Testing Positive for Covid onboard Silhouette transatlantic

[the penguins]

3 hours ago, sgmn said:

My DH phoned celebrity yesterday to ask about capacity and the agent said they are now selling to capacity. Not sure if this was just for UK sailings or all

I also presume they are still keeping some cabins for quarantine?

By capacity I believe they mean to  X's self imposed limit (a figure they don't publish) not 100% of cabins. The 7 May sailing is apparently  about 70% full.

[delondin]

On 4/26/2022 at 6:52 PM, tonyrwhite said:

I remain in my original cabin on deck 10 , they are not disclosing numbers now but I hear its quite substantial 

Sorry you got unlucky and hope you feel better soon.if you don’t mind me asking are you travelling solo?  I wonder if that is why you have been allowed to stay in your cabin 

[raudacruise]

20 minutes ago, delondin said:

Sorry you got unlucky and hope you feel better soon.if you don’t mind me asking are you travelling solo?  I wonder if that is why you have been allowed to stay in your cabin 

I travel solo and still ended up in an isolation cabin in March.

[calicakes]

On 4/13/2022 at 12:30 PM, Covepointcruiser said:

She did not lose her suite as her husband is still in it.   She is also not in an inside cabin but is in a ocean view.   She will also receive credit for all of her days in isolation.   It’s wonderful she can forward with her symptoms, not everyone is as ethical.   

David is not a she : ).  His husband is still in the suite. 

[helen haywood]

Well, actually David and his husband are both back home now.

Edited April 29, 2022 by helen haywood

[Oville]

51 minutes ago, calicakes said:

David is not a she : ).  His husband is still in the suite. 

You’re a bit late with this by the better part of 2 weeks. Both David and Steven ended up in isolation.

[Ipeeinthepools]

6 minutes ago, Oville said:

You’re a bit late with this by the better part of 2 weeks. Both David and Steven ended up in isolation.

 

I think it was post #64  

[Oville]

4 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

I think it was post #64  

And they disembarked on the 21st.

[Two Boys Cruising]

I just want to add my thank you to JetBlue for posting the detailed experience, and for maintaining a positive attitude and making the most of the situation.  Husband and I are boarding Eclipse on Wednesday in Honolulu and ending in Vancouver 11 days later.  After reading all of this, I am certainly not excited about this cruise.  IF it happens, it happens and it was a risk I was aware of when I booked, but seeing it all detailed out gives one pause.  We too are very cautious, and we still mask when others do not.  

 

After reading, will definitely not be letting the hair down a little more as we would have liked.  11 days is a long time in a cabin.  This trip is the remnants of a horrible experience with a NYC TA catering to primarily gay clientele.  It was booked to salvage a cruise booking that originally started a year before the pandemic.  Live and learn about which TA's to use and not use.  

 

Should it happen, I will post a thread of details, although I am not sure I can be as calm and upbeat as JetBlue.  

 

Stay safe everyone, and happy sailings.

 

 

[Two Boys Cruising]

On 4/22/2022 at 3:22 PM, jetblue said:

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.

 

I was just reading on the Celebrity site that you have to request a refund within six months of the sailing date, otherwise you are only entitled to FCC.  It also states that FCC is the default, so you have to contact Celebrity.  Good luck and hope the refund processes  smoothly.

[jary8]

3 hours ago, Two Boys Cruising said:

I was just reading on the Celebrity site that you have to request a refund within six months of the sailing date, otherwise you are only entitled to FCC.  It also states that FCC is the default, so you have to contact Celebrity.  Good luck and hope the refund processes  smoothly.

Do you have the link from Celebrity where this is stated at all? 

 

[Two Boys Cruising]

1 hour ago, jary8 said:

Do you have the link from Celebrity where this is stated at all? 

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/content/dam/celebrity/pdf/cel-covid-19-cancellations-and-refunds-policy.pdf

[jetblue]

8 hours ago, Two Boys Cruising said:

I just want to add my thank you to JetBlue for posting the detailed experience, and for maintaining a positive attitude and making the most of the situation.  Husband and I are boarding Eclipse on Wednesday in Honolulu and ending in Vancouver 11 days later.  After reading all of this, I am certainly not excited about this cruise.  IF it happens, it happens and it was a risk I was aware of when I booked, but seeing it all detailed out gives one pause.  We too are very cautious, and we still mask when others do not.  

 

After reading, will definitely not be letting the hair down a little more as we would have liked.  11 days is a long time in a cabin.  This trip is the remnants of a horrible experience with a NYC TA catering to primarily gay clientele.  It was booked to salvage a cruise booking that originally started a year before the pandemic.  Live and learn about which TA's to use and not use.  

 

Should it happen, I will post a thread of details, although I am not sure I can be as calm and upbeat as JetBlue.  

 

Stay safe everyone, and happy sailings.

 

 

 

I hope you guys have the best, most uneventful cruise ever. We did that itinerary a few years ago on the Solstice, loved it, especially all the sea days at the end. Stay safe and healthy!

[Sibsie]

Quick update from Reflection TA. They told me people were being sent to deck 6 for isolation but it is actually deck 3. I think we have about 15 in isolation now out of 1064. 

[calicakes]

On 4/22/2022 at 8:27 PM, RichYak said:

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."

Exactly, that is my thought.  We have a suite booked in September( reflection) from Rome.  This entire thread makes me re-think even coming forward if I feel unwell.  We rolled over FCC from 2 previously cancelled cruised for this cruise.  If I hadn't already paid for my airfare, I might consider cancelling. 

[RichYak]

35 minutes ago, calicakes said:

This entire thread makes me re-think even coming forward if I feel unwell. 

And as this becomes more commonplace (lets not pretend that it isn't happening), the very protocols intended to keep passengers safe might actually be having the opposite effect.

[calicakes]

On 4/17/2022 at 1:03 PM, jetblue said:

 

Hahaha well thank you, I'll let my husband comment on that, although I will say it drives him crazy how calm and level headed I am while he's panicking.

Opposites attract.  My wife is the calm one, while I'm the one who would be panicking. 

[tonyrwhite]

On 4/27/2022 at 1:24 AM, jetblue said:

 

So sorry you got sick but happy to hear you had a better experience than I did. I wonder if all the rooms on deck 3 filled up with covid positive passengers so they had no where else to move you.

Jet blue,  the treatment didn't get any better, now talking to executive office in miami over what happened. 

After the treatment I received for doing the right thing and protecting others, I shall not be booking another celebrity cruise in the near future.

[RichYak]

10 hours ago, tonyrwhite said:

Jet blue,  the treatment didn't get any better, now talking to executive office in miami over what happened. 

After the treatment I received for doing the right thing and protecting others, I shall not be booking another celebrity cruise in the near future.

If I were to sum up all of the reports of those testing positive onboard I would say this: Once someone tests positive, they cease being a guest. They become a liability and are treated accordingly.

 

Sorry for the way you were treated.

[jetblue]

Alright so wanted to bring this to a close. As many of you suggested, we sent in a very detailed account of our experience onboard the Silhouette to Lisa's email address. We received a phone call today from someone in the executive office to address our concerns, here's what we found out...

 

Firstly, corporate does not set the quarantine policy, they just ask the ships to make sure the passengers are safe. Each individual ship in the fleet makes it's own policy on where to quarantine passengers who test positive for covid. For Silhouette specifically, the policy is deck 3, port side Oceanview rooms. Once all of those rooms fill up, they then move to deck 6 balcony rooms. If all those fill up, they then revert to quarantine in your room which is what @Jim_Iain was fortunate enough to experience.  This also explains why passengers on Apex might report being quarantined to an infinite verandah room while passengers on Millennium report being quarantined to a deck 2 cabin. It's all up to the management of each ship.

 

When questioned if they would consider changing this policy company wide, I was informed once again, it was up to the individual ship.

 

Second, compensation. They are offering me not a penny more than what was promised on their website despite all the issues I encountered in quarantine and the fact that I was lied to by the ship.  They also deactivated the FCC I received on the ship. The FCC was only for $2,500 so I thought it was just goodwill. The refund I'm receiving is much higher than this and I had my choice of keeping the FCC or receiving the higher refund, obviously I chose the refund but am disappointed they automatically thought they could get away with issuing me a lower FCC.

 

So that's that. For us, we have two future cruises on Celebrity we are currently mulling over cancelling. Not a fan of the way corporate seems to be so hands off and not willing to step in and address the ship concerns. We all know without a doubt what Silhouette's quarantine policy is so I have effectively banned myself from ever stepping foot on that ship again for sure.

 

We will be researching other cruise lines to see what their quarantine policies are and see if we can find a way to move forward to comfortably enjoy cruising again.

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, jetblue said:

Alright so wanted to bring this to a close. As many of you suggested, we sent in a very detailed account of our experience onboard the Silhouette to Lisa's email address. We received a phone call today from someone in the executive office to address our concerns, here's what we found out...

 

Firstly, corporate does not set the quarantine policy, they just ask the ships to make sure the passengers are safe. Each individual ship in the fleet makes it's own policy on where to quarantine passengers who test positive for covid. For Silhouette specifically, the policy is deck 3, port side Oceanview rooms. Once all of those rooms fill up, they then move to deck 6 balcony rooms. If all those fill up, they then revert to quarantine in your room which is what @Jim_Iain was fortunate enough to experience.  This also explains why passengers on Apex might report being quarantined to an infinite verandah room while passengers on Millennium report being quarantined to a deck 2 cabin. It's all up to the management of each ship.

 

When questioned if they would consider changing this policy company wide, I was informed once again, it was up to the individual ship.

 

Second, compensation. They are offering me not a penny more than what was promised on their website despite all the issues I encountered in quarantine and the fact that I was lied to by the ship.  They also deactivated the FCC I received on the ship. The FCC was only for $2,500 so I thought it was just goodwill. The refund I'm receiving is much higher than this and I had my choice of keeping the FCC or receiving the higher refund, obviously I chose the refund but am disappointed they automatically thought they could get away with issuing me a lower FCC.

 

So that's that. For us, we have two future cruises on Celebrity we are currently mulling over cancelling. Not a fan of the way corporate seems to be so hands off and not willing to step in and address the ship concerns. We all know without a doubt what Silhouette's quarantine policy is so I have effectively banned myself from ever stepping foot on that ship again for sure.

 

We will be researching other cruise lines to see what their quarantine policies are and see if we can find a way to move forward to comfortably enjoy cruising again.

David,

 

Heart felt virtual hug sent your way.   I'm pretty sure we won't be setting foot on Silhouette for the foreseeable future. As you said we were extremely lucky to to stay in our Room as I was mentally preparing my self for deck 3.   It may also have been that it was the last day of the cruise and a number of the B2B's tested positive.

 

At dinner tonight Iain was saying maybe we should cancel our August Cruises.   I think for now we have decided to readdress after we recover and get our heads screwed on.  

 

Maybe a tread on how each ship is handling quarantine and what floor they are being put on.  I'm not suggesting it to lambast the handling but as a resource to help others consider whether each ships individual policy it's a deal breaker or not.  

 

As you suggest it sure would be easier if Celebrity had a Corporate Policy, buy as you know without a corporate policy the Captain is the ultimate authority of his/her vessel, whether an airplane or ship. 

[cachouonacruise]

7 minutes ago, jetblue said:

We will be researching other cruise lines to see what their quarantine policies are and see if we can find a way to move forward to comfortably enjoy cruising again.

Thank-you very much JetBlue. Your reports have been most impressive!

 

Sadly, through your experience, we learned about a situation that occurred when things do not go as planned, and unfortunately for you, the experience was way below yours and anybody else's expectations.

 

But let's face it. These boards are filled with examples of our own passengers concerns.
 

We discuss at length, prices, boarding time, food, bars, lounging chairs, etc. But when it comes to crew safety training, ship safety designs, solas, health considerations or how does a company handles itself when things go seriously unplanned, we as passengers are often mute. We go on a trip, thinking when it comes to health and safety, that all airlines and cruise lines are equal.....

 

In short, there is not a lot of incentives from a corporate perspective, to invest a lot of fund on health and safety issues; with the exception of the pressure placed by regulators.
 

Companies can bet that if everything goes well, as it is the case 99% of the times, there's no issues, passengers are happy if their glass is full. The companies are then left, to do damage control, to reduce the impact of the 1% of situations that did not unfold as planned.

 

Based on your expertise JetBlue, you may select a line with a better quarantine policy. But, what if you have a heart attack? What if the ship experiences an extended power failure? Or needs to be evacuated for some reasons? Etc. Will your new choice be better? Equal or worse than Celebrity? How will you do to assess all these possible unlikely scenarios? 
 

In short, hindsight is 20-20, and there is so much more that what meets the eye when choosing an airline or a cruise line. It's not as easy as it seems! 
 

Sincerely JetBlue, a big thank-you. My eyes are more open thanks to you sharing your experience. Sincere best luck in choosing your next travel opportunities.

 

 

 

[DUTRAVEL]

52 minutes ago, jetblue said:

Alright so wanted to bring this to a close. As many of you suggested, we sent in a very detailed account of our experience onboard the Silhouette to Lisa's email address. We received a phone call today from someone in the executive office to address our concerns, here's what we found out...

 

Firstly, corporate does not set the quarantine policy, they just ask the ships to make sure the passengers are safe. Each individual ship in the fleet makes it's own policy on where to quarantine passengers who test positive for covid. For Silhouette specifically, the policy is deck 3, port side Oceanview rooms. Once all of those rooms fill up, they then move to deck 6 balcony rooms. If all those fill up, they then revert to quarantine in your room which is what @Jim_Iain was fortunate enough to experience.  This also explains why passengers on Apex might report being quarantined to an infinite verandah room while passengers on Millennium report being quarantined to a deck 2 cabin. It's all up to the management of each ship.

More important than the particular ship, it would be good to know who the Captain, Hotel Manager, Head of Guest Relations, etc. are since they are the ones setting the ship's policy. Those officers don't stay on the same ship forever; so, the Silhouette's policy might be completely different six months from now and a ship that is now allowing quarantine in a balcony cabin might have changed that policy based on the then current officers.

[sunlover33]

The difficulty we now have as passengers is a dilemma in light of this new information which I already suspected, having read differing reports of how covid positive cases are handled. We may agree to a contract,  but there is no way  of knowing how each individual ship will handle  the quarantine requirements of infected passengers. In effect we leave ourselves completely open to the vagaries of individual captains of each ship, without knowing exactly what the outcome will be? Our final payment is due in three days, I’m now considering do we pay or cancel, as could we bear a possible 10 days in an inside cabin instead of a sky suite? I’m not sure it’s a risk worth taking at present. Thank  you JetBlue for your very useful insights and follow up information and hope you both are recovered from your recent infection and experience.  

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, jetblue said:

Alright so wanted to bring this to a close. As many of you suggested, we sent in a very detailed account of our experience onboard the Silhouette to Lisa's email address. We received a phone call today from someone in the executive office to address our concerns, here's what we found out...

 

Firstly, corporate does not set the quarantine policy, they just ask the ships to make sure the passengers are safe. Each individual ship in the fleet makes it's own policy on where to quarantine passengers who test positive for covid. For Silhouette specifically, the policy is deck 3, port side Oceanview rooms. Once all of those rooms fill up, they then move to deck 6 balcony rooms. If all those fill up, they then revert to quarantine in your room which is what @Jim_Iain was fortunate enough to experience.  This also explains why passengers on Apex might report being quarantined to an infinite verandah room while passengers on Millennium report being quarantined to a deck 2 cabin. It's all up to the management of each ship.

 

When questioned if they would consider changing this policy company wide, I was informed once again, it was up to the individual ship.

 

Second, compensation. They are offering me not a penny more than what was promised on their website despite all the issues I encountered in quarantine and the fact that I was lied to by the ship.  They also deactivated the FCC I received on the ship. The FCC was only for $2,500 so I thought it was just goodwill. The refund I'm receiving is much higher than this and I had my choice of keeping the FCC or receiving the higher refund, obviously I chose the refund but am disappointed they automatically thought they could get away with issuing me a lower FCC.

 

So that's that. For us, we have two future cruises on Celebrity we are currently mulling over cancelling. Not a fan of the way corporate seems to be so hands off and not willing to step in and address the ship concerns. We all know without a doubt what Silhouette's quarantine policy is so I have effectively banned myself from ever stepping foot on that ship again for sure.

 

We will be researching other cruise lines to see what their quarantine policies are and see if we can find a way to move forward to comfortably enjoy cruising again.

Thank you. May I ask who from Corporate gave you this information as it contradicts that given to me by Zoe in the same office who said that there was a standard policy of using OV cabins on Deck 3 as they were the nearest to the medical facilities. Also that all ships should give accurate figures on the actual number of passengers and crew with Covid.