Willdra's Peculiar Carnival Panorama Oct 16-23 Cruise

[willdra]

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray. I’ve been on a cruise, on an Autumn Day. I’d be safe and warm, if I was in L.A.

California dreaming’ on such an Autumn day.

 

 

Hello, Hello, Hello! Come on in and get comfy!

 

Willdra is back with another very long, boring at times, rambling, ridiculous, and repetitive review. On this cruise, it was just me and my husband W, who's also my ride or die, partner in crime, concierge, chauffeur, cook, busboy, bank, bellhop, and BFF. He actually has lots of other jobs, I just can't think of them right now.

 

If this is your first time with us, welcome! This review is not kid tested, and probably not mother approved, so keep reading at your own risk. 

 

Here are links to my other foolishness, in case you want to get caught up (or if you want to know what to avoid).

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2670311-willdras-bodacious-carnival-breeze-april-27-may-4-cruise/page/14/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2617548-willdras-outrageous-oasis-ots-october-21-28-cruise/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2474813-willdras-dramatic-carnival-dream-october-15-22-cruise/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2540688-willdra%E2%80%99s-hyperactive-carnival-horizon-april-15-22-cruise/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2416686-willdras-vivacious-carnival-vista-may-14-20-cruise/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2336437-willdra%E2%80%99s-majestic-carnival-magic-october-15-22-cruise/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2296425-willdra%E2%80%99s-magnificent-carnival-magic-july-9-16-cruise/

 

 

If you are already one of my cruise cousins, I missed y'all! Thanks for not kicking me to the curb. At least not yet. If you aren't one of my cruise cousins, hopefully you will be by the end of this review.

 

Before I get this cruise review party started, I would be remiss if I didn’t fill y’all in on some of the madness that happened pre-cruise. After all, we're family right? Absolutely.

 

This is a long backstory, but I am including it so that maybe 1 person can learn from my disorder and do better. Get into it.

 

First of all, my husband W and I booked this cruise as a result of 4, yes 4 cancelled cruises in 2020 (the nerve).  We were offered $600 onboard credit if we rebooked by May 31, 2021. We planned on rebooking for 2021, but as time went on, I forgot when the deadline for us to rebook was. Not surprising. Thank God that I looked at it in May. I booked on May 29. Again, the deadline was May 31. I almost missed it y'all! Shame (along with despair, disappointment, and detriment) would've just pulled up and moved into our house with us, if I lost all of our onboard credits by forgetting to rebook. Good thing that didn’t happen cuz there really is no room here for alla dat.

 

 W and I were fully vaccinated by the time I rebooked, so that's all we needed and no worries right? Wrong. On Aug 4, we got an email stating that we had to bring negative COVID tests taken 3 days prior to sail date. Alright. Got it. Then on Sept. 2, we received another email from Carnival stating that testing must now be completed 2 days prior. Here is where I began to have some concerns. And questions. Many questions.

 

W and I are considered “essential” workers (unluckily) so both of us have worked this entire time. El yucky.  I went into my office pretty much every weekday, since half of my job can’t be completed remotely. Apparently I have to roll my eyes and shake my head at people face to face, and not over Skype. Cool. W can work from home the majority of the time, but there are parts of his job that also have to be completed in person. Neither one of us caught COVID, (that we know of) tho. W had gotten tested before because he donates blood from time to time (to do his part for other humans and vampires).  I'd never taken a COVID test cuz I didn’t have a reason to. I also didn't love the idea of sticking a QTip all the way up to my brain. That thing is fragile, and I need to avoid poking it as much as possible. Obviously, I can't afford to lose not one precious brain cell.

 

I started looking at testing options and scheduling in Sept. after we got that second email. I discovered that we could schedule rapid tests at CVS, 2 weeks prior to the date that we needed to test. I marked my calendar for that date, and told W that I would let him know when he could schedule his test. The day came, and I made my appointment to get the rapid test at CVS on the Thursday before sail date. I reminded W as well. He scheduled his test for later on that same date as mine, but at another CVS. No problemo. During all of that time I was also researching and reading as much info as I could to make sure that we had everything. I must've read Carnival's "Have Fun Be Safe Health Protocols" a thousand times to make sure that I understood them, and to ensure that nothing changed since the last time I read them. I checked my vaccination card and it was good. I checked W’s card and his was kind of chaotic. Well not kind of. It was a whole fully grown adult mess. They put the labels with the Lot Numbers on wrong and you couldn’t really even see the Lot Numbers. Carnival’s site said the Lot Numbers must be legible, so I didn’t think his would work. I asked if they emailed him the info when he was vaccinated, but he said they didn't. I got my vaccinations at a hospital and they emailed me the info after each shot, in addition to completing my card. W got his shots at Kroger (no surprise there) and all he got was the card. He said he would go back and see if they could redo it. I didn’t have a lot of faith that it would work out. Cuz Kroger. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I got home the next day and he had a completely new card. They remade it all nice and neat. Now his card actually looked better than mine. The heck?!?!

 

2 weeks prior to testing I also reminded W not to take any chances, to always wear his mask, wash up even more, and stay as quarantined as possible. This is not the time to be distracted. Distracted will get you left in GA, or worse, on the pier in Long Beach. I had to stress this with him a lot, cuz W likes to dance with danger. Not on my watch tho. Not on my watch.

 

On testing day I was a little unsettled for some reason. Regrettably, I would soon find out why. I took my test at 9am. By 9:08 I had the email from CVS stating that I was negative. Yippee Skippy. I printed out my results when I got to my office, sent W a screenshot, then breathed a half sigh of relief. 1 down, 1 to go. W was already on vacay that day, therefor he was taking his test later. At about 2 pm he sent me a text asking how I got my results so fast. Huh?  What do you mean so fast? It’s called the rapid test. It comes back fast. The word "rapid" is in the title. After more back and forth, I found out he took the slower test that comes back in 1-2 days. He said that he did his nose swab and placed it in a secure drop box. He didn’t really even have to interact with anyone. How sway? How did that process even make sense to him knowing he had to have results in hand by Saturday morning? And also knowing that his wife would kill him if he messes this up? To this, his explanation was “Oh I thought I couldn’t do the rapid”. Silence. 12 fast eye blinks. This is bad. This is Thursday. We fly to LAX Friday, and we set sail Saturday. We don’t have time for this. I blame myself though. Why? Because I made sure that he got scheduled for the test, but I didn’t double check to make sure he knew what to schedule. My bad. When it comes to W, assume nothing, and you might not be wrong for expecting the worst. I broke my own W management rule, and now I may have to end him. **Taps starts playing in the background.** I'm really gonna miss you W, cuz I’m gonna be on that cruise. I am not throwing away my shot. JK. I think.

 

When stuff like this happens, I don’t waste time stressing. Instead, I plot and plan. I started thinking that maybe there’s a chance that W's life could be spared after all. I’m a reasonable understanding person. On occasion. Let me see what I can do. I jumped into these internet streets and worked my magic, looking for rapid testing options for him.  It wasn’t actual magic, I just asked the Google gawds.

 

All of the CVS’ were booked by then. Walgreens said don’t even think about us. Mad disrespectful. Meanwhile, I was also at work trying to tie up all of my going on vacay loose ends. I REALLY didn’t have time for testing delays. All day long I’d been able to sit in my office in the quiet and complete my crap. Now all of a sudden the office was on fire around me and 7 people needed my help at the same time. Including W who was at home. With several computers. And good WiFi. But I digress. After I solved everyone else's problems, I literally had to lock my door and mute my phone. That’s when I found 4 clinics close to us that took walk ins. I sent W screenshots and phone numbers. Cuz it’s W. Trust my process. Shortly afterwards, I got a message from him saying he was on his way to retest. Whew. I felt better, but I couldn’t exhale until we got results back. Hopefully I wouldn't pass out.

 

I finished up work as quick as I could. I got home around 5:30 and he wasn’t back yet. I checked his location on my phone (shout out to app developers), and I saw that he was still at the clinic. It occurred to me then that he would prolly get his results from that first test on Friday. I didn’t want to chance it tho. I can always use one less thing to worry about. About an hour after I got in, W came back with negative results in hand. Now we were ready to go. And I could let him live. Hooray!

 

It just got real quickly, and it's about to go down. I finished up my last minute packing and cleaning up behind us, which is the worst part.

 

Random Picture Test

(Ignore this. Especially if you can't see it. I'm still trying to decide the best way to post the pictures)

[willdra]

TRAVEL DAY 

 

I got up with my alarm at 6:15. I didn’t sleep much so the alarm was not an issue. For a change. W usually sleeps until the last possible second, so I thought I could take my time and get ready slow. I sat around contemplating all of my life choices, at least twice, then I remembered that one of those choices was NOT to check in to our flights. I got my life together (as much as possible) and quickly checked us in, chose some seats, and paid for bags. As I was clicking the last tasks on my phone, W woke up. Time cushion gone. He gets ready at the speed of light, and I'm low key jealous.

 

5 minutes after he got dressed, the bellhop (W) came to get my bags. I was wearing an unattractive look of bewilderment on my face, because the bag that I needed to check in was overweight. W didn’t ask any questions, he went right to work redistributing the heavy crap that I was bringing to keep my bag underweight. This is exactly what I wanted him to do cuz 1. What we are not gonna do, is pay extra for luggage, and B. I just bought myself 10-15 more minutes of free time, which I did not take for granted. Score! When my time was up, I raced around checking rooms, watering plants, locking doors, and being followed by our phat fur baby. He knows when we are cruising, and he doesn’t like it.  Not sorry.

 

Drake staring at me in doggie disapproval.

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by willdra
Broken link

[Jamman54]

OMG Willdra! We were on the Panorama the week after you. So close and yet so far! 

[willdra]

We were ready to go at 8. Yes it took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to get ready. Don’t judge me. My slowness and lack of motivation in the morning was built into my plan. Intelligent.

 

Of course W was already in the running car waiting when I ran outside. He was not quite as ready as he thought tho. I got in and asked him if he plugged in the directions to the new park and ride service we were using. Of course not. So we pulled out at 8:05. While we are on the subject, why do some people like to get in the vehicle, start driving, then remember that they have no clue where they’re going? A certain person who may or may not be W, does that. Tew murch.

 

W chauffeuring me to the airport.

 

 

 

 We arrived at the offsite airport parking lot at 8:45. We found a parking spot and got out. Then we waited. I asked W if we had to do something to let them know we were waiting, but he said he was sure he didn’t receive instructions. So we waited some more. Then I asked if he saw a phone number that we could call. He looked and said ”oh there it is they sent instructions. It says we have to park then call this number to tell them our spot number”.

 

 

So he did that while I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily. After he called, we waited some more. At about 9:10 the old man river shuttle driver finally showed up. He stopped, collected us,  then collected as many more people as he could. Welp, I guess this isn’t the social distancing shuttle. He drove as slow as allowable by law too. This is one of the many reasons why we leave home at 8am for an 11:30am flight.

 

 

As I suspected, while we were on the bus, W received the notification from CVS that his COVID test was negative. Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that I  shouldn’t have freaked out and made him retest yesterday. Oh my sweet summer child.  If W had just decided to roll the dice and wing it, his test result would’ve gotten lost in the mail, eaten by wildebeests, left on a Greyhound bus to Albuquerque, then set on fire by a kid discovering the best way to use his new microscope. I would’ve had no choice but to vote him off of the island afterwards. Nobody is interested in that. We need W. Sometimes.

 

The shuttle driver dropped off the passengers in the South Terminal first. We were going to the North Terminal. He also drives slower than cold molasses. It took forever and 56 days to get to our terminal.  We checked into the kiosks after we made it to our spot, and by 10 o’clock we got to security. W and I were subjected to enhanced TSA screening. My bag was held and searched for an uncomfortable amount of time.  Now we were really on vacation! It wouldn’t be normal if this didn’t happen to us. 15 minutes later, we were on our way to the T Gates. Thank goodness we didn’t have to take the train. I made a quick trip or two to the potty, and we were waiting some more.

 

The flight was uneventful. Which is ideal for a flight. After we landed we quickly found baggage claim and setup for more waiting, cuz ya know by now, that’s kinda what we came to do. Wait for it. While we are on pause, I have a qq. Why do people pull out their biggest, most in the way suitcase, and open it up in the middle of the floor of the airport, then proceed to dig in it for an eternity unaware and unbothered about the massive inconvenience this is to others? Like did you absolutely have to make sure you packed clean underwear right then and there?? This is a choice not to be made.

 

About 25 minutes after we arrived, we collected our luggage and went out to catch the Hertz Shuttle to fetch our rental car. When I was planning this trip,  I entertained many transportation options, but I couldn’t pass up getting a rental for one night at LAX then returning it the next day in Long Beach for $105. We were also surprised with an upgrade for a handsome little Infiniti Q5. We drive a full size SUV, so we had to fold ourselves in half to get in this little car. It was cute tho. We hopped in the ride and about 30 minutes later we pulled into the hotel. On the drive to the hotel we saw lots of familiar sites. When W was in the Army he was stationed in California so we lived here for 4 years. We lived in Paso Robles which is about halfway between LA and San Francisco. That was in the early 90’s tho.

 

It was such a beautiful day in L. A. If it didn’t cost an arm, leg, and 2 baby toes to live here now, we would totally consider it for retirement. I need my baby toes tho. Bummer.

 

 

 

[willdra]

16 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

OMG Willdra! We were on the Panorama the week after you. So close and yet so far! 

 

One of these days we are gonna get it right! 😂

[willdra]

For this trip I got an amazing deal for the Beverly Hilton, that was almost too good to be true. I scored a King Studio Suite for $150/night by booking it through our Corporate site at work. W and I were so excited when we realized it was not a mistake. I don’t  think I've ever clicked “reserve it” so fast in my life! As soon as we pulled up, I knew it was where I wanted to be. The hotel is breathtaking. Our studio was charming, and techy at the same time. We also had a cool view of the Hollywood sign out of our window. I could totes get used to this. Note to self: normalize luxury accommodations. Periodt.

 

 

 

Before we left the room, there was a knock on the door. W opened it, and we got a delivery of a fruit tray and sparkling water. At first I thought they were at the wrong room, but the card had my name on it. Nice touch. I don’t know what the end game is for The Beverly Hilton, but they're about to have me selling my (by my I mean W's) kidneys to move in.

 

 

[willdra]

W and I went out to promenade. The pool was my fave. It just really made you feel like you were Hollywood royalty for a minute. This place is so nice we didn’t really even know how to “be” here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mexicobob]

Enjoying your words and pictures. Keep it coming.

[willdra]

After walking around and snapping snaps we looked for the next thing our bodies needed. Food. Since W and I are both Libras dinner decisions can take hours. We were lucky we both liked an Italian restaurant off of Rodeo Drive called Caffe Roma, and it only took about 30 minutes to decide.

 

We enjoyed the drive down Rodeo, and arrived at the restaurant in a few minutes. It was Happy Hour so I ordered a Mango Mojito. Cousins. The first sip of this drink was pure fire! My whole chest was burning! What did they put in there, kerosene?? This was one of those drinks that will have you taking a sip then staring at it. For a long time.

 

Once my chest cooled off, We ordered calamari, margarita pizza, and spaghetti scampi. We ate and people watched from our perch of primo accommodations. It was eerily quiet where we were tho. Weird for a Friday night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

Since I know from experience (don’t ask) that W can’t carry me to the car, I passed on another drink. Dinner was great. It was nice to finally exhale. Travel Day was in the bag. We took our time eating cuz we had absolutely nowhere to be. I love that feeling!  When we were done eating we took a drive to the grocery store for supplies. I'd just finished dinner mind you, but suddenly I needed ALL the snacks. W had to go find a buggy, cuz carrying alla dat stuff in my hands was not the move. I got my wine and enough snacks to last for the week. I know there will be tons of food on the cruise, but we like to gnaw on pretzel chips, and other low calorie items, while we’re reading at night. To destroy my sweet tooth, I really wanted gelato, so we found a few gelato spots close by. The first one we went to had zero parking. W drove around the block a few times, but it was an exercise in futility. I was really tired and anti-drama, so I asked W to drive us back to the hotel. I didn’t even feel like eating gelato anymore. Peculiar.

 

In the hotel room, we rearranged our suitcases. By "rearranged" I mean we pretty much touched everything in our bags. For unknown and unnecessary purposes. Later, W ran out to print his PCR COVID test results that were emailed earlier. The printout from the rapid test that he took looked like we created it in a Word document, so we didn’t want to take chances. After that, we made our port plan for dropping off the rental car, and kicked back until night night time.

 

Before I fell asleep, I said a prayer thanking God for the life of whoever came up with the plan to put side pockets on women's leggings. I mean I need God to bless their entire blood line and all of their houseplants.  Side pocket leggings provide comfort, fashion, AND function. Come thru multipurpose pants!

[AKR2011]

49 minutes ago, willdra said:

Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that I  shouldn’t have freaked out and made him retest yesterday. Oh my sweet summer child.  If W had just decided to roll the dice and wing it, his test result would’ve gotten lost in the mail, eaten by wildebeests, left on a Greyhound bus to Albuquerque, then set on fire by a kid discovering the best way to use his new microscope. I would’ve had no choice but to vote him off of the island afterwards. Nobody is interested in that. We need W. Sometimes.

This right here is why I love your reviews and have missed them so much. Please publish a book when you retire so we can all keep laughing and smiling. I'm so happy that you made it back to sea, and I look forward to following along on your adventure ❤

[BuzzBuzzen]

Hello, great to see a new review from you , thank you. No cruise ships in my country since March 2020. Really enjoying your photos and chat. Cheers, Buzz .

[LaRue1975]

This is the first time I’ve read one of your reviews and I am totally on board, can’t wait for the rest! Congrats on the score with the Beverly Hilton, you couldn’t get that rate at the Simi Valley Courtyard, I just checked! I think you must have been stationed at Camp Roberts, we spent a lot of summers at Lake Nacimiento in the 90s and we used to hear the explosions and wonder if we were being invaded but the locals would say no, that’s just Camp Roberts, lol! 
 

I will be on the Panorama in March or maybe April if I switch dates so looking forward to finding out where all the fun is on the ship, I know you’ll be right in the middle of it, looking forward to reading all about it! 

[Just Jo]

8 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

This right here is why I love your reviews and have missed them so much. Please publish a book when you retire so we can all keep laughing and smiling. I'm so happy that you made it back to sea, and I look forward to following along on your adventure ❤

 

First time I've read one of your reviews (thanks to the Tribe for recommending it) and I second this.  I'm loving it and you!

[blarko]

Also a newbie to your reviews jumping on board. I can tell this is going to be a fun one. Can’t wait for more 😀

[RollingMeadows]

Looking forward to more!

 

[TravelGirlinDallas]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! This is what I needed today! So glad you are back!! I have missed your hilarious reviews.

[CruisinMama2003]

15 minutes ago, RollingMeadows said:

Looking forward to more!

 

There you are 😃, ive been wondering where you went. Hope all is good with you.

[aztekpm]

Willdra! So glad you're back reviewing, just love your storytelling!

[pinto18]

I love your reviews and got very excited when I saw this..then I realized we were on the same cruise! If I would have known I would have stalked...ummm...kept a lookout for you guys

[vicky3vicky]

I am so excited for your review!

 

[Can'tWait2SetSail]

New to your reviews as well and I gotta say I love your style! Looking forward to living vicariously through you!

 

[mkcurran]

This is what I was missing in my life!! Glad you survived and are back.

[MistyRo76]

17 hours ago, willdra said:

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray. I’ve been on a cruise, on an Autumn Day. I’d be safe and warm, if I was in L.A.

California dreaming’ on such an Autumn day.

 

 

Hello, Hello, Hello! Come on in and get comfy!

 

Willdra is back with another very long, boring at times, rambling, ridiculous, and repetitive review. On this cruise, it was just me and my husband W, who's also my ride or die, partner in crime, concierge, chauffeur, cook, busboy, bank, bellhop, and BFF. He actually has lots of other jobs, I just can't think of them right now.

 

If this is your first time with us, welcome! This review is not kid tested, and probably not mother approved, so keep reading at your own risk. 

 

Here are links to my other foolishness, in case you want to get caught up (or if you want to know what to avoid).

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2670311-willdras-bodacious-carnival-breeze-april-27-may-4-cruise/page/14/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2617548-willdras-outrageous-oasis-ots-october-21-28-cruise/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2474813-willdras-dramatic-carnival-dream-october-15-22-cruise/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2540688-willdra%E2%80%99s-hyperactive-carnival-horizon-april-15-22-cruise/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2416686-willdras-vivacious-carnival-vista-may-14-20-cruise/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2336437-willdra%E2%80%99s-majestic-carnival-magic-october-15-22-cruise/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2296425-willdra%E2%80%99s-magnificent-carnival-magic-july-9-16-cruise/

 

 

If you are already one of my cruise cousins, I missed y'all! Thanks for not kicking me to the curb. At least not yet. If you aren't one of my cruise cousins, hopefully you will be by the end of this review.

 

Before I get this cruise review party started, I would be remiss if I didn’t fill y’all in on some of the madness that happened pre-cruise. After all, we're family right? Absolutely.

 

This is a long backstory, but I am including it so that maybe 1 person can learn from my disorder and do better. Get into it.

 

First of all, my husband W and I booked this cruise as a result of 4, yes 4 cancelled cruises in 2020 (the nerve).  We were offered $600 onboard credit if we rebooked by May 31, 2021. We planned on rebooking for 2021, but as time went on, I forgot when the deadline for us to rebook was. Not surprising. Thank God that I looked at it in May. I booked on May 29. Again, the deadline was May 31. I almost missed it y'all! Shame (along with despair, disappointment, and detriment) would've just pulled up and moved into our house with us, if I lost all of our onboard credits by forgetting to rebook. Good thing that didn’t happen cuz there really is no room here for alla dat.

 

 W and I were fully vaccinated by the time I rebooked, so that's all we needed and no worries right? Wrong. On Aug 4, we got an email stating that we had to bring negative COVID tests taken 3 days prior to sail date. Alright. Got it. Then on Sept. 2, we received another email from Carnival stating that testing must now be completed 2 days prior. Here is where I began to have some concerns. And questions. Many questions.

 

W and I are considered “essential” workers (unluckily) so both of us have worked this entire time. El yucky.  I went into my office pretty much every weekday, since half of my job can’t be completed remotely. Apparently I have to roll my eyes and shake my head at people face to face, and not over Skype. Cool. W can work from home the majority of the time, but there are parts of his job that also have to be completed in person. Neither one of us caught COVID, (that we know of) tho. W had gotten tested before because he donates blood from time to time (to do his part for other humans and vampires).  I'd never taken a COVID test cuz I didn’t have a reason to. I also didn't love the idea of sticking a QTip all the way up to my brain. That thing is fragile, and I need to avoid poking it as much as possible. Obviously, I can't afford to lose not one precious brain cell.

 

I started looking at testing options and scheduling in Sept. after we got that second email. I discovered that we could schedule rapid tests at CVS, 2 weeks prior to the date that we needed to test. I marked my calendar for that date, and told W that I would let him know when he could schedule his test. The day came, and I made my appointment to get the rapid test at CVS on the Thursday before sail date. I reminded W as well. He scheduled his test for later on that same date as mine, but at another CVS. No problemo. During all of that time I was also researching and reading as much info as I could to make sure that we had everything. I must've read Carnival's "Have Fun Be Safe Health Protocols" a thousand times to make sure that I understood them, and to ensure that nothing changed since the last time I read them. I checked my vaccination card and it was good. I checked W’s card and his was kind of chaotic. Well not kind of. It was a whole fully grown adult mess. They put the labels with the Lot Numbers on wrong and you couldn’t really even see the Lot Numbers. Carnival’s site said the Lot Numbers must be legible, so I didn’t think his would work. I asked if they emailed him the info when he was vaccinated, but he said they didn't. I got my vaccinations at a hospital and they emailed me the info after each shot, in addition to completing my card. W got his shots at Kroger (no surprise there) and all he got was the card. He said he would go back and see if they could redo it. I didn’t have a lot of faith that it would work out. Cuz Kroger. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I got home the next day and he had a completely new card. They remade it all nice and neat. Now his card actually looked better than mine. The heck?!?!

 

2 weeks prior to testing I also reminded W not to take any chances, to always wear his mask, wash up even more, and stay as quarantined as possible. This is not the time to be distracted. Distracted will get you left in GA, or worse, on the pier in Long Beach. I had to stress this with him a lot, cuz W likes to dance with danger. Not on my watch tho. Not on my watch.

 

On testing day I was a little unsettled for some reason. Regrettably, I would soon find out why. I took my test at 9am. By 9:08 I had the email from CVS stating that I was negative. Yippee Skippy. I printed out my results when I got to my office, sent W a screenshot, then breathed a half sigh of relief. 1 down, 1 to go. W was already on vacay that day, therefor he was taking his test later. At about 2 pm he sent me a text asking how I got my results so fast. Huh?  What do you mean so fast? It’s called the rapid test. It comes back fast. The word "rapid" is in the title. After more back and forth, I found out he took the slower test that comes back in 1-2 days. He said that he did his nose swab and placed it in a secure drop box. He didn’t really even have to interact with anyone. How sway? How did that process even make sense to him knowing he had to have results in hand by Saturday morning? And also knowing that his wife would kill him if he messes this up? To this, his explanation was “Oh I thought I couldn’t do the rapid”. Silence. 12 fast eye blinks. This is bad. This is Thursday. We fly to LAX Friday, and we set sail Saturday. We don’t have time for this. I blame myself though. Why? Because I made sure that he got scheduled for the test, but I didn’t double check to make sure he knew what to schedule. My bad. When it comes to W, assume nothing, and you might not be wrong for expecting the worst. I broke my own W management rule, and now I may have to end him. **Taps starts playing in the background.** I'm really gonna miss you W, cuz I’m gonna be on that cruise. I am not throwing away my shot. JK. I think.

 

When stuff like this happens, I don’t waste time stressing. Instead, I plot and plan. I started thinking that maybe there’s a chance that W's life could be spared after all. I’m a reasonable understanding person. On occasion. Let me see what I can do. I jumped into these internet streets and worked my magic, looking for rapid testing options for him.  It wasn’t actual magic, I just asked the Google gawds.

 

All of the CVS’ were booked by then. Walgreens said don’t even think about us. Mad disrespectful. Meanwhile, I was also at work trying to tie up all of my going on vacay loose ends. I REALLY didn’t have time for testing delays. All day long I’d been able to sit in my office in the quiet and complete my crap. Now all of a sudden the office was on fire around me and 7 people needed my help at the same time. Including W who was at home. With several computers. And good WiFi. But I digress. After I solved everyone else's problems, I literally had to lock my door and mute my phone. That’s when I found 4 clinics close to us that took walk ins. I sent W screenshots and phone numbers. Cuz it’s W. Trust my process. Shortly afterwards, I got a message from him saying he was on his way to retest. Whew. I felt better, but I couldn’t exhale until we got results back. Hopefully I wouldn't pass out.

 

I finished up work as quick as I could. I got home around 5:30 and he wasn’t back yet. I checked his location on my phone (shout out to app developers), and I saw that he was still at the clinic. It occurred to me then that he would prolly get his results from that first test on Friday. I didn’t want to chance it tho. I can always use one less thing to worry about. About an hour after I got in, W came back with negative results in hand. Now we were ready to go. And I could let him live. Hooray!

 

It just got real quickly, and it's about to go down. I finished up my last minute packing and cleaning up behind us, which is the worst part.

 

Random Picture Test

(Ignore this. Especially if you can't see it. I'm still trying to decide the best way to post the pictures)

OK...Can I just say that I MAY have squealed a little bit when I saw a new review from you! I haven't even started reading yet...but I am more than ready to hop on for the ride! 

 

There's something so comforting about seeing new reviews from some of my fave CC'ers popping up now! It's helping me pass the next 300 some days until my first post-COVID cruise! 

 

Now...on with the reading! 

[SenatorsFan]

Just reading your first post made me laugh out loud! 😍 I'm so happy to see that you were able to cruise again and I look forward to the rest of the review.