LIVE from the Wonder of the Seas 2022 WB Transatlantic Cruise and our 4 year journey to get on this TA!

[BillOh]

Port Canaveral

 

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IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Effective as of 12:00 P.M., November 11, 2022, the Captain of the Port has set Port Condition FOUR for Port Canaveral. The Port is OPEN WITH RESTRICTIONS limiting vessels to a draft of 35' or less.

Cruise ship operations are resuming. Please check with your cruise line for scheduling.…

See more

[Another_Critic]

2 minutes ago, BillOh said:

Port Canaveral

 

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Effective as of 12:00 P.M., November 11, 2022, the Captain of the Port has set Port Condition FOUR for Port Canaveral. The Port is OPEN WITH RESTRICTIONS limiting vessels to a draft of 35' or less.

Cruise ship operations are resuming. Please check with your cruise line for scheduling.…

See more

Wonder of the Seas - Draft: 31′

[island lady]

Personally, I would love to see us waved off for a day or two.  😉 

 

But...not going to happen.  The biggest thing will be delayed disembarkation due to customs checking for new ship, and customs procedure for new crew (and from what I understand ...it is going to be a nightmare for them 😮 ).  

[Jimbo]

On 11/9/2022 at 2:02 PM, Teeara said:

Agreed.  We get a lot more motion up on Deck 18 😉😁 not that I’m complaining.

 

For me Mariner during Hurricane Jeanne in 2004 was the worst.  Everyone was holding onto the handrails, you couldn’t walk straight and wearing high heels was to risk a broken ankle.  Alaska in May 2008 was bad one night, too.  That one sent a lot of us to bed early.  
 

I’d like to try the Abyss.  Won’t do any water slides though.  Tried the Solarium today.  That was nice until someone sat next to me who was hacking up a lung.  Yeah, um, no thank you. So we left.  Glad we did since we were able to catch the parade.  That was fun.
 

Hear any word thus far how many have Covid. Any reports from the Captain or from your roll call?

Edited November 11, 2022 by Jimbo

[Another_Critic]

17 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Hear any word thus far how many have Covid. Any reports from the Captain or from your roll call?

Last 2 pages of roll call (starts just before sail date); didn't see any Covid reports. 

 

[BillOh]

Welcome to Nassau!

 

 

[island lady]

Love the sea days...very relaxing...but always excited to see land again!  😉 

 

Must be doing drills on the starboard side today, normally all Oasis class ships dock on starboard.  Gives us a nice view out over the ocean this time.  🙂 

 

I think it is Freedom coming in right now...still too far to read the name though.  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by island lady

[BillOh]

Yup, here comes Freedom. Still my favorite ship. 

[BillOh]

Say hello to your little friend.

 

[island lady]

1 hour ago, BillOh said:

Say hello to your little friend.

 

 

Sounds so funny to say "little friend".  OMG...and she used to be the biggest!   Then again, MJ and Monarch were the biggest in their day.  😉 

Agree...many fond memories of past cruises on the lovely Freedom lady!  🥰

[BonTexasNY]

4 hours ago, BillOh said:

Say hello to your little friend.

 

At first glance I thought I was looking at one long ship!

[Cool Cowie]

Gosh I was hoping for a wrap up to this live report!  Where is the OP go?

[island lady]

2 minutes ago, Cool Cowie said:

Gosh I was hoping for a wrap up to this live report!  Where is the OP go?

 

She is probably resting after that total nightmare of disembarkation.  🤕

 

I did get a nice goodbye hug from her before we entered the craziness trying to leave the ship/get out of the terminal.  🙂 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by island lady

[MuyBueno]

On 11/11/2022 at 11:08 AM, Jimbo said:

Hear any word thus far how many have Covid. Any reports from the Captain or from your roll call?

My sister and I tested positive for COVID when we arrived home. Also, 1 of our trivia teammates was positive. I didn’t have any symptoms onboard. 

[BillOh]

20 hours ago, island lady said:

 

She is probably resting after that total nightmare of disembarkation.  🤕

 

I did get a nice goodbye hug from her before we entered the craziness trying to leave the ship/get out of the terminal.  🙂 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to her and you as well for all the posts, they really do help me in my wait for my next cruise. What made the disembarkation so bad? Additional customs issues?

[BillOh]

19 hours ago, MuyBueno said:

My sister and I tested positive for COVID when we arrived home. Also, 1 of our trivia teammates was positive. I didn’t have any symptoms onboard. 

My wife and I avoided that bug for 2 years!  My wife tested positive about 4 days after our return from Mariner which we had originally planned to drive to and from but a death in the family forced us to fly both ways.  I took no additional precautions other than not kissing her or drinking after her for 5 days. I suppose it doesn't matter, but I suspect she got it on the flight.

[crzndeb]

11 minutes ago, BillOh said:

Thanks to her and you as well for all the posts, they really do help me in my wait for my next cruise. What made the disembarkation so bad? Additional customs issues?

I think there were several factors. Not enough custom agents, people not understanding, wait in your cabin until luggage tag number called, etc.

They were ahead of ESTIMATED departure times, until they came to a halt after they got to 20. I had 27, and waited in my cabin for an hour. I finally went to deck 5, because I had a 0915 shuttle (not Royal). There were already people in line with tags in 30’s and 40’s. The cabin attendants also want to get into cabins to start cleaning, and I don’t think this process worked for 4300 passengers, especially with all the hoops the ships has to go through, being from an international  location.

The line stretched all the way around the dining room, and they stopped several times to clear gangway. It was definitely a cluster****.

And this is exactly why people don’t have BOARDING times. No telling when they actually started boarding new passengers.

[BonTexasNY]

21 hours ago, island lady said:

 

She is probably resting after that total nightmare of disembarkation.  🤕

 

I did get a nice goodbye hug from her before we entered the craziness trying to leave the ship/get out of the terminal.  🙂 

 

 

 

 

So sorry there was a nightmare of disembarkation.  That certainly is no way to end a wonderful cruise.

[Another_Critic]

31 minutes ago, crzndeb said:

I think there were several factors. Not enough custom agents, people not understanding, wait in your cabin until luggage tag number called, etc.

They were ahead of ESTIMATED departure times, until they came to a halt after they got to 20. I had 27, and waited in my cabin for an hour. I finally went to deck 5, because I had a 0915 shuttle (not Royal). There were already people in line with tags in 30’s and 40’s. The cabin attendants also want to get into cabins to start cleaning, and I don’t think this process worked for 4300 passengers, especially with all the hoops the ships has to go through, being from an international  location.

The line stretched all the way around the dining room, and they stopped several times to clear gangway. It was definitely a cluster****.

And this is exactly why people don’t have BOARDING times. No telling when they actually started boarding new passengers.

Maybe immigration was enjoying a long breakfast in the WJ?  😄

[island lady]

1 hour ago, BillOh said:

Thanks to her and you as well for all the posts, they really do help me in my wait for my next cruise. What made the disembarkation so bad? Additional customs issues?

 

Since (supposedly) the ship was coming from Europe...they opted for the old style "present yourself to the customs agent" instead of the extremely quick "facial recognition" process the port has had in place for a few years now.  Very...very quick on that new process, terrible on this one.   

 

Add to that, they did not separate (as in most customs check) the non US citizens from the US citizens, which slowed it down even worse.  The terminal got so backed up inside, they shut progress off the ship down until it cleared a bit several times.  Worse disembarkation ever.  

 

Ship actually came in extremely early at 4 am to get most of the customs out of the way for all the crew and Coast Guard check.  

 

 

[island lady]

58 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

So sorry there was a nightmare of disembarkation.  That certainly is no way to end a wonderful cruise.

 

Eh...poop happens.  We live here...so no worries about missing flights...but I think many did.  

 

We had private shuttle service picking us up...she had to cool her heels outside in the madness for 45 minutes to wait on us.  😞 

[island lady]

1 hour ago, crzndeb said:

I think there were several factors. Not enough custom agents, people not understanding, wait in your cabin until luggage tag number called, etc.

They were ahead of ESTIMATED departure times, until they came to a halt after they got to 20. I had 27, and waited in my cabin for an hour. I finally went to deck 5, because I had a 0915 shuttle (not Royal). There were already people in line with tags in 30’s and 40’s. The cabin attendants also want to get into cabins to start cleaning, and I don’t think this process worked for 4300 passengers, especially with all the hoops the ships has to go through, being from an international  location.

The line stretched all the way around the dining room, and they stopped several times to clear gangway. It was definitely a cluster****.

And this is exactly why people don’t have BOARDING times. No telling when they actually started boarding new passengers.

 

Normally this port, for the last few years...has the facial recognition system.   It is usually just 15 minutes from leaving the ship, collecting your luggage, to out the door.  

 

They still have that equipment, and was actually hooked up...but opted for the old style live customs agent presentation.  Total cluster for sure.  

 

Did not matter what tag number you had.  We had Suite/Pinnacle walk off..and still cooled our heels on the ship in front of the gangway for over 1/2 hour inside this ship until terminal started to clear a bit.  Then...long...long...long line to customs agents once we collected our luggage.  

[island lady]

1 hour ago, Another_Critic said:

Maybe immigration was enjoying a long breakfast in the WJ?  😄

 

I prefer the robot (facial recognition) agents...they don't eat much and don't take breaks.  😉 

[crzndeb]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Normally this port, for the last few years...has the facial recognition system.   It is usually just 15 minutes from leaving the ship, collecting your luggage, to out the door.  

 

They still have that equipment, and was actually hooked up...but opted for the old style live customs agent presentation.  Total cluster for sure.  

 

Did not matter what tag number you had.  We had Suite/Pinnacle walk off..and still cooled our heels on the ship in front of the gangway for over 1/2 hour inside this ship until terminal started to clear a bit.  Then...long...long...long line to customs agents once we collected our luggage.  

A couple I played trivia with, mentioned their son got off Independence (hope that’s the right ship) on Sat. and they were using facial recognition and it went down. It finally came back up, but after everything backed up from manual checking. Sounds like they were having issues with it.

[October17]

I had the Key, and am not a morning person, so I was having my Key breakfast in MDR on deck 4 at a little after 8 am. They announced that Customs and Border were backed up, and  told us to wait. Fortunately I didn’t have any pre-booked transportation, so I continued with a leisurely breakfast and a second cup of coffee.

 

Staff were starting to prepare the MDR for the welcome lunch for the next Key cruisers, and the area was also a meeting point for the staff safety drill. The staff said they had a more extensive safety drill since the ship was transferring to the USA.  My srever also mentioned staff having started immigration early in the morning, I think he said 4 am, but that he was one they hadn’t had time to process yet, since he had to go back to work in the MDR, so he would have to go back ang queue again later.

 

I never got any information that immigration was open again, after they told us to wait in the MDR, but new passengers were starting to arrive so I decided to get a move on around 9:45. I walked straight off the ship, and the line in the hallway wasn’t too bad. The luggage hall still had lots of people, and looked disorganized - not clear where the lines were. Fortunately (again!) I had the Key, and my luggage was in the area closest to the checkpoints, with a separate queue, that was only about 1/4 length of the room. The other queue, looked like it ran the length of the room.

 

immigration took a long time, the agent said he had problems with the camera, and had to reeboot his camera/computer when I got to the desk.