Just entered isolation/quarantine on Constellation

[boogybaby]

On 1/12/2022 at 7:32 PM, JaneStarr said:

Thanks so much for this information! 

It sounds like Constellation isolation is being handled way more pleasantly than on some other ships. Silhouette is reported to be using Deck 3 inside and porthole cabins for their red zone — not balconies.

My recently recovered friend is very claustrophobic; that’s the reason for the concern about what would happen if she had to be tested as a close contact. She could very well still pull and positive on a PCR test in 3 weeks.

Loved the sunset shot!

We are currently on Silhouette and in quarantine on deck 6 balcony 

[trabeler]

39 minutes ago, Quarantined said:

Yes, all the port stops have been as planned as far as I know, and there has been no restrictions on leaving the ship. 

Some of the ports did not allow do it yourself if there were any unvaccinated children in the group. I don’t recall which ones, specifically.  It wasn’t much of an issue this sailing since there were only two kids onboard. 

Edited January 14, 2022 by trabeler
Correction

[JaneStarr]

56 minutes ago, boogybaby said:

We are currently on Silhouette and in quarantine on deck 6 balcony 

It was previously reported that Silhouette isolation cabins are on deck 3 and porthole (aka oceanview) or inside cabins only. Are you just waiting for test results and in quarantine due to being close contacts, or are you positive and something has changed?

Edited January 14, 2022 by JaneStarr

[trabeler]

Just got off Connie this morning.  Fastest ever... by 8 am all luggage tags were called.

 

They did another round of testing of the entire crew on Wednesday and a few more positives were identified, putting the ship above the 1% threshold.  I'm told that the plan will be to disembark any crew that are positive in Tampa for quarantine and then return any crew that were disembarked on 3 Jan (our cruise start date) as they have completed quarantine.

 

Overall the crew did an outstanding job covering for sudden disappearances of their colleagues.  Any "close contacts" were sent to isolation for 3 days... that took out quite a few of the dining room staff, including our waiter & assistant waiter.  All of the production cast dancers also went into 3 days of isolation.  They ended up also blocking off more of deck 7 for close contact isolation... the entire starboard side of 7 with the exception of the central dozen or so cabins were blocked off. 

 

The most notable absence was the cruise director (Kelly), who had symptoms and tested positive about a week ago,

 

All in all it was a great cruise and thankfully we made all the ports while our positive percentage was below the 1% trigger point.

[bluejayway327]

17 hours ago, JaneStarr said:

It was previously reported that Silhouette isolation cabins are on deck 3 and porthole (aka oceanview) or inside cabins only. Are you just waiting for test results and in quarantine due to being close contacts, or are you positive and something has changed?

Would love to know this too! I have an upcoming silhouette sailing and hope quarantine wouldn’t be an inside room 😕

[boogybaby]

21 hours ago, JaneStarr said:

It was previously reported that Silhouette isolation cabins are on deck 3 and porthole (aka oceanview) or inside cabins only. Are you just waiting for test results and in quarantine due to being close contacts, or are you positive and something has changed?

Hi, we were both positive. Sailed on the 4th COVID on the 8th. We were very cautious didn’t mix with anyone and triple vaccinated. I believe we caught it at Miami airport where we were made to queue with hundreds of people for passport control, it took 2 1/2 hours to get through. Most wore masks but some didn’t.. we left the ship this morning at 7-45 taken by crew in full PPE to the dockside where a car was waiting to take us to a hotel of our choice. We didn’t see any passengers it felt very strange. We are now free because we did 6 days quarantine on the ship. Unfortunately it’s not the holiday we had planned because on the day we were quarantined we also received an email saying our Jewel of the Seas cruise on the 15th had been cancelled due to COVID. We are now staying in hotels until our flight home on the 24th.

[JaneStarr]

27 minutes ago, boogybaby said:

Hi, we were both positive. Sailed on the 4th COVID on the 8th. We were very cautious didn’t mix with anyone and triple vaccinated. I believe we caught it at Miami airport where we were made to queue with hundreds of people for passport control, it took 2 1/2 hours to get through. Most wore masks but some didn’t.. we left the ship this morning at 7-45 taken by crew in full PPE to the dockside where a car was waiting to take us to a hotel of our choice. We didn’t see any passengers it felt very strange. We are now free because we did 6 days quarantine on the ship. Unfortunately it’s not the holiday we had planned because on the day we were quarantined we also received an email saying our Jewel of the Seas cruise on the 15th had been cancelled due to COVID. We are now staying in hotels until our flight home on the 24th.

I’m so sorry that you lost both your vacations. Hope you are both feeling well.

 

Can you please tell me where they isolated you after your positive tests? 

Hope you can at least enjoy a nice hotel vacation for the next 10 days.

[boogybaby]

2 minutes ago, JaneStarr said:

I’m so sorry that you lost both your vacations. Hope you are both feeling well.

 

Can you please tell me where they isolated you after your positive tests? 

Hope you can at least enjoy a nice hotel vacation for the next 10 days.

Hello, we both feel fine now the symptoms were mild. I asked for a test because I had a sore throat, the doctor arrived within 30 minutes and did a pcr test which was positive, he came back and tested my husband who had no symptoms but was also positive. We were taken to deck 6 and given a balcony. 
it’s obviously disappointing but it’s a risk you take during these times, we will enjoy our time split between Fortlauderdale and Miami. We are both well and I believe this is because we have had both vaccines and the booster. The doctor came every day to check we were ok took temperature and checked our oxygen levels. We were given medication which really helped the cough. It won’t stop us cruising life is too short

[Luckynana]

@boogybabySorry to hear about your isolation on your cruise, and of your Jewel of the Seas cancellation.  I am glad to hear that your symptoms were mild and that you both feel well now.  Enjoy your time in Florida.

[boogybaby]

3 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

@boogybabySorry to hear about your isolation on your cruise, and of your Jewel of the Seas cancellation.  I am glad to hear that your symptoms were mild and that you both feel well now.  Enjoy your time in Florida.

Thank you we will. Enjoy your cruise

[Quarantined]

So, leaving the ship yesterday was quick and easy. I was told beforehand that I would be able to disembark between 9 and 9.30, but just after 8 I got a phone call asking if I was already ready. I was indeed!

 

They disembark one isolation cabin at a time, not through the terminal but directly down dockside. I was met by an immigration officer and several ship officers. 
 

After the ship’s officers confirmed to the immigration officer that I was, as they put it, “free to go” since I had completed my isolation per CDC guidelines I was released to meet my waiting wife. At long last back to some normality!

 

After a night in Tampa we’ve now flown domestically and are checked in and waiting for our international flight. No questions at any point asked about covid status or anything of that sort, but I’m still very glad that the doctor provided me with a letter affirming that I’m cleared of covid and have completed my isolation period. 

All in all, I still feel that Celebrity’s staff have done everything that can be asked of them under the circumstances, but it’s also apparent that the testing and isolation rules will have to change. From many reports to me, from my wife and from other isolated guests, it’s obvious that there were a lot of guests on our cruise with symptoms such as coughing who are not asking for tests, while I had to stay in isolation for 8 days though my symptoms were completely gone after 3 or 4 days.
 

Now that the Conditional sailing Order has expired I think the cruise lines will have to find a better balance of testing, enforcement and isolation. It’s just not sustainable in the long run to incentivise hiding symptoms and not getting tested this way. 

[Honolulu Blue]

19 minutes ago, Quarantined said:

So, leaving the ship yesterday was quick and easy. I was told beforehand that I would be able to disembark between 9 and 9.30, but just after 8 I got a phone call asking if I was already ready. I was indeed!

 

They disembark one isolation cabin at a time, not through the terminal but directly down dockside. I was met by an immigration officer and several ship officers. 
 

After the ship’s officers confirmed to the immigration officer that I was, as they put it, “free to go” since I had completed my isolation per CDC guidelines I was released to meet my waiting wife. At long last back to some normality!

 

After a night in Tampa we’ve now flown domestically and are checked in and waiting for our international flight. No questions at any point asked about covid status or anything of that sort, but I’m still very glad that the doctor provided me with a letter affirming that I’m cleared of covid and have completed my isolation period. 

All in all, I still feel that Celebrity’s staff have done everything that can be asked of them under the circumstances, but it’s also apparent that the testing and isolation rules will have to change. From many reports to me, from my wife and from other isolated guests, it’s obvious that there were a lot of guests on our cruise with symptoms such as coughing who are not asking for tests, while I had to stay in isolation for 8 days though my symptoms were completely gone after 3 or 4 days.
 

Now that the Conditional sailing Order has expired I think the cruise lines will have to find a better balance of testing, enforcement and isolation. It’s just not sustainable in the long run to incentivise hiding symptoms and not getting tested this way. 

 

I want to thank you again for reporting your story, Mr. Quarantined!  I'm sorry this had to happen to you, but I'm glad that most things worked out not too badly - all things considered.

 

I wanted to comment a bit on the portions of your post that I highlighted.  First, that doctor's note is gold.  I wasn't sure if they were handed out since I hadn't seen it mentioned in other quarantine stories I've read on here.  I'm glad you got one, since it makes it more likely that I'll get one when (if) I take my next Celebrity cruise in six weeks.

 

And second, getting people to test if they have symptoms is always going to be a problem, IMHO.  People are afraid of what will happen if they report to medical and they test positive.  Their pleasure cruise is essentially over.  And I saw at least one report of a ship NOT testing someone who reported with symptoms.  That's probably worse.

[stancorker]

44 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

 

...

 

And second, getting people to test if they have symptoms is always going to be a problem, IMHO.  People are afraid of what will happen if they report to medical and they test positive.  Their pleasure cruise is essentially over.  And I saw at least one report of a ship NOT testing someone who reported with symptoms.  That's probably worse.

I agree. In my early days of cruising, when Norovirus was the biggest fear, I was quarantined with an upset stomach because I thought I was required to inform the doctor. He gave me Imodium, which solved the problem, but by then I was quarantined for the remainder of the cruise. I said I would never do that again! With Covid, though, I don't think I would not be as cavalier, and I do plan to carry my own test kits.

 

Unfortunately, I have read comments on Cruise Critic threads written by people who don't agree with masks, and now that the CDC rules have expired, I fear that they will disobey the cruise line's mask rules. I am also concerned that some of these same people could be passengers who don't inform the doctor in fear of testing positive. This scares me!! So much that I am thinking about canceling our February 14 cruise. We took a cruise in October and weren't at all concerned, but the virus and attitudes have changed since then.

Edited January 15, 2022 by stancorker

[MamaFej]

The moral bankruptcy required to be on a cruise (or anywhere) with symptoms of a communicable deadly disease, and not get tested to be certain not to pass it along to others is almost unfathomable to me. If I hadn't read so many people say that they would do exactly that, it would still be unfathomable. My son recently read to me from a Twitter thread in which a person was bragging about attending a No mask/no vax rally while symptomatic. SMH.

 

I could never live with myself knowing that I might have contributed to the spread and had done nothing about it. Clearly, many people are perfectly comfortable doing so. I am very grateful that @Quarantineddid the right thing. 

[canderson]

The elephant in the main dining room is that current estimates are that 25% of those with omicron are asymptomatic, and would normally have no reason to request nor be subjected to any additional testing after boarding.  Add that to omicron's transmissibility, and you have a large measure of the reason that the cruise lines are in this current mess.

 

So while moralizing about making an appearance at medical is an interesting philosophical point, it doesn't get to the heart of the current question.  Omicron isn't proving very serious for fully vaccinated individuals that aren't otherwise seriously ill.

 

What objectives should shipboard and pre-cruise protocols be attempting to achieve in this current environment?  Are current objectives really achievable?

Edited January 15, 2022 by canderson

[RichYak]

9 minutes ago, canderson said:

The elephant in the main dining room...

Your posts are far too nuanced and reasonable for CruiseCritic. Next time, set your hair on fire before posting. 🤣

[canderson]

45 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Your posts are far too nuanced and reasonable for CruiseCritic. Next time, set your hair on fire before posting. 🤣

I just keep hoping the debate will finally become centered around those last two questions.  If not, it could be a rough couple of months for pax and the industry. 

 

Additional testing will only serve to bring these real questions further to light, and sadly, I don't think there's much appetite for that.

[wishuponasea]

On 1/14/2022 at 11:07 AM, lexmiller said:

Just wondering if your call to Roseau, Dominica is still happening?  We are on the January 30 Equinox sailing, and we just now received notice that our ship excursion to Dominica was cancelled, yet there are no alternate excursions on the website that we can book!  Currently, we see that Dominica doesn't allow people to wander off the ship - you must have a ship excursion.......I wanted to ask, since you are onboard now and were scheduled to go to Dominica, what the situation is.  Thank you!

We were able to get off the ship. Could only leave the port with a Celebrity shore excursion or a cab driver (there were several available). Could not walk around on your own. 

[onlyslightlymad]

7 hours ago, Quarantined said:

So, leaving the ship yesterday was quick and easy. I was told beforehand that I would be able to disembark between 9 and 9.30, but just after 8 I got a phone call asking if I was already ready. I was indeed!

 

They disembark one isolation cabin at a time, not through the terminal but directly down dockside. I was met by an immigration officer and several ship officers. 
 

After the ship’s officers confirmed to the immigration officer that I was, as they put it, “free to go” since I had completed my isolation per CDC guidelines I was released to meet my waiting wife. At long last back to some normality!

 

After a night in Tampa we’ve now flown domestically and are checked in and waiting for our international flight. No questions at any point asked about covid status or anything of that sort, but I’m still very glad that the doctor provided me with a letter affirming that I’m cleared of covid and have completed my isolation period. 

All in all, I still feel that Celebrity’s staff have done everything that can be asked of them under the circumstances, but it’s also apparent that the testing and isolation rules will have to change. From many reports to me, from my wife and from other isolated guests, it’s obvious that there were a lot of guests on our cruise with symptoms such as coughing who are not asking for tests, while I had to stay in isolation for 8 days though my symptoms were completely gone after 3 or 4 days.
 

Now that the Conditional sailing Order has expired I think the cruise lines will have to find a better balance of testing, enforcement and isolation. It’s just not sustainable in the long run to incentivise hiding symptoms and not getting tested this way. 

They could go the way of Viking and have all guests test every day.

[TeeRick]

15 hours ago, canderson said:

The elephant in the main dining room is that current estimates are that 25% of those with omicron are asymptomatic, and would normally have no reason to request nor be subjected to any additional testing after boarding.  Add that to omicron's transmissibility, and you have a large measure of the reason that the cruise lines are in this current mess.

 

So while moralizing about making an appearance at medical is an interesting philosophical point, it doesn't get to the heart of the current question.  Omicron isn't proving very serious for fully vaccinated individuals that aren't otherwise seriously ill.

 

What objectives should shipboard and pre-cruise protocols be attempting to achieve in this current environment?  Are current objectives really achievable?

What you say is all true.  You are asking to treat COVID on cruise ships and particularly Omicron as just another infectious agent that we all get exposed to at this point.  That will eventually happen but not for a very long time.  COVID has a fear and stigma attached to it particularly for cruising.   No matter how far it has evolved even with the major worldwide strain (Omicron) now acting more like a cold virus - the stigma will remain.  Perception over facts and science.  

[weregoingcruising]

On 1/14/2022 at 9:03 AM, trabeler said:

Just got off Connie this morning.  Fastest ever... by 8 am all luggage tags were called.

 

They did another round of testing of the entire crew on Wednesday and a few more positives were identified, putting the ship above the 1% threshold.  I'm told that the plan will be to disembark any crew that are positive in Tampa for quarantine and then return any crew that were disembarked on 3 Jan (our cruise start date) as they have completed quarantine.

 

Overall the crew did an outstanding job covering for sudden disappearances of their colleagues.  Any "close contacts" were sent to isolation for 3 days... that took out quite a few of the dining room staff, including our waiter & assistant waiter.  All of the production cast dancers also went into 3 days of isolation.  They ended up also blocking off more of deck 7 for close contact isolation... the entire starboard side of 7 with the exception of the central dozen or so cabins were blocked off. 

 

The most notable absence was the cruise director (Kelly), who had symptoms and tested positive about a week ago,

 

All in all it was a great cruise and thankfully we made all the ports while our positive percentage was below the 1% trigger point.

What was the passenger count on this cruise? Thank You

[trabeler]

37 minutes ago, weregoingcruising said:

What was the passenger count on this cruise? Thank You

Between 700 and 740 from discussions with several officers.

[canderson]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

What you say is all true.  You are asking to treat COVID on cruise ships and particularly Omicron as just another infectious agent that we all get exposed to at this point.  That will eventually happen but not for a very long time.  COVID has a fear and stigma attached to it particularly for cruising.   No matter how far it has evolved even with the major worldwide strain (Omicron) now acting more like a cold virus - the stigma will remain.  Perception over facts and science.  

It's not so much that I'm asking that the situation be treated one way or another (I'm withholding that opinion for the time being), but I think things have reached a point where the lines may have to make a decision about how they treat it.  I'm trying to reconcile peak omicron with current practices, and seriously wondering whether the situation is sustainable from either a business or PR standpoint using the protocols currently in place.

 

Your comment about 'fear and stigma' is spot on.  The mindset that has developed over the last two years has been developed during the course of a very different set of circumstances than that which we now face, and it's going to be very difficult to make the turn. 

[conwakr]

On 1/15/2022 at 3:04 PM, Quarantined said:

So, leaving the ship yesterday was quick and easy. I was told beforehand that I would be able to disembark between 9 and 9.30, but just after 8 I got a phone call asking if I was already ready. I was indeed!

 

They disembark one isolation cabin at a time, not through the terminal but directly down dockside. I was met by an immigration officer and several ship officers. 
 

After the ship’s officers confirmed to the immigration officer that I was, as they put it, “free to go” since I had completed my isolation per CDC guidelines I was released to meet my waiting wife. At long last back to some normality!

 

After a night in Tampa we’ve now flown domestically and are checked in and waiting for our international flight. No questions at any point asked about covid status or anything of that sort, but I’m still very glad that the doctor provided me with a letter affirming that I’m cleared of covid and have completed my isolation period. 

All in all, I still feel that Celebrity’s staff have done everything that can be asked of them under the circumstances, but it’s also apparent that the testing and isolation rules will have to change. From many reports to me, from my wife and from other isolated guests, it’s obvious that there were a lot of guests on our cruise with symptoms such as coughing who are not asking for tests, while I had to stay in isolation for 8 days though my symptoms were completely gone after 3 or 4 days.
 

Now that the Conditional sailing Order has expired I think the cruise lines will have to find a better balance of testing, enforcement and isolation. It’s just not sustainable in the long run to incentivise hiding symptoms and not getting tested this way. 

Agree. And now with the Omicron many vaccinated people test negative by day 5 and symptomatically think they have a cold.  It's just not sustainable to move passengers and all that you went through. Perhaps they will move to a rapid test on day 5 of a quarantine and allow people to stay in their cabins starting in the near future. I also agree with posters that people will just stop calling medical when they have cold symptoms because they will fear being stuck in an inferior cabin for the remainder of their cruise. 

[chamima]

On 1/15/2022 at 4:24 PM, stancorker said:

I agree.

Unfortunately, I have read comments on Cruise Critic threads written by people who don't agree with masks, and now that the CDC rules have expired, I fear that they will disobey the cruise line's mask rules. I am also concerned that some of these same people could be passengers who don't inform the doctor in fear of testing positive. This scares me!! So much that I am thinking about canceling our February 14 cruise. We took a cruise in October and weren't at all concerned, but the virus and attitudes have changed since then.

 

We were looking into a cruise on the Paul Gauguin and their info says that they require you test 2 days before the cruise but then again halfway into the cruise AND the day before disembarkation.

Right now the cruiselines test all B2B cruisers the day before turnaround - they may have to add that middle of the cruise test also.