I also found the protocols to be better than at home in the US, both at the resort and the nearby restaurants. Mask adherence while indoors was high and all the employees at Lagunamar are required to be vaccinated in order to have returned to work. My quip re: tip and you’ll test negative was based on my experience.
At the time of your test you go to the concierge desk where a security guard meets you and escorts you to a ground floor studio room in building 10 where the tests are conducted. Lagunamar has contracted this out to a local medical clinic and there are two people in the room; one medical professional who administers the test and one clerical staff who inputs the results into the computer and prints your paperwork to give to the airline.
When we walked into the room there was a big cardboard box on the coffee table with TIPS APPRECIATED written on the side. While everyone in our family (5 of us) has been vaccinated I was nervous that we’d have an asymptomatic positive as we were there at the peak of omicron (mid Jan for 8 days). I didn’t think I had brought any cash, as we had just come from the pool, but I dug through my bag and found a $5 bill which I promptly and obviously put in the box. He then “swabbed” our nose and I say swabbed loosely b/c I’m not sure the cotton swab even went in our noses. After getting all 5 of us – including my 10, 8 and 5 yo kids – he told us to “wait 5 mins for the results to come back.” Within 30 seconds of saying that he gave us 2 thumbs up and said “ok, good news, all negative.” We tested when we returned home just to be safe before returning to work and school and we were all negative – so maybe the test was legit, it just seemed like the tip helped to ensure the results. My 10 and 8 yo even said walking out of the testing room, “why can’t they do the tests like that at home?” “He barely even touched my nose, at home they go almost to my brain.”
