DunwoodyDad

5 minutes ago, Big Red said:

Is it possible that the Island workers for COCO Cay may have contacted covid, and they may not have enough staff not infected to serve folks disembarking off the boat?

It’s definitely not the RC staff. The Bahamian government is not allowing us to exit the ship. 

I just don’t think this is Covid related, but we will see. Captain seems very frustrated. 

3 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

Not good... there are at least 3 ships docked right now...

https://www.portnassauwebcam.com/

Are they being allowed to let passengers off?  If they are, that’s ridiculous. It would mean they are letting people into Nassau for the $, while stopping the lines from using the private islands where (I assume) they make far less. 

36 minutes ago, Carlyn3 said:

Disney Magic has not been cleared to enter Castaway Cay either.  

So the Bahamian government is pulling something here. It would be interesting if there are any ships in Nassau today and what is going on with them. 

30 minutes ago, AnchorsAway said:

Hi there. Were you cleared to go to Coco Cay? That would be a total bummer if that is not an option (says the party of 4

cruising next week).

Still sitting on the ship. Definitely a bummer for us since we’ve never been there and we can look out and see it. I mean, we are docked and everything. 

10 minutes ago, BrianB said:

Could it be the case counts on the ship? Or just a general temporary shut down of the Bahamas….

I dont think it’s counts on this ship mainly because everything seems so normal. I haven’t heard of anyone being sick for sure. I’ve tried to keep my eye on the tender for NCL. Doesn’t seem like it’s shuttling passengers 

I just posted this as well on the news board. But yes this feels like it’s not going to happen which is frustrating and confusing since we were in populated Nassau yesterday while there’s just the Royal employees here at Cocp Cay. And unfortunately it doesn’t seem like they are ready for the shift … Top level Lime and Coconut isn’t open/staffed, Windjammer shows as closed for lunch, etc

To be clear, the rest of the cruise has been awesome!  The new mask policy has been fine really and hasn’t stopped our family from doing what we normally do on a cruise.

On Freedom right now and it’s 10:00 and for whatever reason the Bahamian officials haven’t given clearance for us to exit the ship to Coco Cay. Really disappointed since we haven’t been before. Also really odd since we were in Nassau just yesterday and everything seemed fine. 

I’m addition to requiring masks when not drinking, are there any other recent changes in the casinos tied to changing protocols?  I saw somewhere a claim that the craps tables were not being run. Any observations of this?  Particularly interested in Freedom…

I’ve got 1130am on Freedom in 2 days.  

15 hours ago, _Quinn_ said:

Currently on Enchantment of the Seas. On Tuesday we did six Binax tests: me, my wife, our three kids (25, 19, and 12), and my mother-in-law (78). My wife was the only one I didn't assist. As long as the person being tested verifies it's their account and the proctor can see everything I don't think it's an issue. Mostly by the end of all those tests I was just tired of hearing the same script every time. No issues with any of the tests. @DunwoodyDad, our 12 year old was on a managed account. 

Thanks!  Got through 6 today myself (assisting on all) and totally agree I was really over it by the end.  Just glad to be all negative and set to cruise Monday!

On 12/24/2021 at 9:29 PM, DunwoodyDad said:

Yes!  Merry Christmas to all!  
 

But this (negative tests) is all my family is talking about. We’ve got 4 “kids” aged 15-21 and they’ve been socializing since school got out. The chance we all test negative before our cruise on Monday feels like it is dropping by the hour. 

A Christmas miracle!  6 negative COVID tests today! The at home testing was great to do on a holiday when there were no other options.  Merry Christmas!

3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

May your stockings be full and your tests be negative

Yes!  Merry Christmas to all!  
 

But this (negative tests) is all my family is talking about. We’ve got 4 “kids” aged 15-21 and they’ve been socializing since school got out. The chance we all test negative before our cruise on Monday feels like it is dropping by the hour. 

Has anyone used the Managed Profile feature in the NAVICA app for children (instead of creating a separate account)?  I added a couple of my kids and it looks like it will work but just curious if anyone has actually performed a test using a Managed Profile.  I have 6 people to test starting tomorrow and only have 6 kits so can’t make any mistakes. Of course everything being closed tomorrow is what’s worrying me. 

5 minutes ago, Matt said:

Honestly, slim to none are the odds of a cancellation.

Protocols worked, the lines have plans with ports and CDC. This is all planned for, and even Symphony went about her next sailing as scheduled.

I agree Matt. We sail in 6 days and my wife just asked me after reading the morning headlines if we were still going. I told her yes given all the protocols. I added with the new bonus (to us…obviously not to all) that there will be no smoking in the casino. I think what will be interesting is if this weeks sailings see similar rates that Symphony did or less. 

5 minutes ago, jaygee2729 said:

Our next RCC cruise is on February 13th from Puerto Rico aboard Explorer of the Seas. Since we have to travel from California my hope is that the testing requirements don't become MORE stringent. Three days prior would work for us. However anything more restrictive i.e. 2 or 1 day prior is a problem. 

Just so you aren’t missing anything, it is 2 days for adults (antigen) ….

I think it goes without saying, but many of us will be interested in what the new mask rules exactly mean particularly when sitting in a restaurant or bar. We will be in Miami one week from tomorrow to board Freedom!  Have fun!

On 12/16/2021 at 7:58 AM, Bubba Hotep said:

Part 4 - Day 2 We have how much time?

When we looked at our schedule it only allowed 4.5 hours in Nassau so pulling in at 10:30 we decided we were going to just do one of the dolphin tours which was listed at 4 hours long. We woke up and on the way to breakfast what would become the "dreaded 3 dings" echoed through the ship followed by the Captain announcing that because of a medical emergency during the night that required an evacuation, we would be arriving an hour late in Nassau but we would leave later then scheduled to allow the same time scheduled.  This was followed by several more announcements that we were running even more late which then caused some tours to be cancelled (bye bye dolphins).  So we just left the ship and walked around for a couple hours shopping before heading back to the ship.  Total in port time, roughly 3 hours.  A couple we had met had their initial pre booked tour cancelled so they had booked a beach day that morning for over $100 per person.  After all the delay they arrived at the beach club after 1 and had to leave at 2:15 to be back on the ship in time.  An expensive hour for sure.  When they got back they went to guest services and not only were the original tour charges not refunded yet, they were told they would have to call a number to try to get any type of refund or compensation for the hour "beach day".  At this point I started to wonder what the point of guest services is besides booking shows or fixing sea pass cards.....

DAY 3 - Formal night.....

We woke up to the morning of day 3 ready to have a fun day and put on our finest for dinner. So far the food has been average to excellent so very good overall.....tbc (switching from wifi)

How was Nassau as you walked around?  Are shops and restaurants generally open?

I guess testing at the port just isn’t logistically or financially possible for so many people in 4-5 hours, but seems like cutting the days back by 2 would trap at least some of the risk of cases coming on board. 

1 hour ago, Traveler said:

Just got an email that on the previous cruise they found one passenger (which had the symptoms but decided not to report on board) with the Omricon variant. On this cruise (Symphony , 0.7 tested positive for C19) 

I assume that’s 0.7%. But if there’s say 3500 people, that means roughly 25 people. 

It would really be great if those cruising (especially those sailing out in the next few days) could report their experience to understand the facts around how this will change the cruise experience that has been in place for the past few months. I’m thinking about the claims of people being asked to raise/lower their masks between sips (doubt this is true), but also things like the gym and spa, or onboard activities like karaoke.

2 hours ago, SummerRose said:

I just read on the Freedom they're making people pull their masks up in between drinks and bites.

Where did you see this?  I’m supposed to be on Freedom in 10 days.
 

i’m fine wearing a mask while moving around but when I’m at the bar with a drink or in a restaurant, I’m not putting my mask back on. Don’t do it in restaurants here and that’s in places where I’m sure there’s tons of unvaccinated people.

To be clear, I’m pretty sure I selected something like drivers license/birth certificate which didn’t require the detailed numbers so I could get the check-in times done. Then a few days later, I pulled everyone’s passports and went back and changed the document type and scanned the bar codes. Same thing for vaccine cards which I added later. 

I recently checked in for 3 cabins that were all linked. I did it from the app and it didn’t require any other log-ins since all 3 cabins appeared together and I could select the check-in process for each. I was focused on making sure I got the same check in time for all 3 so there are some things that I skipped. For instance, I skipped the passport entry/scan because I didn’t have them handy at the time. I was able to get those added later.