Celebrity Constellation Cruise - Pre-cruise - Friday - Saturday, November 5-6, 2021

Our day started early.  Current COVID health protocols for Celebrity require a negative PCR or antigen test no more than two days before the day the cruise departs (along with requiring passengers to be vaccinated).   COVID tests can be hard to find in my area and so we ordered the Abbot monitored home tests that many of the cruise companies (and even some airlines for certain international travel) are recommending.  The test needs to be monitored by a telehealth provider and we figured wait times would be shortest first thing in the morning.  So before we even started our half-day of work, we logged into eMed and started the process.  Each of us were able to connect with a telehealth provider immediately and the process went very smoothly, only taking about 20-25 minutes each.  Two Vloggers we follow made great videos that outlined the process really well for us:  La Lido Loca and ParoDeeJay.  

Then after four hours of meetings and trainings, Paul and I loaded up the car and were on the road by 11:15 a.m.

We made it to our hotel in Gainesville, FL about 7:40 p.m.  We stayed at a Springhill Suites right off interstate that was quite nice (except the heating/cooling system that died in the middle of the night).

The next morning we had just about two hours left to drive.  We arrived in Tampa a little after 10:00 a.m., parked near the river walk and headed towards where the ship was parked as I saw the Constellation had arrived the day before.  This is the Constellation's first cruise since the re-start.

We then took a tour of the American Victory, which is a cargo vessel that was used during WW II, Korea, and Vietnam.  It was built in 1945 in 55 days and cost $2.5 million to build.   It traveled around the globe twice during its career and was brought to Tampa in 1999 to be renovated and turned into a museum.

We then found lunch at Sparkman Wharf, which is this really neat outdoor area with restaurants (including  food truck like stands in containers), a biergarten, a stage for live entertainment, and activities.

After lunch, we took a walk down the river walk and came across a Blue Jay that didn't mind us getting as close as we wanted.  He was amazing to watch.  I didn't have my long lens on me at the time and so the photos below were taken with my 60mm lens.

At this point we either had to put more money into the (electronic) parking meter or drive over to the hotel to see if we could check in early, so we made our way to the Aloft downtown and a room was ready for us.  Our room has nice views of downtown Tampa and a bench in front of the window which is a great spot to watch the cars go by.  

The river walk we had walked near the cruise port and American Victory continues along the bay all the way to our hotel.  So after settling in, we went for a little walk.

Great Egret

I believe this is a Mottled Duck

Laughing Gulls

I haven't been able to identify the one on the right.  The left two are female Mallards.

We grabbed some subs to take back to the room and then relax the rest of the evening.  Tomorrow's the big day - sail away day!