Saint Greg's Mardi Gras - LIVE - August 28th-September 4th 2021

[Jamman54]

Good luck on your tests Greg. The last big hurdle. 🤞

[Saint Greg]

CVS sent me a text reminder and a link to this video.

 

 

[Jamman54]

Yep, went through this with CVS last Wednesday.

[Saint Greg]

COVID test #2: rapid antigen at CVS

 

 

[TravelGirlinDallas]

So what happens if you are a "close contact" but test negative? Are you not allowed to sail?

[glrounds]

On 8/22/2021 at 9:23 AM, Tnlynch81 said:

We were on the cruise after your Panorama trip and will be on the Mardis Gras 9/4. Please don't try to squeeze an extra day in again. Thanks in advance!

 

Yes, and I was on the 4-day cruise that had an embarkation delayed because you were still in the harbor and we had to wait for you to debark and embark before we could begin our embarkation. Didn't leave port until 9pm !

[cpshaye]

Our CVS called and said all rapid tests were canceled for the state due to some system outage. We are now scrambling to find a different place to go. Sucks. I hope we will be on this cruise with you! 

[Saint Greg]

17 minutes ago, cpshaye said:

Our CVS called and said all rapid tests were canceled for the state due to some system outage. We are now scrambling to find a different place to go. Sucks. I hope we will be on this cruise with you! 

 

Funny you should mention that. I pulled up and they told me they can't do antigen now. They gave me another pcr. So I'm scrambling actually none of the 30 CVS around me have any appointments available for the rest of the week. I couldn't do friday anyway because I'm supposed to be at the airport before they even start taking appointments. I could have a PCR result back tomorrow. But it's possible I don't get either back before saturday. I just made my emergency move and scheduled an appointment for rapid antigen at the Orlando airport. They charge $64. Hopefully I don't need it but that'll be my last resort. 

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Saint Greg

[ninjacat123]

55 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Funny you should mention that. I pulled up and they told me they can't do antigen now. They gave me another pcr. So I'm scrambling actually none of the 30 CVS around me have any appointments available for the rest of the week. I couldn't do friday anyway because I'm supposed to be at the airport before they even start taking appointments. I could have a PCR result back tomorrow. But it's possible I don't get either back before saturday. I just made my emergency move and scheduled an appointment for rapid antigen at the Orlando airport. They charge $64. Hopefully I don't need it but that'll be my last resort. 

 

Wow, that makes me nervous!  So far, I can still schedule antigen tests at my CVS.  I hope they don't renege when we show up on Sept 1.🥺

[peteandpris]

Yeah! Following along and can't wait till it's my turn next year.

[cpshaye]

They said all pcr test appts were taken. Huh? I can't use my previously scheduled rapid test appt that YOU CANCELED? 

 

Ugh. We got an appt at 2 separate urgent cares. Hoping we can get into one of those.

[HxFx]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

I pulled up and they told me they can't do antigen now.

Wow, can't believe they didn't send you a text or email as a heads up. That's scary!

[Saint Greg]

1 minute ago, HxFx said:

Wow, can't believe they didn't send you a text or email as a heads up. That's scary!

 

And actually they sent me two texts before I went. One to verify and the other with video instructions. It's just like they changed my appt from antigen to pcr.

[Webecruzen]

I sure hope by October tests are easier to get. We fly to CA on Friday Morning and cruise Monday.  We will have to find someplace to get tested on Saturday in Long Beach.  Thank goodness Carnival will do our test on the Miracle to get us on the Panorama.  

[Saint Greg]

12 minutes ago, Webecruzen said:

I sure hope by October tests are easier to get. We fly to CA on Friday Morning and cruise Monday.  We will have to find someplace to get tested on Saturday in Long Beach.  Thank goodness Carnival will do our test on the Miracle to get us on the Panorama.  

 

That's really scary. Friday I'm thinking a bunch of people are going to be trying to get tested in Long Beach to get on Panorama. Maybe Saturday as well. 

[Webecruzen]

We are looking into trying to get a test at LAX when we get in Friday afternoon.  That would keep us within the 72 hours.  I wish we could test early Friday morning at home or in Orlando, but that would cause us to be closer to 78-80 hours out from test to time of embarkation. Testing sites are saying 2-3 days for results.  Really makes me nervous.  CVS in Long Beach has partnered with NCL to test the NCL passengers.  They get to book anytime in advance by providing guest number.  Others can book 14 days in advance. 

[Saint Greg]

3 minutes ago, Webecruzen said:

We are looking into trying to get a test at LAX when we get in Friday afternoon.  That would keep us within the 72 hours.  I wish we could test early Friday morning at home or in Orlando, but that would cause us to be closer to 78-80 hours out from test to time of embarkation. Testing sites are saying 2-3 days for results.  Really makes me nervous.  CVS in Long Beach has partnered with NCL to test the NCL passengers.  They get to book anytime in advance by providing guest number.  Others can book 14 days in advance. 

 

They don't care about the hours. It's days. Anytime Friday is supposed to be good for you. Around here I can't get anything scheduled before 9am though. But yeah LAX or Los Angeles may be the ticket. You didn't specify an airport so I thought maybe you were flying into Long Beach. I would test before you get to LB.

 

Edited August 26, 2021 by Saint Greg

[balcony bound]

Hoping for you one of those tests get back to you in time.  This testing thing is getting nuts.

[Saint Greg]

1 hour ago, balcony bound said:

Hoping for you one of those tests get back to you in time.  This testing thing is getting nuts.

Yeah when I look around and see no appointments available at so many places I know this is going to cause a lot of problems. I’m a vaccinated person with no symptoms and before this is over I may have used up three tests to go on a cruise.

 

Edited August 26, 2021 by Saint Greg

[Saint Greg]

The phone I'm using for pictures and videos these days is the iPhone 11 pro max. I traded in my XS Max in June 2020. Really I could've done it as early as April but I waited until just before I went to Galveston to upgrade. Now I wish I would've done it in April or May because they changed the deal to where you have to wait 15 months now. So now I have to wait until September for another upgrade.

 

The store I do my trade in at didn't have my color (space grey). They only had like green and gold. So for the first time I did my trade in through the mail. I'll never do that again! I had no problems receiving my phone or sending my old one out. But...in July I got a really big cell phone bill. I called ATT. They said they never received my phone. I said that's nonsense. I sent them a picture of the box with the shipping label and confirmation they received the package. They apologized and put a credit on my account.  I have my bill paid automatically. So instead of getting that money back, I got a credit on my account and basically just had my phone bill paid for the rest of the year. 

 

August comes around. I receive a box from ATT. The letter inside states that I didn't send my phone back in time and they wouldn't be able to use it as a trade-in and they sent my phone back for me to keep. I dig deeper in the box and find the phone is not my phone. It was still in the dirty case it's prior owner used. I don't send my phone back like that. I take mine out of the case, polish it up, and return it in the original box. The person at the store usually comments that it looks brand new. 

 

I call ATT again. They say they don't know how I ended up with this phone but they can assure me they aren't going to be charging my account. I ask them what to do with the phone. They say they'll be contacting me about it. 

 

September rolls around. I still have the phone. I call ATT back. They say don't worry they aren't going to charge me for the phone. They'll get into contact with me on what to do with it.

 

I still have that phone in the box. I don't know what it is. It didn't have a thumbprint reader so it's probably an X or XS. 

 

So I'm on the 11 pro max now. I've used it for a few land vacations. And I'll probably be on a 12 or 13 or something when I get on Panorama in October.

 

[cpshaye]

Yay! We will be allowed on the cruise with you! We started calling local urgent cares and found a couple that didn't do the rapid tests but said their pcr results would be back the next day. We scheduled appts with both of them. One for 5pm and one for 10pm. Our 5pm appt got pushed back but we were seen around 6:30. Canceled our 2nd appt (different place) and kept our fingers crossed. Finally got our "not detected " results around 1:30 today. 

 

I know this is a necessary step for now, but dang! What a headache! We had our CVS test scheduled for 2 weeks. If these protocols are still in place in December we will have a backup plan in place.

[Saint Greg]

1 minute ago, cpshaye said:

Yay! We will be allowed on the cruise with you! We started calling local urgent cares and found a couple that didn't do the rapid tests but said their pcr results would be back the next day. We scheduled appts with both of them. One for 5pm and one for 10pm. Our 5pm appt got pushed back but we were seen around 6:30. Canceled our 2nd appt (different place) and kept our fingers crossed. Finally got our "not detected " results around 1:30 today. 

 

I know this is a necessary step for now, but dang! What a headache! We had our CVS test scheduled for 2 weeks. If these protocols are still in place in December we will have a backup plan in place.

 

Yeah definitely. I'll be looking for different options next time. I'm still waiting on results. If I don't have them by 3:30 tomorrow I'm testing at the Orlando airport.

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

You get your results yet Greg? 

[cpshaye]

Omg! Just so much anxiety involved! Good luck!

[Saint Greg]

I hope I didn't forget anything. All of this COVID stuff has me forgetting things. I just remembered my mail hold last night. I did the online version last night and I stopped by the post office at lunch to fill out the card.

 

I booked my parking last night. Picked up my SPF yesterday. I killed that last bottle in Mexico.