Return of Sail Away party

[BartmanLA]

I would be surprised if it returned to other cruises soon, but it does at least bode well that they're doing one at all and it hasn't been permanently cut from their desired list of offerings.

*fingers crossed that the Panama Canal folks get real Palo brunch*

No the Palo brunch is still under Covid protocols, in otherwords table service off a menu, there is still no self service buffet.

 

[GlassAct]

Would either of you be willing to post your experience with boarding in Galveston? We are on the December 3rd sailing and I'd love to have some insight as to how the Covid testing is working there.

Just to update from the first Galveston cruise, no sail away party but we also left port about two hours late. They had people gather for the fireworks, but the fireworks were at 10:45 so they may have been intentionally made it late to discourage crowds.

@ukintheus boarding in Galveston went pretty smoothly. We had a 10:30 arrival time and were covid tested by 10:45. 3/4 of us cleared in 30 minutes, but then my results were pending for close to one hour after. Really nerve wracking, but we made it on. We expected hiccups as the first boarding group every from Galveston, but we saw many people angrily complaining loudly.

 

[ukintheus]

Just to update from the first Galveston cruise, no sail away party but we also left port about two hours late. They had people gather for the fireworks, but the fireworks were at 10:45 so they may have been intentionally made it late to discourage crowds.

@ukintheus boarding in Galveston went pretty smoothly. We had a 10:30 arrival time and were covid tested by 10:45. 3/4 of us cleared in 30 minutes, but then my results were pending for close to one hour after. Really nerve wracking, but we made it on. We expected hiccups as the first boarding group every from Galveston, but we saw many people angrily complaining loudly.

Thank you SO much for remembering to come back and give an update!! It's very kind of you. 1 hour would be nerve wracking but I'm glad it was all OK. We leave on 12/3 so we may not find as many hiccups as you did - you were right to expect it with it being the first cruise. If you don't mind I have a couple of questions? Were they doing the testing once you had passed through security inside the port, or was it set up outside? Do you have any idea on capacity? How was Cabanas - I've heard it's a bit sparse in offerings?

 

[GlassAct]

Were they doing the testing once you had passed through security inside the port, or was it set up outside? Do you have any idea on capacity? How was Cabanas - I've heard it's a bit sparse in offerings?

First thing you do is covid test, and the people were incredibly nice and efficient. Each family has their own tent like space while they walk you through the steps. Once you test, then you go through security and upstairs to wait so that helps kill some time. They even had Mickey cartoons, free Galveston terminal wifi, or you could join the navigator app to start checking out activities. I was on the app while my husband refreshed the safe passage account nonstop in case we missed seeing it on the screen

1100 passengers, 900 crew. Not sure if those are accurate, but that was what we were told. The cruise director said 900 passengers got off in Cozumel.

Cabanas was fantastic, but this was our first ever cruise so no comparison to reference. We skipped lunch due to allergies. Mickey waffles galore, even lox with bagels. Everything (except the scrambled eggs) was delicious! There were four meat/egg/carb stations, one station with salmon and cheeses in the middle, and two cereal/fruit/yogurt stations also. So three separate offerings. Plus waiters coming around with coffee for refills while you ate. I'll be honest, I hope buffets stay this way. Especially with kids, having the crew dish out everything and hand you a plate at the end was so convenient and fast.

Hope you have a wonderful trip, ours was incredible!

 

[ukintheus]

First thing you do is covid test, and the people were incredibly nice and efficient. Each family has their own tent like space while they walk you through the steps. Once you test, then you go through security and upstairs to wait so that helps kill some time. They even had Mickey cartoons, free Galveston terminal wifi, or you could join the navigator app to start checking out activities. I was on the app while my husband refreshed the safe passage account nonstop in case we missed seeing it on the screen

1100 passengers, 900 crew. Not sure if those are accurate, but that was what we were told. The cruise director said 900 passengers got off in Cozumel.

Cabanas was fantastic, but this was our first ever cruise so no comparison to reference. Mickey waffles galore, even lox with bagels. Everything was delicious! There were four meat/egg/carb stations, one station with salmon and cheeses in the middle, and two cereal/fruit/yogurt stations also. So three separate offerings. Plus waiters coming around with coffee for refills while you ate. I'll be honest, I hope buffets stay this way. Especially with kids, having the crew dish out everything and hand you a plate at the end was so convenient and fast.

Hope you have a wonderful trip, ours was incredible!

Thank you! I'm glad you had a great time - we are getting excited for it!! I'm sure I will be the paranoid one checking Safe Passage at the terminal.

 

[Ikaikalani]

Just to update from the first Galveston cruise, no sail away party but we also left port about two hours late. They had people gather for the fireworks, but the fireworks were at 10:45 so they may have been intentionally made it late to discourage crowds.

@ukintheus boarding in Galveston went pretty smoothly. We had a 10:30 arrival time and were covid tested by 10:45. 3/4 of us cleared in 30 minutes, but then my results were pending for close to one hour after. Really nerve wracking, but we made it on. We expected hiccups as the first boarding group every from Galveston, but we saw many people angrily complaining loudly.

Were they complaining about the wait or for other issues?

 

[GlassAct]

Were they complaining about the wait or for other issues?

No idea. I tried to avoid one specific large family group of complainers all cruise, so naturally I saw them every day lol!

 

[Cheburashka]

We expected hiccups as the first boarding group every from Galveston, but we saw many people angrily complaining loudly.

Nothing like angry muttering as a fun way to begin your long-awaited Disney cruise.

 

[anricat]

We were on this first cruise as well. As GlassAct said, there was no sail away party and we didn't get underway until after 5, maybe 5:15-5:30 or so. We had a 12:15-12:30 PAT and arrived right around 12:20. There was a very short line to get in. People who were early were waiting to the right and those on time waited to the left. It was very orderly and there were lots of workers at the port directing people where to go. We went straight to testing, after that was security, after that was a large waiting room and then checkin. Our results took about 40 minutes total. My daughter was like, "refresh your email again!" NONSTOP. And even though it had only been about a minute since the last time I refreshed, I did and got the notification that we were clear to board. Since they seem to batch them up, right as we arrived to go to checkin, a HUGE wave of people came in behind us. So keep refreshing those phones because it was a big batch that got their all-clear all at once.

We were told 1200 folks on board and that it was completely at capacity (for what they are sailing with now, obviously). I asked for an upgrade at port since we had been moved (from deck 2 mid to deck 6 forward - they considered it an upgrade, I absolutely did not and was willing to pay to upgrade to a midship verandah). I was told no rooms were available. Which is odd because there were tons of empty rooms. But it must have had to do with how the stateroom hosts were assigned or something. In the end, it was fine that we didn't upgrade because the wind was pretty insane our whole trip. We went fast the whole time (19-20 knots) and there was a lot of wind (15-20 knots, which apparently felt like 40 knots at speed). They told us we would be late coming into Cozumel, but they apparently made up time and we were on time. Not that it mattered, there was an Ironman race going on that made travel around the island nearly impossible and the weather was awful (pouring rain, thunder, lighting). Needless to say, we did not enjoy our day in Cozumel (I'll write a trip report with all the deets).

Our experience in Cabanas was not at all good. There was enough selection, but they had four identical stations open (two on each side) and honestly, it was too many. The food turnover wasn't fast enough and everything we got was cold. Not just not-hot, but literally completely room temp. I thought they had warmers? I dunno, we gave up and went to Triton's the last sea day and it was like a miracle to have hot food again. Honestly, they didn't need four stations - I never saw it busy and there was never a line or a wait. They could have just had one grouping on each side.

 

[Cheburashka]

Our experience in Cabanas was not at all good. There was enough selection, but they had four identical stations open (two on each side) and honestly, it was too many. The food turnover wasn't fast enough and everything we got was cold. Not just not-hot, but literally completely room temp. I thought they had warmers? I dunno, we gave up and went to Triton's the last sea day and it was like a miracle to have hot food again. Honestly, they didn't need four stations - I never saw it busy and there was never a line or a wait. They could have just had one grouping on each side.

It is so time for them to take Cabanas back to normal. There are enough people on the ships now that lines and crowding sometimes exist in other places. Cabanas shouldn't continue to be ruined to maintain a little more spacing in that one location. In a month and half, almost everyone onboard will be both vaccinated and have passed a recent rapid test. I hope they bring the regular buffet back at that point. Servers dishing it out instead of self-serve is okay, but enough with the limited selection and lack of turnover of dishes.

 

[anricat]

Would either of you be willing to post your experience with boarding in Galveston? We are on the December 3rd sailing and I'd love to have some insight as to how the Covid testing is working there.

I started working on my trip report if that might be helpful for you.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...ow-merry-it-is-to-return-to-cruising.3861360/

 

[sab53085]

Are the Sail Away parties happening now?

 

[Kwami]

Are the Sail Away parties happening now?

No.