A few week earlier than our cruise, my journey associate began visiting the net climate websites for the ports we might go to on our cruise, in order that he may positive tune his collection of cruise attire. How scorching was it going to be? Ought to we take an umbrella? We could depart the heavy coats and snow boots within the automobile on the airport?
Minor particulars when in comparison with the planning involving COVID necessities and the price of air journey. Residing in a smaller city, it causes me nice stress to need to discover a testing heart that can get my outcomes again in time to fulfill the requirement for the cruise line and generally for an embarkation port that could be outdoors the nation.
Is 48 hours the identical as two days? Is 72 hours the identical as three days? Happily, Royal Caribbean has a pleasant timeline on their Wholesome Sail Middle web page, the place they spell the whole lot out. Make sure that you learn the whole lot on the FAQ web page fastidiously — and possibly undergo it greater than as soon as. Some checks usually are not accepted.
In case you have hassle discovering a testing heart in your hometown or throughout the acceptable timeframe, it’s possible you’ll decide to get a check on the port. Scheduling is finished by the Royal Caribbean Wholesome Sail Middle web page and also you do have to ebook prematurely. The disadvantage of doing this testing could be the unlucky outcomes that say you might be constructive. In that case, you’ll not be permitted to board the ship.
In keeping with a neighborhood pharmacist, sure testing is taking longer and he suggested me to not use his pharmacy if I wanted the outcomes for journey. He indicated that fewer individuals are being examined, in order that they solely ship checks out to the lab on a couple of days every week. That will delay the outcomes.
Flights
With all the chances of a delayed flight, we at all times decide to fly in a day early. What a smart move that was for us. Our preliminary flight went to Chicago, the place we had a 4-hour layover, so seemingly loads of time to make our connection to Fort Lauderdale. As luck would have it, our first flight received out to the runway, the pilot requested the flight attendants to take their seats, after which the aircraft got here to a halt. We had been pondering, “thank goodness, we now have that 4-hour layover.” The pilot introduced that there was a mechanical problem, so again to the terminal we went.
When the aircraft was lastly repaired, we headed out to get de-iced once more and at last left on the time we should always have been boarding our subsequent flight. We discovered a flight in Chicago that added a second connection, however received us to Fort Lauderdale by 6 pm, as an alternative of 1 pm as beforehand scheduled. Had this been crusing day, the ship would have sailed with out us.
Not solely did we arrive late, however our baggage additionally was elsewhere. Our first port was Labadee and the airline actually wouldn’t ship our luggage there. Once we noticed the tracker indicated that it had arrived round midnight in Ft. Lauderdale, we determined that it might be finest for us to go again to the airport at 5 am and retrieve it earlier than it was positioned on a supply truck, which probably by no means would have reached us earlier than we received on the ship.
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Different Preparations
We used the Royal Caribbean app to submit a few of our data, and at first couldn’t examine in or do any pre-planning. We tried the web site for doing our check-in and when that didn’t work, we known as the assistance heart. They thought that they figured it out and will see the whole lot on their finish, however we nonetheless weren’t capable of examine in.
We tried on two totally different telephones, two totally different computer systems, and 4 totally different browsers. It was irritating to be advised that it was consumer error. Lastly, in the future, we opened the app and it labored as did the web site. As soon as it lastly labored, we did our check-in and not using a downside. We hoped that the whole lot labored on the pier. Expertise is nice when it really works!
From our resort in Dania Seaside, we used Lyft to get to the port. Our driver adopted his inaccurate mapping program, which added additional time to the journey time. He didn’t heed our recommendation to get off on the exit that was clearly marked because the exit to the port. Our previous day and this morning had been hectic sufficient. We didn’t want any additional stress.
Once we lastly reached the port, we gave our baggage to the porter and headed to the terminal. As quickly as we stepped by the terminal doorways, our adverse COVID checks had been scrutinized. As soon as previous the primary gatekeeper, we went by safety. Not like previously when the brokers stood behind the counter, we discovered them standing with tablets in hand at cordoned areas. The agent requested a couple of questions after which directed us to the ship. We had no key playing cards, however the agent stated that we might discover them outdoors our cabin.
It took us solely 11 minutes to stroll from that first terminal door to The Promenade on Surprise of the Seas. It was undoubtedly one of many quickest, if not the quickest check-in that we had ever skilled. What a aid it was to lastly be on the world’s present largest cruise ship.
As a result of the ship is so giant, we had a plan in place. Having been on different Oasis Class ships, I used to be aware of the structure and many of the neighborhoods on the ship. However, Surprise of the Seas isn’t an an identical twin sister to others within the household; she upped the sport with an eighth neighborhood, a brand new specialty restaurant, and a few new areas for the children.
These had been the primary issues that we needed to take a look at. However first, it was nicely previous lunchtime and we wanted to construct up our power shops, so we headed to the acquainted Park Café in Central Park for my favourite sandwich.
Notice: This text was written in spring 2022, so many well being and security protocols have been modified since then.
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