January 2022: Seabourn Odyssey

 January 28, 2022 - Quarantined in Barbados

We had an exciting start to our cruise from Barbados. We had a bit of trouble upon entry. The travel clinic gave us the wrong test so it was rejected. Usually that means you take an antigen test at the airport. No problem.

Then, we assume we got flagged because we had been in Mexico in the last 21 days. We had to take a PCR test at the airport. Upon arrival at our hotel, the hotel employee informed us we had to quarantine in our room. And I burst out into tears. I really thought when we arrived at the hotel we were done.

January 2022: Virgin Voyage Scarlet Lady

 January 20, 2022 

We had an easy flight into Miami, but had trouble finding a gate. Between boarding and finding a gate, Glenn said we had more time on the tarmac than we did in the air. It look about 30 minutes for our luggage to arrive. We grabbed a taxi to the Intercontinental Miami at Doral. It’s about a 20 minute ride. A room was ready. Yay! We had the lunch buffet. It was a pretty good deal - $22 per person with a  nice salad bar, French onion soup, and really good mac and cheese. I worked in the afternoon. We had club access. The Club Lounge was closed, but they roped off part of the restaurant’s lounge. We had a couple drinks and some snacks. We called it an early night.

January 2022: Hyatt Zilara Cancun

 January 14, 2022 Travel Day 

We had an easy flight. The people in front of us didn't wear their mask the whole flight. Glenn complained to the flight attendant, but he didn't say anything. I guess they don't want to get in confrontations. i was glad we wore KN95s and it was a short flight. We breezed through security. Check in was easy. 

We scheduled our COVID tests and had lunch at 11:30 am. Glenn really enjoyed the octopus and I liked the fish tacos. 

January 2022: Norwegian Dawn

 January 2, 2022 Embarkation

The transfer arrived right on time at 10:30 am. We headed to the port. They had set up testing in a parking lot. It was run by CVS. It was the best setup we've seen. They had stations with two people - one registering and one who watched you swab yourself. Then, you got a card with a time your results would be ready. We tested at 11:18 am and had 11:38 am written on our card. If you got your text with the results, you could raise your hand and they would give you a bracelet. Then, every 10 minutes, he'd go into the testing area and make sure they had notified everyone who tested positive in that 10-minute group. He'd say "Anyone with result times 11:40 am or earlier." And walk around and give everyone their bracelets. We got our bracelets 

December 2021: Minnesota

 From Indianapolis, we headed up to visit our favorite Deephaven residents. 

We had a great time visiting breweries, hitting golf balls at Top Golf in sub zero temperatures, and playing Catan. 

December 2021: Christmas

 We had a terrific Christmas.

Glenn taught our niece and nephew how to make pretzels

We decorated cookies

We sang carols

We visited Conner Prairie

We snuck in a visit to Gwen, Brian, and Jackson

I made the whole family crack up when I accidently snorted during our family photo

Glenn made his famous Hawaiian chicken

We visited the Carmel Christmas market.

I was the best cheater at Cheater Monopoly

My nephew and Glenn had an epic Animal Crossing session

I finally almost won Mario Kart

Glenn's Thoughts on the Carnival Mardi Gras

 I am on the 12/11/2021 sailing.  For reference, this is my 55th overall cruise and 17th on Carnival.  First impressions of the experience:

The food has been great.  Big Chicken really met and  exceeded all the hype.  And great fries as well. Also had some very good meals at Chibang and Le Cucina del Capitano. Those are still complimentary.