Anyone that tested positive on an X sailing care to respond to how they were handled?

[RICCruisers]

We have all read about the positive cases on Celebrity sailings over the past few months. I have not seen any posts from the actual passengers on how they were handled. From what we have been told by Celebrity, they are debarked at the next port and flown home in a private jet. It would be very beneficial to hear from someone who has gone through this experience. I totally understand they probably prefer this to remain private, but I have some questions.
 

The main question I have is - What happens once you land “at home”. Are you quarantined somewhere?  Are you allowed to go to where your car is parked to drive home?  Are you transferred to a medical facility?  
 

From what I have read here the posts are saying that Celebrity has handled the positive cases very well. What are those posters using to make those comments? Do you know those passengers and have first hand knowledge or are you simply saying the passenger was sent off the ship in an ambulance and are no longer on the ship and all is well. 
 

If one of those passengers reads this and is willing to answer what happened after you were taken off the ship I know I would be indebted to you as I am sure many of us would also be. My hope is that all of those passengers are doing well and looking forward to their next cruise. 

[RICCruisers]

Here is a link to a Royal passenger that describes in detail how they were handled. No guarantee Celebrity will be the same. Spoiler Alert - They were handled very well 
 

 

 

[Turtles06]

7 minutes ago, RICCruisers said:

Here is a link to a Royal passenger that describes in detail how they were handled. No guarantee Celebrity will be the same. Spoiler Alert - They were handled very well 

 

Thanks for sharing that link, the OP's report was quite interesting.

 

Too bad the thread got locked before we could find out how the OP and husband were doing, as well as what happened to their car parked in FLL.  

[Fouremco]

37 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Thanks for sharing that link, the OP's report was quite interesting.

 

Too bad the thread got locked before we could find out how the OP and husband were doing, as well as what happened to their car parked in FLL.  

Too many threads dealing with this! 😊

 

Here's Part 2 of her thread, which actually has a lot of information and answers that she didn't have time to provide before the first thread was locked, such as what happened to the car:

 

 

[RICCruisers]

40 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Too many threads dealing with this! 😊

 

Here's Part 2 of her thread, which actually has a lot of information and answers that she didn't have time to provide before the first thread was locked, such as what happened to the car:

 

 

@FouremcoThanks for posting Part 2. 

[Fouremco]

37 minutes ago, RICCruisers said:

@FouremcoThanks for posting Part 2. 

👍 Happy to do so.

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

Too many threads dealing with this! 😊

 

Here's Part 2 of her thread, which actually has a lot of information and answers that she didn't have time to provide before the first thread was locked, such as what happened to the car:

 

 

 

Ah, thanks for posting Part 2!

 

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by Turtles06

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Ah, thanks for posting Part 2!

 

 

👍 I'm not sure why they locked the first thread, but I'm very happy that they left part 2 alone.

[Turtles06]

56 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

👍 I'm not sure why they locked the first thread, but I'm very happy that they left part 2 alone.

Probably because of the OT debate that took place. One poster even begged others to stop, fearing the thread would be locked before the OP could even post and tell folks how her family was doing. 

[hcat]

So what happened to them and the car? Hope all is now well

[RICCruisers]

39 minutes ago, hcat said:

So what happened to them and the car? Hope all is now well

Go up to Post 4 for the link to Part 2 for the rest of the story. All’s well that ends well. 

[TeeRick]

If you test positive prior to embarkation in the port city where/how do you quarantine?

[Ken the cruiser]

36 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

If you test positive prior to embarkation in the port city where/how do you quarantine?

That's a good question. 🤔 Let's say you go into a nearby Urgent Care clinic in Seattle to get a 15 minute antigen test to allow you, in part, to check-in/board the cruise ship in the next day or two and it comes back positive. Does the UC clinic simply hand you the results and say "Have a nice day" or do they have some "medical" responsibility to provide you options on how to proceed?

 

Do you then go back to your hotel and say nothing, book a flight back home and say nothing, and tell the cruise line you need to cancel your cruise because you tested positive? That's a good question which, unfortunately, would solely be up to the infected person to resolve as the cruise line has no responsibility for that person until they actually complete the check-in process and board the ship.

 

Of course, in hindsight I would have gotten an antigen test prior to leaving for Seattle, masked up and socially distanced myself from everybody as much as possible while in route to the "second" antigen test, so at least I would minimize the possibility as much as possible from receiving that very undesirable positive test in Seattle. 

 

But to answer your specific question, I have no idea where/how you would quarantine for 14 days nor would I envy anyone that had to figure that one out.

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

book a flight back home and say nothing

I certainly wouldn't do this.

[TeeRick]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That's a good question. 🤔 Let's say you go into a nearby Urgent Care clinic in Seattle to get a 15 minute antigen test to allow you, in part, to check-in/board the cruise ship in the next day or two and it comes back positive. Does the UC clinic simply hand you the results and say "Have a nice day" or do they have some "medical" responsibility to provide you options on how to proceed?

 

Do you then go back to your hotel and say nothing, book a flight back home and say nothing, and tell the cruise line you need to cancel your cruise because you tested positive? That's a good question which, unfortunately, would solely be up to the infected person to resolve as the cruise line has no responsibility for that person until they actually complete the check-in process and board the ship.

 

Of course, in hindsight I would have gotten an antigen test prior to leaving for Seattle, masked up and socially distanced myself from everybody as much as possible while in route to the "second" antigen test, so at least I would minimize the possibility as much as possible from receiving that very undesirable positive test in Seattle. 

 

But to answer your specific question, I have no idea where/how you would quarantine for 14 days nor would I envy anyone that had to figure that one out.

 

Ken this is exactly why we cancelled our cruise next week.  When it was announced as 3 days out for our cruise we could still test at home one way or another before we boarded our flight the next day. And we changed our trip to do so.   But then the announcement of two days really changed the logistics traveling across the country.  You need to test in Seattle.  Even with the at-home rapid monitored test kit in your hotel room.  If we tested positive we could not have the conscious to ignore the result and just fly home.  And stay quarantined in a Seattle hotel for 2 weeks?  Which one?  Who would take us? Two weeks of room service put outside our door?   Unfortunately we have a large family indoor event which we could not miss from multiple states just before we would leave for Seattle so our chances of being positive once we got there were not zero no matter how careful.

[TeeRick]

If we cruised from the east coast (say FL) we could rent a car (contactless) and drive home in a day if we tested positive.  No so from Seattle.

[39august]

So happy for these posts from a person who has actual experience with the "fly home" aspect of CWC.

[Ken the cruiser]

57 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Ken this is exactly why we cancelled our cruise next week.  When it was announced as 3 days out for our cruise we could still test at home one way or another before we boarded our flight the next day. And we changed our trip to do so.   But then the announcement of two days really changed the logistics traveling across the country.  You need to test in Seattle.  Even with the at-home rapid monitored test kit in your hotel room.  If we tested positive we could not have the conscious to ignore the result and just fly home.  And stay quarantined in a Seattle hotel for 2 weeks?  Which one?  Who would take us? Two weeks of room service put outside our door?   Unfortunately we have a large family indoor event which we could not miss from multiple states just before we would leave for Seattle so our chances of being positive once we got there were not zero no matter how careful.

That's too bad Rick. I know you were looking forward to that cruise. But, if we were in your shoes, we would have probably done the same thing.

[TeeRick]

43 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That's too bad Rick. I know you were looking forward to that cruise. But, if we were in your shoes, we would have probably done the same thing.

The frustrating thing is that the CDC had very little reason to change testing advice from 3 days to 2 days prior. Just sticking it to the cruise industry again! There is/was no data from ships to indicate that things were not safe or there were outbreaks - or no more than a few occasional positive tests on board with 3 days advance testing in place and of course everybody vaccinated.  Even with Delta around for months now including when you cruised.  But that one-day tweak really made a big difference in logistics for cruising and the risk equation for longer flights and destinations.

[TeeRick]

So if CDC changes testing recommendations (again) from 2 days to 1 day /24 hours before boarding - then think what that might do to cruising!  They could do this on a whim anytime!

[RichYak]

5 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

So if CDC changes testing recommendations (again)

Far be it from me to defend the CDC, but I think the 2-day testing has been their only recommendation. It's not a change. The only changes have been from cruise lines matching it.

[TeeRick]

48 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Far be it from me to defend the CDC, but I think the 2-day testing has been their only recommendation. It's not a change. The only changes have been from cruise lines matching it.

This is a slippery slope.  Let's review.  In May CDC lifted most restrictions for the fully vaccinated.  Fully vaccinated people started cruising out of the US on Edge and Millennium with no testing required.  Then the CDC recommended in July due to emergence of Delta that even vaccinated people exposed to somebody that tested positive to COVID get a test "within 3-5 days". The cruise lines responded using "an abundance of caution" (according to the emails I received for my cruise from Celebrity) by putting the 72 hour test in place for the vaccinated.  Then because of the confusion they changed it to three days.  Then less than two weeks ago the CDC issued guidance on a change to two days - see CC link. 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6444/

 

The cruise lines followed.  I got the "abundance of caution" email again (after several incorrect ones) switching my upcoming cruise to 2 days pre-testing.  The CDC is driving all of this.   But there is really no given cruise ship based data or reasoning going from 3 days to 2 days.  

 

In fact - this is what CDC says for airline and international travel - 3 days pretesting.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/international-travel-during-covid19.html

• Before you arrive in the United States:
  • All air passengers coming to the United States, including U.S. citizens and fully vaccinated people, are required to have a negative COVID-19 test result no more than 3 days before travel or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 in the past 3 months before they board a flight to the United States.
• After travel:
  • Get tested with a viral test 3-5 days after travel.

 

So I ask again- Where did a 2 day recommendation come from specifically for cruise ships? Why change from 3 days?    No compelling data to support it !  So do you think they can go to only 1 day on a whim??  

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by TeeRick

[Babr]

5 hours ago, TeeRick said:

If you test positive prior to embarkation in the port city where/how do you quarantine?

The only example I am aware of is a family who tested positive in Barcelona at embarkation. They may have been on a Royal Caribbean cruise, but the Covid Assistance plan is the same as the Celebrity plan even though they operate as separate companies.
 

In that case, the law in Spain required the family to quarantine for 10 days before flying home. A charter flight was not considered because it would not have been allowed. Royal paid for room and board at a hotel contracted for that purpose. They later returned home by commercial air, probably on their scheduled return flight with maybe a change fee - all paid by Royal.
 

I do not know of a domestic example of someone testing positive at the pier, but I suppose the procedure would be the same if the guests flew to the port. While a domestic flight does not require a negative test, I expect you still can’t fly after testing positive.  Cruise lines do have contracted hotels for the purpose of quarantine, but there are few examples of people being assigned to them.
 

The question is whether Celebrity would foot the bill as RCI did for the family in Barcelona even though the Assistance plan does not have any provisions for someone who tests positive before a cruise except a refund. I suppose they did it because of the quarantine laws of the host country.

 

On the other hand, there is no language providing for charter jets either. Maybe they’d just fly you home from a domestic port as they do from the Caribbean. They don’t seem to follow the exact language of the Assistance plan anyway so I guess it depends on where you are, port agreements, or other factors.

[TeeRick]

3 hours ago, Babr said:

The only example I am aware of is a family who tested positive in Barcelona at embarkation. They may have been on a Royal Caribbean cruise, but the Covid Assistance plan is the same as the Celebrity plan even though they operate as separate companies.
 

In that case, the law in Spain required the family to quarantine for 10 days before flying home. A charter flight was not considered because it would not have been allowed. Royal paid for room and board at a hotel contracted for that purpose. They later returned home by commercial air, probably on their scheduled return flight with maybe a change fee - all paid by Royal.
 

I do not know of a domestic example of someone testing positive at the pier, but I suppose the procedure would be the same if the guests flew to the port. While a domestic flight does not require a negative test, I expect you still can’t fly after testing positive.  Cruise lines do have contracted hotels for the purpose of quarantine, but there are few examples of people being assigned to them.
 

The question is whether Celebrity would foot the bill as RCI did for the family in Barcelona even though the Assistance plan does not have any provisions for someone who tests positive before a cruise except a refund. I suppose they did it because of the quarantine laws of the host country.

 

On the other hand, there is no language providing for charter jets either. Maybe they’d just fly you home from a domestic port as they do from the Caribbean. They don’t seem to follow the exact language of the Assistance plan anyway so I guess it depends on where you are, port agreements, or other factors.

I don't really think that in the USA the Assistance plan would apply until you check in for your cruise and then test positive on the ship.  Or you are with somebody that tests positive.  I don't see how the cruise line would compensate you other than FCC if you tested positive in the port city prior to check in.  Kind of on your own then I think.  Does anybody have any better information or real example?

[Ken the cruiser]

4 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

I don't really think that in the USA the Assistance plan would apply until you check in for your cruise and then test positive on the ship.  Or you are with somebody that tests positive.  I don't see how the cruise line would compensate you other than FCC if you tested positive in the port city prior to check in.  Kind of on your own then I think.  Does anybody have any better information or real example?

Rick, you definitely need to go on a cruise, maybe even a B3B! It’s funny, once we embarked on the Edge that first day, all of this stuff started to move to our rearview mirror. Just saying … 😎