cruisebot21

Pt3:

I’ll try to answer some of questions above in this update 🙂

In light of me being Cdn vs US, would I have been tested anyway? Probably yes.  I started to have light cold symptoms early afternoon and if I didn’t already have a scheduled test in a few hours, would have called medical.  To be honest, I felt like I had a bit of heat exhaustion from the really hot / humid weather the day before.

The next morning in my new digs, I started to figure out the many moving parts of getting everyone home.

 It was really windy out and the ship couldn’t dock at CocoCay - after a long delay, we turned around and started the last leg to Miami

I’m sure guest services was swamped, but I had multiple calls throughout the day updating travel info / policy and what to expect, Doctor checking in, offers for room service and general wellness check-ins.  Everyone was courteous, listened to any concerns, and made it clear they had time to work with me.

I know that was clearly not the case as there were announcements requesting people to report to the conference centre (where testing took place) and there were reports on FB that corridors had been closed like when I was moved the day before.  

The plan:

We had flights booked to leave the morning of docking - clearly I wouldn’t be able to go.

It also wasn’t fair to put that on my wife to haul lots of luggage and 2 kids through an unfamiliar process of border crossing / immigration with continually changing protocols - not CBSA’s fault, but I didn’t want to send her into a situation where she may be delayed by long lines, miss a connection, require further testing, quarantine in Toronto, etc

It was going to be a really long day at the best of times, with arrival home being just after midnight.

We were planning on probably all of us quarantining in Miami in 2 rooms and once I was good, travel home together. We were going to have her work send her the required IT to maybe work down there for a week or two.

When we had booked, we specifically choose to go on this itinerary so we could be home and do our 14-day post travel quarantine over the holidays to minimize impact on jobs and school. 

We were reassured before we left that there was a repatriation policy that ensured we’d be immediately flown back if we tested positive.  In discussions with guest services, they mentioned that policy had changed the prior week - while we were on the Freedom of the Seas and that quarantine in Miami with later flights is the current solution. They said they’d see what they could do, but were not optimistic.

Pt2:

I quickly packed up my stuff for the new cabin and while waiting for security, divided up passports, flight docs, proof of vax certs, etc

The plan outlined by guest services was that I would isolate on deck 3 in an ocean view for the rest of the cruise and then be moved to a Miami hotel and continue to quarantine at their cost. After an undetermined quarantine period on shore, I would be flown home - again at their expense.

The family would stay quarantined in the original cabin until their next test.  If they came back negative, their quarantine would end and they could travel home as originally planned or join me  at the hotel and travel later.

During isolation for me and quarantine for the family, both cabins would provided with free streaming wifi, free movies, and free room service.

As we were trying to process all that, security showed up and I was off!

Two friendly staff members showed up in tyvek suits and respirators and escorted me down the hall to a staff elevator.  During the move, the corridor was closed off to other traffic and a  staff member fogged  disinfectant behind me.

Minutes later I was in my ocean view stateroom.  It was a standard passenger room with the same bed, furniture, bathroom found in our other cabin - not a stripped down ‘cell’ by any means.  Also laid out were biohazard bags for trash, toiletries kit in case I forgot anything, and various cleaning and sanitizing products.

I made a call to room service for supper and settled in to process everything.

Everyone I interacted with was great. Under very difficult circumstances, they were kind, compassionate and professional - I couldn’t ask for anything more.  Well, maybe less covid!

Thanks - yes, I’m experiencing mild symptoms - mild fever, headache and light coughing 

I tested positive for covid on the Dec 18 Symphony sailing and RCCL was absolutely fantastic in the way they dealt with it.  Seriously the entire crew were great in a very difficult situation and the experience made me a customer for life.

This was the Dec 18, 5-night sailing and on day 3 I had a scheduled pcr test for my return flight to Canada.

An hour and a half after the test, we got a call to the cabin that I had tested positive and was being moved to a deck 3 isolation cabin.

The rest of the family was negative and could quarantine in our current cabin with a follow up pcr test scheduled for 24hrs later.

I was given 1/2 hr to pack what I needed for the new cabin and was told ship security would escort me down to my new digs.

pt2 to follow 😉

We were on the previous Dec 18th Symphony and things were definitely changing rapidly!

We got the teen specific cruise compass waiting in our cabin with lots of planned events throughout the days - only to walk over and find the area only open from 8pm-12 with minimal activities marked on a white board.

He still had a great time, but hours and availability of venues were definitely reduced.

Shows were still scheduled - in fact we saw Hiro while still in Miami waiting to depart.

On the 3 or 4th day they cancelled casino tournaments and bingo and prohibited smoking in the casino as well.

Masking was good on ours, but some people couldn’t count to 6 for elevator capacity limits

We recently got tested on Freedom the day before we got off in preparation to boarding Symphony on the 18th - we got rapid antigen for vax’d and a rapid pcr for our single dose kiddo under 12.

The only hiccup was we had to wait for the results before leaving the Star Lounge where the testing was taking place.  It took about an hour for the pcr test and it was Coco Cay day - luckily we tested early in the morning and only missed a bit of shore time

35 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

Bailey's Banana Coconut is probably one of those things that should be typed out, not abbreviated...

You keep your opinions to yourself!!!

I'm enjoying the story of him going from bar to bar looking for a BBC and complaining loudly that he can't find one.

If he wants to spend his vacation savouring a BBC, thats up to him! 

No judgements!!

6 hours ago, Cruisin Around said:

If it was booked before you boarded, were you able to sign up for this ahead of time online?  I know my son would love to do this.  Thanks!

I didn't notice it in my cruise planner section before the cruise, but I wasn't really looking for it either. did book things like Hiro and 1977 online though.

I didn't know you could get reservations for things like laser tag, so it was a bit suprising when we showed up the for the first session and being asked if we had reservations. 

Checked the app while waiting in the standby line and saw that it there were no openings all week - person checking reservations said they all slots were booked first day

That said, my little guy got to play a ton of games and for some sessions, he was able to play back to back to back with no waiting - but we went mid Feb and it wasn't overrun with kids.

Also book Hiro for early in the cruise - our first night reservation was cancelled and then subsequent nights were also cancelled or stopped halfway through due to weather - we ended up being rebooked for day 6 - was a hghlight for the kids.

I'm more afraid of hyperbolic thread titles

50 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Unless your passengers are holding a US passport

With a home port reposition, could passengers not just travel to the Dominican Republic and hop onto a Cuban cruise? 

US citizens used to go on vacation to Canada, but then fly to a Cuban resort.....

Easy - 

Move them both to non-US ports in the Caribbean and continue to do trips to Cuba.

Do it right away - it was fully booked for the entire week by the time we boarded when we sailed back in Feb.

They do have a 'stand-by line' for each session where you can show up and hope registered people are no shows. We were still able to play more than enough rounds

Lets look your points in reverse order:

2) RCL is pulling their ship from UK

because.......

1) RCL isn't selling enough cabins at profitable prices, are having to discount fares, and to top it off, existing bookings want the lower fares too. 

Seems simple to me.

From your description of events, this sounds like an awesome party - I'm thinking they should have a crew focused party on every cruise so we could cheer them on!

Whoa, whoa, whoa....

You mean windows get dirty in an ocean environment?

Thankfully, you've posted about it here where it won't get resolved by the people tasked with cleaning them! 

Fair compensation is having RCI finding you a comparable cabin on  the same sailing that you originally booked

They did.

End of story.

The $50 OBC is a nice little bonus.

Now go enjoy a vacation.

Step 1 - As the elevator door opens, shout 'Make way, I got the Noro !!" 

Step 2 - Enjoy your empty elevator 

Plot twist: 

- OP flees to a different cruiseline

- Doesn't have a loyalty status with the new line

- Ends up buying their version of the key to get back some of his lost perks  

I'm pretty sure they will try to call your room first.

If there is no answer and its a serious situation, they will announce over the PA system

If it's a super, super six sigma issue, they will have Chops charge $10 to your seapass card to get your attention.