Royal Clipper Trip Report -- Our Final Day

Day 10 (AND BEYOND!) -- Disembarkation and getting home

Mid 70s, sunny

We had to have a negative Covid test in order to re-enter the US, so our goal was to be off the ship by 9am in order to ensure that we could get tested at the port before the testing site closed at 10 am. So we packed up our carry-on bags, hit the breakfast buffet, and disembarked. The testing went very smoothly, Kath and I both tested negative and were relieved. However, we know of at least 3 people who tested positive and had to quarantine in Barbados for 10 days.

So we had one part of our trip home all set and that felt good. However, the other part of our trip home -- our flight -- had been canceled due to a massive snowstorm that hit New England that morning. So we had to decide whether we were just going to stay in Barbados until our flight was rescheduled. Unfortunately, our flight wasn't scheduled until 2 days later. So should we pay for 2 nights in a hotel in Barbados, or go to the airport and try to get our flight to Miami?

Why wouldn't we just get a hotel and enjoy 2 more days of sun and beach? To be 100% honest, we would've had to test again and I was very worried that we would test positive and get quarantined. So while we had the negative test result in our pocket, I wanted to get out of Dodge. The American Airlines agent that I dealt with was so helpful and got us onto the first leg of our flight (to Miami), even though the second leg (Miami to Hartford) had been canceled.

To make a very long story short, we were able to fly to Miami that day (Saturday). Rather than try to find a hotel in Miami until our flight to Hartford on Monday, we decided to rent a car and drive to my parents' house in Orlando. Yes, it was a long drive, but we were in familiar surroundings at the house and we were able to do a couple projects that needed to be done. It was pretty cold while we were there (remember the "falling lizard" memes on Facebook?), but it was great to be at their house. We drove back to Miami Monday night, hopped onto our flight, and were home -- in the snow -- later that night.

That's it, that's the end of our first sailing cruise.   Thanks for reading along!  Please visit my Facebook page (Pioneer Valley Cruise Planners) or our podcast page (The Confident Traveler Podcast) on Facebook to see a LOT more pictures.

 

Or, for a lot more detail and perspective from some other folks who traveled with me, please listen to our podcast about our trip!  Find it here:  https://open.spotify.com/episode/5NFenDrEIIzrz4msGtO9lC