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

[kearney]

18 minutes ago, brwneyedgirl72 said:

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. 

you might consider going ahead and getting a rapid antigen test and bring with you... that might shorten things

[cltnccruisers]

6 minutes ago, drarill said:

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.  

So X should have been able to use the Apex testing to give them some sort of estimate of what 2000 would take.

[Tee & Chilli]

Made it to the cabin. Totally exhausted. We were stopping at 3 checkpoints asking for passport and vaccine cards.

[kearney]

7 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

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.

Agree... testing 5 days in advance has been RCL protocol for sailing out of Nassau for all passengers regardless of vaccine status... early in the week we were notified that there was a change and we could get a PCR or antigen test..but it must be done within 3 days of sailing. Looks like Celebrity is going in that direction... but doing it last minute like this was a mistake...

[cangelmd]

13 minutes ago, brwneyedgirl72 said:

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. 

We sail tomorrow as well. Right now we are sitting poolside at our hotel fortifying ourselves with alcohol. Our plan in the morning is to bring water and wear sunscreen and hats. We will carefully monitor email, as much as I want that Luminae lunch,  also don’t want an ER visit for heat stroke! We were fortunate enough to be able to get PCR tested yesterday afternoon, and I have fingers crossed that things will be organized well enough tomorrow that they will accept our test. Right now it does not meet the letter of the last email we got, but is consistent with requirements for the later sailings.

 

I am APPALLED by the people standing in line unmasked. I know staying masked for that length of time would be nearly impossible, but they may as well just go out past the shipping lane and sail to Nassau and back, it will be a super spreader event on board. It just made me nauseous. As I do at home right now with our fast rising rate, I will assess each place and mask up when I feel uncomfortable. Depending on what I see tomorrow I ma feel uncomfortable!

Also if the reports of persons fainting or having to be taken to an ambulance are true, my heart goes out to them.

 

As a physician who doesn’t want to see anyone sick or thrown off the ship - follow the emails, bring water and a hat and wear your mask or stay 6 feet away from those not in your party!

 

[cdcummings]

41 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

@cdcummings I hope you will log on tomorrow and advise how things are going on Equinox.  BTW where  did you get the test so quickly?

Will do. I had some appointments booked *just in case* they did this… we are obviously fully vaccinated, but I had a premonition they would do this at this last minute and figured it wouldn’t hurt to have tests at the ready. Lo and behold…

[cangelmd]

Also, only the Southerners my age or older will understand this, but bring your funeral home fans if you get them!

[cltnccruisers]

2 minutes ago, cdcummings said:

Will do. I had some appointments booked *just in case* they did this… we are obviously fully vaccinated, but I had a premonition they would do this at this last minute and figured it wouldn’t hurt to have tests at the ready. Lo and behold…

Since you have premonitions and it's only 5:00 can you tell me what the Powerball numbers will be tonight?  😀

[graphicguy]

CC friend @KKB is boarding the 2nd leg of her B2B.  Maybe she’ll chime in, too!

[drarill]

3 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

So X should have been able to use the Apex testing to give them some sort of estimate of what 2000 would take.

exactly! this is already working there, why can't they do it in the US?  This is about going back to our favorite type of vacation in a safe way.  We keep criticizing the CDC but the truth is that  protocols everywhere else are stricter. Florida reported over 100,000 new COVID cases this week and we now know that vaccinated people can transmit the virus if infected, which makes this is a recipe for disaster. We know what it works; lots of testing and contact tracing. This virus is not going to disappear soon enough, but with the appropriate protocols we should be able to controller avoid  the outbreaks, IMHO 

[cltnccruisers]

This whole announce Friday, implement Saturday with these results would get me fired in a heartbeat.

[ipeeinthepool]

13 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

We sail tomorrow as well. Right now we are sitting poolside at our hotel fortifying ourselves with alcohol. Our plan in the morning is to bring water and wear sunscreen and hats. We will carefully monitor email, as much as I want that Luminae lunch,  also don’t want an ER visit for heat stroke! We were fortunate enough to be able to get PCR tested yesterday afternoon, and I have fingers crossed that things will be organized well enough tomorrow that they will accept our test. Right now it does not meet the letter of the last email we got, but is consistent with requirements for the later sailings.

 

I am APPALLED by the people standing in line unmasked. I know staying masked for that length of time would be nearly impossible, but they may as well just go out past the shipping lane and sail to Nassau and back, it will be a super spreader event on board. It just made me nauseous. As I do at home right now with our fast rising rate, I will assess each place and mask up when I feel uncomfortable. Depending on what I see tomorrow I ma feel uncomfortable!

Also if the reports of persons fainting or having to be taken to an ambulance are true, my heart goes out to them.

 

As a physician who doesn’t want to see anyone sick or thrown off the ship - follow the emails, bring water and a hat and wear your mask or stay 6 feet away from those not in your party!

 

 

I hope you have a great cruise.

[zitsky]

15 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

 

 

As a physician who doesn’t want to see anyone sick or thrown off the ship - follow the emails, bring water and a hat and wear your mask or stay 6 feet away from those not in your party!

 

I just know people aren’t staying 6 feet apart.  The line would be 3 miles long.

[denamo]

Hopeful there won't be more Covid cases on this week's cruise.  Wishing all a safe and healthy cruise. 

 

 

[drarill]

10 minutes ago, cdcummings said:

Will do. I had some appointments booked *just in case* they did this… we are obviously fully vaccinated, but I had a premonition they would do this at this last minute and figured it wouldn’t hurt to have tests at the ready. Lo and behold…

We get PCR's before traveling even if is not required, to me,  is the right thing to do.  We traveled with a group of friends on the Apex and only four of us needed to be tested because we transited through London, but still, we all had our PCR's done before our cruise.  BTW, when we arrived in Athens they did antigen's tests on everyone on our flight, add the one given to us before boarding, meant that we had one PCR and 2 nasopharyngeal antigen tests in three days. But I won't complain, had a great time and felt really safe. 

[Jonbiloh]

7 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

This whole announce Friday, implement Saturday with these results would get me fired in a heartbeat.

 

I doubt the decision was made lightly at HQ and the fact that it was rushed probably underscores the level of concern that exists at corporate. If we want cruising to remain viable and for the companies to survive this is simply what it's going to take. 

[C-Dragons]

2 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I just know people aren’t staying 6 feet apart.  The line would be 3 miles long.

They weren’t when we boarded the Edge on July 17th either. There were no cases of Covid on our sailing.

[Fouremco]

4 minutes ago, drarill said:

We get PCR's before traveling even if is not required, to me,  is the right thing to do.  We traveled with a group of friends on the Apex and only four of us needed to be tested because we transited through London, but still, we all had our PCR's done before our cruise.  BTW, when we arrived in Athens they did antigen's tests on everyone on our flight, add the one given to us before boarding, meant that we had one PCR and 2 nasopharyngeal antigen tests in three days. But I won't complain, had a great time and felt really safe. 

I like your way of thinking. It's really unfortunate that more people don't share your point of view. 👍👍👍

Edited July 31, 2021 by Fouremco

[drarill]

24 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

We sail tomorrow as well. Right now we are sitting poolside at our hotel fortifying ourselves with alcohol. Our plan in the morning is to bring water and wear sunscreen and hats. We will carefully monitor email, as much as I want that Luminae lunch,  also don’t want an ER visit for heat stroke! We were fortunate enough to be able to get PCR tested yesterday afternoon, and I have fingers crossed that things will be organized well enough tomorrow that they will accept our test. Right now it does not meet the letter of the last email we got, but is consistent with requirements for the later sailings.

 

I am APPALLED by the people standing in line unmasked. I know staying masked for that length of time would be nearly impossible, but they may as well just go out past the shipping lane and sail to Nassau and back, it will be a super spreader event on board. It just made me nauseous. As I do at home right now with our fast rising rate, I will assess each place and mask up when I feel uncomfortable. Depending on what I see tomorrow I ma feel uncomfortable!

Also if the reports of persons fainting or having to be taken to an ambulance are true, my heart goes out to them.

 

As a physician who doesn’t want to see anyone sick or thrown off the ship - follow the emails, bring water and a hat and wear your mask or stay 6 feet away from those not in your party!

 

hope everything  runs smoothly tomorrow and you have a great cruise.  

Edited July 31, 2021 by drarill

[zitsky]

1 minute ago, Jonbiloh said:

 

I doubt the decision was made lightly at HQ and the fact that it was rushed probably underscores the level of concern that exists at corporate. If we want cruising to remain viable and for the companies to survive this is simply what it's going to take. 

Key word is rushed.  Don’t notify people at the last minute.

[cltnccruisers]

6 minutes ago, Jonbiloh said:

 

I doubt the decision was made lightly at HQ and the fact that it was rushed probably underscores the level of concern that exists at corporate. If we want cruising to remain viable and for the companies to survive this is simply what it's going to take. 

This looks to be such a spectacular fail that HQ needs to do some serious damage control sooner rather than later.  The folks spending all those hours in line in the heat deserve that at the very least.  And if someone needs to fall on his or her sword so be it.

[cangelmd]

21 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I hope you have a great cruise.

Thank you, you as well

11 minutes ago, drarill said:

hope everything  runs smoothly tomorrow and you have a great cruise.  

Thank you and keep the faith, this has been a hard time on all of us in healthcare

[hcat]

41 minutes ago, kearney said:

you might consider going ahead and getting a rapid antigen test and bring with you... that might shorten things

Not many places to get a last minute appt for a rapid test.. and  they can be costly...so I expect many folks will have no choice but to do  testing at the pier  before boarding. Maybe there's  space nearby to set up mass testing...before folks  have to stand in the sun and heat ( or rain)  without water or food for hours..

 

EDGE has a huge terminal...Could have been handled better...So much for  the Celebrity Experience! 

 

Calling next week to see if we can lift and shift our Jan cruise ( for the third time)  or maybe just move it,  and still preserve our FCC..no idea when that expires.???

Not ready for this!

 

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, cltnccruisers said:

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

I got my notification at 12:01 afternoon PDT yesterday 7/30/21.     The one sent to my agent wasn't posted until 7:30PM (EDT) 7/30

[cltnccruisers]

4 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I got my notification at 12:01 afternoon PDT yesterday 7/30/21.     The one sent to my agent wasn't posted until 7:30PM (EDT) 7/30

Is that for your September sailing?

Edited July 31, 2021 by cltnccruisers
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