Embarkation Day
We were lucky enough to get an early boarding time of 11am for our 14-day Panama Canal cruise. After a short taxi ride from the hotel to the port terminal, we dropped off our luggage and only had to wait about 10 minutes until we were allowed to proceed to the required COVID-19 testing area. We grabbed our test vials and walked into a curtained area where we swabbed our noses, loaded the vials for submission, and then proceeded through security. We were in the waiting area for a very tense 30 minutes. We had been extremely careful on all of our travels, but this was the first time any of us had been tested for COVID-19. If we tested positive, we would be denied boarding and would have to figure out a way to quarantine in San Diego. We were carefully watching the screens and refreshing our email to see when results came through. K said he received an email and logged on to the Safe Passages website to check our results. He looked at me with a sad face and shook his head no. I was horrified and he started laughing hysterically. I was not pleased with his joking, but was elated to go on board. We were allowed to proceed to the next area where we officially checked in and just had to wait until our boarding group was called.
Once our group was called, we walked up the gangway to the ship’s atrium for a short welcome aboard show with Captain Minnie and Captain Mickey. It took us about 1.5 hours to go through the entire process. After a quick lunch at Cabanas, the ship’s buffet, we went to check to see whether our room was ready and unpack. We had a lot of luggage, since we had been traveling for two months, but the four of us were easily able to put it all away with room to spare. At 1600 we pulled away from the dock and we had the first Sail-A-Wave party since the start of the pandemic. This was our first chance to gauge how full the ship was. We were told there was more crew than passengers and there were only 23 kids on board. We were ready to hit the high seas once again.
