rubytue

They told me to tell my roommate to pack up my stuff and they would bring it to me. My roommate ended up packing my stuff and bringing it up to me on her own. Unlike the days past where they wouldn’t let people down the corridor, she came up, knocked on my door, and I was able to talk to her for a minute. She was a sweetheart and made two trips. The first with enoigh to get me through the night (phone charger, book, toothbrush), and then the next day with everything. I do want to give a shout out to room service. The food they delivered was the best I had on the ship. Pizza fresh from the oven! Perfect eggs.

Thank you. I am doing much better. Paxlovid is the bomb. And I’m home now, which makes things so much better. I was on the Pearl. And full disclosure, this was one of the full ship music charters by Sixthman. So, it’s a different level of closeness than typical on other cruises. Think how everyone, literally everyone, on the ship is in one of 4 locations at a time, pool deck, spinnaker, the atrium, and then the open space outside Le Bistro. And people have been doing this cruise for 10-20 years, so lots of cruise buddies you only see on a cruise.

I read this thread about 10 days ago, so I’d be prepped if the it happened. And it did. My third cruise since cruising resumed, my first time having Covid. Just got home today. Overall, so as expected, some frustrations. Last Thursday, a had a scratchy throat, twinge of a headache, lethargic, and then my teeth started chattering on deck somewhere off Cuba. I isolated in my own cabin until medical opened. I also had my own tests with me, and tested twice (negative), but a 100.4 fever. Since I wanted the antiviral (and had travel insurance in case) I went to medical. This was a girls trip cruse, so my roommate was not my partner. After my PCR came back, the ship doctor offered me OTC meds and told me there were not treatments for Covid. I was all “hold up… no… paxlovid. NCL says they stock it.” He told me no. I insisted. I wrote the name down. He went to consult someone else, and came back with the generic. But this was one frustration. Maybe his contract just started and he has been off for 9 months. But he told me, twice, there was no treatment. total bill for medical and generic paxlovid was $1284. They then took be straight to an isolate cabin, do not collect your things. Roommate was allowed to stay as long as she did not have symptoms. But, they never contacted her. Cruise has 2 days left. Followed down the hall with the ghostbusters guy fogging the air. This was expected, but wow you feel awkward. I was put in the room, they didn’t tell me the number, and the door was closed. That was it. I didn’t have a charger, so I was able to get two texts out begging a friend ti bring me a charger, then the phone died. I went to bedside phone, and hit the front desk key, it rang and rang and rang. No answer. I called room service and told them I’d just been quarantined can I get food? How does this work. Kudos to room service! The food they brought was the best I had all week. And they brought me eggs flourintine, which aren’t a default on the buffet anymore 😔 The veggie pizza was also very good! And they brought me bottles of water. Late the next day, they started actually telling me what was going on, or at least how they were getting me off the ship tomorrow. 6 phone calls between 8 and 10, some telling me the same thing they already had. Some asking for my passport and a copy of my vaccine card (which I happen to store with my passport). A lot could be done to info people how this works. I remember people saying this in the beginning. But we are what, 18 months into cruising again? Why is there not a “So you’ve been quarantined” booklet waiting in your room with info like food, water, how youll be disembarked, options for WiFi. And some sort of reminder of CDC guidelines. Like, clearly people following it would be an issue, but could they not at least have a flyer saying you really shouldn’t fly right away? There were two others in my plague group disembarking. We were laughing about how NCL just wanted to get us on the ground and someone else’s problems. They mentioned how weird it was to have that treatment on the ship, and then to be turned loose on cabs and the airport. I actually used my WiFi (which I paid for, they told me it was free, but I didn’t have it in me to dispute it) to rebook my flight and find a hotel. I waiting another two days at an airport hotel and flew home this morning, after I got a negative test. Overall, I went in with some clue what to expect, but I admit I was frustrated at the lack of information at this point in 2023. I’ve read these threads over the past year or so, and this frustration seems common. Really? We haven’t fixed it yet?! The poor guy who got my first room service call, I still had a fever, was cranky, and had been left in a room with no info, no water, no food, he was the first person who answered my calls. Bless him 😘 I never got guest services to answer the phone phone. But, once I had my phone working, the guest relations call in the app was highly successful.

Well I’ll be. There have been a couple times I’ve speculated that vaccination will be the last to go. Seriously contemplating what this means for my December trip. Two weeks til final payment.

Please provide further information as to which “many workers” were then referred to above then. PP did not say “soldiers” or “war fighters”, but “many workers.” It is not a mandate on the civilian side of the government nor for the general workforce.

That was struck down by the supreme court months ago. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21a244_hgci.pdf

What is a meal? 3 huge, American-sized portions a day? 2-3 medium sized meals and a couple snacks? Some people need to eat 5 times a day, several small meals and snacks. breakfast, lunch, dinner; breakfast, dinner, supper; breakfast, second breakfast, etc etc. On my most recent, I did breakfast at about 7am. Lunch 12-1, and a supper about 5-6. Portion size is the big thing. One slice of pizza or half a sandwich could be a “meal.” Some might call that a snack.

I think the point PP was trying to make is that telling someone what they did wrong, when they are trying to move forward to a solution, is not helpful in the situation. They can’t go back and fly in earlier at this point, so what are their options. in general, cruisecritic posters love to say how they would have avoided a situation, without offering much help for the situation a poster is in. To, I guess, reassure themselves that such a situation could never happen to them.

My apologies for the 😂. Here I am defending those with medical conditions and then added a 😂. I still doubt that OP was asking for such a reason. I also appreciate your phrasing. That was a very kind way to say the point I was trying to make. I’m a 40-something with a plethora of medial conditions and invisible disabilities I’m still coming to terms with.

There are legit medical reasons some adults may need a straw. I bring a tervis water bottle with a silicon straw almost everywhere. Pour my drink with ice in there. I don’t drink beer or wine, but I suspect no one is asking about straw for beer or wine 😂

I’m still waiting for a reply from that as to the time or times they go out. Do you have any idea? Multiple trips per day? Only one 10-2? Etc?

We have one of those really long port times (8am-11pm). Apparently, this is driving my brain crazy after so many cruises with 6-8 hour stops 😂 in a perfect world, we would rent a car/golf cart and drive to see some things (primary goal: flamingos). And then we’d somehow get to Klein Bonaire for a drift snorkel. I was looking at the water taxis, woodwind, and seacow. Seacow has an evening snorkel that sounds like it would hit Klein Bonaire during daylight hours, then sunset, the a night snorkel (H would like that, I’d probably pass). But they haven’t gotten back to be. I’m driving myself crazy trying to figure out how to do this. Maybe a morning snorkel and afternoon/evening car tour? But, wildlife like morning best, so I would think that getting the car early and getting out to the salt flats early would be best. But, I’m stumped finding times for snorkel boats. Any tips?

I wonder if MIL has had Evusheld? It’s a monoclonal antibody used are pre exposure profolactic. It’s not meant to replace vaccination, but augment it for people who are less likely to respond to vaccination. FWIW, from what I understand (2x cancer patient, finished second treatment right before pandemic), its less a can’t be vaccinated and more a that chemo surprises the cells that would be making the antibodies, so I wouldn’t do much good. Anyway, my cancer center is giving everyone evusheld, and maybe a cruise line would accept it? I would guess they wouldn’t be super familiar with it, because most people immunosuppressive enough to qualify for evusheld would probably be recommended away from cruising. But, from what I’ve read on other lines, there is the 10% unvaccinated allowed on the ships, and adults can apply for that. Calling HAL is your best answer.

My room steward on the Westerdam last week said it was 70% capacity.

Just to add, I am so glad I focused on “medically supervised” and missed the “affiliated with the manufacturer of the test” part before my cruise. I had enough mental stress trying to pick the best way to get tested (we still have free testing in our county, but it could be slow). At one point, I was even contemplating asking an MD friend to come over and watch us (then he got Covid, so that was out 😂). If you added in that twist, the inherent rule follower would have gone mad.

Most people are reporting the CVS and Walgreens are now charging $130+ for travel tests. The govt funding for testing ran out June 30, so unless your insurance covers all testing, you could have a surprise.

Why post twice? Especially when your other post is still on page 1?

This really is rubbing me wrong. I do not believe the intent of CC message forums is to post no content here, but just redirect to a monetized YouTube channel.

Just to add, as we were hugging our goodbyes, friend said “sorry the float plane didn’t work out.” us: 😳😳😳 Apparently, he was trying to get us in with a buddy to do some trip on a plane with a guy who does supply runs. But buddy had been grounded for a couple days for weather and was making it up that day. And didn’t have room for passengers.

We made 4 stops. 1. Eagle beach. https://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aspunits/southeast/eaglebeachsra.htm. We were between salmon runs, so this apparently wasn’t as cool as it would have been during a run. 2. The Jensen Olson Arboretum, which was closed but had an easy trail from the same parking lot that was really awesome. We were the only people there. (https://juneau.org/parks-recreation/jensen-olson-arboretum). 3. Mendalhall Glacier. Of course. This was insanely crowded. We found a parking spot, but it was blocked by a bus. So we waited for the bus to leave, and ended up blocked in again when we wanted to leave. 4. the salmon hatchery. Which is right off the main road on the edge of town. We didn’t go in, just watched the run. Saw a seal pop his head up a couple of times, oh man, he was living his best life. Timing wise, we arrived at 1. Met up about 1:15 and the hiked to his car (bc, no local would drive and park down by the ships 😂). Probably on the road about 1:45. And he dropped us back downtown by 6:30 or so (he had something he had to do that evening, so he couldn’t stay til our ship left. East coast me was fine with that because 6:30 was about my bedtime 🤣).

this post shows the coffee and tea selection at the lido. There was a hot water dispenser for the teas.

I saw kids playing basketball. I can’t imagine who would pack their own ball, and I’ve seen them on other ships to use. I did not check the sports court for how to get a basketball. there was no coffee maker in my balcony cabin. You can get room service to deliver a pot of (not great) coffee in the included/free room service. At your time of preference. Just tip the delivery person.

My suspicious is that they are finding most cases show up on day 5 and later. So, a 5 days trip means they don’t care if you board with Covid, since they won’t need to quarrentine or pay for post cruise quarantine or anything at 5 days. 7 days will remain more likely for everything.

As I said it the post right above yours, we did OnPoint (with tests from iHealth) and successfully boarded the cruise 10 days ago. First hand experience reported as accurately as I can.

FWIW, I used OnPoint for my cruise last week. Tested on the 15th. I took screenshots of my negative and uploaded them tie Verifly, and had no issues. No one asked to see the results at the port, just verified I was green in verifly. So I can’t speak to is HAL would have had an issue. But verifly did not, and HAL trusted verifly.