Clearly from the heading, one of us got COVID. It was towards the end of the cruise (thankfully, I guess) and Royal did a great job of taking care of us. This was our 3rd cruise since COVID. I had some concerning symptoms an went to the medical center. Was diagnosed there. The head nurse was nice, the male nurse practitioner from the US was not nice. We are both vaccinated and boostered. Regardless, they did take care of us at no expense to us for the tests and cough medicine. We were reimbursed for the two days we stayed in our cabin. They gave us free Wifi and movies and we were able to still keep our cruise points. We were allowed to quarantine together in our jr suite, thankfully. Since my husband tested neg. they did give us the option to keep us separated. We chose to stay together (in sickness and in health, yes?). He tested positive at home the day we got off the ship. We live in FL so thankfully we could go straight home. If you have to fly out, they provide you quarantine time in a hotel as well as transport. I suggest bringing a few at home COVID tests just in case. I brought some and took the test, that is how I knew. Been home 8 days as of this writing and am still sick. Getting better though. If you have hung on so far, thank you. Keep reading. This will help you!

Check in was OK. We had 10:30-11. Don't worry so much about the line you will be sure to see once you get there. Just show up at your assigned time. Not before. The line goes fairly quick. Those that purchased the Key or are Pinnacle, have a separate line but you still have to stand in the "main" line first. This is how they did it at Pt Canaveral for our sailing. We got into the terminal and went through security, then checked in. We had a junior suite and got to go to the "special" area off to the right for suite guests. We also got to board earlier but honestly, it wasn't that much of a difference. We are also Diamond but that didn't seem to matter. Just follow what they tell you to do and you will be good.

We booked lunch at Jamie's on embark day. We did this to avoid crowds but also because we LOVE Jamie's. It's SOOO good. We try to book embark lunch on every cruise just to get away from the "first day chaos". One bit of advice for those haven't booked specialty dining prior to cruise day: On the first day, definitely do your safety brief and then head over to one of the specialty dining venues in Central Park. Someone will be in one of the venues to help you book your dining. We have done this on the last 3 cruises and it has always worked out great. Read more