Jax

We recently sailed over Christmas on Oasis and had Coco Cay on day 2. Formal nights were moved to day 3 & 6.

And to add to the confusion for Canadians, if you are from Alberta, Saskatchewan or the territories federal enforcement authorities can’t issue fines under the contraventions act. The RCMP can but according to the federal website none have been reported.

Hubby recently tested positive via a routine work PCR test. He will not be subject to work related testing for 6 weeks…curious to see if he tests positive at the 6 week mark. As others have said, your best bet is with a rapid antigen. Out of curiosity, hubby did an at home rapid antigen test on day 14 and it was negative.

We cruised over Christmas on Oasis of the Seas just as Omicron cases began to surge. Our cruise experience was excellent but as others have said you need to be prepared for last minute changes/cancellations of onboard activities/entertainment and protocols. An example; when we landed in Florida we learned of Royals new new mask mandate and on Day 2 or 3 of our cruise they implemented a non smoking policy in the casino. Neither of these changes dampened our experience. I feel Royal did a very good job balancing the guest experience with Covid protocols but if you are looking for strictly enforced protocols similar to some states, provinces and countries now may not be the right time to cruise. Elevator capacity limits were disregarded by most people but if you weren’t comfortable getting on an elevator with more than 6 people, you could wait and catch the next one. If you wanted to wear a mask in a vaccinated venue, no one cared, just as others chose to take their masks off. Royals Covid insurance coupled with onboard PCR testing was a considerable incentive for us travelling from Canada because Covid travel/cancellation/quarantine insurance can be hard to find in Canada (many will not cover cruising). If one of us happened to test positive onboard we would be flown home by Royal. Otherwise we must quarantine in the US for 14 days because Canada will not allow anyone with a positive case to fly home until day 15. And if you attempt to drive across the land border to quarantine at home you are subject to a $5k fine. Our onboard experience was truly outstanding and we would not hesitate to cruise again but unfortunately Canada has tightened their border measures even more since our cruise, complicating future travel. And the possibility of flight delays and cancellations is another deterrent to travelling outside Canada right now. Our Canadian friends that we cruised with had their flight cancelled for 6 days, requiring them to get new PCR tests. One of them tested positive and it has been nothing but a gong show for them since returning to Canada. If you are from the US these issues will not apply to you. You can find more on our experience in my live blog: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/26592--festivus-star-class-miracle-oasis-december-19-26th/

I just heard about this today! This is beyond frustrating.

We were there Dec 23/21 and did the Maho Beach Plane Spotting excursion.

We had friends that recently returned from MCO and they went with a cheaper/free testing option. Unfortunately their test results were not back in time; resulting in the additional cost of rescheduling flights, additional hotel stay and the need to retest. Availability at MCO airport doesn’t look good but Fast Test Now looks like they have availability. We just returned 2 weeks ago from MCO and both the airport and Fast Test Now were our Plan B in the event of a flight delay/cancellation and the need to retest. https://fasttestnow.as.me/orlando?_gl=1*117gts4*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE2NDIwNDUxNTUuQ2p3S0NBaUFsZnFPQmhBZUVpd0FZaTQzRjJsTWdvUHVVaUczOE15RmhQWVJWTmkzanNwTGZyMHk1Rk9YVHdfaUY1YndzZnh5TzhDM1BSb0MweG9RQXZEX0J3RQ..

You think that was happy; just wait till you get your negative test result!

I agree with what others have said. Stick to the rapid antigen test. A family member recently tested positive on a work PCR test; I was curious if a rapid antigen at home test would pick up the infection and it did. He is exempt from future work related PCR tests for 60-90 days for the reasons already mentioned. I am curious if the at home rapid antigen test will report a positive test result at the 14 day mark. I will report back on the results.

He had mentioned that his contract was ending around the time of your sailing (but with everything going on, that date may have changed) so something consumable would likely be best. The gifts we gave were very compact. I focused on self care products that could be enjoyed while onboard and during travel.

Photo Book Arrived! Just a quick update to report that the photo book arrived already! Order was placed last Friday and received it today. And the quality is good for the price. In the past I have paid considerably more for the onboard ship photo books. The added benefit of this option (from Mixbook) was the ability to add pictures other than those taken by Royal Photographers.

We lucked out on that. Shane surprised us!

I booked ours right away in the hopes I could catch a cruise planner sale but that didn’t happen. The opposite happened. Prices reached as high as $1899. When the cabana became unavailable to book through cruise planner it didn’t say “sold out” like other excursions, it said “check onboard” so it’s possible your genie can check with the onboard team. As others have said, keep checking frequently between now and then. I went back and forth on the cost but in the end this experience was the highlight of our cruise. I am so glad we did it. Good luck!

Here is the experience of friends; one of whom tested positive prior to their return to Canada. The backstory: they both had negative PCR tests but their flights were cancelled and it would be 6 days before they could be rebooked. So they needed new PCR tests. One of them tested positive after having a slight headache a couple days earlier. They spoke to US and Canadian health agencies and after waiting 5 days from onset of symptoms (CDC revised isolation requirements) and being symptom free, they flew to Seattle and attempted to return home by Ferry. They were denied entry on their scheduled Ferry (departing from the US) due to the positive Covid test. Plan B had them driving to land border at Blaine Washington. The CBSA agent directed them to the parking lot where they had to speak to an agent from the PHAC. After more than an hour a PHAC representative arrived outside their vehicle. The agent took pictures of their Covid tests and Arrive Can QR code, provided them with at home test kits, outlined quarantine requirements (both are required to quarantine for 14 days, they must phone a number at the PHAC tomorrow to arrange for a monitored tele health Covid test, tomorrow is considered Day 1, another monitored test on Day 8). Even though several provinces including BC have reduced isolation/quarantine to 5 days it seems for now the Feds are keeping it at 14 days. At the end the PHAC agent said they are subject to a fine of $5750 for arriving in Canada with a positive Covid test. He went on to say this was not Federal law but rather a provincial one but since they were so compliant, didn’t argue and believed they had done everything legally required, they received a warning. They are now boarding a BC Ferry for their return home. To think, all of this started with a flight cancellation….

We have friends crossing the border later today via ferry; one of whom tested positive. I am anxious to see what the process will be. Hoping it goes smoothly for them.

Clarification on quarantine and testing requirements. I was not aware that I had to call the PHAC to report our arrival at Reyd’s place of quarantine or that I had to answer a series of questions on symptoms. As previously noted this process was confusing when we arrived in YYC. I called the PHAC this morning to report Reyd’s arrival and answered the questions on symptoms. It sounds like we have concluded all reporting requirements.

Thank you, mine worked once I switched devices.

Photo Book I received the email mentioned by @DDaleyfor the free photo book and ordered the book tonight. Thanks for mentioning this.What a great deal! Shipping to Canada was $13.99. The total cost was $25.26 once the credit of $31.58 is applied.

I received this email!! But my promo code isn’t working. Do you recall if there were any tricks to getting it to work??

Switch Health Test Results Received negative test result back at 5:15 am this morning. Not a bad turn around time (28 hours) since the sample was done at 1am in the morning on the 28th. Lindsay’s return to work PCR test also came back negative.

Update on Random Arrival Testing I forgot to talk about the quarantine requirements pending negative test result. This process was vague and confusing. The CBSA agent never advised us of quarantine requirements but gave us a Covid handout (attached) to review. The handout differs from what is on the travel.gc.ca website because it does not mention quarantine pending negative test results for fully vaccinated travellers. The quarantine requirements on travel.gc.ca are this: If you were outside Canada or the US in the past 14 days the person must quarantine pending test results. If you were not outside Canada or the US in the past 14 days you do not have to quarantine pending test results. To be safe Reyd will quarantine pending a negative test result. But this process needs to be clarified because not all returning travellers may check the travel.go.ca website.

In other news it is -36 degrees as we are driving home.

CBSA update Flight arrived in YYC @10:45pm local time. Completed Nexus and was directed to a CBSA agent. (This is a new process. We use to be able to bypass the CBSA agent and go directly to baggage claim.) Questions Asked: 1. Where are you coming from? Florida 2. What was the purpose of your trip? Pleasure. 3. Where did you go? Cruise 4. What did you buy? Xxx 5. What was the value of goods purchased? Xxx Agent says: Your son has been selected for random arrival testing. He circled Reyd’s picture from Nexus slip and told us what to do. Process if selected for Random Arrival Testing Once luggage is collected you hand the agent the Nexus slip. There is a different line and another CBSA agent that you will see. From there you are given a couple choices. One adult accompanies your child to the testing area and the other adult can leave and go get the vehicle or all of you can accompany your child to the testing area. There was a long line for testing. While waiting in line, you need to scan a QR code and set up an account for the person being tested. It is a switch health account. The first person you see in Line 1 makes sure the account is set up and gives you the test kit. From there you go to another long line 2 to be tested. I will receive an email with test results within a day or two. We landed at 10:45pm local time and left the airport at 1:00am. Luggage was delayed and contributed to our late departure from airport. But it’s been a long day. It looked like most of the plane had at least one person in their party selected for random testing. We were grateful that Lindsay was not selected as he has his return to work PCR test scheduled for tomorrow morning and did not want to be in isolation pending test results. I will report back on test results timeline.

Yup, that’s right. I keep forgetting you cross the land border and I fly.

This is the one offered through Air Canada via Switch Health. I had looked into it but when we changed our return travel date, it became irrelevant. Results within minutes.