Live Caribbean Princess May 14th

[Tak8]

Relaxing day at sea.  Pools were crowded but always able to find a chair.  

 

At least for the early show, you need to be in the theater by 720.  Many have been standing room only.  Bravo was tonight and many were lining the aisles.

 

Tomorrow is Grand Cayman and a time change.  Those are never fun on a ship.

 

 

[Tak8]

Patter just came for Grand Cayman, so here you go.

 

[mith]

We were on the Caribbean Princess May 14th sailing and a great time and only had a few issues.

We were in a Carib 400s section balcony, love the semi-covered  bigger balcony. 

 

Pro: Shows were great, food was good, staff friendly and helpful.

 

Cons: Journey view did not work for either of us all cruise, and halfway through the cruise medallion app couldn't see that I was on the ship.(we ended up just taking pictures of the patter to keep on our phones) Medallion net was dialup speeds most of the cruise. Crew needed more staff for a full ship, always hustling but just not enough staff to cover the passengers.

Poor or no communication on the port disembarkation delays.

[U4icmusic]

18 hours ago, cruzin4us said:

I'm thinking/speculating that all the plumbing problems are a result of a lot of people using the supposed flushable sanitizer wipes.    I have no proof, but it's my suspicion.   

Nothing is supposed to go in the toilet except for human waste and toilet tissue. No wipes, facial tissue, or tampons. People flushing these items can cause problems for themselves and others on their deck. Please don't do it.

Edited May 23, 2022 by U4icmusic

[cltnccruisers]

On 5/21/2022 at 7:50 PM, sewingmolly said:

I'm just off the Caribbean Princess.  We had a great cruise until yesterday.  Our cabin had plumbing issues.  The toilet backed up and overflowed.  Our cabin steward told us that all of the 700 cabins on all floors on both sides of the ship had problems.  Supposedly the problem was solved last night, but we were not informed of that until we were walking off the ship.  Right now I'm not remembering any of the good parts of the cruise, only last nights plumbing problems.  Good luck to anyone staying in the aft portion of the ship. 

Wonderful 😒  We're on CP June 4 in C705.  They have 12 days to get my darn toilet perfect.  

[cltnccruisers]

On 5/22/2022 at 12:55 AM, NoWhiners said:

 

Thank you, that helps. I'm not looking forward to using the app, it seems inconsistent in whether or not it works. And I just a read a thread about the update not being much better. We don't cruise until October, so maybe by then it will be better.

 

Thanks again.

We used it on Sky in November and CP in March, but very limited.  Finding our way around the ship, locating the kids and grandkids,  checking bar menu QRs.   It's OK but not a gamechanger.

[cltnccruisers]

On 5/22/2022 at 8:15 AM, Tak8 said:

The last I saw it was still 2 days.  I did mine Thursday for the Saturday sailing.  Walgreens was free for the NAAT test.  The day I was in Ft. Lauderdale I saw many people standing around the Lab Doctor clinic.  I had them as my back up in case something happened with Walgreens. 

Depends on the test and your vaccination status.  We're Up to Date.

Vaccination Status	CDC Definition	Pre-Travel Test-Type	When to Take Test Before Boarding
Fully Vaccinated	Received primary series of COVID-19 vaccines with final dose at least 14 days before embarkation	Antigen	Within 2 days
		PCR	Within 3 days
Up to Date	Received all recommended COVID-19 vaccines, including any booster dose(s) when eligible at least 7 days before embarkation	Antigen	Within 3 days
		PCR	Within 3 days
Not Vaccinated	Not fully vaccinated	PCR	Within 3 days

BTW, do not count embarkation day.

 

 

[kokopelli-az]

So if you are "up to date" with your vaccines and the ship leaves on Saturday, you can get your rapid antigen test (and results) the Wednesday before ??

[cltnccruisers]

6 minutes ago, kokopelli-az said:

So if you are "up to date" with your vaccines and the ship leaves on Saturday, you can get your rapid antigen test (and results) the Wednesday before ??

Yes.  There was originally much confusion when 72 hours was being used.  72 hours from what starting point?  So eventually that was changed to 3 days not counting the Embarkation Day.  So Wed, Thu, Fri are good for a Sat sailing.  There's an FAQ on the PCL site that gives an example.

 

That said, we do have a couple of the proctored home tests that we'll take just as backup.

Edited May 23, 2022 by cltnccruisers

[Tak8]

Grand Cayman is happy to see cruise passengers again after being shut down for 2 years.  I took a taxi to Public Beach on Seven Mile Beach.  It is $6 one way.  They fill up the taxi bus before departing.  Fairly easy to get taxi back, but again you may have to wait for taxi bus to fill up.. 

Masks are required in Grand Cayman.  I saw passengers being asked to leave stores and mask up before returning.  

[Tak8]

Had to set clock back an hour for Roatan today.

 

Here is the patter.

 

[shay1]

19 hours ago, cltnccruisers said:

Yes.  There was originally much confusion when 72 hours was being used.  72 hours from what starting point?  So eventually that was changed to 3 days not counting the Embarkation Day.  So Wed, Thu, Fri are good for a Sat sailing.  There's an FAQ on the PCL site that gives an example.

 

That said, we do have a couple of the proctored home tests that we'll take just as backup.

When you say fully vaccinated which means booster does this mean just the 1st booster shot or do you have to have the 2nd booster shot??? 

[cltnccruisers]

9 minutes ago, shay1 said:

When you say fully vaccinated which means booster does this mean just the 1st booster shot or do you have to have the 2nd booster shot??? 

I have found no indication that the second booster is part of t

Vaccination Status	CDC Definition	Pre-Travel Test-Type	When to Take Test Before Boarding
Fully Vaccinated	Received primary series of COVID-19 vaccines with final dose at least 14 days before embarkation	Antigen	Within 2 days
		PCR	Within 3 days
Up to Date	Received all recommended COVID-19 vaccines, including any booster dose(s) when eligible at least 7 days before embarkation	Antigen	Within 3 days
		PCR	Within 3 days
Not Vaccinated	Not fully vaccinated	PCR	Within 3 days

his at all.  The PCL FAQs don't mention it and our local CVS doesn't even have it.

 

Up To Date includes booster.

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by cltnccruisers

[prmssk]

11 minutes ago, shay1 said:

When you say fully vaccinated which means booster does this mean just the 1st booster shot or do you have to have the 2nd booster shot??? 

I have not seen anywhere that requires a second booster at this time.  It's not even available to large portions of the population.  They are only interested in your initial series and then in some cases (such as how many days you have to test) whether you have received the first booster.

[shay1]

4 minutes ago, prmssk said:

I have not seen anywhere that requires a second booster at this time.  It's not even available to large portions of the population.  They are only interested in your initial series and then in some cases (such as how many days you have to test) whether you have received the first booster.

Great we have had all vaccinations in 2021 and our 1st booster we got 11/2021 so we could get our Covid test on Wednesday for our Saturday sailing? That would be great to get rid of the anxiety of getting our results sooner so we can really get excited about getting on the ship!

[cltnccruisers]

5 minutes ago, prmssk said:

I have not seen anywhere that requires a second booster at this time.  It's not even available to large portions of the population.  They are only interested in your initial series and then in some cases (such as how many days you have to test) whether you have received the first booster.

That is what I have found as well.  Last I checked (about 2 weeks ago), our local CVS didn't even have the second booster.

 

But we have a fantastic CVP so I've asked her if she has heard anything on this.  I'll post her response when I get it.

[cltnccruisers]

1 minute ago, shay1 said:

Great we have had all vaccinations in 2021 and our 1st booster we got 11/2021 so we could get our Covid test on Wednesday for our Saturday sailing? That would be great to get rid of the anxiety of getting our results sooner so we can really get excited about getting on the ship!

Same here.  For us, that 3rd day is a bigee.  I stopped doing the drive to Ft L in one hop - I-95 is just too stressful.  So we do it in 2 hops now.  Charlotte to Melbourne on Thu then on the Ft L on Fri.  That way we're rested and refreshed for embarkation instead of tired and cranky.  😀

[prmssk]

3 minutes ago, shay1 said:

Great we have had all vaccinations in 2021 and our 1st booster we got 11/2021 so we could get our Covid test on Wednesday for our Saturday sailing? That would be great to get rid of the anxiety of getting our results sooner so we can really get excited about getting on the ship!

As the policy stands now, yes, you could get tested on Wednesday for a Saturday cruise.  I always recommend though double checking the Princess website the week before your cruise to make sure nothing changed.

 

We don't start traveling until Friday of our cruise in June on the Caribbean Princess (Saturday departure) and we just use the eMed home tests so I have decided whether we will get ours done Wednesday or Thursday but I know the extra day makes a bigger difference for other members of my family who will be traveling from further.

[shay1]

Thanks to all of you for great information while we are still in these trying times with Covid. On our RCCL cruise in December, we were unfortunate to have caught the Omicron. My DH came down with symptoms on the day we got off. I came down with it on Christmas Eve! Yes, it was mild but nevertheless we hope not to repeat that again. Wishing everyone to have safe travels.

[cltnccruisers]

2 minutes ago, shay1 said:

Thanks to all of you for great information while we are still in these trying times with Covid. On our RCCL cruise in December, we were unfortunate to have caught the Omicron. My DH came down with symptoms on the day we got off. I came down with it on Christmas Eve! Yes, it was mild but nevertheless we hope not to repeat that again. Wishing everyone to have safe travels.

Neither of us have had it and we've pretty much been able to carry on with just a few sensible adjustments.  That said, being only 11 days until embarkation we'll just hunker down to keep Murphy at bay.

[shay1]

3 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

Neither of us have had it and we've pretty much been able to carry on with just a few sensible adjustments.  That said, being only 11 days until embarkation we'll just hunker down to keep Murphy at bay.

We had been so careful through all of this then on our 1st cruise back after 2 years Bam we get it. Even though we were careful while onboard wearing mask on elevators but of course while eating and tables so close, who knows when or how we got it. We will still be careful and hope for the best again this time.

[ZoeyVictoria]

3 hours ago, shay1 said:

Great we have had all vaccinations in 2021 and our 1st booster we got 11/2021 so we could get our Covid test on Wednesday for our Saturday sailing? That would be great to get rid of the anxiety of getting our results sooner so we can really get excited about getting on the ship!

My interpretation is that you need all of the boosters that you are eligible for to test within three days rather than two.  If you are eligible to receive another booster (due to age) and have not yet received it, you need to stick to the two day requirement.

 

We also live in Bradenton and are sailing on the Caribbean Princess on Saturday.  We have used Walgreens for testing for our past eight cruises, with results within an hour each time.  Even though we received our second booster in April, we scheduled our tests for Thursday instead of Wednesday, as we are trying to allow no possibility of a bad interpretation of rules by port personnel.

[shay1]

30 minutes ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

My interpretation is that you need all of the boosters that you are eligible for to test within three days rather than two.  If you are eligible to receive another booster (due to age) and have not yet received it, you need to stick to the two day requirement.

 

We also live in Bradenton and are sailing on the Caribbean Princess on Saturday.  We have used Walgreens for testing for our past eight cruises, with results within an hour each time.  Even though we received our second booster in April, we scheduled our tests for Thursday instead of Wednesday, as we are trying to allow no possibility of a bad interpretation of rules by port personnel.

Thank you. Yes probably better to error on the side of caution and just keep it on Thursday.

[prmssk]

1 hour ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

My interpretation is that you need all of the boosters that you are eligible for to test within three days rather than two.  If you are eligible to receive another booster (due to age) and have not yet received it, you need to stick to the two day requirement.

 

We also live in Bradenton and are sailing on the Caribbean Princess on Saturday.  We have used Walgreens for testing for our past eight cruises, with results within an hour each time.  Even though we received our second booster in April, we scheduled our tests for Thursday instead of Wednesday, as we are trying to allow no possibility of a bad interpretation of rules by port personnel.

The cruise lines are following the guidance of CDC.  "Received all recommended COVID-19 vaccines, including any booster dose(s) when eligible at least 7 days before embarkation". (From Princess's FAQ)

 

CDC does not yet say you have to have a second booster to be up to date.  They aren't using language that a second booster is recommended.  CDC just says that those over 50 can choose to receive a 2nd booster. 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html?s_cid=11747:cdc up to date vaccine:sem.ga:p:RG:GM:gen:PTN:FY22

 

Of course, all this can change at any time.  And it might be wise to get a second booster depending on your age and circumstances. But their wording does not require a second booster at this time.

[shay1]

Thank you Prmssk. Appreciate all the great information. We sail this Saturday on CP fingers crossed test is Negative and we come home from the cruise that way also.