Jax

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.

I hear you. We were out of the cold for 11 days and it’s hard to go back. Lol Calgary is currently -29 with extreme cold warning with extremely cold wind chill values between -40 and -55. And we don’t land till around midnight tonight.

Yeah they work great! There was a brief moment of panic when Find my IPhone said the tags were left behind in YYC but it just takes a few minutes to update their location.

WestJet We made it to MCO airport, are checked in and are anxiously hoping our plane gets here without further delay. We were informed at checkin that no food or beverages will be available onboard. And I mean none. Not even water. This flight is full of families with children; I can’t imagine what they are thinking. Because we are flying WestJet Premium we received a voucher for $45. It is unbelievable that guests on a 5 1/2 hour flight have no food or beverages available. And it gets worse; the kiosks where you can purchase beverages don’t accept the voucher. So far we have spent $36 on beverages and $60 for 3 burger combos. Where is Shane????? He would fix this immediately. Lol Seriously at this point we will be glad to get home.

Currently at MCO airport. I have yet to see any Covid protocols period except for masks. They jammed all of us into 1 car on the train to terminal B while the other 4 cars sat empty. Sanitizer stations are empty. No distancing markers. Bathrooms not clean. If any of this was reported on cruises the response would likely be very different.

Flight Delay We have been notified of a slight weather related flight delay but the good news is our direct flight has left YYC and is heading to MCO. Our expected departure time is now 19:00. So what does one do while waiting for their flight?

I think I mentioned that my plastic face mask was permitted onboard. I usually wore it; sometimes my N95 depending on the situation and my perceived level of risk. Not looking for opinions on the effectiveness of various masks; posting to inform readers that this is a permitted mask onboard Oasis.

Probably a pretty good chance it drained on its own. We watched ours slowly drain.

Hot tub review As requested our hot tub was filled on embarkation day. I wasn’t sure what to expect; I had doubts that it was a hot tub. It is not a hot tub, it is a jacuzzi tub so the water needs to be filled for each use and therefore there is no water treatment required. We found that over time the tub will drain itself. By late afternoon on embarkation day the water had drained on its own. I hoped to use it as a plunge pool on a hot day, but we were just too busy to enjoy this feature. Maybe next time.

Thoughts on Grand Panoramic Suite We loved many aspects of the room; the decor is beautiful, it is one level and we loved the close access to CK. There are definitely some privacy issues; the biggest in the master bath and bedroom area but we knew that going in The biggest ah ha moment was when I learned that the master bedroom windows are not one way; people can see you! You need to remember to put up the privacy shades. We weren’t fond of the frosted glass door to the master bedroom or master toilet area. If you don’t go to bed at the same time the light from one area affects people trying to sleep in the other area. Plus the wall separating the living area and master bedroom does not go to the ceiling, so noise from the TV may be an issue if you have staggered bed times. None of these things would stop us from booking this room again; in fact both Lindsay and Reyd loved the room.

I just got off Oasis this morning. Sail date: Dec 19-26th. Feel free to use any of my comments from my live blog or other forums. I feel Royal is doing a good job balancing protocols with guest experience. If they become the Covid police the guest experience will suffer. Some onboard feel Royal should enforce protocols better, while just as many if not more are content with the way they are being enforced. If you expect cruise lines to implement protocols similar to government mandates in your province, state or country now may not be the right time for you to cruise. It was refreshing to turn off Covid for a week and enjoy a much needed vacation. There are definitely some protocols that are not being enforced; the elevator limits being one of them. But if guests aren’t comfortable getting into an elevator with more than 6, they can wait for the next one. I was worried that the new mask protocols that changed a day or two prior to our sailing would impact our onboard experience, but they were mostly unnoticeable. As long as you had a beverage you were free to remove your mask while seated in a vaccinated venue. Many guests chose to wear their masks, while other removed them. I feel Royal has done a good job of focusing on the guest experience rather than masks, and giving guests a certain degree of freedom in this area. I saw a general tightening of protocols as the week went on; genie’s and crew wearing N95 masks, increased sanitizing of high traffic touch points; particularly the casino, placement of physical distancing markers in lineups and staff redirecting guests in long line ups to alternate lines or venues. I felt completely safe and my onboard experience wasn’t impacted but I also had the benefit of a genie which I felt was invaluable during these times. My genie was transparent about cases onboard and the number is relatively low when you factor out close contacts and guests being isolated with flu like symptoms that tested negative. Updated: In response to reporting (criticisms) of onboard testing on other ships, ours was completed on Day 7 at 8:15am and our PCR test results were emailed to us quickly. Return times ranged from less than an hour to 4 hours. This process may have been expedited due to our genie but it exceeded expected timelines. Jacquie

Haha I am going through Star class and Shane withdrawals.