Aug 7th W-E-W Caribbean Edge Cruise - B3B

[Ken the cruiser]

Packing our bags today, driving tomorrow and staying in a Florida hotel, and then checking into our Sky Suite between 12-12:30 pm on Saturday with our antigen test results and CDC card in hand. At least that's our current strategy. Hopefully all will go smooth and we'll be on the ship by 1pm. One can hope anyway! 😎

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[TeaBag]

Bon Voyage!

[helen haywood]

Ken, fingers crossed we’re joining you on the 14th.  Keep us posted as to how embarkation goes…mask mandates, etc. Have a safe drive!

[Ken the cruiser]

4 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

Ken, fingers crossed we’re joining you on the 14th.  Keep us posted as to how embarkation goes…mask mandates, etc. Have a safe drive!

Will do and hopefully we'll have nothing but good news to report! 🤞

[bama4cruisin]

Ken, as fellow Birmingham area cruiser, where did you have your testing dome?  We are scheduled for the TA on Apex in October.  We will be tested before flying to Barcelona, and, if required for boarding, will be tested again there as we’ll be in Barcelona for four days.

 

I look forward to your updates.  Hope you and your DW have a great vacation!

[Jim_Iain]

Looking forward to your blog.    These live blogs are really getting me excited about our upcoming cruise.  

 

Will enjoy hearing about how embarkation goes.   I'm hoping it will run smooth and you will be aboard quickly. 

[Silkroad]

Looking forward to your posts en route. Wishing you a very smooth trip to the port!

[Ken the cruiser]

49 minutes ago, bama4cruisin said:

Ken, as fellow Birmingham area cruiser, where did you have your testing dome?  We are scheduled for the TA on Apex in October.  We will be tested before flying to Barcelona, and, if required for boarding, will be tested again there as we’ll be in Barcelona for four days.

 

I look forward to your updates.  Hope you and your DW have a great vacation!

Thanks! First, we tried going to the Baptist Walk-in Clinic in Millbrook around 3 pm on Wednesday, but there were 20 folks in the queue waiting in their cars. We could have come back the next morning, but instead drove over to the one in Prattville as there were only 12 in their waiting queue, where everyone waited in their car until they got a call.

 

For us, we got to go in after about 30 minutes and were out the door with the negative antigen tests about 30 minutes later. As we're both on Medicare, there was no charge. You may want to check out Urgent Care clinics in your area as well.

 

Urgent Care & Walk-in Clinic | Millbrook & Prattville, Alabama | Baptist Convenient Care (baptistfirst.org)

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

55 minutes ago, bama4cruisin said:

Ken, as fellow Birmingham area cruiser, where did you have your testing dome?  We are scheduled for the TA on Apex in October.  We will be tested before flying to Barcelona, and, if required for boarding, will be tested again there as we’ll be in Barcelona for four days.

 

I look forward to your updates.  Hope you and your DW have a great vacation!

You also might try clicking on the below ADPH link, and then click on "Test Sites". It gives you a full list of COVID testing sites throughout Alabama registered with the ADPH. Our "Plan C" was to pay for the antigen tests at Adams Drugs in Prattville if we started running out of time before heading to Florida Friday morning. But, luckily, we were successful.

 

Home Page - COVID-19 in Alabama (state.al.us)

 

 

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Sorry we won’t be joining you on this cruise. Needed to cancel at the last minute. 🤞hoping you enjoy it and look forward to your postings!

Celebrity was just wonderful, returning all our money…. Will definitely sail with them again!

Sheila 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, Bellaggio Cruisers said:

Sorry we won’t be joining you on this cruise. Needed to cancel at the last minute. 🤞hoping you enjoy it and look forward to your postings!

Celebrity was just wonderful, returning all our money…. Will definitely sail with them again!

Sheila 

That's too bad. I hope everyone is OK.

[jg51]

On 8/5/2021 at 2:03 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

... For us, we got to go in after about 30 minutes and were out the door with the negative antigen tests about 30 minutes later. As we're both on Medicare, there was no charge. ...

 

 

.

We envy you, "Ken the cruiser," but we wish you a marvelous experience in your fantastic B3B!

 

We have a question regarding your phrase that we have highlighted above.  If you happen to know ... were your tests covered by Medicare Part A or by Medicare Part B (or something else)?

 

Thanks, in advance, for your reply.

Best of health to you.  Stay perfectly well, so that you will pass the tests on E-Day-2 and E-Day-3.

.

[Susanb10567]

Enjoy your cruises…have they sent you updated information on embarkation due to the Edge delay?
 

we were on the Edge for the 7/17 sailing and had an amazing cruise 🙂

[Ken the cruiser]

48 minutes ago, jg51 said:

.

We envy you, "Ken the cruiser," but we wish you a marvelous experience in your fantastic B3B!

 

We have a question regarding your phrase that we have highlighted above.  If you happen to know ... were your tests covered by Medicare Part A or by Medicare Part B (or something else)?

 

Thanks, in advance, for your reply.

Best of health to you.  Stay perfectly well, so that you will pass the tests on E-Day-2 and E-Day-3.

Good question. Unfortunately, the folks at the clinic did not tell us.  To be quite honest, we also have Tricare for Life as a supplemental plan.  So it was either Medicare Part B or our Tricare for Life or a combination of both that paid for the test.  We won’t know until we see the claim(s).  So just to be sure you should ask your clinic how it will be paid for before they give you the test.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Susanb10567 said:

Enjoy your cruises…have they sent you updated information on embarkation due to the Edge delay?
 

we were on the Edge for the 7/17 sailing and had an amazing cruise 🙂

Yes, We received the following email and similar text about 7:30 pm.

 

ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING TRAVELS Dear Guest,   Once again, we look forward to welcoming you aboard Celebrity Edge® for your 7-Night Caribbean cruise departing tomorrow, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  As promised, we would like to provide some additional information regarding your arrival and check-in time at the terminal.     Celebrity Edge will arrive into Port Everglades at approximately 5:00 PM tomorrow.  We will dock at Terminal 18 instead of Terminal 25 as previously scheduled.  Within the table below please find your original arrival window and a corresponding new arrival window.  If driving to the port on your own, you may drop off your luggage at Terminal 18 and then proceed to the Midport Garage across from Terminal 25 for parking. Shuttles will be provided to transport you from the garage to Terminal 18.   We kindly ask, in order to maintain a smooth embarkation process for all guests, please do all possible to arrive during your newly assigned arrival window.      As a reminder, all guests over the age of two, regardless of vaccination status, will be required to present a negative COVID-19 test result at the time of embarkation. This test may be taken as either a PCR test or an Antigen test, conducted within three days of embarkation.  We will be accepting test results taken between August 4 and August 7. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Celebrity Cruises at 1-844-418-6824 in North America or (316) 554-5961 worldwide. We look forward to providing you an amazing Celebrity Cruises vacation. Sincerely, Celebrity Cruises

©2021 Celebrity Cruises. Ships' Registry: Malta Celebrity Cruises 1050 Caribbean Way Miami, FL 33132 1-800-280-3423

 

 

 

 

[cricketts]

I'll be following along... we will embark on the 28th as you are leaving.  Take good care of Edge for us!

[Ken the cruiser]

Well, we finally made it to our hotel in West Palm Beach after about a 12 hour drive. As you may have heard by now on other threads and/or noticed in the above notification email, we probably won't be on the ship by 1 pm tomorrow as we originally hoped. Now it appears we may be checking in between 5-5:30 pm (since we're in a SS) with everyone hopefully onboard by 8 pm.

 

But on the bright side X will be accepting test results taken between August 4 and August 7 rather than just 72 hours prior to check-in which would have voided any tests given prior to 5 pm Wednesday evening. That definitely made us happy as our antigen tests were taken around 4 pm on Wednesday. I know, there was a very small chance X would not accept them since it's their fault the ship will be docking much later than expected. But when you're on a 12 hour drive, just the thought of them possibly being voided caused us to worry just a tad until we got the word from our X PVP that they would be accepted.

 

So our checkout time tomorrow from the hotel is at noon and we have about a two hour drive left to get to the port, if we drive slow. Maybe we'll take a more scenic drive just to kill a few more hours. Time will tell. If nothing else, tomorrow should be interesting! But, hey, we're on vacation and if nothing else, we're creating memories!  😎

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[cricketts]

3 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

So our checkout tomorrow from the hotel is at noon and we have about a two hour drive left to get to the port, if we drive slow. Maybe we'll take a more scenic drive just to kill a few more hours. Time will tell. If nothing else, tomorrow should be interesting! But, hey, we're on vacation and if nothing else, we're creating memories!  😎

 

I love your positive attitude!!  I look forward to reading about your adventures the next 21 days 🙂 🙂 

Have a Sunset Martini for me!!

[Smmessineo]

39 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Yes, We received the following email and similar text about 7:30 pm.

 

ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING TRAVELS Dear Guest,   Once again, we look forward to welcoming you aboard Celebrity Edge® for your 7-Night Caribbean cruise departing tomorrow, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  As promised, we would like to provide some additional information regarding your arrival and check-in time at the terminal.     Celebrity Edge will arrive into Port Everglades at approximately 5:00 PM tomorrow.  We will dock at Terminal 18 instead of Terminal 25 as previously scheduled.  Within the table below please find your original arrival window and a corresponding new arrival window.  If driving to the port on your own, you may drop off your luggage at Terminal 18 and then proceed to the Midport Garage across from Terminal 25 for parking. Shuttles will be provided to transport you from the garage to Terminal 18.   We kindly ask, in order to maintain a smooth embarkation process for all guests, please do all possible to arrive during your newly assigned arrival window.      As a reminder, all guests over the age of two, regardless of vaccination status, will be required to present a negative COVID-19 test result at the time of embarkation. This test may be taken as either a PCR test or an Antigen test, conducted within three days of embarkation.  We will be accepting test results taken between August 4 and August 7. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Celebrity Cruises at 1-844-418-6824 in North America or (316) 554-5961 worldwide. We look forward to providing you an amazing Celebrity Cruises vacation. Sincerely, Celebrity Cruises

©2021 Celebrity Cruises. Ships' Registry: Malta Celebrity Cruises 1050 Caribbean Way Miami, FL 33132 1-800-280-3423

 

It's interesting that the email says the test must be conducted within 3 days of  embarkation. I wonder if that wording is just for this delayed cruise or if Celebrity is changing from the "72 hour" wording.

Best wishes on your B3B ! I will be following along.

 

 

 

 

[helen haywood]

Best wishes for tomorrow!!  If you have your own car you’ve got more options for tomorrow.  Hope all goes well and that we’ll see you onboard on the 14th!

[RichYak]

57 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Yes, We received the following email and similar text about 7:30 pm.

 

ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING TRAVELS Dear Guest,   Once again, we look forward to welcoming you aboard Celebrity Edge® for your 7-Night Caribbean cruise departing tomorrow, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  As promised, we would like to provide some additional information regarding your arrival and check-in time at the terminal.     Celebrity Edge will arrive into Port Everglades at approximately 5:00 PM tomorrow.  We will dock at Terminal 18 instead of Terminal 25 as previously scheduled.  Within the table below please find your original arrival window and a corresponding new arrival window.  If driving to the port on your own, you may drop off your luggage at Terminal 18 and then proceed to the Midport Garage across from Terminal 25 for parking. Shuttles will be provided to transport you from the garage to Terminal 18.   We kindly ask, in order to maintain a smooth embarkation process for all guests, please do all possible to arrive during your newly assigned arrival window.      As a reminder, all guests over the age of two, regardless of vaccination status, will be required to present a negative COVID-19 test result at the time of embarkation. This test may be taken as either a PCR test or an Antigen test, conducted within three days of embarkation.  We will be accepting test results taken between August 4 and August 7. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Celebrity Cruises at 1-844-418-6824 in North America or (316) 554-5961 worldwide. We look forward to providing you an amazing Celebrity Cruises vacation. Sincerely, Celebrity Cruises

©2021 Celebrity Cruises. Ships' Registry: Malta Celebrity Cruises 1050 Caribbean Way Miami, FL 33132 1-800-280-3423

 

 

 

 

 

Hard to imagine boarding beginning at the same time the ship is currently scheduled to arrive. For those embarking tomorrow, plan accordingly.

[Ken the cruiser]

@Smmessineo, IMHO they are making the 3 day versus 72 hour adjustment because of the 5+ hour check-in delays that will be encountered tomorrow because of the delayed arrival of the Edge due to the non COVID medical emergency they encountered last night. Can you imagine the nightmare situation they would encounter tomorrow if X tried to enforce the existing 72 hour rule they have been requiring since it was put in effect? But, again, that's just my unofficial, uninformed opinion. 😎

[Smmessineo]

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

@Smmessineo, IMHO they are making the 3 day versus 72 hour adjustment because of the 5+ hour check-in delays that will be encountered tomorrow because of the delayed arrival of the Edge due to the non COVID medical emergency they encountered last night. Can you imagine the nightmare situation they would encounter tomorrow if X tried to enforce the existing 72 hour rule they have been requiring since it was put in effect? But, again, that's just my unofficial, uninformed opinion. 😎

I'm sure you are right . I was just hoping they'd simplify it all around 🙂

Smooth sailing for your cruises!  I'll be on the Edge in September for a measly 7 days .

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Hard to imagine boarding beginning at the same time the ship is currently scheduled to arrive. For those embarking tomorrow, plan accordingly.

Not sure when we will be boarding, but at least they will be starting the check-in process. If nothing else it will definitely be interesting to see how all of this will unfold. 

[RichYak]

23 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

...but at least they will be starting the check-in process...

Will they? Or will they be starting the lining up outside process like last week? If it were me, I'd plan for the latter, but that's just how I roll.