Home again, home again, jiggety-jig

So much has happened and I’m exhausted so will keep this as short as I can, knowing it will still be too long. Please feel free to post questions in the comments and I’ll answer there.

The drive to Florida from Tennessee wasn’t a bad one although we did have a menacing sky on the second morning.

We drove out of the weather, stopped at CVS in St Augustine for our rapid COVID tests, and headed to our hotel in Cocoa Beach after a brief delay on I-95 (can you say FULL STOP). The hotel wasn’t the best and we won’t stay there again but it was close to the port parking and we headed off.

When we finally arrived at the port (after waiting for our shuttle – ended up on a full-size bus transporting folks to all the ships), we managed to get inside through all the lines without issue. Then the wait began. Long story short, rumors were there was a missing passenger. And, of course, they were doing a deep cleaning of all cabins and other areas. We waited for about 2.5 hours till we could board, but the weather was good and we were on the ship.

Week one was good – beautiful weather, all three ports were open but we didn’t get off at any of them. The staff was amazing, working overtime to provide a safe, clean, welcoming environment. We had heard rumors of COVID taking a number of the crew down and by day two we realized it had hit the entertainment staff. No big shows. In fact, the CD was quarantined and another member of the entertainment crew had been asked to step up. And step up she did! 

We got pedicures the first afternoon and visited the steakhouse the second night. During the day I was writing and we were both walking every morning. We were so impressed with the crew and staff and all they were doing.

This was only a six-day cruise and on day five, everyone who was doing a back-to-back needed to be tested for COVID. We were both negative. Phew!

On Sunday we did the B2B swap, getting our new cabin key cards, getting passports checked (the new FaceID is AWSOME!), and then sitting for another 90+ minutes waiting for the ship to be cleaned. By the time we got back on board, all I wanted was lunch and quiet. Too many people in a small area with no social distancing and various levels of mask-wearing some not-so-efficient masks.

On Monday we got manicures – yes, both of us and at Stu’s request. LOL! Tuesday our port was Amber Cove. With beautiful weather, Stu got off and did a little walking and had a beer while chatting with a non-local. Good day, all-in-all. To this point, my writing had been going well and I was pleased with my progress.

Just before dinner on Tuesday, my throat started to hurt. I took an Aleve and we went to dinner. By bedtime, I knew I needed to get tested for COVID the next morning. Slight headache, stuffy nose, cough, little bit of upset stomach, and bad sore throat – feeling like I was getting a cold. All symptoms of OMICRON. The next morning we proceeded to medical as soon as they opened and they did a PCR test on both of us. Then they sent us to our cabin and asked us to stay there until they called, probably 1-2 hours later. I was positive enough that I was positive (snort) that we started packing up our things.

The results came in, I was positive, Stu was negative. He had three options. Stay in the cabin without me, get moved to a clean (disinfected) cabin, or go with me. He opted to go with me. About two hours after packing up everything, the crew arrived to move us from our deck 7 balcony to a deck 1 ocean view. As we left the room, they brought in the equipment to disinfect everything. We were escorted through hallways and elevators that were blocked off to anyone else, being careful to not contaminate anyone.

Once in our room, we received a phone call letting us know they would upgrade our WiFi access to the premium packages at no charge (and we were credited with what we had already paid). Someone called daily to see how I was feeling (other than daily two hour naps, I felt no worse than when I’ve had a bad cold). We called and ordered food and drinks whenever we needed it, even from places where we would normally have paid a fee.

Our food was delivered on a tray set on a stool outside our room. The crew member would knock and leave. Stu would put on his mask, open the door and bring in the tray. Everything was disposable – plates, cups, eating utensils. Our only regret was no pot of coffee and no microwave to reheat the cups we did get. Another passenger who was on the week before our first cruise and tested positive the night before her next cruise (she was B2B2B) advised us to get some metal eating utensils from the Lido. Since Stu was negative, as soon as we got settled into our cabin he had immediately gone up and brought down several sets of silverware wrapped in cloth napkins. We were very grateful for them! Wooden knives & forks (no spoons) were terrible. When we were done eating, everything went into the red hazardous waste bag that the tray was wrapped in and set back outside the door for pickup.

So we spent three days in quarantine, using the WiFi, watching movies on the two movie channels, and resting. Stu found a great video from the heart association and did 40 minutes of exercise every day. Me? i mostly napped.

Then it was disembarkation day. We had self-test kit we had managed to grab before the cruise and used it Saturday morning. Stu was still negative and I was still positive (ie; contagious). At least we knew. About 10am, after all the other passengers were taken off, all the COVID passengers were escorted one by one (social distancing) to separate elevators. All our luggage was disinfected (a mist-like spray), too. Once on deck 0, we were walked to a waiting area for pickup. Stu was negative, so he got to go get our car and come back to get me.

Then there was the drive home….where a winter weather watch was hitting big time. After watching reports from north Georgia and up to our home, we opted to stay in our Macon GA hotel for two nights, heading home on Monday.

Because I was still in my contagious quarantine days, all food was ordered to go and eaten in our room. Such fun…more movies & free WiFi.

The drive home was decent, we stayed on I-75 to I-40 and it was clear all the way. Traveling on a holiday helped. I took a ton of pics from the car, beautiful snow on the trees. You can see them all in our SmugMug album HERE.

US 127 was good, too, and our road only had a few slushy corners.

We got home to find a winter wonderland with 6.5″ of snow.

We closed the day out with a pretty sunset…

I am still doing okay, better each day. Down to mostly tiring easily, minor cough, and stuffy nose. Mucinez is helping. I suspect by two weeks out (Wed next week), it will mostly be gone.

Tomorrow I will share some of the cruise photos rather than overload today’s blog with them.

Ciao for now!

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