Switch from 5n magic marvel cruise to 4n dream to avoid debarkation testing?

We are cruising the week of 1/22 and are deciding between the Magic Marvel Day at Sea out of Miami leaving 1/22 and the Dream leaving 1/24. We are extroverted mom, introverted dad, extroverted kiddos DS 8 and DD 3. Because of DD3 we will need to take DCL sponsored excursions only and a test on day 5 if we go magic.

Magic pros:
fewer people overall
Grand Cayman is currently on the itinerary, and we’ve never been there, but who knows if that will stay?
Marvel Day at Sea
5 nights

Magic cons:
DEBARKATION TESTING
smaller ship so fewer things to do
kids club lacks the video game type room my son would love
flights to Miami are super inconvenient and longer

I’ve heard good things about Tangled, but my daughter doesn’t really know it that well (I can fix that).

Dream pros:
husband is less likely to get seasick on larger ship
more amenities, like golf and simulators and aquaduck
larger rainforest room
larger kids club
leaves out of PC, so we’d do 2 nights at WDW first
flights are easy
Beauty and the Beast show

Dream cons:
more people, potentially, esp at CC
4 nights
Nassau
no Marvel day at sea
potentially a navigator’s verandah if unable to upgrade at port

WWYD? Cost is similar enough that it’s a wash, and yes I know time at wdw would cost more but also it’s wdw so I disney mathed it and it’s all good :rofl:

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Debarkation testing wouldn’t have me reevaluating a cruise booking. We’d likely test anyway as soon as we got home. More days = better, so I wouldn’t switch to a shorter cruise.

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Ugh. This alone would send me the other way.

So, they are not testing for debarkation on 4nt? I wonder why? A little odd?

This. It’s a simple nasal swab AT DCL’S EXPENSE. Not a big deal. Especially for giving up a day on the ship just to avoid it.

Also, it’s ONLY for unvaccinated guests. If you’re vaxxed, no need for a test.

The thing is no one holds a gun to your head and makes you get off. Just make it another sea day - just a non-moving one.

True, but you pay port charges and fees on a port you’re not using. I dislike Nassau enough that I would absolutely look at another itinerary.

Given that Grand Cayman has had no movement on changing its status, I’m doubting that will happen - and it may end up being Nassau anyway.

In the overall cost of a cruise, those fees are negligible. I already pay for Kids Clubs and other stuff on board that I don’t use.

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Yup!

Everyone gets to decide for themselves whether it matters which is a great thing :slight_smile: For me, it matters. For you, not so much. It’s all good :wink:

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Dd3 isn’t eligible yet (CAN WE HURRY UP PLZ) so if she pops a pos we might all be stuck?

Same. We prob would just stay on the ship. Ask me about the time I was confident I could navigate Nassau on my own with my skittish mom :rofl:

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It’s a big deal if we get stuck in a deck 2 200 Sq ft room for a week… which might not be what happens… that’s probably 25 procedures my husband would have to cancel for his pts who are mostly dying of aortic stenosis. Also driving back from Miami to Virginia w my kids might kill ME :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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Right. Or cozumel? Costa Maya? Who knows

I’m in between. For a 4 night cruise it doesn’t matter so much. For the 7 night fantasy sailing that same week, the ports are tortola and st Thomas, which I would LOVE to see, but not on a Disney sea lion encounter excursion w my 3 yo… and pretty much all the excursions are sold out on tortola already. So that plus the testing knocked that one out

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They aren’t going to keep you on the ship for the next cruise. You’d be disembarked.

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If she’s positive, don’t you want to know that before traveling home? And if she’s positive…not sure if your DH should be treating his patients anyway.

“I’d rather not know if we have COVID” is an interesting stance to take.

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Healthcare workers at this time continue to work until/unless they develop symptoms. They test 3-5 days from the household contact’s positive result, but otherwise (assuming they are vaccinated, that is) they go about life as normal, masking at all times in all public spaces for 14 days.

Also, I don’t think that’s at all what @FOMOm_VA was saying.

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First, we would take a test at home anyway and mask up.on the plane, so why get stuck in FL? More like I don’t want to know YET.

AlSo, he is triple vaxxed, and the likelihood that he would pass it along to someone else isn’t high.

Plus, he’s gotten screamed at by patients for suggesting they get vaccinated after he’s had wires and high pressure balloons in their hearts, but no thanks on the vax, doc. His stance is that if you haven’t gotten vaxxed yet and you can, then good luck (and a few other choice words). He can read charts to see whether his patients are immunocompromised and could not be vaxxed, so would obviously take different precautions there, rescheduling, droplet gear, etc. he’s been masked AF before it was cool. And gowned. And scrubbed. He ended up on HIV prophylaxis last year after a patient’s femoral artery spurted in his eye, so he’s also goggled.

He also has only ever once taken a sick day, and that’s because he had strep and couldn’t take time out of the cardiac icu shifts that were 4a-10p to go to a doc, and so he had another fellow (from ENT) lance his abscess in an empty procedure room so he could keep working, and didn’t stop until his throat almost closed and he had to stay overnight, this time as a patient. And all other docs I know are the same way, ESPECIALLY residents. Unless you’re dying, get in here and discharge pts. Wrong, but reality.

His colleagues and almost all other MDs are traveling without getting tested and coming right back to work the next day. Hospitals in our area don’t have travel restrictions. :woman_shrugging:

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Duh. That makes sense :rofl::rofl:

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ALL guests must have a COVID test just before boarding, regardless if vaccination status. Those who are unvaccinated must, furthermore, provide a COVID (non Rapid) test 24 to 3 days before embarkation

This applies to cruises leaving from Miami or PC.

We have watched a bunch of recent DCL vloggers and this has been the case. It is also what is specified on the website. So, there is no avoiding embarkation testing, and no avoiding an additional test 3 days ahead of time for DD3.

Tim Tracker just posted a series of videos where they did a cruise with their 2 year old son. He did fine with the testing. They were on the Fantasy, and left from PC.

ETA: um. I just wrote all of that, and then realized you were talking about debarkation testing, not embarkation testing. In my defense, I literally just woke up? :grin:

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She’s talking about disembarkation though

:arrow_right: A longer cruise is always the answer. :arrow_left:

(The size of the magic is still plenty big for DH and sickness.)

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