mk-ultra

14528. No real reason for choosing starboard over port. I think I habitually take the starboard side to reduce that day one "what direction am I going in?" thing.

So, last thing to do was checking "no" on 15 things on the RCL app at T-24 hours indicating I'm not a plague rat. It's failed multiple times trying to submit. Mucho non-caring. They can deal with me tomorrow. Hats off to Royal IT again.

I haven't seen one here. Instead, they have a hosted evening wine hour between 5-6PM. I've got zero status with IHG hotels, so I could be missing something, but I think wine hour is it. Haven't checked it out.

Oh, FWIW... did my proctored eMed test last night right after getting to the hotel. Totally painless. Went to eMed.com, hit the "test" button and was on a video call in under a minute. Show unopened box, show QR code on outside with expiration date, unbox & take the test. I used my laptop camera which was handy (I could partially close the lid to focus on the test card during the 15 minute wait time for the test to finish). You don't have to sit for 15 minutes, just keep it on camera and be back before the timer runs out. They want to know you aren't doing the old swaparoo. You'll hold the test card up for another proctor to see when your 15 minutes are up. Honestly, I think my 15 minutes were up a couple of decades ago. Negative results show up in the Navica app in a few minutes. Just to be safe, I emailed them to a couple of my personal addresses, but I'm not going to bother printing them out; I'll just show the app & know I've got a couple of backups.

That's the one. Only real tip I have for the property is to know their given address is 270 Biscanyne Blvd Way. While perhaps technically correct, the entrance for drop-off/pickup/valet is at the intersection of SE 3rd Avenue at SE 4th Street. I saw more than a few folks on Tripadvisor who had a WTF moment trying to get to the hotel. Food has been very good. Had both breakfast and lunch at Area 31, their restaurant adjacent to the pool. I used this morning to do some scouting around the hotel. Again it's not South Beach, but within 3-4 blocks: Boulud Sud: https://www.bouludsud.com/miami/ Capital Grille: https://www.thecapitalgrille.com/locations/fl/miami/miami/8006 In the same area: Whole Foods, CVS, Starbucks, Subway sandwiches, Metromover stop (Miami's elevated public transport doohickey), Bayfront Park (kinda like a less inviting SF Pier 39). Best stuff I found was a block of restaurants at SE 1st Street and 3rd Avenue. Al fresco nibbles and all of the places seemed pretty popular and non-chain. Bayfront Park has their own rotate-y vertical thing... like the London Eye or Singapore Flyer:

On the road! Flight out from SFO yesterday started out great. Quick stop into the Centurion lounge for the mandatory, "I'm officially on vacation" bloody mary. Wheels up on time just before 0900 and we had a really spectacular tail wind which shaved 40 minutes off of the trip. Landed in Miami and that's where the fun began. No gates available. OK, that happens. Continue reading book. 30 minutes... 1 hour... 90 minutes... 2 hours. I think the flight crew was at least if not more miffed than the pax. Door opened to applause at the 2:15 delay mark. Miami airport was having some kind of meltdown. People sleeping on the floors; lady with a kid said they'd been waiting almost 3 hours for their luggage to get to the carousel. Anyway, our flight's luggage came out in about 45 minutes and the ~15 minute taxi ride to the hotel was uneventful. The hotel is nice. It's a little away from the "dynamic" Miami stuff but still in a good location with an estuary and decent view of a slice of Biscayne Bay. AMEX FH&R scored again. Went from a floor 16 "city view" to a floor 30 water view. I'd take some room photos, but meh? It's a hotel. Nice big tub, which I will poor-man's Jacuzzi. It's a bit windy for the pool on 16. You can see the ships in port from the balcony. Plan for today is to just pedestriate myself around and check out the area. 1130 show time for Boaty McBoatface tomorrow.

Yay! Shane is my Genie as well. Excursion wise: Coco Beach Club on day 2, catamaran snorkel on day 4, Torquise Bay (drunk with a book) on day 5, and ATV Jungle and Beach Adventure on day 6. Can't speak about Chichen Itza (haven't done it), but I did do the Mayan ruins (Xunantunich) on a Belize trip. It was ~2 hours each way to get to and from the site from the port. I was a little bit sketchy about that travel time but it was great. Guide made the travel time fun and educational. No regrets. Had an amazing lunch on the way back and got introduced to Marie Sharp's hot sauces. New addiction. Bottle sits next to my Nando's piri-piri.

I'm still kinda wondering how I'll like it. I really like having a balcony and normally use it quite a bit (L1 loft cabin is my go-to on O class ships). I'm a short hop from being on the pool deck, so happy to give this a shot even without a balcony. I did put in 3 potential RoyalUp bids... which will be ridiculously stupid (solo) if one of them wins.

I normally wouldn't start posting before I'm actually on my trip, but with all the Covid fun and testing and whatnot, I'm going to start a few days early this time because it may be useful to others. Basics: Ultimate Panoramic Suite, Deck 14 Forward. Stupidly rare cabin (there are only two in Royal's fleet and I just lucked out when they were released for booking late November 2019). It's Star Class, so this should be fun. Itinerary: Miami Cococay At Sea Cozumel Roatan Costa Maya At Sea Miami Like most of you, I need a negative Covid test before boarding. Save yourself some heartache and just order a proctored rapid antigen test instead of trying to book a slot at a pharmacy. I'll do mine on a video call at my hotel using my laptop. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center/pre-cruise-testing. My test kits arrived 3 days after I ordered them, and both had December expiration dates.

Looks like an auto-correct fail. I believe they were referring to "SanDisk."

I was on the Radiance. My experience is a bit dated -- 2016.

On my cruise, the ship spent at least an hour making continuous slow 360s, with a couple of breaks keeping station.

1 liter. Above that, it will be dutiable at 3 percent, plus any Internal Revenue Tax (IRT) that is due.

If I did the math right and you'll be at Cococay on the 23rd, there are two ships scheduled for that day: Harmony and Independence. I'd just keep checking the cruise planner to see if someone frees up a slot by cancelling. https://www.cruisetimetables.com/visitingcococaybahamas-23apr2022.html

Somebody was definitely having a nap at the x-ray machine.

The front QR code (next to the text saying download the Navica app) just takes you to: https://www.globalpointofcare.abbott/en/product-details/navica.html#/ where you can download the app from either the Apple or Google Play app stores. You'll need the app. Once you download it, launch it and create an account using your phone number. When you're actually ready to do the test, you'll go to the eMed web site: https://www.emed.com and get going from there. Your proctor will guide you through the rest. The QR code on the white sticker is for use during testing. You are also correct about NOT opening the box until told to do so by the proctor.

Central Park at night is pretty amazing. Good place to meet up with friends / fellow-travelers and have a beer or glass of wine while listening to some really good acoustic music. Everything from jazz trios, 4-piece classical strings to solo guitar.

Had a 20-something woman cut in front of a bunch of us in line. The person she cut in front of gently said, "sorry... there's a line" (pointing at said obvious line). She drunkenly waved around her SeaPass card and said, indignantly, "I'm in a suite." It was so... I don't even know. We all just looked at each other and laughed and let her go about her suite-ness.

USVI is also now rejecting unvaccinated passengers. Even though I'm cancelled, received notification that's off the menu for the cruise.

Ugh. Just pulled the eject handle on this cruise. On the team I manage at work, just had 3 breakthrough cases for the fully-vaccinated. I've got employees with under 12 y/o kids and folks with immunocomprised people at home. That's tripped my limit. I seriously wanted to be on this sailing (pretty much like everyone else who has had to cancel/postpone stuff for 18+ months). FL is a train wreck. Again, the risk to me is small, but the risk of bringing it back impacts a lot of other people and their kids. So no-go. Trying again in December. Super bummed.

Booking a rental car out of MCO was (initially) problematic. My former hometown (Merritt Island) is close to the port, so if I cruise out of Canaveral I usually add a day to explore and get a one-way rental out of MCO to the port. Unlike most places, there isn't a price premium for doing this. Hertz was just zip, nada, nothing available for 3+ weeks, so I went with Avis.

That would be nice. I'm flying to OH 8/9 for a work trip. I do all the recommended stuff, but I'll be in a tube with ~150 other people for 6.5 hours. Flights are packed. Like 100% full. Hard to social distance on an aircraft, including my flight to MCO.

Starting this trip report a little earlier than I normally would, because COVID is at the top of most folks’ mind, so I wanted to share what’s going through mine at the moment. Basics: Cruise: Allure, August 22nd out of Port Canaveral - 7 nights Itinerary: St. Kitts, St. Thomas and CocoCay, the rest being sea days Me: 55 and fully vaccinated with no comorbidities I’m still in “go” mode for this trip for now. For me, the risk isn’t so much COVID any longer. The risk of a breakthrough infection isn’t zero, but FL’s numbers kinda make that a higher possibility. If I do get infected, the risk of hospitalization or croaking are vanishingly small — but it would very much suck to have a positive test and not be able to board. Vaccinated passengers on this cruise are now required to have a negative PCR or antigen test within 72 hours prior to sailing. I’m flying out on 8/20, so I’m getting one here locally on the 19th in CA because there are multiple reports of testing sites in Florida being hammered. I wouldn’t count on flying in and getting one at the last minute. I’ve set a personal deadline of 8/18 to pull the plug on this cruise and that’s almost entirely contingent on how FL is doing. Their ICU numbers aren’t looking great and it would suck to be admitted for anything, even not COVID related.

Ditto. I don't have a problem with getting tested, but I fly SFO-MCO for an August 22 cruise. The testing centers at both airports (which was Plan A) are both closed at the times I'll be at the airport to make my flight and after I disembark in FL. Plan B is to get the rapid antigen test here in my departure city on 8/19 (day before flight). That's pretty tight depending on how strict they are about the time-out. It's within 3 days but may not be within 72 hours. I'll probably back that up with an antigen test at a CVS in FL on 8/21 if I don't have results by then.

Sigh. I don't mind the test even though I'm fully vaccinated -- but because I'm cautious I'm flying out Aug 20 for an Aug 22 sailing date. A PCR here in my home town will probably time out. Anyone have recommendations near Port Canaveral?