TOO much ambiguity, we just cancelled 8/1 APEX trip

[paulajj]

While I don’t agree with all your comments I think this is definitely the right decision. I feel anytime someone is worried about not having a good time on their holiday they should rethink going. There are a lot of changes going on right now and it doesn’t seem like you can know exactly what is going to happen. If you are not the kind of person who would be happy with this (I’m not) then you should definitely cancel!  Lots of other holiday choices to be had! 
 

[RichYak]

10 hours ago, mayleeman said:

The request to elaborate shows a desire to understand.

My opinion is that "a desire to understand" was not the intention of the question.

[Redtravel]

Nasty travel agents should seek other employment. You don’t need to book with them. There are many good agents that will gladly work with you.   During the pandemic many agents have left the industry.  With all the travel restrictions and cancellations, travel is not as profitable as it used to be.  Like many, we have had trips canceled and have rescheduled cruises several times.  We keep rebooking, hoping for safer times. Eventually we want to travel again like we did before pandemic.  We used to travel often. Being retired, we were ready to travel with little notice.  Our longtime agent was let go.  We found another agent that we liked and was knowledgeable.  Her patience is excellent.  If she stays in the travel business, she stands to get our future bookings.  How you treated people during the pandemic will reflect on future.  Nasty agents will lose clients.  Kind agents will get clients.

[TFree]

I hope people (on both sides of the question) will just let this go. We cruised and did a land tour in Europe last fall.  The ship was half empty and so was the land tour.  I know that the land tour was 1 or 2 seats short of a sell-out at one time.  I concluded that people had decided that travel at the time was just not worth the hassle and risk.  I can understand that.  And remember, this was before Omicron, so the chances of picking up the virus without knowing where it came from were not as extreme.

 

We leave on an extended trip involving multiple cruises on Saturday.  We are worried about the trip getting destroyed at the outset, if we test positive tomorrow, or in the middle.  We are going anyway.  But I can't criticize somebody who decides that this is not the right time to go.  

 

Tom & Judy

[Denny01]

I also think it’s good those that see the current requirements as not acceptable aren’t cruising instead of trying to figure out how to cheat so They can enjoy….and expose everyone else. 

 

Den 

[Oceansaway17]

17 hours ago, mikewomb said:

I totally understand. We cancelled our first cruise in 2 years that was the end of Feb. our TA was so mad at us that he screamed at me in the phone. Needless to say he is history. We are going on the Solstice in Alaska.. yes, it does concern me, but we will do our best to be cautious. 

wow sorry to hear

But IMHO, any TA who yells at you should be fired.

I say try booking things directly with the cruiselines and then you will have control.

[GottaKnowWhen]

2 hours ago, tinaincc said:

I don’t think people are aware of the fact that they can buy medicine from the gift shop and that could trigger them to be force tested and quarantined in their cabin for 24 hours. 

Ok, this is where I disagree with you. Yes, people may not realize that The Ship is going to be on the lookout for signs of illness. But I am grateful that they are alert and doing what they can to prevent serious disease outbreaks. I would expect that someone with cold symptoms might want to self medicate, but I would also expect they would go to the ship's doctor for a test just to be on the safe side.

 

And if they have cold symptoms, why wouldn't they rather be in their cabin for a day or two until they feel well? Back before Covid, my wife had a serious case of cold/flu and she was confined to our cabin for a few days until her temperature came down. I am very grateful for the care she received from the ship's medical staff! (And for the unexpected refund of her cruise fare for those days.)

 

I am sorry that all of this is outside of your comfort level to the point that you are giving up on cruising. As I said, sometime in the future you may have another chance to visit Iceland.

 

Stan

[Covepointcruiser]

If Celebrity would confine you to your original cabin, this would ensure your wife, husband, partner or friend would also be confined and would most likely catch COVID.   They couldn’t have one person in a cabin confined and another roaming the ship.    Right now if your cabin mates has two negative tests, they can go out and enjoy the cruise albeit without you.

[tinaincc]

On 4/27/2022 at 2:53 PM, Covepointcruiser said:

If Celebrity would confine you to your original cabin, this would ensure your wife, husband, partner or friend would also be confined and would most likely catch COVID.   They couldn’t have one person in a cabin confined and another roaming the ship.    Right now if your cabin mates has two negative tests, they can go out and enjoy the cruise albeit without you.

Not going to debate hypotheticals (since we don’t work for C) however it would be preferable to be left in your original cabin and the person who is negative but awaiting additional test could be “moved” temporarily to deck 3. The moment they were finally let free they could enjoy the cruise and only be in deck 3 to sleep. If they turned positive then they could rejoin the spouse in the original room. Same amount of rooms used and deck 3 is only used a very small portion of the time.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Ok…I will jump in ….

We had a cruise booked for departure 4/24. Equinox.. in a Celebrity Suite. 

When I began to read all the posts, I became concerned. I read what JetBlue had to say with sincere sympathy.  Even though we have been vaccinated and boosted, and had COVID in January, we became concerned. 
We agreed that, if one of us tested positive, even a false positive,  we could not deal with the consequences. After all, this is an expensive cruise and we expect to enjoy it. 
We contacted our travel agent, who was very understanding. We have dealt  with 6 canceled cruises. Unfortunately, He is not making money on us. He contacted Celebrity and they assured him that we would get a balcony cabin, if available. These last words convinced us to cancel. 
Why should we spend money with even a slight chance that we might be separated and be isolated in a small cabin and eating out of take out containers. No suite, no. shows, no dining, no sightseeing, no pool. Nothing but an isolated cabin. 
We will resume cruising when we read that the cruise lines treat Covid as they would if a person has a cold or the flu. Stay in the cabin you pay for. This illness is usually mild and there’s no reason for the draconian methods cruise ships are doing to vaccinated passengers. 
Just my opinion!
 

Edited April 28, 2022 by Bellaggio Cruisers

[hcat]

Everyone must do what's best for their own situation and risk tolerance. No right or wrong. No need to justify one's position..Interesting to hear how others see things.

 

  We decided to take a chance on a 5 day cruise  rt Port Ev on Beyond in Nov.  It' s the last chance to use up our hefty accumulated  fcc from cancellations, lift and shift etc, and our first suite bookibg after many yrs in AQ Class

 

Hoping the testing ( a huge inconvenience to arrange in set time frames) and mandatory  masking issues are gone by then..and if the worst case scenario  happens they have to let us off after the 5 days!

 

We hope all goes well and we can have a lovely  Champagne Toast at sea...no future cruise plans on the table after that!

[Desert Diamond]

I can relate to the issues the OP has picked up on. For my DH and I, it comes down to, what do we love about cruising? It's getting off in the ports, sitting on our balcony, savoring beautifully presented, delicious food,, wandering around the ship, seeing shows and comedians, meeting new people, etc. If one or both of us were in isolation, most of those things are gone. For the amount of money a cruise costs, it isn't worth the risk for us at present. I agree with Bellagio Cruiser. Eating cold food out of cardboard containers is not luxury cruising. We've booked a few land based trips after canceling a May cruise so that we will be in charge of ourselves if we do get sick.

Reading through comments here on CC, I've frequently been shocked by those who say they wouldn't get tested if they began to have symptoms while onboard. The way quarantines are actually being handled, though, is no doubt encouraging this behavior. 

[Spif Barwunkel]

Influenza A & B, staph, venereal diseases, HIV, norovirus, the common cold and on and on. We walk among some of these infectious diseases, and a whole lot more, every day of our lives. But we are never tested for those diseases in order to determine how we live our lives. As quickly as the world responded to this latest infectious incursion and as successful as treatments and protocols have been in degrading its severity, perhaps we should cease testing and mandatory regulations. Is it time to settle down and realize that CV is here to stay and we just have to live with it?

 

It is no wonder that so many travelers do not yet want to travel. We are prepped for travel, as much as we can be. DW and I are no more concerned about being infected with Covid19 than we are about being infected with any other of the diseases mentioned above. At the same time we realize that anything is possible. Always have. The only difference is Covid19 gets us locked up. At this point in time I don’t think that should be.

 

We will be cruising in a couple of weeks. If there are 2000 people on the ship and during the cruise 200 people get Covid19 and 200 more folks share Influenza A or B, can you honestly tell me which group will fare the best, or worst. And, if one group is confined to quarters, should not the other be as well?

 

Think about it.

[GottaKnowWhen]

23 minutes ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

Influenza A & B, staph, venereal diseases, HIV, norovirus, the common cold and on and on. We walk among some of these infectious diseases, and a whole lot more, every day of our lives. But we are never tested for those diseases in order to determine how we live our lives. As quickly as the world responded to this latest infectious incursion and as successful as treatments and protocols have been in degrading its severity, perhaps we should cease testing and mandatory regulations. Is it time to settle down and realize that CV is here to stay and we just have to live with it?

 

It is no wonder that so many travelers do not yet want to travel. We are prepped for travel, as much as we can be. DW and I are no more concerned about being infected with Covid19 than we are about being infected with any other of the diseases mentioned above. At the same time we realize that anything is possible. Always have. The only difference is Covid19 gets us locked up. At this point in time I don’t think that should be.

 

We will be cruising in a couple of weeks. If there are 2000 people on the ship and during the cruise 200 people get Covid19 and 200 more folks share Influenza A or B, can you honestly tell me which group will fare the best, or worst. And, if one group is confined to quarters, should not the other be as well?

 

Think about it.

Serious cases of flu are confined to quarters. As are Covid infected persons. Because those infected persons otherwise might go wandering around and ruin the experience for the rest of the passengers. This is based on the notion of community good, the notion that everyone is part of a larger community and bears some responsibility for the health and well being of the community. Individual responsibility in balance with individual freedom.

[mlparker]

4 hours ago, Bellaggio Cruisers said:

Ok…I will jump in ….

We had a cruise booked for departure 4/24. Equinox.. in a Celebrity Suite. 

When I began to read all the posts, I became concerned. I read what JetBlue had to say with sincere sympathy.  Even though we have been vaccinated and boosted, and had COVID in January, we became concerned. 
We agreed that, if one of us tested positive, even a false positive,  we could not deal with the consequences. After all, this is an expensive cruise and we expect to enjoy it. 
We contacted our travel agent, who was very understanding. We have dealt  with 6 canceled cruises. Unfortunately, He is not making money on us. He contacted Celebrity and they assured him that we would get a balcony cabin, if available. These last words convinced us to cancel. 
Why should we spend money with even a slight chance that we might be separated and be isolated in a small cabin and eating out of take out containers. No suite, no. shows, no dining, no sightseeing, no pool. Nothing but an isolated cabin. 
We will resume cruising when we read that the cruise lines treat Covid as they would if a person has a cold or the flu. Stay in the cabin you pay for. This illness is usually mild and there’s no reason for the draconian methods cruise ships are doing to vaccinated passengers. 
Just my opinion!
 

We recently cruised in February and are due to do a N. Europe cruise at the end of May. I appreciate individual decisions to cancel or postpone, but I would note that not every case of COVID, even among those who are vaccinated and boosted are like a cold or the flu. A group from our church took an afternoon paddle boat cruise last week and 12 caught COVID. Of that, 1/3 are very sick, even though they were fully vaccinated. I feel very positive about the steps that Celebrity has made to be as safe as possible. Of course I don’t want to spend time in quarantine, but I know that this is a risk that I have chosen to take. 

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, Desert Diamond said:

I've frequently been shocked by those who say they wouldn't get tested if they began to have symptoms while onboard. The way quarantines are actually being handled, though, is no doubt encouraging this behavior. 

You seem shocked and not at all surprised at the same time.

 

4 minutes ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

Serious cases of flu are confined to quarters. As are Covid infected persons.

Not true. Serious cases of flu may be confined to quarters. However covid infected, regardless of severity, are isolated in the Red Zone.

[Ommadawn]

2 hours ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

Serious cases of flu are confined to quarters. As are Covid infected persons. Because those infected persons otherwise might go wandering around and ruin the experience for the rest of the passengers. This is based on the notion of community good, the notion that everyone is part of a larger community and bears some responsibility for the health and well being of the community. Individual responsibility in balance with individual freedom.

 

Yeah, but does quarters mean the cabin for which you paid or a deck 3 OV cabin?

[Denny01]

4 hours ago, Desert Diamond said:

, I've frequently been shocked by those who say they wouldn't get tested if they began to have symptoms while onboard. The way quarantines are actually being handled, though, is no doubt encouraging this behavior. 

 

3 hours ago, RichYak said:

You seem shocked and not at all surprised at the same time.

I think it’s kind of the: “I’m shocked! Shocked there is gambling going on here!” 
 

den

[SbbquilterUT]

I am a bit confused about this being a new concern - we were quarantined on our B2b in January and knew that was a possibility when we cruised then, so I do not see this as a new concern nor lack of transparency.  Please choose what makes you comfortable. 

[Virginia100]

The prevalence of Covid occurring now on the ships as identified on this board snd that dreaded test to board a plane home to the US makes it awfully risky to cruise in Europe right now. Even the second booster shot doesn't today stop the infection only the severity. Unless the return test is eliminated for my August Rome cruise I will cancel either before FP (10 days) or pay and see what happens and then cancel under CWC late July, not sure which avenue to take right now. Been really waffling on this.

[Joanne G.]

23 minutes ago, SbbquilterUT said:

I am a bit confused about this being a new concern - we were quarantined on our B2b in January and knew that was a possibility when we cruised then, so I do not see this as a new concern nor lack of transparency.  Please choose what makes you comfortable. 

 

I am not at all confused that the discussions continue, and I would expect them to continue until such time as cruising is approaching pre-2020 normalcy.

 

It is not a new concern overall.   But it may be a new concern for anyone whose cruise or final payment date is approaching.  Recent experiences are different from some of the very early reports from those testing positive, such as those who reported private flights home.  We come here for current information on what conditions are like in order to make our decision to go or cancel. 

 

As for transparency, the cruise lines have been clear about the possibility of quarantine, but not at all transparent about the kinds of conditions reported by those who have experienced it. 

 

I absolutely agree that we should choose what makes us comfortable.  

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, SbbquilterUT said:

I am a bit confused about this being a new concern - we were quarantined on our B2b in January and knew that was a possibility when we cruised then, so I do not see this as a new concern nor lack of transparency.  Please choose what makes you comfortable. 

Quarantine hasn't changed but isolation has. The possibility of having to isolate in a non-balcony cabin is a new and very real concern on Celebrity.

[Cruising89143]

1 hour ago, Virginia100 said:

The prevalence of Covid occurring now on the ships as identified on this board snd that dreaded test to board a plane home to the US makes it awfully risky to cruise in Europe right now. Even the second booster shot doesn't today stop the infection only the severity. Unless the return test is eliminated for my August Rome cruise I will cancel either before FP (10 days) or pay and see what happens and then cancel under CWC late July, not sure which avenue to take right now. Been really waffling on this.

It’s a difficult choice to make. We canceled our trip to Italy a few weeks ago. We were spending almost three weeks there with five days in Sorrento before boarding the Edge and then Rome after the trip. The chance of testing positive before boarding the Edge and flying back to California made us think twice. We had a lot of money being spent and if we could not go without the worry and hassle of testing then it just wasn’t worth it. 
 

I called my CVP and took the CWC. We had our FCC in about four days. We are now booked on the Solstice out of Los Angeles for an eight night Mexican Riviera cruise. The port is less than two hours driving from our home. We’re also leaving Monday on the Navigator OTS out of L.A for a four night cruise. We have four of those booked between now and early August. No, it’s not Italy but the cruises are leaving from close to home, they’re shorter cruises and we can get home easily if either of us get sick. Italy and Greece will still be there when we will not have to worry about the testing situation. 

[Desert Diamond]

22 hours ago, RichYak said:

You seem shocked and not at all surprised at the same time.

Correct. My shock has gradually morphed into more of a reluctant understanding of this viewpoint. 

[jjsnonna]

I don't understand the "quarantined against your will" phrase.  My understanding is that if you test positive you are quarantined, as it should be.  If you are with someone who tests positive, you are quarantined until you have a negative test.  Those have always been the rules, correct?