Nightmare today at Port Everglades for people waiting to board the Edge because of new Covid testing

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, lovrccl said:

Makes sense to me they want to get everyone on board and sail on time!!!

Will they test the untested while on the ship and underway and make the positive ones walk the plank? LOL

[lv2cruisgrl]

Just now, terrydtx said:

Will they test the untested while on the ship and underway and make the positive ones walk the plank? LOL

Maybe 🤷

[SeaSuiteLife]

So sad for all of the passengers, but to the other person's point, it has nothing to do if you are in a Suite - everyone needs to be tested.    We are in Suites all the time (we are scheduled to be on Edge Aug. 28th in fact) ... the Cruise Line usually does a fabulous job.  But look this is a real "Bermuda Triangle" if there ever was one.....the B2B situation, all of a sudden positive cases and then the oppressive heat - no one was prepared or had a Plan B, but now you can be sure they will put that in place.   And hopefully, the cruise lines will let everyone know now they need to get tested in advance and establish a separate line if you already have the test results with you.    Anyway, it's such a shame.  Good luck to all!

[12cruise2]

9 minutes ago, Tee & Chilli said:

Not sure 

That's part of the line to go inside--the line twists and turns.

[cltnccruisers]

10 minutes ago, Tee & Chilli said:

Inside the terminal. Port personnel outside says the testing was abandoned 

That's interesting.  I wonder if they will continue testing in some manner once everyone is on board.

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, terricruise said:

So sad for all of the passengers, but to the other person's point, it has nothing to do if you are in a Suite - everyone needs to be tested.    We are in Suites all the time (we are scheduled to be on Edge Aug. 28th in fact) ... the Cruise Line usually does a fabulous job.  But look this is a real "Bermuda Triangle" if there ever was one.....the B2B situation, all of a sudden positive cases and then the oppressive heat - no one was prepared or had a Plan B, but now you can be sure they will put that in place.   And hopefully, the cruise lines will let everyone know now they need to get tested in advance and establish a separate line if you already have the test results with you.    Anyway, it's such a shame.  Good luck to all!

From the email we got for our cruise on the 27th, you have to show up at the terminal with a negative test in hand at our expense there will be no testing at the terminal unless you are under 12 and unvaccinated. Anyone with out a test will be denied boarding.

[12cruise2]

Per the CDC, no cruiser was supposed to be allowed to cruise B2B to begin with--see page 32 of the 42-page CDC conditional order of sailing.  We tried to book B2B on HAL and the rep said no, not until after 11/1/21.  If X would have abided by the rules, these people wouldn't have been able to stay on in the first place.

[zitsky]

4 minutes ago, terricruise said:

So sad for all of the passengers, but to the other person's point, it has nothing to do if you are in a Suite - everyone needs to be tested.    We are in Suites all the time (we are scheduled to be on Edge Aug. 28th in fact) ... the Cruise Line usually does a fabulous job.  But look this is a real "Bermuda Triangle" if there ever was one.....the B2B situation, all of a sudden positive cases and then the oppressive heat - no one was prepared or had a Plan B, but now you can be sure they will put that in place.   And hopefully, the cruise lines will let everyone know now they need to get tested in advance and establish a separate line if you already have the test results with you.    Anyway, it's such a shame.  Good luck to all!

I'm a project manager.  You always have a plan B.

[brwneyedgirl72]

I’m sailing on Equinox tomorrow and am very concerned with what we might encounter.  I understand there seem to be extenuating circumstances on the previous, disembarking cruise, but I hope they figure out a way to make it go smoother tomorrow.  I have a 12:00 check in time, and can’t imagine standing in the sun for 4 hours trying to get onboard.  Fingers crossed they figure it out by tomorrow. 

[puppycanducruise]

3 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I'm a project manager.  You always have a plan B.

And sometimes, a Plan C, D and E.

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, puppycanducruise said:

And sometimes, a Plan C, D and E.

and a roll of  Duct Tape

Edited July 31, 2021 by terrydtx

[canderson]

3 minutes ago, 12cruise2 said:

Per the CDC, no cruiser was supposed to be allowed to cruise B2B to begin with--see page 32 of the 42-page CDC conditional order of sailing.  We tried to book B2B on HAL and the rep said no, not until after 11/1/21.  If X would have abided by the rules, these people wouldn't have been able to stay on in the first place.

That information is a bit out of date.  Rules for B2B changed mid-May.  You'll want to take the original CO and add to it changes made since it was issued.

[cltnccruisers]

1 minute ago, terrydtx said:

From the email we got for our cruise on the 27th, you have to show up at the terminal with a negative test in hand at our expense there will be no testing at the terminal unless you are under 12 and unvaccinated. Anyone with out a test will be denied boarding.

I still haven't gotten that email.  Which makes me wonder how many of these poor folks knew a few days ago that they had the option of getting tested beforehand.  Or how many just figured they'd just let X do it - as I had, to my discredit, thought to do for our cruise.  ☹️

[drarill]

3 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

But it is their first time trying to test 2,000 (?) people like this.  At one point this process was on the table to do on a regular basis.

Agreed! we were on the first Apex cruise back in June and everybody was given an antigen test before boarding.  We had to wait on the terminal for the results and had water while we waited.  At the end of the cruise, the day before debarking, had another antigen test done to use on our way back home.  The truth is that I like the Apex protocol better than the Edge's. 

[terrydtx]

Just now, cltnccruisers said:

I still haven't gotten that email.  Which makes me wonder how many of these poor folks knew a few days ago that they had the option of getting tested beforehand.  Or how many just figured they'd just let X do it - as I had, to my discredit, thought to do for our cruise.  ☹️

The decision from Celebrity was not made until yesterday afternoon. Most on today's cruise like my sister got the emails this morning.

[RichYak]

1 minute ago, cltnccruisers said:

I still haven't gotten that email.  Which makes me wonder how many of these poor folks knew a few days ago that they had the option of getting tested beforehand.  Or how many just figured they'd just let X do it - as I had, to my discredit, thought to do for our cruise.  ☹️

Nobody knew a few days ago. This is a new policy announced yesterday afternoon.

[terrydtx]

3 minutes ago, canderson said:

That information is a bit out of date.  Rules for B2B changed mid-May.  You'll want to take the original CO and add to it changes made since it was issued.

You are correct about the changes. We looked into doing a B2B but the Sky suites on the Sept 5th cruise were not available when we inquired only Aqua and bellow which we were not interested in.

[12cruise2]

3 minutes ago, canderson said:

That information is a bit out of date.  Rules for B2B changed mid-May.  You'll want to take the original CO and add to it changes made since it was issued.

I did a bit of research on this and didn't find anything in writing that mentioned changes to the B2B requirement in May. . . . was it obscure, or?

[cltnccruisers]

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The decision from Celebrity was not made until yesterday afternoon. Most on today's cruise like my sister got the emails this morning.

Wow.  Thought they'd gone out a little earlier.

[cltnccruisers]

3 minutes ago, drarill said:

Agreed! we were on the first Apex cruise back in June and everybody was given an antigen test before boarding.  We had to wait on the terminal for the results and had water while we waited.  At the end of the cruise, the day before debarking, had another antigen test done to use on our way back home.  The truth is that I like the Apex protocol better than the Edge's. 

How many had to be tested on that cruise compared to today?

[canderson]

5 minutes ago, 12cruise2 said:

I did a bit of research on this and didn't find anything in writing that mentioned changes to the B2B requirement in May. . . . was it obscure, or?

Definitely not.  It was being celebrated here at the time.

Here is where you'll want to go for 'fresh' information >> https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/covid19-operations-manual-cso.html

 

Edited July 31, 2021 by canderson
cleaned up link

[NMTraveller]

14 minutes ago, puppycanducruise said:

And sometimes, a Plan C, D and E.

No amount of planning can make up for the fact that the plan was hatched at the last minute.  This was a highly predictable event.

Edited July 31, 2021 by NMTraveller

[drarill]

5 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

How many had to be tested on that cruise compared to today?

Almost 700. We all had our TrustOne app, where we received our tests results and made the appointments for the testing at the end of the cruise.  This is Celebrity's model for the Apex, don't know why they don't use it with the Edge too.  

Edited July 31, 2021 by drarill

[mac_tlc]

29 minutes ago, Tee & Chilli said:

Inside the terminal. Port personnel outside says the testing was abandoned 

We originally had a 2:30 time, dropped off our rental car at Budget at 2:55 or so. Waited there until 3:30, then took the shuttle to the ship. When we got there, I asked someone where to go , told him we were in a suite, he said go to the silver doors on the left. I guess by then they had abandoned the testing. In probably 30 minutes we were onboard. 
 

I guess we were lucky to have a later boarding time and had gotten the email about the extra 60 minutes, and had the ability to adjust our arrival.

 

[aquasea]

13 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

I still haven't gotten that email.  Which makes me wonder how many of these poor folks knew a few days ago that they had the option of getting tested beforehand.  Or how many just figured they'd just let X do it - as I had, to my discredit, thought to do for our cruise.  ☹️

From what DON said ( Dons Family Vacations on youtube, he was onboard) they people boarding today only had notice from last night.