Embarkation Day Questions

[RELS]

I have some questions about Embarkation day:

- Is there still a muster drill?

- Are block parties back, and do they happen on embarkation day (and if so, what time)?

Many thanks in advance!

 

 

[flossie009]

From recent experience:

  - Prior to your cruise you will have watched a safety video. On boarding you will check-in at your muster station, but no drill. The safety video will be playing on the TV in your suite

  - No block party.

  - Pre-covid, block parties were never on embarkation day. Normally they were held on day 3 (Captain's reception on day 2) at 6pm

 

 

[irishwitchy]

Note:  you won’t be able to use the TV until you actually watch the video!   Fun fact:  my first regent block party I showed up in the hall way with my bathroom on and a towel wrapped around my head,  needless to say that got recorded and for week I WAS THE towel LADY - lol. 

[edgee]

7 hours ago, flossie009 said:

From recent experience:

  - Prior to your cruise you will have watched a safety video. On boarding you will check-in at your muster station, but no drill. The safety video will be playing on the TV in your suite

  - No block party.

  - Pre-covid, block parties were never on embarkation day. Normally they were held on day 3 (Captain's reception on day 2) at 6pm

 

 

From more recent experience: Block parties are back. Had one on my current Mariner cruise..I believe it was day 3.

[hamasgirl]

On Splendor right now.  Prior to embarkation (while still at home) we were required to watch the safety video online to be qualified as 'ready to cruise' or some such designation.  On embarkation day, after the passport and covid vaccination paperwork process (where were got wristbands and then a gold sticker to wear on our chest) we were on board.  As they handed us the glass of champagne we were directed to our muster station where our suite key was scanned.  Now we have officially completed the muster process.  Altho as a previous poster indicated, you had to sit through the safety video (a more extensive one) on your suite TV before you could access anything else.

 

And no block parties on our cruise...and we are the second cruise of our back-to-back journey and no block party on either leg.

[Avidtravler]

Hello Hamasgirl,

We are just curious what you mean by " covid vaccination paperwork process ". I thought there was no more covid paperwork needed. Please explain.

[wristband]

I hope Regent has eliminated the cumbersome covid paperwork done at embarkation last month.  We pre-registered online all required information (documenting covid vaccinations) but then watched  desk staff handwrite out on paper dates and manufacturers of our four shots.  

 

A duplicative and time consuming process - could be efficiently handled otherwise.  Hopefully it has.

[edgee]

1 hour ago, Avidtravler said:

Hello Hamasgirl,

We are just curious what you mean by " covid vaccination paperwork process ". I thought there was no more covid paperwork needed. Please explain.

I can answer for our cruise. Not true. On Oct. 15 Mariner embarkation in LA we had to fill out Covid vaccine information including dates of each shot and any symptoms or recent exposures to other active cases of Covid. When we handed in our paperwork we were given a red wristband to wear for rest of check in process. Interesting that no one looked at our covid vaccine cards. I presume that if we had not been vaccinated we would have been tested. We did take a covid test 3 days prior to our cruise as advised by Regent so that if we had later tested positive on the ship, Regent would have covered expenses not covered by our travel insurance. No one asked to see our negative test results, though.

[lidge]

Where did/do you get the paperwork in advance to complete for the Covid data?

[edgee]

22 minutes ago, lidge said:

Where did/do you get the paperwork in advance to complete for the Covid data?

For our cruise you fill it out first thing after you drop off luggage. It is on a table with pencils and too few chairs so lots of folks standing filling out the forms, pulling out their vaccine cards and squinting to read dates of both initial shots and boosters. Not ideal.

[RELS]

1 hour ago, edgee said:

lots of folks standing filling out the forms

 

Did they at least have clipboards or standing tables?

[edgee]

26 minutes ago, RELS said:

 

Did they at least have clipboards or standing tables?

No. We just did it standing by a regular table. Inconvenient but a small matter IMHO. Finished in 4 minutes and the rest of the check in process took 20 minutes. Not a big deal.

 

[marco2111]

16 hours ago, edgee said:

From more recent experience: Block parties are back. Had one on my current Mariner cruise..I believe it was day 3.

New to Regent, what is a block party?

[GOARMY]

Block Party:  Stand in doorway of Suite with glass in hand.   Suite attendants are there to pour libation and distribute canapes.  Great opportunity to meet with your fellow cruisers in adjacent Suites, and down the Hall. 

 

CPT and his happy gang (Cruise DIrector and a video Team in tow) will appear, in due course.  The group starts at top deck and moves--quickly through each Deck.  A quick "welcome" and, poof--they are gone.  Conversations between shipmates often continue.  

 

Purely voluntary.  We have found this a good way to meet our neighbors.  Have developed friendships with several who remain our friends to the present.  Often turned-out--folks resided in our same, or a nearby community.  

 

Oh, BTW:  

 

Plenty of paperwork (duplicate) required prior to October 3rd boarding of Mariner in L.A.  A real mess.  See my comments in "Meandering Down to Mexico" thread.  

 

GOARMY!

 

 

 

[hamasgirl]

From our perspective we just showed our CDC vaccine document to the folks at the check in desk.  They looked it over and then gave us a red wristband to wear as well as a gold sticker to put on our chest.  Everybody I saw had both so I have no idea what the significance of either one was.  It probably took 30 seconds to do that.

[wishIweretravelling]

Paperwork re covid depends on itinerary—specifically, what the countries/cities you are visiting require.  

 

Been on Splendor since 9/5. No block parties yet. We keep hearing “maybe next cruise,” but hasn’t happened yet. Still a bit too much covid on the ship for them to be comfortable doing it.

[Scout16]

From my experience in June, I believe the wrist band is used to allow people to skip the need for any further Covid processing especially if you are on from a prior leg of the cruise.  I do not remember any gold stickers but that may be used to direct those people to visit their muster station.  When I arrived in Barcelona to board the Voyager, I was the only passenger in the terminal due to problems with the airline and my luggage so I cannot comment on how long the processing took. 

[Eno-Bob]

I believe the wrist bands and gold stickers are just there to confirm that you have been checked through the various processing stations for those people monitoring boarding further down the line.