it is a supplier’s requirement  or if they aren’t past the vaccine threshold for celebrity yet. The 3 sea days make for a pleasant journey and I’m pretty sure I could handle a B2B for next week if we weren’t already heading for another week in Florida.

 

 

[Kreative03]

Sea Day photo dump

Barbados, pool bar, cellar masters, sushi on 5, martini bar.

[Laurab23]

What is the green martini?

[Kreative03]

37 minutes ago, Laurab23 said:

What is the green martini?

It is the Tropitini. Grey Goose Vodka, Bacardi Limon Rum, Blue curaçao, and pineapple juice.

[Laurab23]

4 hours ago, Kreative03 said:

It is the Tropitini. Grey Goose Vodka, Bacardi Limon Rum, Blue curaçao, and pineapple juice.

Thank you,

[cpristash]

Are they allowing cruisers to venture out into town independently?

 

[abbydancer2003]

We're on the ship 7/31, so thank you for this.

 

We're flying in Friday, so my little group as agreed that we'll each get two covid tests.  We'll get an official travel test on Tuesday for the EHAS form, and then a regular return PCR on Wednesday for Celebrity.  As long as the Wednesday test comes back by Friday night or Saturday AM, we're all good, I think, unless I'm missing something.

 

I'm wondering about your comment about the approved taxis.  My sister has been to Barbados before, and she thinks I should go to the George Washington house and slave museum.  I wonder if a taxi would enable that?  My friends are booked on an X beach tour, but that's not my thing.

 

[Kreative03]

@abbydancer- I’d have a booked or backup Celebrity Tour just in case things change, as we were originally told only ship tours if you want to disembark in Barbados. Things are constantly changing, and I’d hate for you to not be able to get off the ship because you had advice that was too dated. They seem to have a wide berth with private journeys if you can convince your friends to book with you.

[Kreative03]

7 hours ago, cpristash said:

Are they allowing cruisers to venture out into town independently?

 

As of this week - Aruba and Curaco yes, Barbados no. Also no independent disembarkation with unvaccinated children under 15.

[abbydancer2003]

20 minutes ago, Kreative03 said:

@abbydancer- I’d have a booked or backup Celebrity Tour just in case things change, as we were originally told only ship tours if you want to disembark in Barbados. Things are constantly changing, and I’d hate for you to not be able to get off the ship because you had advice that was too dated. They seem to have a wide berth with private journeys if you can convince your friends to book with you.

Thanks, none of the X tours go where I want to go.  My friends really want to go to one of the beaches, so I'll hang out on the ship.  If they allow "curated" taxis where I want to go, great.

[biguntx]

Thanks for your review 

[cpristash]

I understand that things are very fluid..We did not care for any of the excursions as well…not to mention overpriced!

Fingers crossed

 

[Kreative03]

Hi all - letting you know that 2 passengers out of 499 have tested positive with the No close contacts, including crew, have re-tested positive with PCR. 
 

I’ll be back with more updates if there are any.

[bandp407]

5 minutes ago, Kreative03 said:

Hi all - letting you know that 2 passengers out of 499 have tested positive with the No close contacts, including crew, have re-tested positive with PCR. 
 

I’ll be back with more updates if there are any.

Thank you for the info. Does anyone know if those that tested positive were vaccinated & symptomatic?

[TenneSea]

39 minutes ago, Kreative03 said:

Hi all - letting you know that 2 passengers out of 499 have tested positive with the No close contacts, including crew, have re-tested positive with PCR. 
 

I’ll be back with more updates if there are any.

Oh no.  Keep us posted.  Hope they can isolate and contain the cases. 

[TenneSea]

Can't believe how much I miss cruising.  I know I'm not alone.

[Kreative03]

34 minutes ago, bandp407 said:

Thank you for the info. Does anyone know if those that tested positive were vaccinated & symptomatic?

Yes to vaccinated, as all pax were required to be vaccinated with PCR tests within 72hrs prior to sailing. No idea on symptomatic at this time. 
 

@TenneSea seems as though they had tested early and were isolated early. Not sure what the timeline is, but my guess is that it was around the time I had tested (10:45am) as they called and pulled crew before their mid-morning shift started. I saw quarantine cabins on deck 11 but hadn’t thought much of it.  Hopefully others have more details - the whispers are starting.

[Jim_Iain]

Wow... thanks for sharing.    Any word or even rumors of what they do with the positive passengers at the end of the cruise?   

Good reason to have travel insurance and/or evacuation insurance.

[bandp407]

3 hours ago, Kreative03 said:

Yes to vaccinated, as all pax were required to be vaccinated with PCR tests within 72hrs prior to sailing. No idea on symptomatic at this time. 
 

@TenneSea seems as though they had tested early and were isolated early. Not sure what the timeline is, but my guess is that it was around the time I had tested (10:45am) as they called and pulled crew before their mid-morning shift started. I saw quarantine cabins on deck 11 but hadn’t thought much of it.  Hopefully others have more details - the whispers are starting.

Thank you. Sounds as if  breakthrough cases are popping up. Celebrity seems to have a hold on dealing with a positive test & contact tracing etc…. Thank God the cruise lines have  all these measures in place. Given the numbers in Florida- 13,500 new cases, DH & I will feel safer on our Sept 6 Summit sailing  than in a local Florida restaurant! 

 
to all onboard enjoy the end of your cruise & hope you walk away with beautiful memories!!

[abbydancer2003]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Wow... thanks for sharing.    Any word or even rumors of what they do with the positive passengers at the end of the cruise?   

Good reason to have travel insurance and/or evacuation insurance.

On these sailing X covers all covid expenses.  If you booked air with them, they'll get you home.  We're sailing next week, and on this, and my October cruise, I got cruise air.