A perspective by a first time cruiser

[edrussell]

Hello fellow Canadians (and of course others who are reading this).  I joined CC after my wife finally snagged a MyVegas sailing.  We both have been playing for years and this time when the sailings popped up we were at the right place at the right time and jumped on it.  We have done quite a bit of traveling in our fifth wheel and for the last few years we have went to all inclusive and Las Vegas.  We actually both started looking into cruising back in late 2019, well we know where that ended up.

 

Anyway, just a bit of perspective.  Leading up to this sailing we were both very nervous about current conditions and what kind of experience overall we could expect.    I do have a thread going detailing our experiences here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2825423-onboard-enchantment-jan-20-28/

 

However I thought I would give our take concerning traveling from Canada.  We had Manulife Covid as insurance (along with my corporate plan, but that wouldn't do us much good as far as Covid goes).  Both of our employers knew of our plans and both were more than OK with it, just in case we were forced to isolate or something else were to go awry.  We used Switch Health antigen tests on the morning before we went to work for the day and it was uneventful and was quite easy.  We drove from our home in Burlington Ontario, our crossing into the US was quick and easy.  Taking maybe 2 minutes at the window.  The border agent asked where we were going and when we would return.  He did mention our vax status but said laughing 'he couldn't be bothered to see the proof'.  We stayed overnight in Batavia, NY (I just wanted to get across the border after work).  Then on to Baltimore the next day.

 

A few things I noticed along the way, all across NY mask compliance was fantastic, except for our hotel.  No staff were wearing them; which was odd to see at first for us.  PA, with no mandate in place we found maybe 30 or 40 percent masked in the places we stopped.  Maryland masks were almost universal everywhere.

 

On the ship the protocols followed were excellent.  We never once felt unsafe or were in a position we were at significant risk at all.  Staff did an amazing job and pretty much all passenger observed guidelines.  We had my time dining at the same time each night and initially asked for a reasonably secluded table due to us needing PCR tests to return home.  They obliged and we had a wonderful 2 top with more than enough distance.

 

So far so good.  While on the cruise I visited guest services a few times to get details on our return PCR test.  At first they seemed genuinely confused over it and had little to tell us.  We gave them another few days and eventually they produced a list and let me peek at it to show that yes we were indeed on the 'list' of people that needed one.  I asked for a few more details such as where (we knew it was after we disembarked but nothing else), but they never did provide me anything.  Off we went this morning and just after clearing customs we asked the first staff we saw and were brushed off with them saying 'we don't know what you are taking about and you cannot stand here'.  Not off to a good start.  We found our luggage and found a RCCL person (well they had a RCCL lanyard) and we were told there was a double wide trailer with a green roof and it would be in there.  Not quite.  We walked over and the place was deserted.  We decided to drop off bags off in the truck and wander.  We then found a person setting up the stanchions to onboard guests.  He was great and told us there would be a tent setup and there were 2 girls in black t-shirts hanging out near where you walk out of the terminal.  They were very nice but utterly confused.  They told us they had no idea when they would be done or by whom.  By that time we found another woman who obviously was seriously annoyed.  Turns out she was another Canadian who we hadn't met but she had determined someone would be there by 9.  Around 9:30am some staff rolled up in a SUV and confirmed they were testing.  However, they had no idea who they were testing, how many and how much we had to pay.  After that woman went off on these people (it was quite the scene), the staff began to ask us to walk into the terminal near the exit and they would setup.  Well a security guard came out and yelled at us to 'get the h_ll out of the terminal'.  Not good.  She explained in no uncertain terms that we were not going into the terminal to get tested.  After several arguments with the testing staff and the security guard they eventually let them go inside, but not us.  At that point we were outside in the cold for over an hour.  It took over another hour of us standing outside in the cold, with the security guard occasionally opening the door and scowling at us.  We kept asking the testing staff if we could go somewhere warm or go into our vehicle and she kept asking us to stay there.  When they finally tested the first woman that at point was even more angry they went back inside and didn't come out again for about 30 minutes.  Eventually they came out tested us and told us we would get our results in 30 minutes.

 

Now, the 'lead' staff from the testing company was trying her best.  She really was.  Before we left we asked about that 'trailer' and were told security said they could not use that.  We next asked about when they were supposed to be there, we were told 9, but the staff confirmed security held them up for a long time before letting them into the parking area.

 

We did eventually get our results and both were negative.  We tried to be patient and really did not take our frustration out on the testing staff, but only 1 person in that group had any idea what was going on.  Security were utterly rude and in my opinion didn't need to be.  RCCL were nowhere to be found.  

 

Sorry about the long story but I wanted to detail our experiences.

 

We drove straight to the border and of course my wife was 'randomly' selected for yet another Covid test.  Just about 7 hours after the one from this morning.  Yay!  I wasn't selected, I wasn't told to isolate or anything and yet we were in the same truck.  Go figure.  The agent asked about our ArriveCAN, didn't want to see it.  He also asked about our negative test(s) again didn't want to see them.  We came home, dropped our bags and my wife did the at home Switch Health desk and then I dropped it off at Purolator.

 

If anyone has any questions fire away.  I will say if someone were to ask me if this was worth it?  Yes, it definitely was.  We LOVED our first cruise.  Had an absolute blast and in fact booked a second cruise on Sept 11 on Oasis!

 

Take care all.

 

[canadianbear]

Thanks for all the info.  As seniors and Canadians, we just won’t cruise yet.  As much as I personally miss it, I don’t like the long flight we’d have to take, figure out the testing, etc.  We have 2 cruises booked for this year but can cancel without penalty on certain dates and will do so if things don’t get easier.  
 

Thanks again for all your info.   Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

[Fouremco]

Thank you for the description of the post-cruise testing. What an unprofessional mess! I do hope that this confusion won't deter you from cruising again.

[TeaBag]

Thank you, thank you edrussel for your report and no apologies needed for the detail.  It was fantastic.  This is the first post I have read since last Sat when I cancelled our April cruise that has made me happy we did.

I'm glad you have found the world of cruising and enjoyed your first cruise so much as to book a second one.  It's a wonderful way to travel and I miss it so much.  Hoping we will not have to cancel our July plans.

[waiting2retire]

Thanks so much for your detailed report. Sounds like RCI really dropped the ball on the PCR testing. What a hot mess!  I don’t imagine anyone who had to catch a flight was nearly as calm as you were. 
 

Glad you enjoyed your first cruise. Be careful though… it’s addictive!!

[edrussell]

Thanks for the kind words.  One thing I have to say is that the cruising community are so welcoming and friendly.  

 

Our testing experience has not in any way deterred us from cruising.  We're committed to our next cruise on Sept 11 on Oasis of the Seas.  In fact my wife was pushing me to cancel our April trip to Las Vegas to take advantage of the free cruise we won from Casino Royale.  It was for limited sailings only up until June.  However, we opted for the second part of the offer and took 300 off our Oasis sailing.

 

We feel the price we got from Next Cruise along with the perks was great.  To be honest though we have been so excited to plan our next cruise we haven't really analyzed it closely.  

 

We will fill out the post cruise survey tonight and hopefully we can give them feedback on the testing process.  While we are not the type to complain I am going to push it to ensure our experiences are not repeated.

 

My wife's test from Switch Health was delivered to them this morning because I managed to get it over to Purolator before their 8:00pm cut off.  No idea how long that will take to process.  We will see.  Given that we were both PCR tested at the terminal and interacted with no one before she tested again the chances of a positive is remote at best.

 

I am enjoying my morning tea in my Enchantment mug and my wife and I are talking about the cruise and laughing about some of the things we did.

 

 

[disneykins]

Sorry to hear about your hassle with Royal testing. Glad to hear the rest of your trip went well.  When your wife was picked for the test at the border, where do you take that and who pays for it?

Thanks,

Tony

[edrussell]

43 minutes ago, disneykins said:

Sorry to hear about your hassle with Royal testing. Glad to hear the rest of your trip went well.  When your wife was picked for the test at the border, where do you take that and who pays for it?

Thanks,

Tony

 

It was a switch health at home test, PCR.  It is a proctored test, she took it as soon as we got home.  I then dropped it off at Purolator to be delivered to Switch Health.  It was delivered this morning.  There was no cost.

[Fairgarth]

5 hours ago, edrussell said:

 

 

 

 

Just a word of caution here.  Our very first cruise was on Enchantment of the Seas and we loved it.  We got hooked.  We have now done 20 cruises since then.  Aw shucks, it's probably too late to warn you now.

[loman]

The Oasis class is a destination all by itself. You will be amazed . 

We only sail on that class now . Enjoy your cruise .🙂

[loupana]

23 hours ago, edrussell said:

 We used Switch Health antigen tests on the morning before we went to work for the day and it was uneventful and was quite easy. 

 

 

Thank you very much for the details. Just to confirm...You used the Proctored Switch Health Antigen test to get onboard the ship without issues?

I plan on doing the same so just looking for confirmation...

[edrussell]

1 minute ago, LouTheGlue said:

 

Thank you very much for the details. Just to confirm...You used the Proctored Switch Health Antigen test to get onboard the ship without issues?

I plan on doing the same so just looking for confirmation...

 

Correct, Switch Health proctored rapid antigen tests.  Zero issues with getting onboard with them.

[LuCruise]

Thanks for much for taking the time to explain your experience and the post cruise PCR for fellow Canadians.  I followed your live review on the Royal board.  Looks like you had a great cruise!  We are debating whether to go on our March break cruise out of New Jersey, or to wait, yet again, for later this year.  We won't have internet on the ship for trying to book a Walmart or CVS appointment and so taking the PCR test at the pier post cruise is a good option for us.  Crazy/scary/horrible how unorganized they were and with the staff had no idea about the post cruise PCR test.  I have a couple questions...

1. Can I ask how much the PCR cost per person?  Royal's website says "starting at $130", but that could mean anything.  There is a big difference between $130 pp vs say $250 pp, or "starting at" could even be more.  We are a a family of four.  (And i know those numbers are in USD)
2. Did you pay onboard?  Or paid after you took the test at the pier?  If we have this kind of experience I can see us giving up and finding somewhere else near the border (we know of one but it's $$$)....but obviously not if you pay for it beforehand.

Thanks again.  Hope your wife's test second test comes back soon.  Pretty silly they made her take one again so soon.  It's like the government is just trying to make a point that they don't want us travel as it's quite useless otherwise.

[edrussell]

43 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

1. Can I ask how much the PCR cost per person?  Royal's website says "starting at $130", but that could mean anything.  There is a big difference between $130 pp vs say $250 pp, or "starting at" could even be more.  We are a a family of four.  (And i know those numbers are in USD)
2. Did you pay onboard?  Or paid after you took the test at the pier?  If we have this kind of experience I can see us giving up and finding somewhere else near the border (we know of one but it's $$$)....but obviously not if you pay for it beforehand.

Thanks again.  Hope your wife's test second test comes back soon.  Pretty silly they made her take one again so soon.  It's like the government is just trying to make a point that they don't want us travel as it's quite useless otherwise.

 

From the above:

 

1. Our tests were paid by RCCL (we were grandfathered in since they aren't starting charging until the end of the month).

 

2.  Since we didn't have to pay we didn't have to worry about that.

 

My suggestion might be to investigate the Switch Health LAMP tests.  Perhaps buy a VOOM package for the last day of the cruise and test while onboard.  Otherwise if you crossing at the Peace Bridge there are quite a number of rapid PCR testing sites available with a lot of appointments.  

[LuCruise]

45 minutes ago, edrussell said:

 

From the above:

 

1. Our tests were paid by RCCL (we were grandfathered in since they aren't starting charging until the end of the month).

 

2.  Since we didn't have to pay we didn't have to worry about that.

 

My suggestion might be to investigate the Switch Health LAMP tests.  Perhaps buy a VOOM package for the last day of the cruise and test while onboard.  Otherwise if you crossing at the Peace Bridge there are quite a number of rapid PCR testing sites available with a lot of appointments.  

Oh that's right...you are still in January so you made the cut off.  Glad you didn't have to worry about paying for the test.  For the Switch Health, there seems to be discussion whether it's accepted or not....but yes, is we are able to purchase VOOM for just the last day, or last few days, that may be worth it.  Normally I like us to disconnect so we can be together on our trip and not focused on our phones, etc but if we have to,  we will.

Thanks again.

[Sprocket]

There is also a 1 800 your wife has to call every day to check in until she gets her results, hope she did that the information was in a pouch on the outside of the test kit I was given.   I've been tested 3 times on Princess to come back into Canada and they are very organized, the first was done on board but that was last August, second one was also on board during  a back to back and the third was done inside the terminal on the second floor in a private area with seating, washrooms and water. And all were free.

I would NOT have been happy to be put through what you were not acceptable IMO.  

I was also given a home test and I had my negative result in about 24 hours.

Hoping this testing will be dropped soon but not holding my breath and  hope you both have a more pleasant organized departure on your next cruise.

 

[edrussell]

My wife's test results came back this morning, negative.  So thus ends this saga.

 

[TeaBag]

Happy to hear that.  Cruise on!

[edrussell]

17 hours ago, Sprocket said:

There is also a 1 800 your wife has to call every day to check in until she gets her results, hope she did that the information was in a pouch on the outside of the test kit I was given.   I've been tested 3 times on Princess to come back into Canada and they are very organized, the first was done on board but that was last August, second one was also on board during  a back to back and the third was done inside the terminal on the second floor in a private area with seating, washrooms and water. And all were free.

I would NOT have been happy to be put through what you were not acceptable IMO.  

I was also given a home test and I had my negative result in about 24 hours.

Hoping this testing will be dropped soon but not holding my breath and  hope you both have a more pleasant organized departure on your next cruise.

 

 

There was nothing on the package that she was given with a 1-800 number etc.  Although I did receive an email this morning with something like that.  Either way, my wife had no intention of doing any of that.  She was annoyed enough to even have gotten the test.  There is no way I'll tell her any different, I know better..  HAHA.