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The "I'm not live blogging" live blog - Mariner of the Seas October 8


Matt

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As you may or may not know, I'm going on Mariner of the Seas October 8th for a 3-night cruise.

But I'm not doing a live blog!

Christmas Time Omg GIF by CBeebies HQ

There will be a live blog on RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com, but Jenna will be writing the live blog from her Ovation of the Seas cruise to Alaska. Let's be honest, a live blog to Alaska is going to be a lot more interesting than yet another short Bahamas cruise live blog (YASBCLB).

Originally, I decided not to do a live blog at all, but I figure I can at least share some basic info here of things that truly stand out, especially since this will be my first cruise with my unvaccinated children since the Delta variant became a thing.

I know a lot of people are curious what it's like to cruise with unvaccinated kids right now (myself included), so I can share thoughts here before writing something more in-depth later.

So I'm not promising the best live blog ever, but there will be photos, anecdotes, and a few @Lovetocruise2002 references.

We're sailing on Mariner of the Seas and staying in connecting balcony cabins. Visiting Nassau and Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Cruise departs on Friday, but I've got kids' antigen tests scheduled for Tuesday, and my wife and I will be taking the at home tests on Wednesday or Thursday.

Set your expectations low, and get ready for YASBCLB!

De Bruyne Deal With It GIF by Manchester City

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5 minutes ago, twangster said:

I guess this gets me out of YASBCLB on Freedom next weekend.   Maybe our ships will cross wakes, I think our ports are reversed from yours.  

You not live blogging means the standard for photos is extremely lower, so thank you for giving everyone else less reason to say "Nice, but that other live blog is much better looking"

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On 10/3/2021 at 5:00 PM, twangster said:

I guess this gets me out of YASBCLB on Freedom next weekend.   Maybe our ships will cross wakes, I think our ports are reversed from yours.  

I thought about doing one from Freedom as well (10/8), but now (it seems) that more people are going on the YASBC's than will actually read a live blog, so, I guess it makes no sense to do one.  🤣 

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Today we got the girls pre-cruise covid test. Unvaccinated kids cannot do the at home test, so we took them to CVS. 

I scheduled the tests exactly two weeks ago, and had no problem getting an appointment after school. 

It was super simple, and both girls tested negative. 

Tomorrow, my wife and I get to do the at home test.

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5 minutes ago, Matt said:

Today we got the girls pre-cruise covid test. Unvaccinated kids cannot do the at home test, so we took them to CVS. 

I scheduled the tests exactly two weeks ago, and had no problem getting an appointment after school. 

It was super simple, and both girls tested negative. 

Tomorrow, my wife and I get to do the at home test.

I really and truly feel bad for everyone who is having so much trouble getting tests scheduled. There's an urgent care about 10 minutes away from me that does same day scheduling - we dropped in midday two days prior to our trip to put our names down and then came back that evening after I got off work to take the tests. In and out in under 30 minutes.

I knew we were lucky, but until reading some of the horror stories with testing availability and scheduling on here and CC, I didn't realize just *how* lucky.

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9 hours ago, GKMCruising said:

I really and truly feel bad for everyone who is having so much trouble getting tests scheduled. There's an urgent care about 10 minutes away from me that does same day scheduling - we dropped in midday two days prior to our trip to put our names down and then came back that evening after I got off work to take the tests. In and out in under 30 minutes.

I knew we were lucky, but until reading some of the horror stories with testing availability and scheduling on here and CC, I didn't realize just *how* lucky.

We have the same thing, we're headed up for our tests in about 15 minutes...  and I wholeheartedly agree... we are very lucky...  hopefully the rapid test availability will spread more OR, better yet, we won't need to do them anymore... soon

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10 hours ago, GKMCruising said:

I really and truly feel bad for everyone who is having so much trouble getting tests scheduled

I do as well. In truth, there are many more options than just CVS or Walgreens.  And of course where you live plays a major role in how many other choices you may or may not have.

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7 minutes ago, Matt said:

I do as well. In truth, there are many more options than just CVS or Walgreens.  And of course where you live plays a major role in how many other choices you may or may not have.

One of the biggest issues is how many people are needing tests in your area.  If Covid is high, there are many needing tests and it can get hard to get on the schedule. If its low to medium, then its easy to get in.

Unfortunately, its hard to know in advance which is why I ordered the home tests for my November cruise..

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5 hours ago, wordell1 said:

One of the biggest issues is how many people are needing tests in your area.  If Covid is high, there are many needing tests and it can get hard to get on the schedule. If its low to medium, then its easy to get in.

Florida is/has been hard hit this summer. Every single time I book a reservation at CVS exactly 2 weeks in advance, I've had no issue at all getting an appointment.

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Perhaps the most unnerving thing leading up to the cruise are the constant stream of emails asking for vaccination status, even though I've filled it out at least two times.

My wife and I get the same emails, and it is astounding to me that there are this many emails after having filled out the forms.

I get why they send so many, but one would hope/think/assume/pray after filling it out, the system would be smart enough to stop sending me reminder emails.  I know, I know.... 

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First time doing check-in with unvaccinated kids. 

After doing usual check-in  at the terminal, prior to going upstairs to the”real check-in” (but after going through security), you get escorted to luggage collection area for the test. 

Kids get processed in the computer system and then covid test administered.  No “brain tickler”, just shallow nose swab. 
 

Then you sit in a waiting area and wait for test results to come through via email.  They told us 40-45 minutes. 

AF7716ED-8544-448E-BC6C-2F7A1894250C.jpeg
 

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15 minutes ago, Matt said:

First time doing check-in with unvaccinated kids. 

After doing usual check-in  at the terminal, prior to going upstairs to the”real check-in” (but after going through security), you get escorted to luggage collection area for the test. 

Kids get processed in the computer system and then covid test administered.  No “brain tickler”, just shallow nose swab. 
 

Then you sit in a waiting area and wait for test results to come through via email.  They told us 40-45 minutes. 

AF7716ED-8544-448E-BC6C-2F7A1894250C.jpeg
 

F82B75C9-4758-4E79-8A0F-08970B923D64.jpeg

 

ACFE3096-B4E4-4E6C-A427-0B5AB612A2D3.jpeg

7EBF9616-AC7B-4716-A3E1-AC4AE247BE14.jpeg

B4C71F14-E05E-4EF7-BD6F-48C688D8B1D6.jpeg

From our experience, that was about right for how long it took for them to get the results out to us.

 

Glad your girls are a bit older and therefore more patient - we had one poor couple on our Alaska sailing with a very squirmy toddler who was *not* happy about the swab. They came out 45 minutes later to tell them that because he was moving so much they didn't get a good sample and were going to have to reswab and run the test again.

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Eventually the second test result came in. About 90 minutes in total waiting. Not what I wanted, but far from end of the world. 

Embarkation was same as usual. 
 

We had lunch in Windjammer and then it was up to register the kids for Adventure Ocean. 
 

Voyagers (9-11 years old) were limited to one session sign up, whereas Explorers (6-8) were able to register two sessions. 
 

They will open up more sessions to book tomorrow at 2pm (yes, I set my alarm to know the moment I can sign up for more). 

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Had a great dinner at Jamie’s Italian. There was a thunderstorm on our way out of Port Canaveral with a lot of lightning, so we enjoyed our meal with a light show. 

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Wifi on Mariner is downright awful. When it’s functional, it’s extremely slow. 

Walked by Shore Excursions and saw this great price for a CocoCay cabana. 

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Got this letter about kids and excursions in Nassau.

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On 10/8/2021 at 12:54 PM, Matt said:

A RoyalCaribbeanBlog Insider on Freedom reported over 3300 passengers on their sailing beginning today.  Wonder how many on ours. 

Concur with that report. 3300 and apparently only 1000 “veteran” cruisers.  Lots of “first-timers”. Which is great!

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