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Live From Pride 9/19 - (eMed) Testing, Cruising, Vacationing!

Steelers0854

By Steelers0854,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Steelers0854 "Live from...." Rare

Steelers0854

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TL;DR: Let’s get back to cruising!!

 

Hello everyone.  Very excited to have you join DW and I on our trip from Baltimore leaving 9/19 for 7 days to Half Moon Cay, Bimini and Freeport.  Like many of you, we have had several cruises cancelled because of the pandemic, so i think this is our 3rd try.  Our last cruise was January 2020, we were lucky we got one last trip in just before the pandemic really hit.

 

We originally were supposed to go out of NY on the Mardi Gras in Sept 2020, but as things were cancelled we decided to try a port that we have never been to, Baltimore.  We ended up with $600 OBC, Cheers, and a fairly discounted balcony rate, so all in all pretty happy.  Going to use the OBC to get the internet package so the updates should be fairly regular as we go along.

 

This itinerary was recently changed on us, we had originally booked it because of Grand Turk, one of our favorite islands and now we get Bimini, which was a disappointment.  One good thing is that our cruise insurance will reimburse us due to itinerary changes after the final payment date (Nationwide Luxury Cruise policy) so we will atleast get some money back for that.  Ill report at the end of the trip about that experience but we have had to file a claim using this once before on a Disney cruise that was fogged in at Galveston causing us to miss Key West and we got a significant reimbursement (granted Disney cruises are also significantly more expensive as well).

 

Anyways, as little more about us.  Its just DW and I going on this one, we are DINKS in our 30s and love cruising.  Princess overall is still our favorite line, but we haven’t met a cruise line that we wouldn’t go on again.  Once we reached Platinum on Princess we started branching out and doing other lines.

 

DW has several food allergies (Gluten, dairy and egg) and so we will be including a fair amount on how meals go with her allergies.  In our experience, cruise lines go above and beyond and really make her some of the best meals she has ever had.  Its one of the reasons why we like to cruise.

 

Due to the pandemic, and the locations we are going to, we are likely only getting off at HMC.  Bimini really doesn’t seem that great and we have been to Freeport so many times.  We are just going to take advantage of the ship, and enjoy relaxing, reading, and doing onboard activities.

 

We are doing our typical travel style and getting into Baltimore a day early, this should give us some time to see some sites around the city and our boarding time isn’t until 2pm.  I heard from someone else on our cruise that our departure time isn’t until 7pm, so it looks like they will be doing boarding groups until much later in the afternoon than normal.

 

I’m going to try something new this go around and change my font color to make my posts easier to pick out in the thread, this is a new process for me so bear with me as I may not be 100% with it.

 

Feel free to come along and ask questions along the way!

image.png

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Steelers0854 "Live from...." Rare

Steelers0854

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Generally, I started these Live Froms when we got to our departure city, but now that testing has become part of the plan I am going to start this 2 days early to provide details on what we used for testing.

 

Before we get into that, I just wanted to note that DW and I received 4 separate emails, each, with all of the protocols and procedures beginning over a week before our sailing all the way up to 3 days before our sailing, as well as an automated phone call 5 days before we sailed.  So no one should be caught off guard by what is required.

 

I had actually bought the eMed test kits (eMed.com) several weeks before the cruise lines even announced the testing requirements.  They were FDA authorized and CDC approved for return travel to the US.  Most major airlines accept it to meet the foreign return testing requirement.  I thought of it as an insurance policy, if something happens and we needed to return home mid trip we had tests ready to go that can be done anywhere, anytime, and we wouldn’t be scrambling in a foreign country to find one.

 

Low and behold here come the testing requirements and thankfully these qualify for cruising.  So since we leave on a Sunday we can take them anytime on Friday or Saturday.  We did it first thing Friday morning so we could ensure if there were issues (false positives, inconclusives) we had options and backup plans.  Luckily there is a dedicated testing site just done the street from us that not only offers walk-in rapid testing but 16 hour PCR testing.  So that is Plan B for us.

 

When I originally ordered the eMed tests it was mid afternoon and by the next day they were in my hand, so very quick shipping.  One thing to keep in mind is that ALL of their tests expire in February 2022.  Ignore the stuff on their site about 12 months, that is from the date of manufacture and they were all made on the same date.  So keep this in mind when ordering and planning.  They did state that they plan to produce new kits in January 2022.

 

The process is fairly easy and straight forward.   You just need to download the NAVICA app and sign up for an account.  Have your ID (Drivers license, passport etc) and ensure the proctor can see you throughout the process.  I used my iPad on a desk and it worked great. One tip, give it a try before you call in, open the camera app and set it in a position where it wont fall over and ensure the you can see yourself and the desk in front of you (test kits need to lay flat the entire time) where you will place the kit.

 

If you ordered via eMed then go directly to eMeds site and click Start Testing.  Don’t go to NAVICAs app or scan the barcode on the package etc. just go to eMeds site and everything will run from there. It’s all done in browser as well, they don’t roll you into the app. You’ll login with your NAVICA login and answer some basic questions and it will test your system to ensure its working.

 

We started the process very early at 3:45AM MST/5:45AM EST as I wanted to do it before work and ensure I had enough time to do it.  the wait time was 11 minutes when I started and it was pretty accurate and I may have waited a minute or two less than quoted. We used our iPads for the test and even though we used the front facing camera when they switched to scanning the QR code it switched the to rear camera and we had to use that to scan the code. Just as FYI in case you run into that as well.

 

My advice is don’t look at the test card for the first few minutes. As the liquid wicks up the test strip it turns all pink and I freaked out I did something wrong. But as time passes the test strip evens out and a bright control line appears and all is again well with the world. Also note that while waiting for a proctor your mobile device may try and go to sleep. I would recommend turning off or setting the sleep/locking to as long as possible so that way you don’t have to touch the screen every few minutes to keep it on while you wait. Not sure what happens if it locks, but I kept it on the whole time.

 

And just like that we are all set, 30 minutes from sitting down and we are all finished, COVID negative and ready to cruise!

 

It took less than 5 minutes before i had a push notification on my phone saying my test results were ready along with and email with a password protected pdf of my results.

 

Some people were asking about using the same device to take a test, yes you absolutely can. It’s all run through the web browser on your device (even on iPad and iPhone) and all you do is login using the other persons account. No issue whatsoever.

 

We leave tomorrow to travel to Baltimore. See you all in the Charm City!

 

 

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Anung Un Rama

Anung Un Rama

Posted
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We board on the 26th with the same itinerary so can't wait to live it through your posts first.  I'm really interested in seeing how the ship feels with limited capacity.  The Pride has never really felt crowded to me anyway.

 

When did HMC excursions become available to you after your itinerary change?  We're 9 days from sailing with no excursions available yet.

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K&RCurt

K&RCurt

Posted
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Bon Voyage!

 

Looking forward to your reports.

 

One thing I would like to know is when the "Elegant" nights are.  We are on the Pride 10/17 with the same itinerary and want to book a Steakhouse dinner, but want to avoid "Elegant" night.

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Steelers0854 "Live from...." Rare

Steelers0854

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2 hours ago, Anung Un Rama said:

We board on the 26th with the same itinerary so can't wait to live it through your posts first.  I'm really interested in seeing how the ship feels with limited capacity.  The Pride has never really felt crowded to me anyway.

 

When did HMC excursions become available to you after your itinerary change?  We're 9 days from sailing with no excursions available yet.

 

so HMC has always been on the itinerary but Grand Turk was swapped for Bimini. I think the excursions showed up for Bimini within a couple days. You should definitely be able to see them right now. 
 

 

36 minutes ago, K&RCurt said:

Bon Voyage!

 

Looking forward to your reports.

 

One thing I would like to know is when the "Elegant" nights are.  We are on the Pride 10/17 with the same itinerary and want to book a Steakhouse dinner, but want to avoid "Elegant" night.


Will do!  I’ll do my best to post all of the daily events. Forget what Carnival calls them, I want to call them Patters from Princess. Lol

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iamsteph

iamsteph

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Posted
4 hours ago, Steelers0854 said:

DW has several food allergies (Gluten, dairy and egg) and so we will be including a fair amount on how meals go with her allergies.  In our experience, cruise lines go above and beyond and really make her some of the best meals she has ever had.  Its one of the reasons why we like to cruise.

I have celiac disease and love cruising for this reason: they really do go above and beyond.   I get a lot of 'feedback' from friends and acquaintances about how bad cruising is for the environment, etc. but no one really understands the stress of planning a land vacation where you have to find a place you can safely eat and even then, one careless cook can ruin your entire vacation.  I've only ever cruised Carnival but they are really great about dietary restrictions and are willing to receive feedback to improve their offerings (here's looking at you pizza guy, who cut my gluten free pizza with the same knife as the regular pizzas). 

 

I am really looking forward to your food reviews.  I cruise the Pride in October and was a little worried about how accommodating they could be so close to the restart, so I'm excited to hear more about your DW's experience!

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sgttami

sgttami

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Posted
1 hour ago, K&RCurt said:

Bon Voyage!

 

Looking forward to your reports.

 

One thing I would like to know is when the "Elegant" nights are.  We are on the Pride 10/17 with the same itinerary and want to book a Steakhouse dinner, but want to avoid "Elegant" night.

The Elegant nights on Pride are always on the Monday and Friday and according to those on this week, they haven't changed.  

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Steelers0854 "Live from...." Rare

Steelers0854

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5 hours ago, iamsteph said:

I have celiac disease and love cruising for this reason: they really do go above and beyond.   I get a lot of 'feedback' from friends and acquaintances about how bad cruising is for the environment, etc. but no one really understands the stress of planning a land vacation where you have to find a place you can safely eat and even then, one careless cook can ruin your entire vacation.  I've only ever cruised Carnival but they are really great about dietary restrictions and are willing to receive feedback to improve their offerings (here's looking at you pizza guy, who cut my gluten free pizza with the same knife as the regular pizzas). 

 

I am really looking forward to your food reviews.  I cruise the Pride in October and was a little worried about how accommodating they could be so close to the restart, so I'm excited to hear more about your DW's experience!


DW feels the same way. While she doesn’t have Celiac when she eats gluten dairy or eggs she feels horrible and has to go right to sleep. We agree it’s one less thing to have to worry about. And they make her better meals than we make at home!

 

3 hours ago, cyclist_guy1 said:

from your profile name appears you're a steelers fan. well, you do know carnival out of baltimore charges double for steelers fans right? you will have to pay up at the port to be able board. happy cruising!

 

that’s funny, we got a discount to go on this sailing because we are Steelers fans, something about wanting to balance out the losing record of the ravens with our winning record? (Kidding of course)

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princess76021

princess76021

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10 hours ago, Steelers0854 said:

Generally, I started these Live Froms when we got to our departure city, but now that testing has become part of the plan I am going to start this 2 days early to provide details on what we used for testing.

 

Before we get into that, I just wanted to note that DW and I received 4 separate emails, each, with all of the protocols and procedures beginning over a week before our sailing all the way up to 3 days before our sailing, as well as an automated phone call 5 days before we sailed.  So no one should be caught off guard by what is required.

 

I had actually bought the eMed test kits (eMed.com) several weeks before the cruise lines even announced the testing requirements.  They were FDA authorized and CDC approved for return travel to the US.  Most major airlines accept it to meet the foreign return testing requirement.  I thought of it as an insurance policy, if something happens and we needed to return home mid trip we had tests ready to go that can be done anywhere, anytime, and we wouldn’t be scrambling in a foreign country to find one.

 

Low and behold here come the testing requirements and thankfully these qualify for cruising.  So since we leave on a Sunday we can take them anytime on Friday or Saturday.  We did it first thing Friday morning so we could ensure if there were issues (false positives, inconclusives) we had options and backup plans.  Luckily there is a dedicated testing site just done the street from us that not only offers walk-in rapid testing but 16 hour PCR testing.  So that is Plan B for us.

 

When I originally ordered the eMed tests it was mid afternoon and by the next day they were in my hand, so very quick shipping.  One thing to keep in mind is that ALL of their tests expire in February 2022.  Ignore the stuff on their site about 12 months, that is from the date of manufacture and they were all made on the same date.  So keep this in mind when ordering and planning.  They did state that they plan to produce new kits in January 2022.

 

The process is fairly easy and straight forward.   You just need to download the NAVICA app and sign up for an account.  Have your ID (Drivers license, passport etc) and ensure the proctor can see you throughout the process.  I used my iPad on a desk and it worked great. One tip, give it a try before you call in, open the camera app and set it in a position where it wont fall over and ensure the you can see yourself and the desk in front of you (test kits need to lay flat the entire time) where you will place the kit.

 

If you ordered via eMed then go directly to eMeds site and click Start Testing.  Don’t go to NAVICAs app or scan the barcode on the package etc. just go to eMeds site and everything will run from there. It’s all done in browser as well, they don’t roll you into the app. You’ll login with your NAVICA login and answer some basic questions and it will test your system to ensure its working.

 

We started the process very early at 3:45AM MST/5:45AM EST as I wanted to do it before work and ensure I had enough time to do it.  the wait time was 11 minutes when I started and it was pretty accurate and I may have waited a minute or two less than quoted. We used our iPads for the test and even though we used the front facing camera when they switched to scanning the QR code it switched the to rear camera and we had to use that to scan the code. Just as FYI in case you run into that as well.

 

My advice is don’t look at the test card for the first few minutes. As the liquid wicks up the test strip it turns all pink and I freaked out I did something wrong. But as time passes the test strip evens out and a bright control line appears and all is again well with the world. Also note that while waiting for a proctor your mobile device may try and go to sleep. I would recommend turning off or setting the sleep/locking to as long as possible so that way you don’t have to touch the screen every few minutes to keep it on while you wait. Not sure what happens if it locks, but I kept it on the whole time.

 

And just like that we are all set, 30 minutes from sitting down and we are all finished, COVID negative and ready to cruise!

 

It took less than 5 minutes before i had a push notification on my phone saying my test results were ready along with and email with a password protected pdf of my results.

 

Some people were asking about using the same device to take a test, yes you absolutely can. It’s all run through the web browser on your device (even on iPad and iPhone) and all you do is login using the other persons account. No issue whatsoever.

 

We leave tomorrow to travel to Baltimore. See you all in the Charm City!

 

 

Thank you for doing this!  I still have several months to go before my cruise and withdrawal from it has been very difficult! Thanks again!!!

Hugs and good voyage

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noslen3333

noslen3333

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My question is this: Do they email you the results on your computer and then you make a copy and take that to the cruise terminal? I don't use a smart phone...have an old fashioned flip phone but it keeps me connected. I don't know apps or how to get them. For those of you who have already cruised and you took a copy of the test results did Carnival accept that?

 

Thanks from anxious in Texas!

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Sailin_Pirate

Sailin_Pirate

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I will also be on this cruise. I'm looking forward to the different experiences people have on the same ship. My wife and I will be getting off at all ports no plans set in stone yet though.

 

I wanted to do a "live" review , but I'm not really a tech person and the wife seems to only like the "book of faces".

 

We had CVS rapid antigen tests today walked in swabbed ourselves within 15 minutes had calls with negative results. I took a screenshot of my results page ,but will have the ability to pull it up if needed.

 

Happy sailings to you Steelers

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WhiteOptima

WhiteOptima

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We are on the Pride Oct 31st so looking forward to you review!  Read others say you can get bourbon in steakhouse bar but I don’t remember if Steakhouse on the Pride even had a bar to sit at.  We are on 14 days and not a big fan of MDR so planning on Steakhouse at least 3 nights and have quite a bit of OBC so may wait until we board to book.  Wondering though if they offer any specials.

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Steelers0854 "Live from...." Rare

Steelers0854

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3 hours ago, DANCING GRANDMOMMY said:

Question regarding your testing. Were there 2 of you testing? If so could you do both simultaneously? Thank you for your time. 


you each have to have a separate NAVICA login so as long as you have more than 1 device there is no reason you couldn’t do them at the same time. DW wanted me to be the guinea pig!  

 

1 hour ago, noslen3333 said:

My question is this: Do they email you the results on your computer and then you make a copy and take that to the cruise terminal? I don't use a smart phone...have an old fashioned flip phone but it keeps me connected. I don't know apps or how to get them. For those of you who have already cruised and you took a copy of the test results did Carnival accept that?

 

Thanks from anxious in Texas!


Yes. They will send an email to the email address you used to create your account. It’s password protected with your birthdate and is a pdf. You can open on your computer and print away. Otherwise it appeared in the app with all the necessary information. 

 

32 minutes ago, Sailin_Pirate said:

I will also be on this cruise. I'm looking forward to the different experiences people have on the same ship. My wife and I will be getting off at all ports no plans set in stone yet though.

 

I wanted to do a "live" review , but I'm not really a tech person and the wife seems to only like the "book of faces".

 

We had CVS rapid antigen tests today walked in swabbed ourselves within 15 minutes had calls with negative results. I took a screenshot of my results page ,but will have the ability to pull it up if needed.

 

Happy sailings to you Steelers


well I certainly hope you will join me here and post your cruise experience!  It’s always great to have others share their fun asl well.  We may not get off at Freeport or Bimini so it would be great for others to see your perspective. 

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sgttami

sgttami

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Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, bobbismith said:

Do you think that will be the same in Tampa? We also have Thanksgiving thrown in there. 

TAI

Yes, if it's a Sunday to Sunday cruise, it will be the same days.  Thanksgiving will be a casual night.

Edited by sgttami
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