JillK

You can expect it to be very familiar to what you are accustomed to on Carnival. In terms of all the basics, all the lines I've cruised have been very similar.

Hope you enjoy your cruise! 

Heard lots of conversations at normal talking level leak through the connecting doors when we were on board the Oasis in a Boardwalk balcony that we had booked guarantee. Like another poster said, we were also wakened by their alarm clock every morning which if I recall correctly was 6:30 or 7:00 am. As a couple who were spending the week on a break from their four kids, I wasn't a fan of this. 

So yes your TA is right to advise you that there is risk of noise but a lot of it depends on who you end up beside. 

I only would ever choose a connecting cabin when I know the people in the other cabin.

That being said, if you go for it just be prepared and bring good ear plugs! 

1 minute ago, edrussell said:

Thanks broberts, I have that information.  The big question is the 'you may be' of the information out there.  No real indication on how strict they will be about it.  There is someone that mentioned friends of theirs are crossing after testing positive in Vegas.  We are gamblers by nature and will roll the dice so to speak should it come down to it.

 

Either way you test (and I hope you are negative) please report back on your experience at the border. Hope you are enjoying your cruise - good to get it in while Royal will still foot the bill for the PCR test and possibly quarantine if needed. 

2 hours ago, D4 said:

I recommend bringing self tests with you.  Test yourselves the morning of your last full day on the ship.  If you test positive, call the medical center and tell them you feel sick so that they’ll test you.

 

Also do your trip insurance plans cover Covid quarantine?

Thanks for the recommendation. I agree that the self tests are the best solution (cost known and in our dollars, able to complete on the ship so no surprises once on land, etc) but the recent story about them not being accepted does give me pause. Still likely to go this route provided we proceed. 

We do have travel insurance that covers COVID but frankly, I feel like right now it's too great a risk for our four kids. If it was just hubby and I, we would still go (honestly I am in need of a break) because I am willing to take on more risk for myself than I am for the kiddos. 

The thought of being quarantined with my family in a hotel in NJ or NY for 10 days is not appealing. There were days when it was challenging enough in our home over the past two years! 

We are still on the fence and will wait until closer to final payment to make a more concrete decision.

When we cruised with Royal out of Amsterdam in May 2018 that is the port used.

FWIW, Amsterdam is relatively easy to navigate and the port is a five minute walk from the train station. We stayed at a hotel near the Rijksmuseum/Van Gogh museum and just hopped on a streetcar to central station and walked to the port from there. It was a tad awkward getting the luggage on but we managed. 

Seems to me last year the Netherlands along with Spain had very no testing requirements around COVID at entry. Should there be a decline in Omicron, it could be that they will relax their current rules and your cruise can proceed as planned. 

The British Isles cruise we did aboard the Brilliance was one of our best trips - best wishes for it to be a go and for you to enjoy!

It's excessively punitive for Cdn citizens to return. They government has said they don't want us travelling and they are making sure that it is stressful and expensive enough to deter us. 

At the very least Jessy and Paul travelled with some protection from Royal. Now that testing will not be provided by Royal after January, any of us testing after our cruise will have to deal with a potential 10 day quarantine at our own expense. 

Don't see how the PCR requirement is helping to stop COVID though - Omicron found a way in.

Fingers crossed for Jessy's final test to be negative! 

16 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

That test result is the Holy Grail for Canadian travellers.  We had our PCR tests scheduled for Dec 29th...just before the govt shut down testing and now have our documented test results.  We are also good to go for March with no fears of having to quarantine when we return or having to pay extra for testing.

Ironically, it's almost better at this point to get COVID, have a positive result and recover as long as you travel within the 180 day period! Does that make any sense?!

21 hours ago, odaisydukeo said:

Came to this forum to figure out how I am going to make a March Break cruise work. I tested positive for covid a few weeks ago, but couldnt get a PCR (I used a test my son brought home)-- was hoping to be able to use that instead of trying to find a PCR test.

 

We traveled in Nov and Dec and both times booked Walgreens Drivethru ID NOW tests without issue, had the results in hours and used them flying and driving back into Canada. I see now there are problems with this-- not sure if it is a timing thing? (people not reserving a week out) or just a general shortage.

 

Now I'm REALLY not sure what to do .

If you are flying, the LAMP tests should work. Seems to be a disconnect in their acceptance between airport and land borders for some strange reason. Since the test is being administered in the States, they should be accepted for re-entry: very strange that they aren't or at least weren't in the reported case.

Out of sheer curiosity, do you mind sharing the cost of the rapid PCR tests you did via Walgreens? My parents may yet proceed with a cruise in April and are looking at options for re-entry PCR test. If supply is good at that time, this option may work for them.

Thanks! 

13 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

While I agree that it is less risky than flying, I suppose it depends on how far you have to drive, and how self-contained you are. What about accommodations, meals(drive thru only?), gas, washrooms?

Yes you're right of course! I should have thought more broadly than my own experience... if you are disembarking at a Florida Port and driving that is a lot stops and places where you're spreading.

I was reflecting on the last time we drove to NYC for a cruise with our sons (8 and 9 at the time).... it took us about 8 hours and we somehow managed to do it making only one stop from our departure point to our hotel -- lunch/bathroom break at a McDonald's with a gas station where we were able to fill up. 

In terms of how it would apply to us travelling across the border, as Fouremco said the isolation period was was just reduced from 15 days to 10 days. This is a federal mandate and would apply to any of us returning home, regardless of what province we reside in and what the provincial guidelines are. 

So in our case, even though we live in Ontario and would have to isolate for 5 days if we tested positive at home, if we test positive after the cruise this would require that we stay in the States for an additional 10 days before we can proceed through the border (or apparently, we "may be fined" $5000 for trying to cross the border before the end of the isolation period).

I'm also not sure why the same rules seem to apply to flying versus land crossing. I understand you don't want me at an airport and on a plane if I'm actively positive but I don't see how me being in my own vehicle and able to come directly home to isolate isn't a better solution than me staying in a hotel.

1 hour ago, D4 said:

I’m curious …. Since all your tests have been negative, why didn’t you fly home with Paul?

Paul did not fly home - he is in quarantine in Florida and she is with him. He must quarantine for 10 - 15 days (regulations changed today so she is unsure of how long they need to isolate) before he can enter Canada.

Thanks for sharing - if we were to continue with our planned cruise over March break, buying these tests ahead of time and bringing them with us to test on the last day of our cruise was exactly what I was planning on doing for our family of six. Another barrier, even if we decided it was safe to proceed. Yikes.

On 1/14/2022 at 11:48 PM, CKCruising said:

I've thought this through many times (probably more than the government, but that doesn't say much) and still don't have a clear idea.  The issue is that by March break, every child in every school will probably come in contact with the virus.  No doubt at least one in every class will be off with symptoms most days (I think you need to be off 5 days), so what good is knowing someone in your child's class is off?  With Omicron, you can probably assume the entire class is a close contact.

In my son's case, he had no symptoms, so without testing, I would have sent him to school without a second thought.  It worries me there will be a lot more cases like that and even more that ignore the symptoms (who doesn't have a sore throat in the winter, etc.).

The government is in a tough place because it's 50-50 whether the mental health issues due to online learning are more important than keeping the virus away from the children (and no doubt the adults as they will bring it home).  February is going to be a tough month.

You're right that the next 4 - 6 weeks are going to be interesting with the kids going back to school but this is such a tough call. As much as I want to keep them home so they can be safe, I see the fundamental harm online learning is doing to my four kids' overall well being. They have suffered too much - mental health, socialization, independence, cancelled activities, isolation from extended family, stunted learning in general. 

We were on the "you have a case of COVID in your class" merry-go-round with both my elementary aged kids in the fall and from our experience it was a faulty process anyhow (one false alarm after closing the class, two notifications that came too late in the "days since last contact" to have helped had my son been positive in terms of reducing transmission to the rest of the family). 

How is this supposed to be managed with no testing available to confirm cases? In the absence of confirmations, the headline of "assume you have it if you have two of the minor symptoms" is going to have to take precedence. 

In November I booked a March break cruise using FCC from the one that was cancelled in 2020. In light of the current situation and the unknown of what the next few weeks will bring, I'm struggling to see how we can continue to plan on going. Cannot believe we are back in the same situation with debating whether or not to take our trip as we were in early March 2020!!

Ok thanks for this - my mom works directly with an agent at NCL so hopefully they will be able to use these for travel past their expiration this year as they are now looking at cruises next spring. 

At minimum their expiration should have been extended the same amount of time they weren't operating. 

31 minutes ago, Baseball1999 said:

We had 6 Family Members come back from being on the Mardi Gras where 3 tested positive on the cruise and 1 after. After several tests including the one at Pearson the other 2 were negative. The ones that were positive drove home. They were allowed to cross the border without a fine. They were given tests to do at home on Day 1 and Day 8. They were advised to quarantine for 10 days. They were called by Health Canada and 1 also got a visit at the house. As long as you follow the quarantine rules you should be good. 

Thanks for sharing that experience. It would give me more confidence to hear of more stories from people doing land crossings and what we can expect. In any case, I think we are currently strongly leaning toward cancelling and hoping that our planned travel this coming summer will be a go with less stress.

Hi all,

Can anyone here confirm that the CruiseNexts they had purchased prior to the pandemic have not been extended commensurate with the amount of time NCL was not operating in 2020/2021? 

I had given two to my parents who applied them to cruises NCL cancelled last week and my mom is saying they are back in her account with their original expiration dates. 

How were they supposed to be used when the cruise line wasn't operating and further, now that the cruise line has cancelled the cruises they had been applied to, why isn't there some consideration for extension? 

Thanks! 

I have read through this thread and agree with most posters that this is completely ridiculous. 

The ambiguity of the new wording is distressing -- "may be fined" with no concrete examples of what would trigger the fine.

We are family of six who was hoping to do a March break cruise out of Bayonne this year (rebooked using FCC from the one that didn't go in 2020). Our eldest daughter is graduating high school this year so this is the last time winter break will line up for all the kids. When I booked in November, things were looking good so we felt confident that we could make this trip work.

Between Royal Caribbean's email on Dec 26th saying they are no longer providing the PCR test onboard the day before disembarkation and now this vague policy around re-entering, I can't see how we can continue to plan this trip. 

As much as our family needs a break for everyone's mental health, I can't envision a more stressful end to a vacation than trying to find a testing site, praying all six of us test negative and then trying to navigate either quarantine in the US for 15 days or potential $30,000 to come home should one of us test positive.

In my opinion, the bigger issue is the on-going policy requiring these PCR tests. It certainly didn't keep Omicron out of the country so why continue to require it, except (as others have suggested) to discourage travel. 

My family has done it's part. We are all vaccinated and those of us who qualify are boosted, we have given up major holidays with extended family for two years and have barely socialized (hard to do an outdoor patio dinner this time of year). My kids have braved the merry-go-round of learning in person, online, in person, online. My daughters have been robbed of their vocal specialty at their arts high school and gaining independence through having a social life. My sons have been robbed of their extra curricular activities and summer camps. Enough is enough. Let us at least have a bloody vacation so we can suspend reality at least for a week and stop punishing those of us who have done everything asked of them. So frustrating! 

3 hours ago, ticketsunlimited said:

Leave it at the front desk at the Embassy suites and I will grab it on the 28th.  I will send you a check for 49.00 Canadian or 12.00 dollars.😉

 I'm pretty sure that should be $49 US or $10,000 Canadian. 🤣

Thank you so much for your ongoing reporting - looking forward to joining you on this cruise! If I can't be sailing, I might as well live vicariously! 

25 minutes ago, Bronx12 said:

I wouldn't count on it .  We also booked cruises when the policy was in effect, and we are Canadian, so not happy either ;(

Agreed. At least Celebrity and NCL seem to be offering the testing at $95 usd which is significantly more reasonable than what we're facing. Here we go again!

Celebrity and Royal have also abandoned this as well. Frustrating as those of us who booked while the policy was in place didn't have to account for where to get this done or the expense. 

We are a family of 6 supposed to cruise over March Break with Royal (using FCC from our cancelled March 2020 cruise) and are now looking at having to shell out "starting at $210 USD" per person at the pier or trying to find a testing site that can do a rapid PCR test on our own. Sounds like a fun and stress-free way to end a trip. 

Pretty frustrating situation to be left in. 

Wondering though if Omicron might make these companies re-consider? 

13 minutes ago, kimlet said:

If I were to drive to fort Lauderdale and drive home, what type of tests would I need for there and back. Does anyone have an idea. 

Notice on the travel Canada site something about 14 days coming back

thanks

Not sure if you need a rapid antigen test to enter the States by land but it would still be required to board your cruise.

Requirements are the same for return to Canada wether it's by land or air so PCR test to enter Canada on your way back is still necessary. Driving back would give you time to test somewhere in Florida on debarkation and likely get your results by the time you are needing to cross the border.  

Hi Kimlet - 

Based on my research, in order to fly home disembarkation day, if you buy and bring the Air Canada test with you, you should carve out the time on the final afternoon of your cruise to do the test so that you have the results at hand by the time you cross the border the next day. This will mean that you will need to purchase the ship's WiFi package so you can complete the test. 

Your next option is to test at the terminal on disembarkation or find an alternative place on land to test. In this case, unless you pay the premium for a rapid PCR test, you would have to stay another night (or two) to wait for your results. My husband got a regular PCR test done in NYC when he was there for business in November and the turn around time was 36 hours (he tested on Wednesday night and had a Friday morning flight home). 

Should we proceed with our March Break cruise, we would go the route of the Air Canada test and buying a WiFi package as I find the thought of disembarking and then finding testing super stressful. With Omicron, Canada's non-essential travel "ban" and Royal no longer providing the PCR testing, we're not sure we want to proceed. We are family of 6 so the cost of testing is significant.... We had budgeted $400 for the Rapid Antigen tests to cruise but had not budgeted for the PCR testing as it was being provided for free when we booked ($149 plus GST Cdn each for the Air Canada test or "starting at $210 USD" each at the pier on disembarkation).

As twangster said, keep checking the requirements but I don't see the Canadian government eliminating the PCR test requirement in the short term given how long it's been in place. Not sure we can say it's an effective strategy (other than making it difficult for Canadians to travel) since Omicron had no issue getting in the country in spite of (presumably) all travellers having presented a negative PCR test result.

Best of luck!

4 hours ago, JessyCruises said:

I have to say I do not recommend Boardwalk Balcony cabin 8695.  We picked it because of its closeness to the elevator and Central Park on Deck 8.  With that being said, there is a constant droning/humming sound like we are next to a piece of machinery.  I was going to complain about it on day 1 and see if we could be moved but when we went to guest services the lineup was nuts and I was not getting in it.  We did not have an issue sleeping on night 1 and at this point we are already unpacked so cannot be bothered to try to move.

 

Of more concern is how LOUD it is outside.  I am not sure if we are right beside a speaker outside, but anytime there is an announcement it is ridiculously loud even with the balcony closed.  We have booked Central Park Balconies in the past and never had an issue but decided to try a Boardwalk this time to try something different.  We will not be making this mistake again 🙂

 

We were assigned a Boardwalk balcony on the Oasis after booking a balcony guarantee many years ago and we found there was a significant amount of noise trickling in from outside every single night. They cancelled all aquatheatre shows the week we were on board and instead would show movies with the volume all the way up until 11:30 - midnight each night or alternatively there was some kind of cover rock band with a small but fervent fan base that would occupy the stage when they weren't showing the same four movies over and over again. It wore a little thin by the last few nights of the cruise. 

Between that and the conversations at normal volume that we could hear coming in from under the connecting door (they got multiple offers on their home that was on the market while they were on vacation!) we learnt a valuable lesson in booking guarantee cabins! 

Please continue to keep us posted - love your review and thanks for bringing all of us homebound with you! 

9 hours ago, TOCruisers said:

 

You are welcome.  Although we had the fiasco for both tests, we were lucky that they still did them on the ship.  I do not know your kids' ages but you may be able to do two jabs before cruise, then it will eliminate at least the first PCR tests (antigen tests are faster and cheaper)?  We were on Anthem in Feb-March, 2020.  They were younger and could not enjoy many of activities such as ifly, bumper car, North Star as much as this time.  Ironically, the day care they go to had positive kid(s) while they were away.  It turned out that the cruise was safer.

 

Oh wow - sounds like you just made in in 2020. We were supposed to sail on Sunday, March 15th...but then the world fell apart.

Our teens have been fully vaxxed since the summer... waiting now to see when/if they will be eligible for the booster. Our younger kids have had their first doses earlier this month and are scheduled for their second at the end of January so we are ok with the rapid antigen tests for boarding. 

Had a long chat with hubby about this cruise yesterday and we are still going to stick with the wait and see what develops over the next month. We agree it is not worth it to pay half the cruise fare on testing - especially when so many have reported that no one appears to actually look at those results when coming home. Hubby is hopeful the testing requirement will be dropped but I can't see that happening. 

I'm perplexed as to why Canada is still requiring the PCR for entry - seems to me it's unsuccessful at stopping COVID from coming into the country. Omicron came from someone coming in who in theory had a negative PCR test result. It would be far less onerous in terms of expense, availability and time required for turnaround if we only needed a rapid antigen test which would likely be just as "effective" as the current requirements. 

I really hate to disappoint the kids again. It's our last chance at a March Break cruise for our family as our eldest is off to university next fall and her break will no longer align with the rest of the kids. 

Hard to believe it was little more than a month ago that we deposited and I thought I was so clever to "surprise" the kids with this trip as a Christmas gift (gave them a puzzle to put together on Christmas morning to figure it out). Things sure can change quick!