cyntil8ing

I'll look forward to your recap.

This will be my family's fourth time on Pride. It used to homeport in Baltimore. It was my kids' first cruise in 2009 when they were pre-schoolers; now one's in high school and one's in college. My oldest daughter got married onboard in 2014. And it was my late dad's last cruise for Christmas 2017. The only ship I've been on more is Celebrity Summit. Both feel like home.

@kwokpot, I just want to thank you for your posts. We are doing the same itinerary you're doing now at the end of July, and your discussion of port transportation is really helpful. We are not cruise line excursion people, and trying to plan for all of these ports, not to mention four days prior in London, has been overwhelming. Just added Cruise Express to my spreadsheet for Zeebrugge. 

Thanks again.

Me too! We are traveling next month. Now I just have to worry about the test to get on the ship. I wish that one would go away, but I am not holding my breath. 

This is such good news. There are four of us traveling next month. I have 9 eMed tests and have been dithering about ordering more for backup. While we'll still need them for boarding the ship, and I doubt that will end anytime soon, we will save the extras for our December cruise.

The REAL ID proves legal residency, not citizenship. A US Permanent Resident, ie. green card holder, can get a REAL ID.

I have used Heidi with Bermuda Byways twice -- once for a shared tour and once for a private tour. My experience was in 2013 and 2014, but if I wouldn't hesitate to book again. She is excellent.

Back then, she toured with her blind dog Buddy. I would be surprised if Buddy is still working, but she was a sweetheart. 

I had this exact issue many years ago, so I asked. The response was it has to be valid for the dates you will be in Bermuda.

We did our aquarium trip the day we went to St. George. We took the ferry to St. George, explored around, then took the bus back toward Hamilton. It stopped right at BAMZ. It was very easy. We then hopped back on the bus, then picked up the ferry back to Dockyard in Hamilton.

It's for arriving flights. Many people fly in day of departure for San Juan.

My kids, now 16 and 18, have been cruising since they were 3 and 5. Freedom and independence were earned slowly over the years as they proved themselves. I still remember being nervous the first time they went together to get ice cream, while we waited at a table in the buffet for their return.
 

We allowed the oldest to sign herself out so she could participate in scavenger hunts. The youngest has never been a fan of the clubs. But the rules were discussed up front — check in when and where you are supposed to, be where you tell us you will be, never out of the public areas, no going back to the cabin unless we knew about it, no wandering aimlessly and no riding the elevators!

Her dad and I were known to just happen to stroll by her location on occasion. I don’t know if she always saw us as we did make an effort to be unobtrusive. Sometimes, she would wave.
 

She went off to college this year, and it makes me smile when she still checks in occasionally with a “Not dead” text. 

I booked a hotel near Charing Cross station, planning on taking the train to Dover Priory departure morning (7/31). When I just went to book tickets, I learned : (Engineering work is taking place between Paddock Wood and Strood, closing some lines all weekend. As a result buses will replace trains between Strood and Tonbridge) Ugh!

Another option is St. Pancras, but then we have to deal with schlepping luggage on the underground, though I suppose a taxi wouldn't be outrageously expensive.

Private car transfers are always an option, but I am concerned about possible delays. At home, we've driven more than three hours to port on departure morning without a second thought, but England is all new to me, so I am a little concerned about this option.

I am leaning to a taxi to Victoria Station, then taking the Carnival bus, but it doesn't leave until noon. On the more reassuring end, since it is a cruise ship transfer, the ship won't leave us.But it also means, if we were to take a private car, as long as we stayed ahead of the last Carnival transfer, we'd be ok.

We are a family of four, so the costs for all options all end up about the same. Is there anything I am not considering?

Thanks!

We generally cruise Celebrity, but have been on Royal four or five times, most recently on Anthem last Christmas. I really enjoyed Anthem, over the other two Royal ships I've been on -- Adventure and Enchantment (both older).

In general, food is better on X, entertainment better on RCL. For me, other than that, they're pretty similar. Oh, and indoor smoking is allowed on RCL. When we were on Anthem in December, it was the period where it was not. Wish that had stuck!

Don't forget to verify your Captains Club and Crown and Anchor levels are linked. https://www.celebritycruises.com/captains-club/exclusive-offers/loyalty-reciprocity-program

I've been on a few cruises that have stopped in a US port before returning to the home port, most often Key West. In every case, we have had to have our passports inspected by customs officials, who were onboard, generally set up at tables in the main restaurant. 

On Summit, the line snaked the whole deck, through the casino. It took about 45 minutes. We were given appointments, but it was simply a time to join the line. After passing through, we were free to get off the ship.

When we debarked the following day, there was no inspection at all. We walked off the ship and out the door.

I just wanted to add my quick turnaround. I emailed my request Monday night and noticed my credit this morning (Thursday). It could have been there earlier, but I never looked.

I understand. Our first cruise back was in December just when Omicron started and it was impossible to get test appointments. I waited up until midnight 13 days before our test date to grab four available slots at CVS. I also bought the eMed tests. And I was stressed about it. The morning of testing, the eMed web site was down for eight hours. Then, we had a bad test. It seemed that everything that could go wrong, did. But I kept reminding myself we had two days to get it done. We ended up all testing negative and had a great cruise.

For our second cruise in March, I didn't feel the same stress level at all. I guess I figured it couldn't get too much worse. It snowed the day of our tests and CVS canceled our appointments. So, we did the eMed tests that we still had leftover from our Christmas cruise without issue.

Have you done a home test before? Do you have the free ones? You can order them from https://www.covid.gov/tests. Take one to see it's no big deal. Then the eMed test will be familiar.  I took tests after I returned home then again five days later, so they're good to have on hand.

It's stressful because it's unusual. Once it's part of the routine, it's just that -- routine. There are folks who have taken dozens of cruises since restart. 

I think there is always a level of pre-cruise stress, even in the "before times". The airline cancellations in March were much worse to my mind than the testing. I don't usually relax until I am onboard.

Been there four times and still have a list of stuff to do. Our previous activities --

• Renting a boat, either boston whaler when four of us or pontoon when six of us, and tooling out to the Vixen and hopping around for hours. My kids still talk about this 11 years later.

• Renting pedal bikes and riding the Railway Trail. We went at sunrise (and we are not morning people!)

• Ice cream at Bailey's Ice Cream Parlor

• Rum Swizzles at the Swizzle Inn

• Crystal Caves

• Wandering around St. George, catching the wench dunking

• Exploring Southlands Park

• Tom Moore's Jungle, ie. Blue Hole Park

• Beach hopping between Horseshoe and Warwick Long Bay

• Climbing to the top of the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse

• Walking through Palm Grove Gardens

• BAMZ - Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo

• Sea Glass Beach outside Dockyard

Here's a good list: https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/best-things-to-do-in-bermuda

3 minutes ago, bar1068 said:

You did not show a birth certificate, drivers license, passport or any other type of ID/citizenship validation, only VerIFLY?

No, you still show them. There is no ID uploaded to Verifly. Its purpose is to match your booking name to your vaccine and test data. It does not prove citizenship.

On Conquest last month, we showed our Boarding Pass to get into the building, Verify before going security, then passports when checking in upstairs.

Thank you @John Bull This is SO helpful! I felt my stress level going down while reading your response, as transportation doesn't seem quite as huge of a task as it did before.

Now I just have to find somewhere to stay! I've been stalking Airbnb's in Kensington for months, and have watched them slowly book up. I have to get this done soon! With four of us (parents and two teens), all of us in a hotel room for the four nights we have in London seems crazy. 

Celebrity only allows dogs.

https://www.celebritycruises.com/special-needs/service-animals

It specifically mentions the Lawn. lol. 
 

"Please note that The Lawn Club on Solstice Series ships is not designated as a relief area."

Not that I want to treat this as a serious question, but there are animal comfort stations on board.  Generally, either all the way forward or aft on the lifeboat deck. It's usually a box with mulch and there are bags and a trashcan nearby. People with service dogs are expected to clean up after them.

Children can be booked in their own cabin. We have done it. My husband and I were next door, but NOT connecting, to my kids, who were 16 and 13 at the time, on Edge for Christmas 2019.

That said, we have also booked parents in each room for booking discount purposes. On board, we went to guest services and switched cabins for me and my son. We were issued new key cards.

Accounts are set up per person, not per cabin, so switching isn't an issue for packages or purchases.

If you have a laptop or computer with a web cam that can be positioned , you don't need to install the Navica app at all. You can create your account, do the test and print your results all from the web sites.

Create your account and later log in to print/save test results: https://www.mynavica.abbott

Do the test: https://www.emed.com

About the webcam: After taking the test, there is a 15 minute wait for results. The test itself must remain in view the entire time, so you will need to be able to position the camera, unless of course, you want to hold it up steady for 15 minutes!

That said, my laptop went to sleep during that period and the camera went off. It did not cause an issue. The test proctor scans the test QR code both before starting the test and before reading the results to make sure it's the same test. No swapping out a positive test for a previous negative!

Darkness certainly depends on what time of year you're cruising! We cruised in June and had plenty of light, but the Chesapeake Bay is really long and you'll be long asleep before you leave it.

Here's a link to a long ago cruise photo review from our first Pride cruise, but it has scenery shots and some info about timing. It's about 30-ish minutes to the Key Bridge and about 2 hours to the Bay Bridge. Don't forget to look for dear old Fort McHenry!

I was in Miami on Conquest two weeks ago. It was the easiest check-in ever. Showed our boarding pass to enter the terminal. Before going through security, there was a table where they checked Verifly. Once through security and upstairs at checkin, they scanned our passports. That was it. We boarded, did our muster check-in, and I have a photo of my daughter in Lido with food with a timestamp of 11:14.

Debarkation was the same. Facial recognition took only as long as it took to lower the mask. We pretty much didn't stop walking at all.

Each individual test is boxed separately. Create your Navica account now, then when you are ready to test, go to the eMed site and click 'I have a test'. You login with your Navica account, then will be connected to a test proctor, who will walk you though the process. You must do it separately. There are a lot of YouTube videos showing the process. It's very easy and straightforward.

Here's one: