Day 11: At Sea

I am going to keep this short tonight. Yesterday’s post was twice as long as usual, so I’m giving myself a bit of a break. 😉 Besides, today was actually a very low key day on the Emerald Princess. I think everyone was recovering from yesterday’s big event and last night’s time change. 

We were up and in Sabatini’s for breakfast at a respectable 9am, but didn’t dawdle. The doppelgängers let us know that there was no line at Club Fusion for COVID testing, originally scheduled for yesterday but moved to today for obvious reasons. G went down and I did, too, as soon as I finished my cappuccino (priorities!). Testing was handled in the exact same way as last week, and we were told to return to our cabin for 30 minutes. If there was no issue, we were free to then continue with our day. 

G’s time was up first, so he started a load of laundry. While he was gone, the phone rang. It was the Medical Department, and I had (once again) tested positive. 

This is getting old!

I was told to stay put, and that someone from Medical would be up to see me. Yep, I know the routine. I texted G and told him to stay away for a bit, until Medical had done their thing.  It didn’t take too long for a nurse to arrive. She swabbed me for a PCR test standing right in the doorway, and told me to stay in the cabin until I heard back from them. Then she commented that I had tested positive last time, too. She asked about nasal sprays and I confirmed I used fluticasone, a corticosteroid spray for allergies. Anecdotally, she said they had seen false positives in crew members who used them also. 

The phone rang while I waited. It was G, in a British accent, saying he was the captain and it was time for me to walk the plank.  Haha. Yeah, we were both much more relaxed this time around.  The good news is that Medical called in about an hour and- no surprise- I tested negative. And the better news is that I got out of playing any role in getting the laundry done. Go me!

While I waited for the results, I did ask Dr. Google if there was any association between corticosteroid nasal sprays and false positive antigen testing results and couldn’t find anything. But if you’re also a “user”, you might want to more seriously consider the PCR test right before a cruise. 

It was nearly noon by the time all that was behind us, and we had lunch in the very windy Sanctuary. 

Lunch in the Sanctuary

Smoked salmon, avocado and grapefruit salad, gazpacho and honey almonds to snack on. 

Day 11 lunch menu

And that was pretty much our day. G and Mr. Doppelgänger left to go to wine tasting, but Mrs D and I stayed in the Sanctuary most of the afternoon. Tonight was a formal night and we cleaned up a little and went to the PES lounge in Skywalkers and then dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room.  

I received a Snapchat message that had me checking out our current location. Snapchat has placed my Bitmoji in a little boat. Harious!

Day 11 dinner menu

It’s Monday night, so, naturally, we are eschewing all other entertainment in favor of Monday Night Football on MUTS. We had to; it’s the Saints!  I will finally get off the ship tomorrow in Curaçao for the first time since we boarded in Los Angeles. We have to meet our excursion group on the pier at 9:50am, and will be in port until 9pm. Willemstad after dark is a beautiful thing. 

We are so predictable.