Edge Experience Onboard: Interesting Read of Facts Reported

[Lastdance]

Someone on Edge posted this on FB, trying to share facts of being quarantined…interesting! 

 

I wanted to share my experience being isolated/quarantined recently on the Edge. I'm going to be as factual as possible, rather than the emotional responses I've seen from others. I recognize others' experiences may differ. I hope this information is helpful to those deciding whether or not to cruise. Note that any of this can change at any time, so your best bet is to call Celebrity. The definitions below are quarantine (you are cordoned off due to possible exposure) and isolation (you are cordoned off in a dedicated area due to positive covid test).

Celebrity is following a minimum standard of the CDC maritime guidelines. These are different than the land-based guidelines many people refer to. In some cases, Celebrity is more stringent than even the maritime guidelines.

It's possible to test negative and still have contracted Covid. This is what happened to me; we were on a back-to-back. The first cruise had about 1400 people; the second 1800. The day before the turnover, we tested negative. The next day - first day of the second cruise - I fell ill around midnight. The medical staff original said, "you just tested negative, it's probably a cold". Nope. From then, I remained in isolation for the entire second cruise.

If you have close contact with someone who tests positive you will be quarantined. I don't know an official definition of close contact, but we were told things like 5 feet and more than 15 minutes cumulative in 24 hours. They contact trace by interviewing the covid+ person and retracing their steps through the video. Facial recognition matches anyone seen in close contact to the guest folio. Anyone - regardless of booster status - is quarantined. Quarantine is for 24 hours, with a covid test at the beginning and end. If both are negative, you are free to go. You quarantine in your original stateroom.

If you test positive, you are given some time to pack up belongings and you are isolated in the red zone. This is a CDC requirement. The red zone is the fore portion of Deck 3. They are regular porthole cabins - the same that you would book if you booked a porthole room. They are the size of a regular balcony cabin, minus the balcony. They are not "in the bowels of the ship" or some kind of especially small or poorly appointed room. You will be isolated according to CDC guideline for 10 days (or the end of your cruise if it's shorter), pending Celebrity's ability to get you home (more on that in a moment).

During quarantine or isolation, you are not to leave your room. If you do, you risk being arrested by security - which is legal under maritime law. Your door is not locked (contrary to what others have said); in fact, it is open so you can leave out trash and they can deliver food or supplies in a contactless manner. There is no "armed security" as some have suggested; they video monitor and also have staff who calls the room. You are required to stay in; if you leave, you subject yourself to potentially being arrested.

For both quarantine or isolation, you have access to all restaurant menus (not just the limited room service), including alcohol. There is 24-hour service available, but they call proactively during regualr mealtimes.

For isolation (not sure about quarantine), they upgrade your internet and unlock all movies at no cost. The nurse staff was in contact with me two or three times daily. We had a coordinator for covid-specific protocols who called almost daily. The front desk called twice daily to see if there was anything we needed. As an example, they delivered a kettle to my room and a selection of coffees/teas so I could have hot-hot beverages and not have to go through room service. I believe smoking guests were given permission to smoke in their rooms if they needed to.

In short, they did everything reasonable to make our time in isolation as pleasant as it could be. My husband tested positive the day after I did. We elected to isolate in separate rooms, as we were both sick. We kept in touch via our phone messenger.

It was not without hiccups. Toward the end of the cruise, they had enough isolation and crew quarantines to overflow from deck 3 to another location. During these times, room service was often delayed.

Celebrity makes reasonable attempts to get you home during the cruise. In short, it's a liability on multiple fronts to have covid+ guests on the ship. They were pretty frank with us; given the number of cases and the holidays, there were simply no qualified charter flights from any of our remaining port stops to get us home.

Prior to landfall, our coordinator recommended we make land-based arrangements to finish out our isolation. We were given a generous allowance (currently $350/day) and an allowance for food ($100/day). We were responsible to rebook our flights, but Celebrity would cover any change costs (we had none). Celebrity handled arrangements to transfer us from the port to our Miami hotel in a private limo.

We will be reimbursed for these costs, and will receive a pro-rata refund (as future cruise credit) for the entire time we were impacted. This is written as part of your contract of carriage; I personally find it a generous and reassuring offer.

We honestly thought it wasn't that bad. It's not the vacation we wanted, but it's the vacation we got. Assuming you're not a terrible person, if you contract covid at home you'd isolate as well. Honestly, I had a water view, internet, and 24-hour room service. I felt I could've done worse. While I was quite ill, I was never in danger of being hospitalized. Nonetheless, I was reassured with the regular medical attention. 

I can understand why others found it horrible; we attempted to make the best of it. Celebrity tried hard to make it as enjoyable as possible.

If you are slated to cruise, I would weigh the possibility of being quarantined and isolated: while not ideal, could you manage it? While they did not disclose the actual number of guests who contracted Covid (contrary to what others have mentioned), we had a little group chat going and my best guess is the high single-digit / low double-digit. The number of crew was high - between quarantine and isolation, there were almost no entertainment staff, spa staff, and things were getting stretched thin. What does this mean for chances? That's really up to your risk tolerance. Keep in mind, you're subject to the ship's rules while onboard and at sea - legally - so be prepared to comply.

Would we do it again? If we knew we'd test positive - probably not. But would we cruise again? Absolutely. I think the biggest takeaway we had is that with everyone traveling for the holidays, the amount of potential exposure, even by proxy, was such that risk was magnified. We would seek to book a less busy time.

We dubbed our experience "Quaranae" - Celebrity's most exclusive service tier. "Quaranae(tm) isn't a place. It isn't an amenity. It isn't a service. It's all of this and more."
EDIT: Thank you for all the well wishes! We are indeed feeling much better, though not yet 100%.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Lastdance

[miched]

Sorry to hear about your experience and thanks for taking the time to write about it

 

I have some questions about the hotel.  
 

 Did Celebrity have recommended hotels or reserved for those needing to be isolated?  

 

If not what hotel would accept you?

Thanks 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Lastdance]

2 minutes ago, miched said:

Sorry to hear about your experience and thanks for taking the time to write about it

 

I have some questions about the hotel.  
 

 Did Celebrity have recommended hotels or reserved for those needing to be isolated?  

 

If not what hotel would accept you?

Thanks 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

This is just information that was posted about her cruise...it is not from me, but I thought that it was very well written and balanced.

[grayjay]

It's good to read such a factual report and I hope you are soon to be perfectly well again.

The only thing I wondered about is the fact that you had to isolate in a porthole stateroom and not as I have read in other reports ( other ships)  in a balcony room. Personally I'd be horrified having to stay all day long in a room without fresh air. As the Edge has so many Infinite Verandah staterooms I really wonder about that fact.

[as3369]

11 minutes ago, miched said:

Sorry to hear about your experience and thanks for taking the time to write about it

 

I have some questions about the hotel.  
 

 Did Celebrity have recommended hotels or reserved for those needing to be isolated?  

 

If not what hotel would accept you?

Thanks 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

They will provide you one if you ask or give you a $350 per day credit to book on your own

[dive4pam]

47 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

Someone on Edge posted this on FB, trying to share facts of being quarantined…interesting! 

 

I wanted to share my experience being isolated/quarantined recently on the Edge. I'm going to be as factual as possible, rather than the emotional responses I've seen from others. I recognize others' experiences may differ. I hope this information is helpful to those deciding whether or not to cruise. Note that any of this can change at any time, so your best bet is to call Celebrity. The definitions below are quarantine (you are cordoned off due to possible exposure) and isolation (you are cordoned off in a dedicated area due to positive covid test).

Celebrity is following a minimum standard of the CDC maritime guidelines. These are different than the land-based guidelines many people refer to. In some cases, Celebrity is more stringent than even the maritime guidelines.

It's possible to test negative and still have contracted Covid. This is what happened to me; we were on a back-to-back. The first cruise had about 1400 people; the second 1800. The day before the turnover, we tested negative. The next day - first day of the second cruise - I fell ill around midnight. The medical staff original said, "you just tested negative, it's probably a cold". Nope. From then, I remained in isolation for the entire second cruise.

If you have close contact with someone who tests positive you will be quarantined. I don't know an official definition of close contact, but we were told things like 5 feet and more than 15 minutes cumulative in 24 hours. They contact trace by interviewing the covid+ person and retracing their steps through the video. Facial recognition matches anyone seen in close contact to the guest folio. Anyone - regardless of booster status - is quarantined. Quarantine is for 24 hours, with a covid test at the beginning and end. If both are negative, you are free to go. You quarantine in your original stateroom.

If you test positive, you are given some time to pack up belongings and you are isolated in the red zone. This is a CDC requirement. The red zone is the fore portion of Deck 3. They are regular porthole cabins - the same that you would book if you booked a porthole room. They are the size of a regular balcony cabin, minus the balcony. They are not "in the bowels of the ship" or some kind of especially small or poorly appointed room. You will be isolated according to CDC guideline for 10 days (or the end of your cruise if it's shorter), pending Celebrity's ability to get you home (more on that in a moment).

During quarantine or isolation, you are not to leave your room. If you do, you risk being arrested by security - which is legal under maritime law. Your door is not locked (contrary to what others have said); in fact, it is open so you can leave out trash and they can deliver food or supplies in a contactless manner. There is no "armed security" as some have suggested; they video monitor and also have staff who calls the room. You are required to stay in; if you leave, you subject yourself to potentially being arrested.

For both quarantine or isolation, you have access to all restaurant menus (not just the limited room service), including alcohol. There is 24-hour service available, but they call proactively during regualr mealtimes.

For isolation (not sure about quarantine), they upgrade your internet and unlock all movies at no cost. The nurse staff was in contact with me two or three times daily. We had a coordinator for covid-specific protocols who called almost daily. The front desk called twice daily to see if there was anything we needed. As an example, they delivered a kettle to my room and a selection of coffees/teas so I could have hot-hot beverages and not have to go through room service. I believe smoking guests were given permission to smoke in their rooms if they needed to.

In short, they did everything reasonable to make our time in isolation as pleasant as it could be. My husband tested positive the day after I did. We elected to isolate in separate rooms, as we were both sick. We kept in touch via our phone messenger.

It was not without hiccups. Toward the end of the cruise, they had enough isolation and crew quarantines to overflow from deck 3 to another location. During these times, room service was often delayed.

Celebrity makes reasonable attempts to get you home during the cruise. In short, it's a liability on multiple fronts to have covid+ guests on the ship. They were pretty frank with us; given the number of cases and the holidays, there were simply no qualified charter flights from any of our remaining port stops to get us home.

Prior to landfall, our coordinator recommended we make land-based arrangements to finish out our isolation. We were given a generous allowance (currently $350/day) and an allowance for food ($100/day). We were responsible to rebook our flights, but Celebrity would cover any change costs (we had none). Celebrity handled arrangements to transfer us from the port to our Miami hotel in a private limo.

We will be reimbursed for these costs, and will receive a pro-rata refund (as future cruise credit) for the entire time we were impacted. This is written as part of your contract of carriage; I personally find it a generous and reassuring offer.

We honestly thought it wasn't that bad. It's not the vacation we wanted, but it's the vacation we got. Assuming you're not a terrible person, if you contract covid at home you'd isolate as well. Honestly, I had a water view, internet, and 24-hour room service. I felt I could've done worse. While I was quite ill, I was never in danger of being hospitalized. Nonetheless, I was reassured with the regular medical attention. 

I can understand why others found it horrible; we attempted to make the best of it. Celebrity tried hard to make it as enjoyable as possible.

If you are slated to cruise, I would weigh the possibility of being quarantined and isolated: while not ideal, could you manage it? While they did not disclose the actual number of guests who contracted Covid (contrary to what others have mentioned), we had a little group chat going and my best guess is the high single-digit / low double-digit. The number of crew was high - between quarantine and isolation, there were almost no entertainment staff, spa staff, and things were getting stretched thin. What does this mean for chances? That's really up to your risk tolerance. Keep in mind, you're subject to the ship's rules while onboard and at sea - legally - so be prepared to comply.

Would we do it again? If we knew we'd test positive - probably not. But would we cruise again? Absolutely. I think the biggest takeaway we had is that with everyone traveling for the holidays, the amount of potential exposure, even by proxy, was such that risk was magnified. We would seek to book a less busy time.

We dubbed our experience "Quaranae" - Celebrity's most exclusive service tier. "Quaranae(tm) isn't a place. It isn't an amenity. It isn't a service. It's all of this and more."
EDIT: Thank you for all the well wishes! We are indeed feeling much better, though not yet 100%.

Thank you for posting- so well balanced. I was quarantined in 2014 on the Infinity for having a fever!  They blamed norovirus - its turned out (after I returned home) that I had dengue fever which is not transmissible person to person- it is mosquito borne.  My experience was awful- they sent me broth and crackers and jello- I had no GI sxs and i was so angry I missed our final specialty dining and spent 2 days locked in my cabin in misery.  Your experience was much better than mine.  FYI- we just got off the Edge the week after thanksgiving- it was fabulous and would get back on Jan 8 but for fear of quarantine.

[Spence32]

Thank you for your post. I read that they will issue a FCC for the time impacted. Is this only for additionally incurred fees, or is this just for having to be quarantined for part of your vacation? 

 

I am scheduled to go Jan 14th. My upcoming cruise is a big expense as most are. I am ok with masks, and possible port changes, but if i were to get quarantined and be out all of that money (even though still sounds like they cared for you very nice), that would be a hard pill to swallow. This is actually the only thing that has me on the fence of cancelling or not. 

[txtechmk]

Thanks for posting this report.  It was very well written and enlightening!

[Oville]

8 minutes ago, Spence32 said:

Thank you for your post. I read that they will issue a FCC for the time impacted. Is this only for additionally incurred fees, or is this just for having to be quarantined for part of your vacation? 

 

I am scheduled to go Jan 14th. My upcoming cruise is a big expense as most are. I am ok with masks, and possible port changes, but if i were to get quarantined and be out all of that money (even though still sounds like they cared for you very nice), that would be a hard pill to swallow. This is actually the only thing that has me on the fence of cancelling or not. 

The OP was not quarantined rather she cut and pasted someone’s FB post here as she explains in the first paragraph.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Oville