WAAAYTOOO

S: Good, actually, great news about your Anthem of the Seas sailing Good morning! Late last night, we sent you an email sharing the news that the New Jersey Health Authority advised us that they received the results from CDC, and the individuals tested negative for novel coronavirus. (We decided it was a little too late to text you.) The good news, our departure from Cape Liberty, New Jersey will remain the same, at 3:00 PM EST on Monday, February 10th. The even better news, our team has been tirelessly working and has advised you can board the ship today! So, come start your vacation early with us. The terminal doors will open at 3:00 PM today and boarding will take place today from 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST, or Monday from 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM EST. Please know, since stevedore availability is limited today, you may need to bring your bags onboard with you, so it may be a good idea to pack lightly. We really appreciate your understanding during this unexpected and very fluid situation. Our top priority is your health, safety, and wellbeing. We would never put you at risk, especially when it comes to health. So, thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you later today, or tomorrow! Yippee ! Boarding today at 3:00. Ready to get this party started !

We have been notified that we can board Anthem today (Sunday) beginning at 3:00. Still sailing tomorrow at 3:00.

I could be wrong, but it seemed to me (if I’m reading the screening guidelines correctly) that you will receive these “extra” screening parameters ONLY if you qualify via the “China” questions. In other words, if you have not been in contact with anyone who meets those (list) of conditions, you will not be subject to the extra screening. I will find out later today, as we board Anthem at 3:00.

Good luck !

To make a bad situation even worse, we have a dead crew member on Anthem https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crew-member-dies-for-unrelated-reasons-on-virus-delayed-cruise-ship-sources/2282940/

OBC from the RCCL Visa card will be available prior to cruising and available for use via the Cruise Planner.

Update:

We are getting texts and once in a while, emails. Still waiting for the “no-later-than-5:00” update (it’s 5:16 right now).

Actually, I have not seen any Star Class “specials” since that first one years ago. I never even knew about the one you found for this cruise, Sabrina. Good job in finding it !

Update: S: Here's the latest concerning your sailing on Anthem of the Seas. We're still waiting for the results from the CDC. As we shared on our 11 AM update, if we do not have confirmation of when we can expect results by 1:30 PM, we are going with our alternate plan. At that time, we will provide you with updated boarding times, itinerary, and compensation. If we have to delay further, and you no longer want to sail, we completely understand, and you may cancel and receive a full refund. We will share another update at 1:00 PM EST or as soon as we hear from them, whichever comes first. Thanks for your patience and apologize for this situation.

Update: S: Here's the latest concerning your sailing on Anthem of the Seas. We're still waiting on the conclusive results from the CDC from their office in Atlanta, GA. We're planning to announce the status of boarding at 1:30 PM EST today. If we do not have confirmation of when we can expect results, our plan is to delay boarding until tomorrow. If we do end up needing to delay boarding until Sunday, we will provide you with updated boarding times, itinerary, and compensation at 1:30 PM EST. If we have to delay further, and you no longer want to sail with us on Sunday, we completely understand, and you may cancel and receive a full refund. We are hopeful that we will not need to delay your vacation further, but we also don't want to have you start to make your way to the terminal only for us to find out that we won't have the test results this afternoon. We will continue to provide updates every hour. We greatly appreciate your patience and apologize for this situation.

No, we don’t have a car and decided to just stick around the hotel. I will say, downtown Newark is quite an experience. At least we will be thrilled to get out of here and get on the ship finally. No new updates so it looks like 5:00 today for boarding and 10PM departure. Yippee !

No more updates for now so hopefully things have stabilized. At this point they are refunding 2 days of cruise fare, 2 days of prepaid packages and reimbursing hotel and food up to $200. They’ve cancelled Nassau (yippee) and cut out 1 sea day. IF things go smoothly tomorrow I think all will be well. I have a 4:00 checkout at the hotel so if they begin boarding at 5:00 that should work out.

Hmmm...thanks for the intel. Dans phone is in a mandatory push update (a fact about which he is altogether unhappy) so we had not yet gotten this update. Great change IMO (Taking out Nassau, I mean).

That’s an awesome outcome for you ! Enjoy Jewel.

Boarding has been pushed back again. Now boarding is supposed to begin at 5:00. We plan on being at the Port between 4-5:00.

As I posted on another thread, embarkation has been pushed back AGAIN. Now boarding will begin at 1700 tomorrow and shove-off at 2100.

Update. So the boarding has been pushed back AGAIN. Boarding of Anthem will now BEGIN at 1700 tomorrow afternoon; departure scheduled for 2100. As far as I know that awful schedule is still intact with a shortened Port Canaveral stay and an unsat long Nassau stay. It’s a damn good thing that I am a Titanium elite with Marriott and can basically check out of here anytime I want to tomorrow or we’d be stranded with nowhere to go until 5:00. It’s hard for me to imagine what pushing back the embarkation time from 1300 to 1700 is going to yield. Maybe extra cleaning. Who knows. My patience is beginning to wear thin.

No such luck for us. They just shortened the stop at Port Canaveral which was, unfortunately, the only stop where we had something planned. Ugh. So I am just going to cancel my car rental for CC and we’ll just stay on the ship. We’ll be in Nassau 7 AM - 11 PM. OMG, really ?

Thanks ! How long does it take ?

Yes. I booked a Courtyard in Newark. Site unseen. On the fly. In the Uber. Livin’ dangerous. ??

Thanks, Steve. Unfortunately, it is cold, rainy and gloomy here. It was a a ROUGH ride from DC...but we made it. Our itin was originally DCA-CLT-EWR but yesterday AA contacted us and advised significant weather delays for CLT and allowed us to make changes without a fee. I opted for a non-stop into JFK and BOY am I glad I did ! I’m not sure whether or not that original flight ever left CLT. It’s a pricey Uber ride from JFK ($160.00) but I’d rather pay a little more and get here than get stuck in CLT and frankly, I think that is what would have happened.

Yes. All suspected of possibly having the virus have been preliminarily cleared. Apparently one person tested positive for influenza. Even though the ship has been cleared, RC decided to wait until they get a positive test results back from the CDC and so we will not board until tomorrow, Feb 8. There will be some partial refunds for cruise fare and prepaid packages. Everything seems to be fine except for the late start.

Dan got an email but I got nothing. Still, we knew before we got to the port. We are staying overnight in a Newark Courtyard and will go over tomorrow assuming everything is cleared.

Welcome to the blog, Mandy. Yes, you are paying gratuities twice but unfortunately, that is the way it works. The grats that you prepaid already are for your cabin attendant and food (primarily). The 18% on the drinks pkg is for the bar service. Welcome to cruising.