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

[atexsix]

1 minute ago, Babr said:

 

According to the roll call for this cruise, someone on the B2B is reporting that there were several positive antigen tests yesterday and those had to be confirmed with a PCR test this morning, thus the delay.

 

I don’t know about refusal or handcuffs. 

Someone else explained it.

[goofysmom99]

5 minutes ago, cruisingator2 said:

I have posted this on other threads but we were scheduled to cruise next Saturday on the Edge. We were set to arrive in FLL Thursday for two nights. We chose to cancel. We moved our cruise to next May out of Rome on the Edge. We did not want to deal with what we see happening now and other unforeseen issues that may pop up. Too many things are changing at the moment. 

If I weren't cruising tomorrow, I'd have cancelled, too.  Unfortunately, already past the 48 hr window.

[atexsix]

7 minutes ago, Babr said:

 

Deleted. Already answered. Sorry.

No worries 😃

[lv2cruisgrl]

4 minutes ago, goofysmom99 said:

If I weren't cruising tomorrow, I'd have cancelled, too.  Unfortunately, already past the 48 hr window.

I hope you have a great cruise. We will be watching the situation and maybe cancel our Sept 6 cruise.

[Cruising89143]

Celebrity and the port need to work together by opening the terminal across from the X terminal to allow people waiting to be tested the opportunity to have a place that’s cool and seats available for those needing it. I think today showed that you need to plan ahead a little better. 

[mjb1683]

We are currently here in line, some thoughts:

 

1.  We had a 12:00 Check-in slot.  We arrived at 12:02 and at 2:30 we are only moved some.  We estimate that the line for testing will be at least another hour. 
 

2.  There were people who were leaving the ship as late as approximately 1:00 PM. Not sure what the holdup was but we were told that they were waiting on test results.  We saw no one taken off the ship in handcuffs.  
 

3. We have personally witnessed one person pass out in the line and another person is being taken away in an ambulance.  It is just going to get much worse. 
 

Frankly, it’s a disaster. 

[C-Dragons]

13 minutes ago, Susanb10567 said:

Totally understandable…we were on the Edge for the July 17th sailing and had an amazing time…I don’t think I would be able to sail currently with everything going on…it’s crazy how quickly things have changed.

We were on board as well.  It really is shocking how things have so drastically changed in a week.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

1 minute ago, mjb1683 said:

We are currently here in line, some thoughts:

 

1.  We had a 12:00 Check-in slot.  We arrived at 12:02 and at 2:30 we are only moved some.  We estimate that the line for testing will be at least another hour. 
 

2.  There were people who were leaving the ship as late as approximately 1:00 PM. Not sure what the holdup was but we were told that they were waiting on test results.  We saw no one taken off the ship in handcuffs.  
 

3. We have personally witnessed one person pass out in the line and another person is being taken away in an ambulance.  It is just going to get much worse. 
 

Frankly, it’s a disaster. 

Be well… be safe. 🙏🤞👍🥂Hope you board soon. This is a complete disaster. 

[Smmessineo]

29 minutes ago, atexsix said:

Why would someone refuse to leave? Never heard of that in going on 3 decades of cruising.

We were on a Celebrity cruise a couple of years ago that boarded hours late because there was a large Electronic Dance Music group on the previous voyage. We were told there were 40 people who they couldn't find, or couldn't pay, and there were extra cleaning and repairs that needed to be done before turnaround.

But today seems to be a very different situation.

[zitsky]

27 minutes ago, cruisingator2 said:

Celebrity and the port need to work together by opening the terminal across from the X terminal to allow people waiting to be tested the opportunity to have a place that’s cool and seats available for those needing it. I think today showed that you need to plan ahead a little better. 

Agreed.  COVID is not new and this is not Celebrity’s first cruise.

[lv2cruisgrl]

29 minutes ago, mjb1683 said:

We are currently here in line, some thoughts:

 

1.  We had a 12:00 Check-in slot.  We arrived at 12:02 and at 2:30 we are only moved some.  We estimate that the line for testing will be at least another hour. 
 

2.  There were people who were leaving the ship as late as approximately 1:00 PM. Not sure what the holdup was but we were told that they were waiting on test results.  We saw no one taken off the ship in handcuffs.  
 

3. We have personally witnessed one person pass out in the line and another person is being taken away in an ambulance.  It is just going to get much worse. 
 

Frankly, it’s a disaster. 

Thanks for you info keep us all posted. This is truly a mess. 

[Host Anne]

Hi everyone ~ a quick reminder that all posts of a political nature are being removed....and all responses to those posts are removed to.  Please stick to the topic of about today's Edge embarkation.

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, Host Anne said:

Hi everyone ~ a quick reminder that all posts of a political nature are being removed....and all responses to those posts are removed to.  Please stick to the topic of about today's Edge embarkation.

Thank you Anne

[Host Anne]

I have a friend who is boarding Edge today as well.  He was in line for three hours when he finally stepped into the terminal. He did say Celebrity has been good about passing out water to those in line but there really wasn't additional information being given.

 

We really don't have the whole story on what's going on so let's not start throwing accusations around about Celebrity.  This sounds like it could be a strange situation.

 

No question it sounds pretty awful.  No one should be standing outside in this heat for this long.  

[cdcummings]

Hi, we are boarding Equinox tomorrow. Miraculously we were able to get tests on short notice. The email sent by X yesterday explicitly mentioned skipping the testing line if you have results in hand.

 

Would you please kindly share with us if this is happening? Thank you for generously sharing your eyewitness report with us. Happy cruising.

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, Host Anne said:

I have a friend who is boarding Edge today as well.  He was in line for three hours when he finally stepped into the terminal. He did say Celebrity has been good about passing out water to those in line but there really wasn't additional information being given.

 

We really don't have the whole story on what's going on so let's not start throwing accusations around about Celebrity.  This sounds like it could be a strange situation.

 

No question it sounds pretty awful.  No one should be standing outside in this heat for this long.  

My sister told me the biggest delay was several passengers from last weeks cruise who refused to leave the ship this morning and had to be arrested which didn't happen until about 1pm. I have seen speculation about this but hopefully we will know the the whole story soon.  I bet the Edge doesn't leave on time today either.

[Tee & Chilli]

Hundreds of people outside in the sun. Water, umbrellas and cold towels are being distributed. We were moved across the street into another building out of the sun.

[Tee & Chilli]

There’s no way this cruise is leaving at 6 pm

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, cdcummings said:

Hi, we are boarding Equinox tomorrow. Miraculously we were able to get tests on short notice. The email sent by X yesterday explicitly mentioned skipping the testing line if you have results in hand.

 

Would you please kindly share with us if this is happening? Thank you for generously sharing your eyewitness report with us. Happy cruising.

I doubt if those boarding today had time to get tested. My sister said they didn't get the email from Celebrity until they were getting ready to head to the terminal. She had an 11:30 boarding time.

[zitsky]

Maybe X can borrow a few porta potties from a construction site and arrange for a few food trucks to come by.

 

 

[cdcummings]

1 minute ago, terrydtx said:

I doubt if those boarding today had time to get tested. My sister said they didn't get the email from Celebrity until they were getting ready to head to the terminal. She had an 11:30 boarding time.

Yes, I agree with you; that makes sense, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask. Thank you for keeping us posted, Terry!

[TrulyBlonde]

21 minutes ago, Host Anne said:

Hi everyone ~ a quick reminder that all posts of a political nature are being removed....and all responses to those posts are removed to.  Please stick to the topic of about today's Edge embarkation.

thanks FL Gal. Appreciated.

[Tee & Chilli]

Broward county rescue helping direct people outside, moving people between buildings, and helped with my luggage. They are doing more than Celebrity and port staff.

 

A lady was taken away on a stretcher. I’m guessing heat exhaustion.

[WonderMan3]

Drama and chaos in the middle of a viral pandemic?? Say it ain’t so! 😏

 

Would definitely like to know what was going on with the passengers who refused to leave the ship. I have to imagine it was B2B pax who refused to get tested or who tested positive and objected to being removed from the ship. Otherwise it makes no sense. 

[terrydtx]

Just got another report from my sister they are now in the AC part of terminal waiting to show Passport and proof of vaccination. It is 3:30 in FLL and they were in line since 11:30 that's 4 hours in the sun and heat.