The disembarkation process and other miscellaneous comments
If you’d rather see the video version of this post, click below:
I got up early to pack and generally prepare for the long day to come. I surprised myself with the ability to pack all my stuff into my hand tote and carry-on. I like to think I’ve gotten good at this over the years. After I packed, I went to the Jammer for my last meal on the ship. It was as busy as I had seen it. The food was still good.
We docked at Port Canaveral at around 7:15, but it took another hour to get the gangway out and get clearance. That gummed things up such that it made Royal’s planned disembarkation procedure a big old mess. The way they had it set up, most people would stay in the cabins until their tag number was called. Then they would come down. But by 8, I hadn’t heard any announcements, and this was when I was scheduled to get off. Since I had already packed and fed myself at the trough, I just left. I followed the line back, back, back, out onto the promenade deck, and finally found the end of the line all the way near the front of the ship. It wasn’t too hot, but I was dressed in my warmest and bulkiest clothes, and I was feeling what heat there was.
The regular ship cruise director Mark (as opposed to our charter cruise director J.T., who handled the vast majority of the announcements this week) finally announced that we could get off, and finally the line started to move – a little at first, then more or less steadily. We walked across the promenade deck again, through the ship, into a small portion of the middle deck of the MDR, then onto the promenade on the other side, and finally checked out. Then I went into the terminal and did the face showing thing for immigration/customs. I got a check mark and went out into the ground transportation area.
This started part two of the disembarkation process. I was off the ship, but more adventures awaited. I went to the GoPort check-in area, which was a short distance from the ship. There was a short line there, and another longer line nearby for people boarding a shuttle bus to the airport. I and the people around me waited and waited as buses went by and were filled with luggage and people. To their credit, I got good information and reassurance from the GoPort employee who advised us throughout the long process. And it was long – from off the ship to on our way to the airport took about an hour. The trip to the airport itself only took about 50 minutes – despite having a bit of a rain storm on the way.
Meanwhile, my flight to Detroit (DTW) was delayed once, twice, three times for a total of 2 1/2 hours. I saw the AdventHealth testing site on the way to my gate, but I didn’t need to test at that point, so I passed it on by. MCO was BUSY BUSY BUSY, and it was made worse in the area by my gate because there was too little seating for the size of the size of the planes they were trying to board. And the kids… but never mind that. Anyway, the plane did eventually fly and land. I made it home.
And that was the end of my great adventure. I had a wonderful time. I highly recommend it.
And now for the loose ends:
- I had a total of four flights on this trip. All were delayed by at least an hour. I don’t think I’ve ever had a run where everything was delayed like this. I’ll chalk it up to bad luck, but stuff like this doesn’t encourage me to travel elsewhere.
- I had a real problem hearing announcements from my cabin on the ship. I had to prop the door open in order to hear them. I could have missed any number of announcements because I slept through them or was other occupied. The announcements I could hear OK in the public areas, subject to background noise.
- I estimate mask use by passengers in public areas at 1-2%. The Royal Caribbean staff always wore them. The ECP staff mostly didn’t. The entertainers never did while on stage.
- I didn’t hear about any COVID-related announcements and didn’t hear any COVID-related rumors from the other passengers. I didn’t see any crew in hazmat suits. I never found out where the isolation cabins were.
- The inside cabin on the Mariner was similar to my cabin on the Summit. This cabin on the Mariner had more shelves, drawers, and cubbyholes. The Summit had more convenient plugs and USB ports.
- The bathroom on the Mariner had a couple of items I feel the need to discuss. First, this was the first cabin anywhere that I felt I had inadequate counter space. There was a sliding two-piece circular door, which was nice. But it cut into the bathroom space, which found me bumping elbows occasionally. And the Mariner has a mystery goop container as the only cleaning option by the shower. My room on the Summit had separate containers for body wash, shampoo, and conditioner – much more civilized, IMHO.
- I went to a total of 9 concerts
- In the main theater I saw ABC, Dire Straits Legacy, Human League, Night Ranger, Berlin, and Belinda Carlisle. Cameo was the one main theater show that I didn’t attend.
- In Studio B I saw Paul Young and A Flock of Seagulls
- The one concert I saw in the Star Lounge was Trial By Fire
- I could have gone to more concerts, but they were either too late or in locations that I didn’t like
- I would have liked more matinees and early concerts, but I understand that most of the rock and roll crowd doesn’t like to get up that early
- The 80s Cruise was not short on gifts for its cruisers – I got a T-shirt, a mini lunch box, a small tote bag, a water bottle, a lei, an 80s Cruise baseball cap, and some sunglasses
- My cabin steward made some towel animals for me some days. These were noted and appreciated.
- On the indoor promenade on deck 5, there were four video game machines. Despite the names on the outside, each were programmable with 60 different games from Space Invaders to Pooyan. I gave Frogger a whirl one day and did not do well. Maybe I’ll hit these harder next year
- I didn’t hear an official passenger count, but it was sure busy in most of the public places. I heard a mention of 3000 guests on the 2020 edition. That was near the start of the current pandemic. If I had to guess at a count, I’d say it was close to that this year, which would put it at 75-80% of capacity. Which wouldn’t be bad all things considered.
- Former MTV VJ Nina Blackwood was MIA. The other former MTV VJs Alan Hunter and Mark Goodman seemed to cover for her. She’s scheduled to be back next for next year’s cruise.
- 80s band Living Colour was a last-minute addition to this cruise. They played in several places and are scheduled to be back for next year’s cruise. They’re not my thing, sorry.
- I saw a couple of live feeds with Living Colour in Studio B and joining Berlin in the main theater. So the technology was there. I would like to see them implement it more widely and advertise it more.
- I had Stream Internet access for the last four days of the cruise, which cost $100. I was a little disappointed. There were some times when I couldn’t get through to the Net at all, and all the time it was a little laggy. I could stream on YouTube if I could tolerate 360p at best. Overall I thought the Net experience was roughly equal to the ones I had on the newer Carnival ships (Horizon, Breeze) before the pandemic, and inferior to the Internet experience I had on the Regal Princess in December which covered roughly the same territory.
- The demographic split looked to be 95% white, 5% everything else. This is more typical of the other cruises I’ve been on.
- From next year’s lineup, I’m MOST EXCITED to see Howard Jones, Morris Day, Jody Watley, and Autograph. I think Cutting Crew and John Parr will be worth seeing. The other artists are for other people to spend their time with.