Testing Positive for Covid onboard Silhouette transatlantic

[helen haywood]

Yes, please do post and let us know how disembarkation was…and what steps you had to take to get home.  Best wishes!

[jetblue]

Hello from Florida! We finally made it home today after getting negative covid tests. What an adventure, a vacation to literally end all vacations. The thought of traveling sickens me right now which is not good because I have to travel for work on Monday.

 

Anyway, to recap, debarkation was a complete disaster. The day prior, nobody had informed us how debarkation would work so I started making phone calls to the retreat manager, retreat concierge, and guest relations. I received 3 different answers: we would be allowed off at 8, 8:30, and 8:45. On debarkation morning we received a phone call at 7:30 from the "chief concierge" who told us we were being collected at 8am and need to be ready to go. Perfect! Until 8am came and went without any sign. Then 8:30, 8:45, 9am... I started calling, nobody was answering their phones anymore. We were ready to just walk off the ship ourselves as we felt like we were being held captive. Finally I got in touch with the chief concierge and she informed us that immigration officials would meet us in our isolation cabin but they still had to process 200 more guests. Finally at 10:30am, we were freed of the madness. It was a frustrating and unnecessary end to an already frustrating and trying experience.

 

So on the long flight home I had some time to collect my thoughts and here is where I am at. I do not regret coming forward to medical about being sick. The fact that I may have saved someone's vacation or even life instead of trying to "hide" in my room makes me feel like I did the right thing. I still have no idea how I got sick, we never attended any events, avoided crowded elevators, etc. The first day we got haircuts in the spa and they were giving tours, that could have done it. Or the lady

 coughing in Luminae the second night, maybe? There's just no way to know and if you think you are doing everything right to avoid getting sick, don't be surprised if this happens to you too.

 

Secondly, the ships initial handling of the situation was superb, I was very happy. However, the more days I spent in isolation, the more the communication from the ship stopped until it was almost like I was completely forgotten about. I'm most disappointed in the Retreat management team, they were unable or maybe even unwilling to help make sure I was comfortable. On my birthday, they told my husband they would send a nice present down to cheer me up. All I received was a card signed by them. There was just no follow through and that was disappointing. 

 

Of course, the most disappointing to me after 8 days in isolation was not having any outdoor space. The ship was less than half full, there is no reason at all, why we couldn't have a balcony room and for that I place the blame squarely on ship management. The lack of caring and empathy was apparent as we were basically forgotten about.

 

For next steps, we don't know, no one told us anything. We're supposed to receive a refund for the cruise, not sure how to find out about that. We received an envelope with an FCC in it with no explanation and no where near the correct about of refund we should be receiving, I assume this was meant as goodwill but a letter or phone call explaining it would have been nice.

 

As for our future vacation plans. We won't be cruising Celebrity again until they get rid of the ridiculous policy of isolation on deck 3. We paid for a suite to enjoy the extra space in the room, especially on a 13 night cruise. We completely agree with the quarantine concept but you should be able to stay in your original room. And until they make that change, we will not be stepping onboard one of their ships again which is a shame as we were well on our way to Zenith. But everyone and every company needs to make choices and this is ours.

 

Thank you for following along and for sending well wishes... and for keeping me entertained while I was stuck in the bowels of the Silhouette. I truly hope you found the information useful and please let me know if there is anything I missed you still have questions about.

 

Here's to never having to see deck 3 ever again!

[asnaleah]

Welcome home David and cheers to you and Steven! I completely agree with you about isolating in place. There seems to be no medical reason you were moved, especially after your husband also tested positive. I’m happy our next cruise is on Regent’s Voyager - all balcony suites! Be well, and thanks for your posts. Erin

[Cruising89143]

27 minutes ago, jetblue said:

Hello from Florida! We finally made it home today after getting negative covid tests. What an adventure, a vacation to literally end all vacations. The thought of traveling sickens me right now which is not good because I have to travel for work on Monday.

 

Snipped for space:

 

Thanks for the update. Celebrity seems to be stepping all over themselves lately. Hopefully they get their act together soon on how to handle the entire Covid protocols. In order to get results, you may need to send an email to corporate. That seems to be the only way to get anyone to listen and act.

 

Hopefully you will be able to put this behind you and soon enjoy another cruise. I certainly can understand being upset with the quarantine accommodations. Celebrity needs to do better. Glad that you’re now back home. 🙂

 

[canderson]

On 4/16/2022 at 7:54 AM, canderson said:

To be fair, this isn't the first thread of its type here in the X threads, and many prior reports were from pax who were isolated in balcony cabins.  I think where available, many X ships have tried to make the experience as comfortable as possible.  Unclear why a different deck, still near the elevator bank connected to medical, wasn't used here... but based upon other pax experiences, this isn't typical.  

I take back my previous comment from 4/16.  Now Reflection is also quarantining passengers on Deck 3, OV cabins, while crew isolate on Deck 6.  Disturbing trend.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Glad you finally made it home and that you both tested negative.  I agree that Celebrity handled this very poorly.  One tidbit to pass on to you which I recently saw somewhere--maybe in Celebrity's new covid protocols:  if you want your money back, you must request it within 6 months.  Otherwise, you get FCC which I'm sure you don't want.

 

I too was well on my way to Zenith once upon a time.  Scheduled to get there next year.  Now it's probably not going to happen and I really no longer care.  Not taking the chance of being stuck in a window cabin on deck 3 or worse yet, an inside.  Or being put off the ship in some distant foreign port and left to fend for myself.  I had a 52-nighter booked for next year.  Not going to happen under those policies.

 

Thanks again for sharing the gory details with us so we're all better informed and can make good decisions about cruising with Celebrity in the future.

[PSU]

David and Steven,

Thanks so much for keeping us informed. I am so sorry that you you had to go through that not so nice experience in an ocean view cabin. I agree with you about the suite.

Please enjoy your freedom.

[goofysmom99]

1 hour ago, jetblue said:

Hello from Florida! We finally made it home today after getting negative covid tests. What an adventure, a vacation to literally end all vacations. The thought of traveling sickens me right now which is not good because I have to travel for work on Monday.

 

Anyway, to recap, debarkation was a complete disaster. The day prior, nobody had informed us how debarkation would work so I started making phone calls to the retreat manager, retreat concierge, and guest relations. I received 3 different answers: we would be allowed off at 8, 8:30, and 8:45. On debarkation morning we received a phone call at 7:30 from the "chief concierge" who told us we were being collected at 8am and need to be ready to go. Perfect! Until 8am came and went without any sign. Then 8:30, 8:45, 9am... I started calling, nobody was answering their phones anymore. We were ready to just walk off the ship ourselves as we felt like we were being held captive. Finally I got in touch with the chief concierge and she informed us that immigration officials would meet us in our isolation cabin but they still had to process 200 more guests. Finally at 10:30am, we were freed of the madness. It was a frustrating and unnecessary end to an already frustrating and trying experience.

 

So on the long flight home I had some time to collect my thoughts and here is where I am at. I do not regret coming forward to medical about being sick. The fact that I may have saved someone's vacation or even life instead of trying to "hide" in my room makes me feel like I did the right thing. I still have no idea how I got sick, we never attended any events, avoided crowded elevators, etc. The first day we got haircuts in the spa and they were giving tours, that could have done it. Or the lady

 coughing in Luminae the second night, maybe? There's just no way to know and if you think you are doing everything right to avoid getting sick, don't be surprised if this happens to you too.

 

Secondly, the ships initial handling of the situation was superb, I was very happy. However, the more days I spent in isolation, the more the communication from the ship stopped until it was almost like I was completely forgotten about. I'm most disappointed in the Retreat management team, they were unable or maybe even unwilling to help make sure I was comfortable. On my birthday, they told my husband they would send a nice present down to cheer me up. All I received was a card signed by them. There was just no follow through and that was disappointing. 

 

Of course, the most disappointing to me after 8 days in isolation was not having any outdoor space. The ship was less than half full, there is no reason at all, why we couldn't have a balcony room and for that I place the blame squarely on ship management. The lack of caring and empathy was apparent as we were basically forgotten about.

 

For next steps, we don't know, no one told us anything. We're supposed to receive a refund for the cruise, not sure how to find out about that. We received an envelope with an FCC in it with no explanation and no where near the correct about of refund we should be receiving, I assume this was meant as goodwill but a letter or phone call explaining it would have been nice.

 

As for our future vacation plans. We won't be cruising Celebrity again until they get rid of the ridiculous policy of isolation on deck 3. We paid for a suite to enjoy the extra space in the room, especially on a 13 night cruise. We completely agree with the quarantine concept but you should be able to stay in your original room. And until they make that change, we will not be stepping onboard one of their ships again which is a shame as we were well on our way to Zenith. But everyone and every company needs to make choices and this is ours.

 

Thank you for following along and for sending well wishes... and for keeping me entertained while I was stuck in the bowels of the Silhouette. I truly hope you found the information useful and please let me know if there is anything I missed you still have questions about.

 

Here's to never having to see deck 3 ever again!

You know, you could copy/paste this post into an email to Llutoff-perlo@celebrity.com.  It would make the point that it's being discussed and influencing others' cruising plans (you're an "influencer" 😉).  Couldn't hoit.

[twincheryl]

1 hour ago, jetblue said:

Here's to never having to see deck 3 ever again!

Thanks so much for posting your experience.  We are sailing in a week and sure hope our experience is not like yours.  

 

On another thread, several of us emailed Lisa Lutoff-Perlo regarding the expiration of the Covid testing protocol that is set to expire 4/30.  Each of us received a personal phone call from a rep identifying themselves as from her office within 24 hours.  The email is Llutoff-perlo@celebritycruises.com if you choose to do so.

 

I would suggest that you send a copy of your wonderfully descriptive post from today with possibly a couple of other comments.  It will only be with this type of communication there is any chance of this situation being confronted and maybe even changed in some way.  I'm not naive enough to think that it will change only because of your email, but if enough people communicate the way they have been treated, there might be a chance.

 

Happy you are home and can look back on this experience as something that is in the past.  Please keep us posted if you email and get a response.

[lhsail]

I would also suggest an email to Lisa. This is not a step I take lightly, but did so regarding some issues we had in finalizing plans for the Summit last August. They contacted me promptly and stayed in touch until things were resolved. 

[capecodmercury]

If my memory hasn't totally failed, Celebrity used to have a "rep" who monitored this Board and would step in once in a while when necessary. I guess this has gone the way of the Dodo.  

 

David, I'm glad that you and Steven were able to make it back safely and want to thank you again for your patience and good humor in sharing this with us.  Hope to see you back cruising soon.

[wrk2cruise]

19 minutes ago, goofysmom99 said:

You know, you could copy/paste this post into an email to Llutoff-perlo@celebrity.com.  It would make the point that it's being discussed and influencing others' cruising plans (you're an "influencer" 😉).  Couldn't hoit.

 

@jetblue  This was going to my advise as well.   I would also include a link to the entire thread.  I also read that a refund must be requested rather than FCC so that would be another thing to add to the email.

[the_dylaness]

On 4/13/2022 at 2:06 PM, gordylad said:

sorry to hear about this....maybe its just me but if I "woke up with cold chills and congestion" I think I would take some paracetamol, some wine and go back to bed for the day as the thought of being stuck in a room for days doesn't fit well.

 

I don't know that I'd do the same, but I understand what you're saying.

Isolating people in fresh-air-less rooms certainly doesn't entice one to self-report possible COVID symptoms. This is not a good plan on the part of Celebrity.

[catspaw1]

54 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

Glad you finally made it home and that you both tested negative.  I agree that Celebrity handled this very poorly.  One tidbit to pass on to you which I recently saw somewhere--maybe in Celebrity's new covid protocols:  if you want your money back, you must request it within 6 months.  Otherwise, you get FCC which I'm sure you don't want.

 

I too was well on my way to Zenith once upon a time.  Scheduled to get there next year.  Now it's probably not going to happen and I really no longer care.  Not taking the chance of being stuck in a window cabin on deck 3 or worse yet, an inside.  Or being put off the ship in some distant foreign port and left to fend for myself.  I had a 52-nighter booked for next year.  Not going to happen under those policies.

 

Thanks again for sharing the gory details with us so we're all better informed and can make good decisions about cruising with Celebrity in the future.

Agreed. Celebrity could have handled this much better & now that they have dropped the ball everyone knows. Just imagine what positive reviews they would have received if this was handled a lot better. Celebrity are you listening????

[RichYak]

2 hours ago, jetblue said:

We won't be cruising Celebrity again until they get rid of the ridiculous policy of isolation on deck 3

Hear! Hear!

 

Welcome back to the USA.

[Oville]

54 minutes ago, catspaw1 said:

Agreed. Celebrity could have handled this much better & now that they have dropped the ball everyone knows. Just imagine what positive reviews they would have received if this was handled a lot better. Celebrity are you listening????

And I agree, Celebrity should have handled this better.  Your comment on everyone knows is puzzling, those who followed this very informative thread do make up a very small/minute percentage of Celebrity cruisers.

[Oville]

David and Steven, thank you for taking us on your journey.  It has been quite eye opening.  Glad you are both Covid free.

[sciencegrrl]

3 hours ago, jetblue said:

Hello from Florida! We finally made it home today after getting negative covid tests. What an adventure, a vacation to literally end all vacations. The thought of traveling sickens me right now which is not good because I have to travel for work on Monday.

 

Anyway, to recap, debarkation was a complete disaster. The day prior, nobody had informed us how debarkation would work so I started making phone calls to the retreat manager, retreat concierge, and guest relations. I received 3 different answers: we would be allowed off at 8, 8:30, and 8:45. On debarkation morning we received a phone call at 7:30 from the "chief concierge" who told us we were being collected at 8am and need to be ready to go. Perfect! Until 8am came and went without any sign. Then 8:30, 8:45, 9am... I started calling, nobody was answering their phones anymore. We were ready to just walk off the ship ourselves as we felt like we were being held captive. Finally I got in touch with the chief concierge and she informed us that immigration officials would meet us in our isolation cabin but they still had to process 200 more guests. Finally at 10:30am, we were freed of the madness. It was a frustrating and unnecessary end to an already frustrating and trying experience.

 

So on the long flight home I had some time to collect my thoughts and here is where I am at. I do not regret coming forward to medical about being sick. The fact that I may have saved someone's vacation or even life instead of trying to "hide" in my room makes me feel like I did the right thing. I still have no idea how I got sick, we never attended any events, avoided crowded elevators, etc. The first day we got haircuts in the spa and they were giving tours, that could have done it. Or the lady

 coughing in Luminae the second night, maybe? There's just no way to know and if you think you are doing everything right to avoid getting sick, don't be surprised if this happens to you too.

 

Secondly, the ships initial handling of the situation was superb, I was very happy. However, the more days I spent in isolation, the more the communication from the ship stopped until it was almost like I was completely forgotten about. I'm most disappointed in the Retreat management team, they were unable or maybe even unwilling to help make sure I was comfortable. On my birthday, they told my husband they would send a nice present down to cheer me up. All I received was a card signed by them. There was just no follow through and that was disappointing. 

 

Of course, the most disappointing to me after 8 days in isolation was not having any outdoor space. The ship was less than half full, there is no reason at all, why we couldn't have a balcony room and for that I place the blame squarely on ship management. The lack of caring and empathy was apparent as we were basically forgotten about.

 

For next steps, we don't know, no one told us anything. We're supposed to receive a refund for the cruise, not sure how to find out about that. We received an envelope with an FCC in it with no explanation and no where near the correct about of refund we should be receiving, I assume this was meant as goodwill but a letter or phone call explaining it would have been nice.

 

As for our future vacation plans. We won't be cruising Celebrity again until they get rid of the ridiculous policy of isolation on deck 3. We paid for a suite to enjoy the extra space in the room, especially on a 13 night cruise. We completely agree with the quarantine concept but you should be able to stay in your original room. And until they make that change, we will not be stepping onboard one of their ships again which is a shame as we were well on our way to Zenith. But everyone and every company needs to make choices and this is ours.

 

Thank you for following along and for sending well wishes... and for keeping me entertained while I was stuck in the bowels of the Silhouette. I truly hope you found the information useful and please let me know if there is anything I missed you still have questions about.

 

Here's to never having to see deck 3 ever again!

 

1 hour ago, capecodmercury said:

If my memory hasn't totally failed, Celebrity used to have a "rep" who monitored this Board and would step in once in a while when necessary. I guess this has gone the way of the Dodo.  

 

David, I'm glad that you and Steven were able to make it back safely and want to thank you again for your patience and good humor in sharing this with us.  Hope to see you back cruising soon.

I certainly hope Celebrity is monitoring and ready to adjust.  We paid extra to book a refundable cruise due to the end of CWC.  We'll be watching to see how X handles positive cases.  If paying customers are still downgraded for isolation, we'll cancel and travel independently (with contingency plans of course!). 

[Salt Lifer]

This was bad PR for Celebrity.  If they are willing to treat a loyal Retreat guest in such a way, what chance do the rest of us have under similar circumstances. @jetblue I am glad you and your husband have made it home safely.   I appreciated your recaps during your adventure.  Your grace during the ordeal was inspiring.

[VitaminSea53]

JetBlue thanks for your candid review of your experience after testing positive for Covid.  It has caused me to rethink my Greek Islands cruise this summer.  If Celebrity doesn’t drastically change their isolation plan for positive passengers then I will cancel.  Best Wishes for a Covid free future. 

[Davidc5412]

Good to hear you are both home

I have been looking over many cruise websites to see if current isolation policies are explained. Both celebrity and rcl now state that if positive you will be moved to isolation closer to medical facilities. I think but am not sure this is a recent change. As most medical facilities are on lower decks it seems clear current policy will be in non balcony rooms so no prospect of fresh air during isolation .

I certainly will not be cruising so long as they have this policy in place. 
happy to take the risk of getting Covid and having to isolate but not if that means being on deck 3

[gracebest]

4 hours ago, jetblue said:

Hello from Florida! We finally made it home today after getting negative covid tests. What an adventure, a vacation to literally end all vacations. The thought of traveling sickens me right now which is not good because I have to travel for work on Monday.

 

Anyway, to recap, debarkation was a complete disaster. The day prior, nobody had informed us how debarkation would work so I started making phone calls to the retreat manager, retreat concierge, and guest relations. I received 3 different answers: we would be allowed off at 8, 8:30, and 8:45. On debarkation morning we received a phone call at 7:30 from the "chief concierge" who told us we were being collected at 8am and need to be ready to go. Perfect! Until 8am came and went without any sign. Then 8:30, 8:45, 9am... I started calling, nobody was answering their phones anymore. We were ready to just walk off the ship ourselves as we felt like we were being held captive. Finally I got in touch with the chief concierge and she informed us that immigration officials would meet us in our isolation cabin but they still had to process 200 more guests. Finally at 10:30am, we were freed of the madness. It was a frustrating and unnecessary end to an already frustrating and trying experience.

 

So on the long flight home I had some time to collect my thoughts and here is where I am at. I do not regret coming forward to medical about being sick. The fact that I may have saved someone's vacation or even life instead of trying to "hide" in my room makes me feel like I did the right thing. I still have no idea how I got sick, we never attended any events, avoided crowded elevators, etc. The first day we got haircuts in the spa and they were giving tours, that could have done it. Or the lady

 coughing in Luminae the second night, maybe? There's just no way to know and if you think you are doing everything right to avoid getting sick, don't be surprised if this happens to you too.

 

Secondly, the ships initial handling of the situation was superb, I was very happy. However, the more days I spent in isolation, the more the communication from the ship stopped until it was almost like I was completely forgotten about. I'm most disappointed in the Retreat management team, they were unable or maybe even unwilling to help make sure I was comfortable. On my birthday, they told my husband they would send a nice present down to cheer me up. All I received was a card signed by them. There was just no follow through and that was disappointing. 

 

Of course, the most disappointing to me after 8 days in isolation was not having any outdoor space. The ship was less than half full, there is no reason at all, why we couldn't have a balcony room and for that I place the blame squarely on ship management. The lack of caring and empathy was apparent as we were basically forgotten about.

 

For next steps, we don't know, no one told us anything. We're supposed to receive a refund for the cruise, not sure how to find out about that. We received an envelope with an FCC in it with no explanation and no where near the correct about of refund we should be receiving, I assume this was meant as goodwill but a letter or phone call explaining it would have been nice.

 

As for our future vacation plans. We won't be cruising Celebrity again until they get rid of the ridiculous policy of isolation on deck 3. We paid for a suite to enjoy the extra space in the room, especially on a 13 night cruise. We completely agree with the quarantine concept but you should be able to stay in your original room. And until they make that change, we will not be stepping onboard one of their ships again which is a shame as we were well on our way to Zenith. But everyone and every company needs to make choices and this is ours.

 

Thank you for following along and for sending well wishes... and for keeping me entertained while I was stuck in the bowels of the Silhouette. I truly hope you found the information useful and please let me know if there is anything I missed you still have questions about.

 

Here's to never having to see deck 3 ever again!

I commend you for coming forward to protect others!  However, if Celebrity does not change their policies less people will be inclined to turn themselves in rather than trying  to hide out.  No one should be subjected to the treatment or lack of treatment you received.  Fresh air would help so much in cases such as yours.  I don’t know how anyone can think it is acceptable to not have access to fresh air that could easily be achieved in balcony cabins - especially when the ship was only half full.  
We will not cruise with Celebrity again until there is proof of better treatment of quarantined passengers.  I understand that Covid is here to stay and perhaps it is time to allow people to quarantine in their own cabins.  One of the reasons I’ve heard for moving covid positive people was to have them all together to make it easier to provide care for them,  But this obviously didn’t work out in JetBlue’s case.  I hope Celebrity steps up and reaches out to him.

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, Salt Lifer said:

If they are willing to treat a loyal Retreat guest in such a way, what chance do the rest of us have under similar circumstances.

And the irony is that less informed guests are booking suites thinking, "well if I need to isolate, at least I'll be in a suite."

[carolyn22]

I guess I’ll be avoiding Celebrity for a good while. No way do I want to potentially have to isolate in an OV cabin for days on end and then get what sounds to be substandard service and communications after the first few days. And then have to wrangle with them to get the right amount of refund. 
 

I guess don’t understand their logic of isolating positive customers on deck 3 to be closer to the medical facilities, but they are perfectly fine with isolating crew members on deck 6. Are these onboarding crew members who have tested negative upon embarkation who will just be there until they get thru some sort of waiting period? Or are these crew members who have tested positive?  

[steamboats]

7 hours ago, jetblue said:

We won't be cruising Celebrity again until they get rid of the ridiculous policy of isolation on deck 3. We paid for a suite to enjoy the extra space in the room, especially on a 13 night cruise. We completely agree with the quarantine concept but you should be able to stay in your original room. And until they make that change, we will not be stepping onboard one of their ships again which is a shame as we were well on our way to Zenith. But everyone and every company needs to make choices and this is ours.

 

To have a separate isolation area is not up to Celebrity but that´s part of the CDC regulations they follow and all other international regulations do have that too. So nobody can stay in their original cabin for isolation. On most ships the crew is not allowed to enter the isolation area without proper protection meaning hazmat suits, mask, gloves... It´s all about avoiding more contamination. Therefore also no silverware or plates but all disposable (which can be burnt).

 

But I do not understand why Celebrity is using inside and outside cabins on deck 3 for isolation. In the beginning of the restart they all used balcony cabins for isolation. And it is definitely inhuman to lock somebody up in an inside or outside with no fresh air and no way to exercise a bit.

 

Good to hear that you made your way back home and try to get over this experience!

 

steamboats