On the Encore……but it wasn’t easy!

[firstcruise91]

Aloha Shark b8:

Could you expand explanation, please?  If your first tries at flight number format, phone country code format, contact phone country code format and birthday format were wrong, what did the correct format end up being for each of the "wrong" ones?  And what is captcha?  DH & I will be embarking in Lisbon soon after our flight from LAX and hope to learn from your experiences.  Times they are a-changing.  Love your daily notes.  Enjoy!

 

Mahalo,

 

Mary

[shark b8]

Gosh, firstcruise, I’ll try my best.  But we were increasingly panicky & grasping at straws for over an hour and half, trying everything we could think of, to get the QR code before our flight…..an effort which we ended up losing. So can’t guarantee I’ll correctly remember specifics from such a heated (but protracted) moment.  If I remember correctly, the field that said “phone number” had a grayed out hint/suggestion in the field, like “format +1 for USA”.  I believe it ended up being the opposite, *without* the plus sign for the country code.  You already know the Holy Grail “21C” for the airline seat #.  (And can anyone give me a good reason why the Portuguese authorities want to know what seat you’re in, on a flight before you get to Portugal?  Trying to be fair and really genuinely wanting to understand….still doesn’t make sense to me). I also believe that our flight, which would have been UA 64 if we hadn’t missed it, had to be entered UA64, with no space in between the letters & numbers.  Or else the other way around, but the magical answer was one or the other. 🤦‍♂️.  The “captcha” is that thing that theoretically ID’s you as a real person rather than a bot - “click the photos with buses in them”, or “enter this code”, which is a few numbers and letters in a weird background, which apparently cannot be deduced by bots.  I’ll continue to think about it, and ask Mrs Captain Sharkbait if she remembers any other specifics of the QR code thing.

[shark b8]

Realizing that my previous post is a pretty poor answer.……I think what I would for sure recommend, is that you start working on that form as early as possible, rather than at the very last second, as we were forced to.  You might have a lot of the same frustrations we did, but at least you might have the luxury of time, to get it right.

 

This is what it looks like, when you finally join the ranks of the Navajo code-talkers:  (good luck, let us know how it worked out for you!   And like I said……after all that angst, I don’t think anyone in the Passport/Immigration/Customs process ever asked to see it.  Red tape is international😜)

 

 

[shark b8]

….and now we are told (by way of one of those Guest Services notes in the “in-box” at your suite door) that we will be required to fill out the same sort of thing for Malta.  (Should we be allowed to disembark).  Oh joy.

[skybluewaters]

shark b8:  I really appreciate your commentary and am glad to see you possess such positivity in light of the issues you've faced.  You are making lemonade, as they say, and will have a great time no matter what! 

[SLSD]

32 minutes ago, skybluewaters said:

shark b8:  I really appreciate your commentary and am glad to see you possess such positivity in light of the issues you've faced.  You are making lemonade, as they say, and will have a great time no matter what! 

This is exactly what I enjoy about shark b8's posts.  He is always positive even though he is facing adversity.  Such a good trait.  I strive to have this trait, but always fall short, so I have to admire it in others.  

[shark b8]

Remember those “coveted window tables” I mentioned a while back?  You now have your choice of them, apparently. We tend to be late-people - i.e., late nights, late mornings, late dinner.  (We worked nights for several decades) By the time we left the Main Dining Room tonight (about 9:10p) there were no more than a dozen people in the room.

 

 

[jsea]

 

4 hours ago, shark b8 said:

 I believe it ended up being the opposite, *without* the plus sign for the country code.

This worked for me as well (no +).

 

And thank you for the 21C trick. (I found that 21c didn’t work - just 21C).

 

I presume they want to know your seat in case you later test positive and they want to contact trace.

[cruiseej]

4 hours ago, shark b8 said:

And can anyone give me a good reason why the Portuguese authorities want to know what seat you’re in, on a flight before you get to Portugal?  Trying to be fair and really genuinely wanting to understand….still doesn’t make sense to me.

 

I don't know, of course, but I have a guess: it's for potential contact-tracing. If someone falls ill with Covid shortly after arrival in the country, authorities might want to try to find the people sitting near the sick person on the plane. 

[SusieQft]

8 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

I don't know, of course, but I have a guess: it's for potential contact-tracing. If someone falls ill with Covid shortly after arrival in the country, authorities might want to try to find the people sitting near the sick person on the plane. 

It that is the case and there are a large number of travelers in seat 21C, the risk of being flagged as a contact will be higher.  🤔

[Mauzac]

I'm from UK, and we regularly travel to Espana where we have another home.  The Passenger Locator Forms are a pain!

They are so much easier to do on a laptop or desktop so my advice would be to go to Seabourn Square and do it there.  UK have stopped PLFs now, we are used to doing them regularly for UK/Spain but it took us (who are used to them) quite a while when trying on a phone returning to UK from Ovation in February.  We gave up and started again on the desktops in the Square, much easier.

 

They don't look at the QR code, I agree, but I do think the fact you have done a PLF is linked to your passport when they scan it, so they know if you have, or haven't done one.   I'm not 100% sure on that, but that's what someone told me! 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Mauzac

[DrSHF]

We just filled out the Portugal form. It refused to accept the country code for the telephone numbers until we put in 01. It liked 01. Hope that helps someone. 

[shark b8]

Just finished our EU dPLC forms, for Malta tomorrow.  The pre-dinner champagne and caviar arrived at just the right time.  🥂🍾

[shark b8]

….and Indian Market dinner tonight at the Colonnade.  Usually, we do a little  back-and-forth dance every morning, where do we want to have dinner tonight? - but when it’s Indian Market dinner, that’s a decision.  That little light film of sweat (and maybe a slightly runny nose) indicate the capsaicin level is just about right.

 

And….an actual PORT tomorrow.  woohooo!

[shark b8]

….and after dinner, listening to Opening Day baseball, live, Cubs/Brewers!   I have to say, one of my major Seabourn complaints has been essentially resolved - a few years ago, wifi was horrendously slow, and we’d have to trade off being online - “ok, I signed off, you can sign on now”.  We each have a phone & an iPad, used for different stuff through the day, and now we can have them online at the same time, and the speed is dramatically better.  Yes, our Seabourn Club level gives us a good package to begin with, but point being, it’s orders of magnitude better than it used to be.  (3-1 Cubs, bottom of the 5th). ⚾😎

[highplanesdrifters]

@shark b8 thanks for all you're wonderful posts.  I just wanted to let you know that 21C is now in our lexicon and perhaps might sweep the world.  We were installing a new AT&T micro cell yesterday. It would not take the given serial number to get the QR code.  I said try 21C.  I love technology. 

[shark b8]

1 hour ago, highplanesdrifters said:

@shark b8 21C is now in our lexicon and perhaps might sweep the world.  We were installing a new AT&T micro cell yesterday. It would not take the given serial number to get the QR code.  I said try 21C.  I love technology. 

 

Hahahahahha, brilliant!  But I begin to get nervous as to what I have now unleashed.  Pandora’s Box?  “Release the Kraken”!?

 

And as I write this, it scarily occurs to me:  ”21C”. -  As in… “21st Century?”

 

It’s a Brave New World.  Do I get to be Emperor?

 

 

[shark b8]

We sailed into Valletta, Malta.  We think our favorite sailaway/sail-into experiences have included Venice, Dover, and Sydney.  This is right up there!   They fired cannons from the ramparts, apparently to herald our arrival.  Do you think they’ve found out about 21C? 

[highplanesdrifters]

21 hours ago, shark b8 said:

 

 

It’s a Brave New World.  Do I get to be Emperor?

 

 

Perhaps you do! But what will your policy on the sticky clothes issue be.  And then there is the whole controlling the Krankens once they are released debacle.  I'd just stay behind the curtain.

[shark b8]

 

1 hour ago, highplanesdrifters said:

I'd just stay behind the curtain.

 

Yes.  As the man said, “I’m a good man, I’m just a very bad Wizard.”

[shark b8]

Somehow in our travels, we never got to Malta, which we are now correcting.  What a wonderful place!  With all the influences from all sides over the centuries, seems to be a wonderful jumble of cultures, language, architecture, cuisine, etc.  The archaeological sites are stunning.

[shark b8]

…and the view from our veranda ain’t half-bad.  😯

[SLSD]

1 hour ago, shark b8 said:

Somehow in our travels, we never got to Malta, which we are now correcting.  What a wonderful place!  With all the influences from all sides over the centuries, seems to be a wonderful jumble of cultures, language, architecture, cuisine, etc.  The archaeological sites are stunning.

I agree.  We absolutely love Malta.  We knew very little about it until we found ourselves there one day on a SB cruise---one day at Gozo and the next day at Valetta.  There were so many things that fascinated us.  I look forward to going back.  And yes, we saw an archaeological site on Gozo that I still think about.  Did you see something different?  

 

I do still remember a friend we met on that cruise saying that Malta "was nothing but a stack of rocks".   We told him later at dinner that this was not our impression. Another local friend told me the same thing.  Evidently they did not see what we did.  

[lincslady]

Yes, Valetta is a great port.  You could easily overnight there and see more of it.

[lincslady]

Yes, Valetta is a great port.  You could easily overnight there and see more of it.