Upcoming Caribbean Princess Livethread! 11/28-12/5

[jacpansea]

15 hours ago, Cruisindad said:

Fellow cruiser Gaynors  mentioned in post #61 approx 1400 pax and slightly under 1100 crew. Crew has been great and very happy to have guests back onboard. Some are clearly on first contract and  learning on the job, which is probably challenging in any event but more so with Medallion technology, which, surprise, doesn’t always cooperate. A lot of “just give me your cabin #.”

 

As for masking policy, here is my take. Others may see it differently. Generally everyone is wearing masks in interior space, to their table, into bars. As for “sip and cover” in bars,  to me it looks more like the policy is “unmask for the duration of the libation.”

Most everyone had masks on in theatre, at least until the lights went down, who knows after that. But theatre was probably less than 25% occupied for 9:45 show.

Also theatre made firm announcement about mask requirement.

I’m noticing your cruise immediately went to yellow on the CDC site. Are they announcing this? Or is it business as usual? We are on it over Christmas. 

[Cruisindad]

40 minutes ago, jacpansea said:

I’m noticing your cruise immediately went to yellow on the CDC site. Are they announcing this? Or is it business as usual? We are on it over Christmas. 

No there has been no communication about Covid status. Based on the CDC definitions of color, yellow could mean for our cruise either 

1) as few as 2 pax testing positive

2) a single crew member testing positive

3) the ship failed to meet the deadline for one of their daily required EDC form submissions. 

I personally wouldn’t expect to hear from the ship for any of those conditions. 

Obviously those counts are the minimum thresholds and could be higher.

So it is business as usual onboard.

[whitecap]

7 minutes ago, Cruisindad said:

No there has been no communication about Covid status. Based on the CDC definitions of color, yellow could mean for our cruise either 

1) as few as 2 pax testing positive

2) a single crew member testing positive

3) the ship failed to meet the deadline for one of their daily required EDC form submissions. 

I personally wouldn’t expect to hear from the ship for any of those conditions. 

Obviously those counts are the minimum thresholds and could be higher.

So it is business as usual onboard.

CDC list this cruise as a "restricted" cruise which would mean that the cause for "yellow" status and thus a CDC Investigation, is that 1 or more passenger(s) and or 1 or more crew have been tested positive.  Now comes the, where have those individuals been, who have they been with, etc and further testing of those individuals.  Hopefully, false positive test or individuals quickly isolated and no further positive testing.

Yellow Ship Criteria

• Ship is at or above CDC’s investigation threshold:
  • Restricted Voyages:
    • Cases reported in 0.10% or more of passengers (e.g., if 6500* passengers on board, CDC’s investigation threshold is met if there are 7 or more cases among passengers occurring during the previous 7 days), or
      • This percentage includes passenger cases occurring within 5 days of disembarkation that CDC was notified of by state or local health departments.
    • One or more cases reported in crew.

[Cruisindad]

47 minutes ago, whitecap said:

CDC list this cruise as a "restricted" cruise which would mean that the cause for "yellow" status and thus a CDC Investigation, is that 1 or more passenger(s) and or 1 or more crew have been tested positive.  Now comes the, where have those individuals been, who have they been with, etc and further testing of those individuals.  Hopefully, false positive test or individuals quickly isolated and no further positive testing.

Yellow Ship Criteria

• Ship is at or above CDC’s investigation threshold:
  • Restricted Voyages:
    • Cases reported in 0.10% or more of passengers (e.g., if 6500* passengers on board, CDC’s investigation threshold is met if there are 7 or more cases among passengers occurring during the previous 7 days), or
      • This percentage includes passenger cases occurring within 5 days of disembarkation that CDC was notified of by state or local health departments.
    • One or more cases reported in crew.

With all due respect your statement that the yellow criteria means “1 or more passengers” is not consistent with the CDC guidelines  you quoted. 
It states “0.1% or more passengers”which for our pax load is 1400 x .001 = 1.4 or at least 2 pax.

Splitting hairs, I know but it’s a percent threshold, not an absolute number.

 

Edited December 1, 2021 by Cruisindad
Missing “

[whitecap]

1 minute ago, Cruisindad said:

With all due respect your statement that the yellow criteria means “1 or more psssengers” is not consistent with the CDC guidelines  you quoted. 
It states “0.1% or more passengers”which for our pax load is 1400 x .001 = 1.4 or at least 2 pax.

Splitting hairs, I know but it’s a percent threshold, not an absolute number.

 

And that is why I posted the actual information from the CDC website, so that you can read it for yourself and decide what it means.  Regardless, it means there has been a reported case or cases.  That was my point.  

[Cruisindad]

6 minutes ago, whitecap said:

And that is why I posted the actual information from the CDC website, so that you can read it for yourself and decide what it means.  Regardless, it means there has been a reported case or cases.  That was my point.  

Or, it simply means that there are no reported cases and the ship failed to submit its daily report, according to the part of the CDC guideline you failed to include. Here it is :

• OR

• During the past 7 days, the ship failed to submit one or more daily EDC submissions on time (by 1200 ET). On a weekly basis, CDC emails all ships a reminder to submit the EDC form. In addition, CDC sends a reminder email if a ship does not submit their EDC form.

[whitecap]

2 minutes ago, Cruisindad said:

Or, it simply means that there are no reported cases and the ship failed to submit its daily report, according to the part of the CDC guideline you failed to include. Here it is :

• OR

• During the past 7 days, the ship failed to submit one or more daily EDC submissions on time (by 1200 ET). On a weekly basis, CDC emails all ships a reminder to submit the EDC form. In addition, CDC sends a reminder email if a ship does not submit their EDC form.

You are correct, so lets see, if the ship has failed to file the required 7 day report, which would mean the ship failed to file from the previous cruise leading into the current cruise.  The current cruise has been in yellow since it departed, according to another poster, so maybe the question should be; why hasn't the ship filed the required report?  Surely, if the report was a negative cases report,  they would have filed it immediately.  So.....make of it what you will.  I hope everyone stays safe.

[chamima]

55 minutes ago, whitecap said:

You are correct, so lets see, if the ship has failed to file the required 7 day report, which would mean the ship failed to file from the previous cruise leading into the current cruise.  The current cruise has been in yellow since it departed, according to another poster, so maybe the question should be; why hasn't the ship filed the required report?  Surely, if the report was a negative cases report,  they would have filed it immediately.  So.....make of it what you will.  I hope everyone stays safe.

 

This is the Caribbean Princess's first cruise so they couldn't file from the previous cruise.

Could that be the simple reason?

 

On another note -  are passengers getting bar soap in the cabins?

We are on her in January and will bring our own if need be.

And thanks for reporting on crew enforcing the masking policy - especially with this new variant!

[bhawks9]

We have bar soap in our cabin. 

[coo359a2]

Our dining is for 5:20 and except for going to the wrong MDR we walked right in as someone there was asking for reservations and we just walked in. Oh yes. Someone posted on another thread they only had 2 shrimps in their shrimp cocktail. Our friend had 5 and I actually counted them. Also got the bathroom amenities in the gold bag with everything but the nail file.

also have received 3 bars of soap and no shortage of having bath towels. 
trivia locations and the theater are sip and cover and from what i see is that most are following masking.  Signs to mask and hand sanitizers are all over the ship

We have “Plus” and except for first beer while still in port no erroneous charges. Had the beer cost plus Fl tax reversed on folio. 
FYI for those interested in purchasing liquor in st thomas, only found 1 store within the fence around Havensight,one tobacco store outside the fence had a small supply and he referred me to a gas station that had liquor. Very limited brands snd quantities. Prices are up and down from the ship and local liquor stores back at home  
This will hopefully post as first part was done on first day but didn’t post

 

 

 

[runner2013]

Are they allowing dancing on board?  (say in Skywalkers) If so, are masks required ?

Thanks 

[geoherb]

My August cruise on the Majestic had someone test positive for Covid. I would not had known about it except for being on a trivia team with a man who had done an excursion with the passenger. Everyone on the excursion bus with the positive passenger received a notice to go to the medical center to be tested. 

[HleeCruiser]

On 11/27/2021 at 8:20 PM, amanda384 said:

We FINALLY made it to our hotel!! We are spending the night at the Hampton Inn Ft. Lauderdale Airport/North Cruise Port. It is a nice room for our purposes. The lobby is under some kind of construction but no noise at this time of day. Traffic was awful on I-95!

 

We can't wait to board!!

We will be staying at the H. Inn in January.  Are there any restaurants close by?  How was the included buffet breakfast?    Thanks for your review.  Looking forward.

 

[MJC]

On 12/1/2021 at 6:57 PM, runner2013 said:

Are they allowing dancing on board?  (say in Skywalkers) If so, are masks required ?

Thanks 

I tried to answer this last night. So far no posts going through on my tablet or on my laptop on Firefox. Let's see if Chrome will work.

 

There is dancing at Skywalkers, just a few people each night so far. Some folks sitting with drinks. Also ballroom dancing in the Wheelhouse, and the band from the pool deck plays a set in the evening at the Explorers Lounge with some folks dancing there as well.

[MJC]

Ok, so far so good!

 

Update to my comment on the Promenade deck: last night after dinner the aft section was cordoned off and we got a glimpse of crew smoking back there. This morning I checked again and it was fully open. Perhaps they have a schedule? If so, don't know what it is. We have an aft balcony and haven't smelled smoke, but we also have not been out there late at night so far. During the day it's fine.

 

St. Kitts was bubble tours only. St. Thomas is like being in the U.S. but you must bring your ID (drivers license or passport) to re-enter the port area if you leave on your own. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, MJC said:

St. Thomas is like being in the U.S. but you must bring your ID (drivers license or passport) to re-enter the port area if you leave on your own.

That has been true for a decade or longer - maybe much longer but that's the limit of our experience with St. Thomas as a port stop.

[bob10173]

Have you been to St Kitts yet? I am curious about letting passengers ashore. Do you actually need a Princess tour to go ashore?

[suekel]

1 hour ago, bob10173 said:

Have you been to St Kitts yet? I am curious about letting passengers ashore. Do you actually need a Princess tour to go ashore?

as of now, yes

[geoherb]

I searched the thread and did not see an answer about whether they're having the Super Tuscan wine dinner at Sabatini's. I just got my Covid test so I can be on this ship next week. It's getting real now.

[coo359a2]

2 hours ago, suekel said:

as of now, yes

We are on the Caribbean princess now.  To leave the port area you have to be on a ships tour. There is a small market area at end of pier with  a casino, couple of jewelry store snd of course souvenirs   You can not walk into town on your own or leave the port market h

Edited December 3, 2021 by coo359a2

[MJC]

6 hours ago, geoherb said:

I searched the thread and did not see an answer about whether they're having the Super Tuscan wine dinner at Sabatini's. I just got my Covid test so I can be on this ship next week. It's getting real now.

I'll ask them in the morning if it happened on our cruise. 

[Gaynors]

On 11/30/2021 at 10:26 AM, C & C Love to Cruise said:

Can you please check to see about crew smoking in the back aft of ship?  Since we are in an aft suite and have read complaints, would like to know if the situation is different on Caribbean Princess. 

We are also in an aft facing corner balcony, C753 and haven't had any issues with smelling smoke.  Just an occasional waft here or there.  most of the smells are of food!! Hopefully princess has heard the complaints and made other accommodations or we've just gotten really lucky.

[MJC]

The Tuscan wine dinner has not been done on this cruise, though they are working on the plan for how it will work with social distancing and all when it comes back. He is not sure exactly when it will start again, but it will be back.

 

This being the CB's first cruise after a long hiatus, there is a scaling up that will happen with each successive cruise. For example, our first day it seemed like we had a team of waiters just for us at lunch, and now they are a bit more spread out. As subsequent cruises have more pax, it will seem less like they outnumber the passengers so much. 

 

We are being so spoiled!

 

 

[Steelers36]

9 hours ago, MJC said:

The Tuscan wine dinner has not been done on this cruise, though they are working on the plan for how it will work with social distancing and all when it comes back. He is not sure exactly when it will start again, but it will be back.

Seems like a strange answer since Sabi's can be full on any evening regardless of whether a regular Specialty Dining night or a special wine event. 

[MJC]

You are right, it's more to do with the scaling up of services and activities as each ship resumes. Like no Ultimate Ship Tour or Chefs Table etc.

 

Time to disembark.