Live from NCL Bliss - what a mistake we made!!

[ttechnology]

We also take a kit bag with all essentials we might need for an illness on board including thermometer and O2 sat meter. We also travel with Covid test kits.  We just enjoyed a fantastic  21 day Panama Canal cruise from Miami to Seattle on the Encore and returned on May 8th. We had what we needed over this time for minor illnesses but noticed that the small store area did not have anything in stock to sell as I overheard fellow cruisers request band-aids, Pepto, cough drops, cold meds, Advil or Tylenol. The sales staff told cruisers to go to guest services or Medical but they didn't know if guest services had those things. We're gonna keep lugging our own stuff even though it does take up suitcase space. Best wishes to all of you & safe cruising!

Edited May 20, 2022 by ttechnology

[expattraveler]

So very sorry for you both.
 

Unfortunately the cruise lines are under tremendous COVID optics from both passengers and governments. I can understand their conservativeness. They have taken negative commercial corporate impacts as well as personal impacts for the crews. Very tough times.

 

My wife and I love cruising. Absolutely love it! However, we are not going to book anything until the world calms down. If it doesn’t, ces’t la vie….

 

Wishing you all the best!

[dobiemom]

On 5/19/2022 at 11:34 AM, jbpinkie said:

He went to the center was seen for a few minutes and the dr wanted to do blood work, ex rays etc and could not give him a fee schedule. Just said equivalent to a us ER. He called me in the cabin, as he thought this was over kill for a minor thing and I agreed. He declined the tests. The Dr gave him two large bottles of DayQuil and a 3 day Quarantine 😳😳😳 We were being overly cautious trying to do the right thing and will now spend the end of our cruise in quarantine. We bought insurance so it’s not about $, it’s about how trying to be vigilant and on top of things now cost us the end of our trip. 

So if you had insurance, why did you decide to decline the tests? Maybe that’s why the doctor put him in quarantine?

[jbpinkie]

11 hours ago, expattraveler said:

So very sorry for you both.
 

Unfortunately the cruise lines are under tremendous COVID optics from both passengers and governments. I can understand their conservativeness. They have taken negative commercial corporate impacts as well as personal impacts for the crews. Very tough times.

 

My wife and I love cruising. Absolutely love it! However, we are not going to book anything until the world calms down. If it doesn’t, ces’t la vie….

 

Wishing you all the best!

Great perspective. 

[GALSews]

On 5/19/2022 at 3:35 PM, njkate said:

One of the reasons I have my emergency med kit with Tylenol Advil cold & flu meds plus pesto bismal to now include the home covid tests sent to me by government before I would step foot in their med center

So, instead of being pink, is pesto bismal green?

 

Seriously, though, it sounds like you came prepared, especially with the covid tests.

[lyannea]

I may not be totally accurate (though someone may know) the cruise line protocol of having TWO negative Covid test results before lifting a quarantine, especially if you're symptomatic (coughing, for example) 

I would read any info in your cruise docs to confirm

[jbpinkie]

Well I was quick to share our predicament so I thought I would share the update….

 

as someone mentioned above, you have to have two negative tests before you are removed from Isolation. NCL treated us well while in isolation, allowed us free pay per view movies and room service at no charge. Once a questioned a bit I learned I could order from the MDR menu as well. We shared a piece of prime rib for our last night onboard to make the best of our trip. 
 

My fiancé had his second test scheduled for 10pm (we were worried about staying up that late, yeah we are party animals lol) but we did, and the medical assistant shared he had a lot of staff transitioning and had been testing since 6am. We got the call at 11pm and we’re anxious to hear we could go to breakfast in the am, only to find out HIS SECOND TEST WAS POSITIVE!! Omg 😳 

 

So there are so many messages we could all draw here…. I am going to share what happened and what we learned in case it can help someone else. 
 

We were told to stay in our room, and we would have to make a reservation at a Seattle hotel for a 5 night Covid quarantine. The guest service and medical team could not have been more accommodating. They transferred us to 3 different hotels they had on a list that were said to do Covid quarantine rooms. The first I called had rooms and told me about their offer. The second very rudely told me they didn’t do it. The 3rd never answered. So we made a reservation with the first hotel. (Each of these calls was dialed for us by the guest services staff at no charge to us) we had to give them our confirmation number in order to get off the next day. 
 

this morning they called us in our room and said to be ready in 15 minutes. They picked us up in hazmat suits and followed all of our steps with a fogger to disinfect our path. We were taken off the ship using the regular gangway but then taken to a freight elevator where a special transport van had been arranged for 6 of us. There were 3 groups of two and we were the last to arrive. It was daunting because you didn’t know what was happening but they got us safely to the hotel. (I’m not sure if I am allowed to say which one). The hotel manager met our group and brought us individually to our rooms. Extra care was taken to stock the rooms with extra shampoo and the basics you would need. The Dr called from the contracted medical team and explained she will call daily. The NCL care team called and said he will call either daily or every other day. He will also have the travel team contact us tomorrow or Monday to discuss flight options. It was scary and a bit confusing for a while, so again sharing so if you find yourself in this situation you may remember our experience.

 

Fiancee still has just a slight cough and is resting and drinking fluids like it’s his job. 

[greatestvalue]

On 5/19/2022 at 11:34 AM, jbpinkie said:

We were being overly cautious trying to do the right thing and will now spend the end of our cruise in quarantine.

A friend of mine did the same thing on our cruise and this was her 1st day and her 1st cruise.  Her issue was she was a weezy (could have been the drinks she had instead of taking sea sick medicine)...Lol   She missed the next 3 days of the cruise, under room quarantine.  She swore she wouldnt do that again...

 

[SomewhereGirl]

10 hours ago, jbpinkie said:

So we made a reservation with the first hotel. (Each of these calls was dialed for us by the guest services staff at no charge to us) we had to give them our confirmation number in order to get off the next day. 

 

What would've happened if you hadn't given then the confirmation number?  A free cruise on the next sailing?  🙂

Are you and your fiancé in separate rooms at the hotel?  I should hope so...

Is there anything physically preventing you from leaving the hotel?

[ttechnology]

jbpinkie & hubby, 

 

So very sorry to hear of your continued isolation and that you truly did not get to enjoy your cruise fully.  Hopefully, you are both comfortable in your hotel and receiving the medical information and care you deserve! It's wise to have as much info about your mandated isolation as possible. I believe all isolation's after cruises and otherwise need to have a signed order from the local public health officer & that you would have received a copy of this order.  The King County Public Health Officer and Chief of Communicable Diseases for Seattle/ King County is Jeffrey Duchin. County number is 206-296-0100 and website to email is www.kingcounty.gov    We live in a county adjacent to King and wanted you to know what we know.  Wishing you good things to come.

 

[mlgb]

Thank you for posting  this updates. You are an honorable person who did the right thing, and so did NCL. But I would ask that your post title be changed, because you didn't really make a mistake.

Edited May 22, 2022 by mlgb

[weltek]

On 5/21/2022 at 8:20 PM, jbpinkie said:

Well I was quick to share our predicament so I thought I would share the update….

 

as someone mentioned above, you have to have two negative tests before you are removed from Isolation. NCL treated us well while in isolation, allowed us free pay per view movies and room service at no charge. Once a questioned a bit I learned I could order from the MDR menu as well. We shared a piece of prime rib for our last night onboard to make the best of our trip. 
 

My fiancé had his second test scheduled for 10pm (we were worried about staying up that late, yeah we are party animals lol) but we did, and the medical assistant shared he had a lot of staff transitioning and had been testing since 6am. We got the call at 11pm and we’re anxious to hear we could go to breakfast in the am, only to find out HIS SECOND TEST WAS POSITIVE!! Omg 😳 

 

So there are so many messages we could all draw here…. I am going to share what happened and what we learned in case it can help someone else. 
 

We were told to stay in our room, and we would have to make a reservation at a Seattle hotel for a 5 night Covid quarantine. The guest service and medical team could not have been more accommodating. They transferred us to 3 different hotels they had on a list that were said to do Covid quarantine rooms. The first I called had rooms and told me about their offer. The second very rudely told me they didn’t do it. The 3rd never answered. So we made a reservation with the first hotel. (Each of these calls was dialed for us by the guest services staff at no charge to us) we had to give them our confirmation number in order to get off the next day. 
 

this morning they called us in our room and said to be ready in 15 minutes. They picked us up in hazmat suits and followed all of our steps with a fogger to disinfect our path. We were taken off the ship using the regular gangway but then taken to a freight elevator where a special transport van had been arranged for 6 of us. There were 3 groups of two and we were the last to arrive. It was daunting because you didn’t know what was happening but they got us safely to the hotel. (I’m not sure if I am allowed to say which one). The hotel manager met our group and brought us individually to our rooms. Extra care was taken to stock the rooms with extra shampoo and the basics you would need. The Dr called from the contracted medical team and explained she will call daily. The NCL care team called and said he will call either daily or every other day. He will also have the travel team contact us tomorrow or Monday to discuss flight options. It was scary and a bit confusing for a while, so again sharing so if you find yourself in this situation you may remember our experience.

 

Fiancee still has just a slight cough and is resting and drinking fluids like it’s his job. 

Given my recent covid case, I had a feeling this was going to happen. I never developed any worse symptoms, and still gave it to DH, whose symptoms didn't start until about five days after my positive test. I really, really thought it was just allergies, as a couple of dry sneezing and coughs (and thirst for a few days) were all I ever had.

[jbpinkie]

20 hours ago, mlgb said:

Thank you for posting  this updates. You are an honorable person who did the right thing, and so did NCL. But I would ask that your post title be changed, because you didn't really make a mistake.

I will absolutely do that. All we have is our phones, and I can’t figure out how to make the change through the phone interface. But you are correct, they were right, and hopefully by keeping us isolated we didn’t get others sick. 

[Beer Belly]

We brought COVID test kits with us on our last cruise, this way if we test negative, no quarantine.

[kylenyc]

Thank you OP for sharing your experience. Sorry about what happened to you.

 

To all: A 3rd round of free at-home covid tests was authorized for a total of 16 per residential address. I'm bringing them for future cruises even though after several cruises (latest one on May 1st) I've managed to avoid catching it.

https://www.covid.gov/tests

Edited May 23, 2022 by kylenyc

[hbrhonda]

OMG we were on that cruise. Felt fine until Monday. Tested AM and PM at home. Went to Dr today for PCR and I am positive!!!!! There are 20 others on our FB group for this sailing that are also positive. Having my quaren-tini at home. 

[jbpinkie]

22 hours ago, hbrhonda said:

OMG we were on that cruise. Felt fine until Monday. Tested AM and PM at home. Went to Dr today for PCR and I am positive!!!!! There are 20 others on our FB group for this sailing that are also positive. Having my quaren-tini at home. 

Boy do we wish we could be home! Because I didn’t test on the ship our quarantine was extended here in Seattle until Saturday now… sigh. The hotel has been so accommodating but wish we could recover at home. Soon….

[10k]

On 5/23/2022 at 10:23 AM, kylenyc said:

Thank you OP for sharing your experience. Sorry about what happened to you.

 

To all: A 3rd round of free at-home covid tests was authorized for a total of 16 per residential address. I'm bringing them for future cruises even though after several cruises (latest one on May 1st) I've managed to avoid catching it.

https://www.covid.gov/tests

Thanks kylenyc, for sharing the link!  Lenora

[ttechnology]

Wishing you all the best JBPINKIE and a very safe trip home!  You guys have been through a lot! Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Truly one of those "what would you do" moments. You & your husband did great and our family wishes you many healthy & happy cruises in your future!

[Luv2cruze me and u]

On 5/23/2022 at 1:23 PM, kylenyc said:

Thank you OP for sharing your experience. Sorry about what happened to you.

 

To all: A 3rd round of free at-home covid tests was authorized for a total of 16 per residential address. I'm bringing them for future cruises even though after several cruises (latest one on May 1st) I've managed to avoid catching it.

https://www.covid.gov/tests

Thank you for sharing.  we were not aware of the new allotment.