Mackdogmolly Posted December 28, 2021 #226 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Ok, here’s where it pays to be a more experienced traveler than me . Paid a bundle in Sint Maarten for a beach excursion with open bar and lunch. It was very nice, but found out later that could have taken a $7 (RT) water taxi to downtown and a better beach with reasonable chair rentals for a fraction of the price. Live and learn! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdogmolly Posted December 28, 2021 #227 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Destination Celebration last night. Steel drum band followed by 1 of 3 of the original local singers (2 had COVID so couldn’t perform) and 1 fill in. Very nice, and then a lovely dinner in Discovories ( veal for DH and duck breast for me). A little bottle of local rum liqueur was waiting for us in our cabin with our turn down treats. COVID testing scheduled over next two days - ours on the 29th. The good news is so far have not heard of any positive cases and most people are following protocol. Today we arrive at Dominica at 1:00. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdogmolly Posted December 28, 2021 #228 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Oops, the band is upside down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisefam38 Posted December 28, 2021 #229 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Azamara went all out to invert the whole band. Motely Crue only flipped the drummer, Tommy Lee. The rum bottle is a very nice touch. Thanks for sharing some aspects of your cruise, Mackdogmolly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdogmolly Posted December 28, 2021 #230 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Update: The COVID testing scheduled over today and tomorrow has now been changed to all testing today, due to 2 positive antigen cases. These will be followed up by PCR tests to verify. We were scheduled for tomorrow, but had ours earlier this morning due to an early shore excursion tomorrow. Update #2: On January 3rd, San Juan now canceled and replacing with Tortola. Fortunately (at this time), we can go ashore independently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare uktog Posted December 28, 2021 #231 Share Posted December 28, 2021 34 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said: Update: The COVID testing scheduled over today and tomorrow has now been changed to all testing today, due to 2 positive antigen cases. These will be followed up by PCR tests to verify. We were scheduled for tomorrow, but had ours earlier this morning due to an early shore excursion tomorrow. Update #2: On January 3rd, San Juan now canceled and replacing with Tortola. Fortunately (at this time), we can go ashore independently. Thanks for the updates, what a lot of rejigging the officers will be having to work on. Fingers crossed results go well for everyone 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macmax Posted December 28, 2021 #232 Share Posted December 28, 2021 45 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said: Update: The COVID testing scheduled over today and tomorrow has now been changed to all testing today, due to 2 positive antigen cases. These will be followed up by PCR tests to verify. We were scheduled for tomorrow, but had ours earlier this morning due to an early shore excursion tomorrow. Update #2: On January 3rd, San Juan now canceled and replacing with Tortola. Fortunately (at this time), we can go ashore independently. Hopefully they were false positives. That's too bad about San Juan. Do you know if it affects all ships or just Quest? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdogmolly Posted December 28, 2021 #233 Share Posted December 28, 2021 14 minutes ago, macmax said: Hopefully they were false positives. That's too bad about San Juan. Do you know if it affects all ships or just Quest? I don’t know, but I told it was because of COVID, so maybe all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roel94 Posted December 28, 2021 #234 Share Posted December 28, 2021 1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said: Update: The COVID testing scheduled over today and tomorrow has now been changed to all testing today, due to 2 positive antigen cases. These will be followed up by PCR tests to verify. We were scheduled for tomorrow, but had ours earlier this morning due to an early shore excursion tomorrow. Update #2: On January 3rd, San Juan now canceled and replacing with Tortola. Fortunately (at this time), we can go ashore independently. I love Tortola but PR was where Sasha and Demi were to get on. Demi in states but Sasha in Holland. Much harder flights to get to ship. crew are all now double masking. Very hard to breathe ..I tried it, not sure why not 95 masks. this make five guests over three cruises and it is since we arrived in Miami. Guests should test before flying or in Miami before ship. Staying in FL for a few days.plan on testing before I see next ship. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
takemewithyou Posted December 28, 2021 Author #235 Share Posted December 28, 2021 1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said: Update: The COVID testing scheduled over today and tomorrow has now been changed to all testing today, due to 2 positive antigen cases. These will be followed up by PCR tests to verify. We were scheduled for tomorrow, but had ours earlier this morning due to an early shore excursion tomorrow. Update #2: On January 3rd, San Juan now canceled and replacing with Tortola. Fortunately (at this time), we can go ashore independently. Thought something must be going on because CDC has Quest color coded yellow, meaning Covid cases onboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roel94 Posted December 28, 2021 #236 Share Posted December 28, 2021 15 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said: Ok, here’s where it pays to be a more experienced traveler than me . Paid a bundle in Sint Maarten for a beach excursion with open bar and lunch. It was very nice, but found out later that could have taken a $7 (RT) water taxi to downtown and a better beach with reasonable chair rentals for a fraction of the price. Live and learn! You never asked on roll call. Most of us know that.also can walk to town. Gone to French side ,gone to see airplanes take off. chairs run about 20 fir two with umbrella. Drinks vary by bar and food. Lunch yesterday was more than last time. Ask cruisers who been to all these ports. You only really need tours in ports not allowed off alone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roel94 Posted December 28, 2021 #237 Share Posted December 28, 2021 2 minutes ago, takemewithyou said: Thought something must be going on because CDC has Quest color coded yellow, meaning Covid cases onboard. For the bird sailing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roel94 Posted December 28, 2021 #238 Share Posted December 28, 2021 For the third sailing out of Miami Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excitedofharpenden Posted December 28, 2021 #239 Share Posted December 28, 2021 20 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said: Ok, here’s where it pays to be a more experienced traveler than me . Paid a bundle in Sint Maarten for a beach excursion with open bar and lunch. It was very nice, but found out later that could have taken a $7 (RT) water taxi to downtown and a better beach with reasonable chair rentals for a fraction of the price. Live and learn! Don't beat yourself up. I've done the same thing in the past and ended up feeling foolish when talking to people back on the ship. Travel is definitely a learning process. I'm looking forward to getting back to school! Lol Phil 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baynanno1 Posted December 28, 2021 #240 Share Posted December 28, 2021 5 hours ago, Roel94 said: Guests should test before flying or in Miami before ship. Testing prior to boarding is a requirement! "Prior to boarding, guests are required to show proof of vaccination, complete a health questionnaire and provide a negative SARS-CoV-2 test result. Testing at the terminal prior to embarkation and onboard prior to disembarkation will be conducted by licensed and accredited third-party testing providers." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdogmolly Posted December 28, 2021 #241 Share Posted December 28, 2021 We were in Dominica today and only ship excursions allowed. We opted for a “River Tubing Adventure. This entailed an hour drive on twisty mountain roads at breakneck speeds before arriving at the river. The tour guides said there would be small rapids, and I guess that really meant was any time the river was actually moving. The rest of the time, it was so still that we had to link together and be dragged to the next “rapid.” The water was also pretty shallow, so when going through the faster water, we would scrape against large rocks beneath us. All in all, it was pretty fun, but not quite what I expected! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare uktog Posted December 28, 2021 #242 Share Posted December 28, 2021 2 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said: We were in Dominica today and only ship excursions allowed. We opted for a “River Tubing Adventure. This entailed an hour drive on twisty mountain roads at breakneck speeds before arriving at the river. The tour guides said there would be small rapids, and I guess that really meant was any time the river was actually moving. The rest of the time, it was so still that we had to link together and be dragged to the next “rapid.” The water was also pretty shallow, so when going through the faster water, we would scrape against large rocks beneath us. All in all, it was pretty fun, but not quite what I expected! You have a great attitude making lemonade every day. And better than sitting on the ship from what I read into your post! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare uktog Posted December 28, 2021 #243 Share Posted December 28, 2021 36 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said: Don't beat yourself up. I've done the same thing in the past and ended up feeling foolish when talking to people back on the ship. Travel is definitely a learning process. I'm looking forward to getting back to school! Lol Phil Yep, how many times have we been and gone and done it and got that t shirt....... Learning by doing and making mistakes is the purest form of learning if you want the psychology theories 🙂 And going back to school would be such fun 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdogmolly Posted December 28, 2021 #244 Share Posted December 28, 2021 The captain just announced that we have 12 confirmed COVID cases onboard ( confirmed with follow up PCRs). We were in port yesterday with some other cruise ships with many positive cases. Captain said they have not been transparent with guests and have only required testing at embarkation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdogmolly Posted December 28, 2021 #245 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Really grateful for our wonderful captain. And no crew have tested positive. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare uktog Posted December 28, 2021 #246 Share Posted December 28, 2021 1 minute ago, Mackdogmolly said: Really grateful for our wonderful captain. And no crew have tested positive. Every measure he will take will be to keep everyone as safe as he can. Probably having to improvise in some areas to do so. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare uktog Posted December 28, 2021 #247 Share Posted December 28, 2021 5 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said: The captain just announced that we have 12 confirmed COVID cases onboard ( confirmed with follow up PCRs). We were in port yesterday with some other cruise ships with many positive cases. Captain said they have not been transparent with guests and have only required testing at embarkation. Probably as well you were on a ship’s excursion after all! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdogmolly Posted December 28, 2021 #248 Share Posted December 28, 2021 19 minutes ago, uktog said: Probably as well you were on a ship’s excursion after all! That’s what we think!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
takemewithyou Posted December 28, 2021 Author #249 Share Posted December 28, 2021 (edited) Of all the ports we went to last week, St Maarten had very lax Covid protocols. We had at least 2 other ships in port with us…..one enormous MSC floating City and a Crystal ship. There were a couple of ambulances that were seen by us outside Crystal. We only went shopping at the terminal but we were surprised that shop employees were not wearing masks and there was no way to sanitize our hands! One shop had hand sanitizer dispenser but it was empty! Other shops in other ports required you sanitize hands as soon as entering! Edited December 28, 2021 by takemewithyou Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdogmolly Posted December 29, 2021 #250 Share Posted December 29, 2021 30 minutes ago, takemewithyou said: Of all the ports we went to last week, St Maarten had very lax Covid protocols. We had at least 2 other ships in port with us…..one enormous MSC floating City and a Crystal ship. There were a couple of ambulances that were seen by us outside Crystal. We only went shopping at the terminal but we were surprised that shop employees were not wearing masks and there was no way to sanitize our hands! One shop had hand sanitizer dispenser but it was empty! Other shops in other ports required you sanitize hands as soon as entering! We found that most onshore people were masked, at least in shops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now