wannabecruiseexpert

Day 4. Our first time to Costa Maya.  We have a 7 hour excursion scheduled. At some point throughout the night, DD6 started coughing more than usual. Like she needed mucinex. About 6 in the morning she “got sick” and was acting pretty whiny. 7:00…. still acting whiny. I understand a cough and throwing up isn’t abnormal for a little kid but in these covid times, I’m not taking any risks of us being responsible for getting someone else sick. 
 
So I messaged Smitha a little after 7 and told her what was happening and that I was going to call medical. By 7:20 I was off the phone with medical and they were sending a nurse to give her a covid test. 7:30 Smitha told me she had contacted shore excursions and told them what was happening. 7:35 test was done and we were told we’d get results in 45-60 minutes and for everyone to stay in the room. Now I’m not exaggerating when I say this but by 7:45, little one was 100% back to her normal self. No coughing. No whining. It was like someone flipped a switch. 8:33 she messaged me to see if I heard anything. Nope, still waiting. Since it has been an hour, she called medical. 8:37 she told me they have the results and would call me (if they had the results, what were we waiting on??) 8:42 they called and said it was negative but I needed to take her to get checked out. Smitha met us with an elevator at 8:47 and took us to medical and told us it’d be really quick and then left to go get the rest of my family so we could all go on the tour.
 
When we walk into medical, there’s a few people who appeared to be filling out paperwork and waiting. She’s triaged immediately then taken to a room. Doctor comes and explains to me that their typical swab test tests for 4 things….covid, influenza a, influenza b and rsv and that DD was negative for all. Told me not a gastro issue and that she seems phlegmy from allergies and needed to take benedryl and also that she needs to stay out of kids club today and tomorrow (days 4 and 5)
After making sure there’s no issues getting off the ship, we went to the elevator lobby where Smitha was waiting with my family. When we scanned our cards to get off, DD6 flashed red and said she couldn’t get off due to being unvaccinated and not having a ship sponsored excursion. Smitha talked to them and we got off. At this point it’s 9:30, almost 2 hours late. She handed us over to the shore excursion manager who walked us down the pier to meet our tour guide. 
 
Next up: the tour and being scared we were going to miss the ship

Day 4. Our first time to Costa Maya.  We have a 7 hour excursion scheduled. At some point throughout the night, DD6 started coughing more than usual. Like she needed mucinex. About 6 in the morning she “got sick” and was acting pretty whiny. 7:00…. still acting whiny. I understand a cough and throwing up isn’t abnormal for a little kid but in these covid times, I’m not taking any risks of us being responsible for getting someone else sick. 
 
So I messaged Smitha a little after 7 and told her what was happening and that I was going to call medical. By 7:20 I was off the phone with medical and they were sending a nurse to give her a covid test. 7:30 Smitha told me she had contacted shore excursions and told them what was happening. 7:35 test was done and we were told we’d get results in 45-60 minutes and for everyone to stay in the room. Now I’m not exaggerating when I say this but by 7:45, little one was 100% back to her normal self. No coughing. No whining. It was like someone flipped a switch. 8:33 she messaged me to see if I heard anything. Nope, still waiting. Since it has been an hour, she called medical. 8:37 she told me they have the results and would call me (if they had the results, what were we waiting on??) 8:42 they called and said it was negative but I needed to take her to get checked out. Smitha met us with an elevator at 8:47 and took us to medical and told us it’d be really quick and then left to go get the rest of my family so we could all go on the tour.
 
When we walk into medical, there’s a few people who appeared to be filling out paperwork and waiting. She’s triaged immediately then taken to a room. Doctor comes and explains to me that their typical swab test tests for 4 things….covid, influenza a, influenza b and rsv and that DD was negative for all. Told me not a gastro issue and that she seems phlegmy from allergies and needed to take benedryl and also that she needs to stay out of kids club today and tomorrow (days 4 and 5)
After making sure there’s no issues getting off the ship, we went to the elevator lobby where Smitha was waiting with my family. When we scanned our cards to get off, DD6 flashed red and said she couldn’t get off due to being unvaccinated and not having a ship sponsored excursion. Smitha talked to them and we got off. At this point it’s 9:30, almost 2 hours late. She handed us over to the shore excursion manager who walked us down the pier to meet our tour guide. 
 
Next up: the tour and being scared we were going to miss the ship

Day 4. Our first time to Costa Maya.  We have a 7 hour excursion scheduled. At some point throughout the night, DD6 started coughing more than usual. Like she needed mucinex. About 6 in the morning she “got sick” and was acting pretty whiny. 7:00…. still acting whiny. I understand a cough and throwing up isn’t abnormal for a little kid but in these covid times, I’m not taking any risks of us being responsible for getting someone else sick. 
 
So I messaged Smitha a little after 7 and told her what was happening and that I was going to call medical. By 7:20 I was off the phone with medical and they were sending a nurse to give her a covid test. 7:30 Smitha told me she had contacted shore excursions and told them what was happening. 7:35 test was done and we were told we’d get results in 45-60 minutes and for everyone to stay in the room. Now I’m not exaggerating when I say this but by 7:45, little one was 100% back to her normal self. No coughing. No whining. It was like someone flipped a switch. 8:33 she messaged me to see if I heard anything. Nope, still waiting. Since it has been an hour, she called medical. 8:37 she told me they have the results and would call me (if they had the results, what were we waiting on??) 8:42 they called and said it was negative but I needed to take her to get checked out. Smitha met us with an elevator at 8:47 and took us to medical and told us it’d be really quick and then left to go get the rest of my family so we could all go on the tour.
 
When we walk into medical, there’s a few people who appeared to be filling out paperwork and waiting. She’s triaged immediately then taken to a room. Doctor comes and explains to me that their typical swab test tests for 4 things….covid, influenza a, influenza b and rsv and that DD was negative for all. Told me not a gastro issue and that she seems phlegmy from allergies and needed to take benedryl and also that she needs to stay out of kids club today and tomorrow (days 4 and 5)
After making sure there’s no issues getting off the ship, we went to the elevator lobby where Smitha was waiting with my family. When we scanned our cards to get off, DD6 flashed red and said she couldn’t get off due to being unvaccinated and not having a ship sponsored excursion. Smitha talked to them and we got off. At this point it’s 9:30, almost 2 hours late. She handed us over to the shore excursion manager who walked us down the pier to meet our tour guide. 
 
Next up: the tour and being scared we were going to miss the ship

Day 3 (Cozumel) started with breakfast delivery from Coastal Kitchen and Starbucks 

I think we all like Johnny Rocket’s breakfast better. 

DD22 and her friend explores to port area, which equates to some drinking at Senor Frogs. 
DD14, her friend and I did a ship sponsored excursion swimming with dolphins. When we went to Cozumel in June on the Adventure sailing, we went to the same place but did the encounter. DD watched all of the people swimming with them and knew she’d want to do it the next time. The excursion included lunch and open bar. Rum punch was REALLY good and the kids quesadillas were very tasty. I had chicken nachos and they were just ok.
But that’s ok because when we returned to the ship, it was snack time….

Day 3 (Cozumel) started with breakfast delivery from Coastal Kitchen and Starbucks 

I think we all like Johnny Rocket’s breakfast better. 

DD22 and her friend explores to port area, which equates to some drinking at Senor Frogs. 
DD14, her friend and I did a ship sponsored excursion swimming with dolphins. When we went to Cozumel in June on the Adventure sailing, we went to the same place but did the encounter. DD watched all of the people swimming with them and knew she’d want to do it the next time. The excursion included lunch and open bar. Rum punch was REALLY good and the kids quesadillas were very tasty. I had chicken nachos and they were just ok.
But that’s ok because when we returned to the ship, it was snack time….

Day 3 dinner was at Samba Grill, located at the Solarium. I absolutely loved the space. It was right at sunset and absolutely gorgeous in there! It’s the first sunset we saw. The food received mixed opinions from my bunch. These are some of the prepared foods from the buffet area and appetizers. Sorry I have no clue what anything is called.
 

I’ll get caught up with day 3 dinner and evening soon but here’s a spoiler for day 4……
It involves a sick kid, medical center, covid test, a very pricey private journeys tour that was scheduled at 7:45 (while we were quarantined to our room) 

After lunch we walked around more and when we got back we had more snacks 

 
More sushi! Smitha is doing a great job sending assorted mixed drinks for the adults and virgin drinks for the kids. Earlier I said I don’t eat sushi but those fried things in the picture at about 10 o’clock were amazing. Anyone know what those are called? 
The night before, one of my kids asked if there was anywhere to get a pickle, and I told her I didn’t think so but I would find out. I asked on Facebook and they said maybe the Windjammer but everything was already closed so I asked Smitha the next day if there was anywhere and she said they have sliced pickles didn’t know about big ones but she would find out. Less than 10 minutes later the doorbell rings and we got this

Smitha for the win!! 

Tomorrow’s the big day! I can’t contain my excitement. This trip has been such a long time coming. 
1 CVS test and 6 at home tests done and all negative. Our flight to MCO was Friday at 6. I saw on our FB group that cancellations were starting due to MCO halting flights in and out due to some bad storms. I saw 4 flights heading to MCO and 3 were either delayed or canceled. Ours said on time. We boarded and started moving, only for the pilot to say they were told we couldn’t land so we’re going to wait a while and they would update us in 30 minutes. Then another 30. After about an hour and half they had us get off and said they were trying to figure it out. 
I had no clue what I was going to do. The drive would have been about 8 hours and by this time it’s after 8 pm so I figured I better go ahead and start the drive. Decided to check one last time and by some miracle, they said we were allowed to land and we’d board again in about 15 minutes. We ended up landing about 11:30 pm. So many people are still having issues trying to get here!
 Now off to TRY and get some sleep and dream of an easy embarkation  😴 💤 
 

I’ll get caught up with day 3 dinner and evening soon but here’s a spoiler for day 4……
It involves a sick kid, medical center, covid test, a very pricey private journeys tour that was scheduled at 7:45 (while we were quarantined to our room) 

I’ll get caught up with day 3 dinner and evening soon but here’s a spoiler for day 4……
It involves a sick kid, medical center, covid test, a very pricey private journeys tour that was scheduled at 7:45 (while we were quarantined to our room) 

Those sandwiches are really good! We’ve had tuna salad and chicken salad and some pesto thing so far. 
 
I’m with you on the simple food!

I’ll get caught up with day 3 dinner and evening soon but here’s a spoiler for day 4……
It involves a sick kid, medical center, covid test, a very pricey private journeys tour that was scheduled at 7:45 (while we were quarantined to our room) 

I’ll get caught up with day 3 dinner and evening soon but here’s a spoiler for day 4……
It involves a sick kid, medical center, covid test, a very pricey private journeys tour that was scheduled at 7:45 (while we were quarantined to our room) 

I’ll get caught up with day 3 dinner and evening soon but here’s a spoiler for day 4……
It involves a sick kid, medical center, covid test, a very pricey private journeys tour that was scheduled at 7:45 (while we were quarantined to our room) 

Those sandwiches are really good! We’ve had tuna salad and chicken salad and some pesto thing so far. 
 
I’m with you on the simple food!

So getting on the ship was horrible! 

We arrive at 11:30 and didn’t get on the ship until about 1:20. It took forever to get the test result for the little one. Finally get the negative  email and finish checking in and we had no clue if we were supposed to wait for Smitha or not. I ask someone if we’re supposed to be with our genie and they went and asked a different person who told them that Smitha had been there waiting for us. 
 
Once we got with her, she took us to our room which was full of snacks and drinks. 
 

Tomorrow’s the big day! I can’t contain my excitement. This trip has been such a long time coming. 
1 CVS test and 6 at home tests done and all negative. Our flight to MCO was Friday at 6. I saw on our FB group that cancellations were starting due to MCO halting flights in and out due to some bad storms. I saw 4 flights heading to MCO and 3 were either delayed or canceled. Ours said on time. We boarded and started moving, only for the pilot to say they were told we couldn’t land so we’re going to wait a while and they would update us in 30 minutes. Then another 30. After about an hour and half they had us get off and said they were trying to figure it out. 
I had no clue what I was going to do. The drive would have been about 8 hours and by this time it’s after 8 pm so I figured I better go ahead and start the drive. Decided to check one last time and by some miracle, they said we were allowed to land and we’d board again in about 15 minutes. We ended up landing about 11:30 pm. So many people are still having issues trying to get here!
 Now off to TRY and get some sleep and dream of an easy embarkation  😴 💤 
 

Yesterday started with breakfast on the balcony from Johnny Rocket’s. I was worried about the temperature of the food but it was still hot.  
 
Today was a sea day and our first formal night. The big kids roamed the ship and we took the little one to the pool. I haven’t noticed any capacity limits for the pool but they were enforcing a limit of 7 (or 8 ) on the circle current thing that makes you swim around in circles. Not sure what it’s called but it was really neat and after a a few minutes we were told to get out, even though there were no people waiting to get in. I’ll take pics of it later.
For lunch, half of us went to Johnny Rocket’s and the other half went to Izumi for sushi. I don’t eat sushi but they said both the food and the service was great!
 
Our waiter at Johnny Rocket’s began telling us all the prices and how shakes were extra and then I asked if it was included in star class and he was like, “oh you have a black card? Forget everything I just said” Told us we could order anything we wanted and as much of it we wanted and then told us we could take the chairs if we wanted😂 Kids thought it was hilarious! It was also really great seeing the staff dance. DD6 got up and danced with them and it was so cute 🥰 
 

So getting on the ship was horrible! 

We arrive at 11:30 and didn’t get on the ship until about 1:20. It took forever to get the test result for the little one. Finally get the negative  email and finish checking in and we had no clue if we were supposed to wait for Smitha or not. I ask someone if we’re supposed to be with our genie and they went and asked a different person who told them that Smitha had been there waiting for us. 
 
Once we got with her, she took us to our room which was full of snacks and drinks. 
 

Tomorrow’s the big day! I can’t contain my excitement. This trip has been such a long time coming. 
1 CVS test and 6 at home tests done and all negative. Our flight to MCO was Friday at 6. I saw on our FB group that cancellations were starting due to MCO halting flights in and out due to some bad storms. I saw 4 flights heading to MCO and 3 were either delayed or canceled. Ours said on time. We boarded and started moving, only for the pilot to say they were told we couldn’t land so we’re going to wait a while and they would update us in 30 minutes. Then another 30. After about an hour and half they had us get off and said they were trying to figure it out. 
I had no clue what I was going to do. The drive would have been about 8 hours and by this time it’s after 8 pm so I figured I better go ahead and start the drive. Decided to check one last time and by some miracle, they said we were allowed to land and we’d board again in about 15 minutes. We ended up landing about 11:30 pm. So many people are still having issues trying to get here!
 Now off to TRY and get some sleep and dream of an easy embarkation  😴 💤 
 

After dinner we had an adult comedy show scheduled that DH & I had to miss because the little one was really cranky and needed to go to bed. The 2 older girls had a great time so we will probably try and catch it another time. 
 
We also had our first towel animals, which are one of the kids favorite things on a cruise 

Day 3 (Cozumel) started with breakfast delivery from Coastal Kitchen and Starbucks 

I think we all like Johnny Rocket’s breakfast better. 

DD22 and her friend explores to port area, which equates to some drinking at Senor Frogs. 
DD14, her friend and I did a ship sponsored excursion swimming with dolphins. When we went to Cozumel in June on the Adventure sailing, we went to the same place but did the encounter. DD watched all of the people swimming with them and knew she’d want to do it the next time. The excursion included lunch and open bar. Rum punch was REALLY good and the kids quesadillas were very tasty. I had chicken nachos and they were just ok.
But that’s ok because when we returned to the ship, it was snack time….

At 9 would be shrimp tempura. 10, where the finger is pointing, looks like it might be the crispy chicken karaage.

After lunch we walked around more and when we got back we had more snacks 

 
More sushi! Smitha is doing a great job sending assorted mixed drinks for the adults and virgin drinks for the kids. Earlier I said I don’t eat sushi but those fried things in the picture at about 10 o’clock were amazing. Anyone know what those are called? 
The night before, one of my kids asked if there was anywhere to get a pickle, and I told her I didn’t think so but I would find out. I asked on Facebook and they said maybe the Windjammer but everything was already closed so I asked Smitha the next day if there was anywhere and she said they have sliced pickles didn’t know about big ones but she would find out. Less than 10 minutes later the doorbell rings and we got this

Smitha for the win!!