I Went on a Test Cruise!

I just returned from a 3-day test cruise (aka Simulation Cruise) on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas and wanted to share the experience with you.

????We sailed on board this beautiful huge ship from Miami to their private island, Coco Cay in the Bahamas.?The test cruise had all vaccinated guests on-board.?To test their protocols and systems, they had volunteers play the role of unvaccinated guests.?The cruise line was well prepared for us.?Using an app to pre-register and also use (free) on-board to make reservations for shows and dinner, it was so simple. We needed to have our original vaccination card at time of check-in at the port along with our Passport.?Once each document was verified and entered into their system, we were given a color-coded wristband to identify us as a vaccinated guest, along with our Sea Pass card.?Once I put on the wristband, I pretty much forgot about the need to inform anyone, because that is what they would look for.?Un-vaccinated guests would migrate to a separate boarding area where they would undergo a pre-embarkation COVID test before boarding once negative results were determined. Indoors everyone needed to wear a mask (except in your stateroom and once seated in restaurants and shows), but most of a ship is outdoors, where masks were not required. Indoor venues such as dining rooms and theatres were split between V=Vaccinated (mask not required) and E=Everyone (mask required), and included social distancing and exiting by area at shows rather than everyone rushing out at once.?Shops or smaller dining venues limited the numbers inside at once and had cheerful crew members there to engage in conversation with you while you waited – if needed.?Every entrance had a hand sanitizer stand with a crew member there to make sure you were using it. Some dining locations have actual sinks with soap, water and individual use towels instead of sanitizer.?This process sounds somewhat complicated, but it really was not. All crew members are vaccinated and wear a mask.

???????????????Visiting Coco Cay there was no need to wear a mask at all.?The ship docks right there, so you walk off the ship to their dock and use open-air trams (or walk) to navigate the island.?

???????????????All cruise ships have a medical center on-board, those have now been expanded to include an isolation ward and additional protocols to handle covid or any other outbreak.?There are reminders to contact the medical center with any concerns of illness and their staff will come to your room to check on you – no need for you to come to them.?They would then determine a course of action if needed. There are more details on this on the ship in your room. If you didn’t already know, cruise ships have and still have the highest hygiene protocols in the hospitality industry.?

???????????????The disembarkation for the airport was so simple, actually the easiest time I ever had for any cruise.?Like every cruise, you are given a dis-embarkation time and this is reflected through your luggage tags.?You normally are asked to report to a certain area of the ship to await your departure time.?This time, they had us wait in our rooms and watch the TV for our turn.?Once your turn showed on the TV screen, you proceeded to the gangway. Once you were back on land, their new procedure is to replace the long immigration lines with facial recognition system, which worked perfectly. We were at our airport gate in less than 45 minutes from the time we walked out of our room on the ship.?It helped that security lines at Miami Int’l Airport were only 3 minutes waiting time, almost unheard of!

???????????????Recently, updated protocols due to Delta variant require all guests to submit a negative COVID test before sailing. This is currently a temporary action which is set to expire at the end of summer.

???????????????All-in-all I would not hesitate to cruise again, soon.?

About the author, Lori Visser is a local Travel Agent and can be reached at 616-263-1777 or [email protected]