AlbertaCruisers

FYI, check out the Canada board as well, lots of information there. 

As people have said, you don't need a PCR test to board just a rapid antigen.  Remember that right now you need a test 1 day before your flight and not more than 2 before your cruise.

I got the $40 rapid antigen test at Shopper's Drug Mart for my cruises last year and it worked great for flight and cruise.  I have heard others have used Walmart, Rexall and Costco.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2510-canadian-cruisers/

I'm hoping there is a chance this stays at 1 day.  That would tie in to what the US is doing and would relieve some of of the issues that the 72 hours timeline caused.  It is much harder for people to check the hours and if there are time differences, etc.  Also, I would suggest a couple extra hours when you are looking at only a 1 day testing deadline, shouldn't be as big a deal as if you are letting people get the test up to 72 hours ahead.  It is possible the minister is so used to talking in hours that he just said 24 hours out of habit, but I guess we will see.

Also, I'm guessing it means not earlier than 1 day prior.  I don't think it makes sense that they would not allow a test on the morning of a flight.

I'm hoping for the 1 day versus 24 hours, as a test getting off the ship Friday morning would still be good for my flight home on Saturday!!

Edit: I don't think we will know the answer for sure until the official wording is released (on Feb 28?), unless the modify the news release wording on the website.

I used my dyson hairdryer with no problem at the desk in the infinite veranda room on the Edge. I don’t remember for sure, but I thought I plugged it in the enclosed box, I just had the lid open on that white box. 

It is only 5 days in Alberta too, but on the Alberta website it is clear that if you have travelled out of the country you have to follow the federal rules, which for travel is still 10 days. This is the wording from the Canada website:

Positive arrival test or symptoms after your arrival

Monitor for symptoms for 14 days after your arrival.

If a fully vaccinated traveller or unvaccinated child under 12 years of age tests positive:

• they must isolate for 10 days
• report your test results and/or symptoms to PHAC by calling 1-833-641-0343

I found that the vax card part of check in came and went.  Normally, if I logged out the app and back in that section of check in would come back.

At the Tampa terminal on January 3, it was their first day doing it in this fashion (it had previously still be on the ship).  We were lined up at 7:30 outside the terminal, the company showed up and started doing tests at 8:30.  We had our test conducted at 9:00 and were told to leave and head to the airport.  We waited anyway as we wanted to make sure we got results.  We got our results at 11:00 am, by email only.

I have heard of it happening both ways.  For our cruise in October on the Equinox, us and the 3 other parties we were sailing with, were all on the hump on Deck 6.  I got new cruise documents a few weeks before the cruise showing a new cabin, which I wasn't happy with, but I got a call shortly after I received that email and we were able to get a cabin on deck 7 on the hump in the same category, so it worked out fine for us.

I heard of people on the same cruise that were not notified in advance.  One lady found out about her room change when she went to her deck 6 cabin and Captain Taos (who had just got back on the ship and had to quarantine) was in her cabin!

Edit: Deck 6 was blocked off to quarantine staff on our cruise.

We used the Shopper's Rapid Antigen test for all 3 of our cruises so far (all on Celebrity).  The test worked fine for all of our flights and our cruises.  As others have noted, I suggest taking your passport, they have a place to put the number in as your form of ID, and before you leave go through the form and make sure it says "Negative" and has all of your information correct and it has the address of the Shoppers it was done at.  The Shoppers I sent to also completed all the information on the computer and then printed it off. 

I do believe I read on here somewhere that one person had an issue where their Shoppers handwrote everything into the form and Royal didn't like that.  The person ended up calling the Shoppers from the port and getting a printed form emailed.

When we uploaded our vaccine confirmation for our December 23 cruise, it took almost 3 weeks to changed to being validated.

58 minutes ago, Work2cruz! said:

 

CDC guidelines are 5 days.  Canadian guides  to come back into Canada 

 

I don't disagree with you, I'm just telling you what I was told by Celebrity.  I told him the same thing and he said it doesn't matter, they only cover 5 days based on CDC guidelines.

Just as a note, I caution against relying on any of this when making your decision to cruise or not.  We were on the Equinox in Aug 2021 and Oct/Nov 2021 and in both cases got our test onboard to come home to Canada by at least the last day of the cruise.  Everything went really well and dealing with flights, check in, arrivecan was easy with tests in hand. 

We went on our December 23 Constellation cruise relying on the wording on the website that said testing would be onboard prior to the end of the cruise and booked our flights the day of disembarkation on that basis.  All cruise, I kept calling and being told the testing would be the last day and we would get a letter.  The letter never came.  By the morning of the last day we went down to guest relations and were told we would not be tested on the ship and would be tested in the terminal the next day after we got our bags and cleared customs.  I was very upset and got a meeting to talk to the head of guest relations and showed him the wording on the website that said the testing would be onboard and he essentially said too bad, it had changed and there was nothing he could do about it.  He could not and would not live up to what their website specifically said.  They kept saying it was based on the change in CDC regulations, which makes no sense to me, how does the timing of testing us to return to Canada rely on CDC guidelines?  It was him that explained to me they had changed their policy and no matter if you test positive on board or at the pier they ask you to find your own accommodations and they will refund the set amounts for up to 5 days per the CDC guidelines.  I told him we were Canadian and would not be able to fly home for 15 days (FYI, I believe this changes to 10 on Jan 15) and he again essentially said too bad.  I believe essentially because they are dropping you off in the US, they feel they only have to comply with CDC guidelines.  

The testing was a nightmare, but the testing company was only told on Jan 2 they needed them to be there on Jan 3 to do our testing, so hopefully it will get better.

49 minutes ago, Work2cruz! said:

This is not true based on my conversation with Celebrity.  If you test positive on the ship they make all the arrangements and cover all costs including medical. What they changed was they would still arrange to fly you home but on a commercial flight.  The is very different than testing in port.  Everything is left to you to arrange and you have to submit receipts to get your money back and they only pay for 5 days.  Doesn’t work for Canadians as we have to isolate for 15 days before we can come back

I was told different on the Constellation, I was told it is now 5 days and limited amounts now where you test positive onboard or on the port test. It was different before Omicron. If your interested check out the end bit of the Dec 22 Equinox roll call (link below), which has discussions from a number of people that tested positive on the ship. Post #1150 has the letter the got on Jan 2 for their Jan 3 disembarkation. I think that letter says they will pay $350 a day for hotel, but somewhere I think someone posted a more recent letter that says they will now only pay $150 a day for hotel. 
 

I see that letter doesn’t reference the 5 day limit, but we were told they follow CDC guidelines as referenced in that letter, which is currently 5 days. 
 

In case you weren’t aware already, check out the Canadian board. As a note, they aren’t flying anyone home anymore unless it is medically necessary (the wording has changed on the website).  My understanding is that what was noted above in the first post is all you get now if you test positive on the ship as well. Below is my experience from Jan 3. 

11 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

You're always so negative!  😇

One of the few times when it is a good time to be negative!!

31 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

Check your calendar. 
2022 isn’t a Leap Year

That was not me. I had quoted someone else. I’m not cruising in the Apex or in Feb. 

4 minutes ago, juksing said:

Hi Albertacruisers

 

thanks for info.   Does Constellation port out of MIA?   I read through the earlier thread and couldn‘t see your timings,  I know you were probably on one of the 1st cruises doing the port side testing so things may have been messier but Approx how long did it take you to get through the testing and get the results?  Were the results by email or paper? Did you make an appointment for the testing onboard?  We have the 11:55 flight out of FLL so are concerned about timing considering this is a March Break cruise for a CAD.   If we decide to go I really do not want to stress over the testing in addition to everyth8ng else during the entire cruise!  

No, Constellation was out of Tampa.  MIA may be better just because it is bigger and has more ships, so hopefully is more organized.

We only found about about the change on Jan 2 for the Jan 3 disembarkation, so no, there were no appointments.  Also, I think that added to the confusion and disorganization, so hopefully it will be better going forward.  I'm not sure if they will go with appointments going forward or not.  They had changed the process to the port in Oct when we were on the Equinox (it was the first leg of a back to back), and our friends booked an appointment, but the ship was late getting into port and everyone ended up just lining up.

Email only for results.  We got in line at 7:30 am, because we were told they would start testing at 7:30, but they didn't get there until after 8 and started testing at 8:30.  We were about 15 or 20 people back in the line.  We were tested at around 9:00 and had our results just after 11:00, but there was an issue because we were talking to people that were tested before us and didn't have their results back yet.

We are going again in April (probably) and I have booked our flights the next day, so we have the extra day in case there are any issues.  It was really stressful getting off the ship without results with the flight that day and not being able to finalize the arrive can app.  There is the potential issue with the 24 hour wording, but I spoke to someone at celebrity who said as long as your test is the next day they will still give you a test at the pier (and someone has recently posted a letter from Celebrity confirming the same thing).

46 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I assume your test was negative....sorry you had such a bad experience.  They system is overwhelmed for sure and you got caught in the bad end of it.

Yep, we were both negative.  Thanks.

1 hour ago, juksing said:

Hello

 

Today is my final payment date for our long planned Mar 14  cruise and am looking for information on wether there has been any feedback on the turnaround time for the PCR test?  Just re-read the website and it looks like it is no longer offered on board but rather at the pier!  We are from Canada so need a PCR test to return and my original 4pm return flight cancelled and was autorebooked by airline  to 7am (way too early as ship is just docking) and only flight that was offered by Flights by Celebrity was a 11:55 am so I am concerned on the timing of all this.  This cruise is during the Ontario March break so traditionally this cruise would have quite a few Canadians but with all the restrictions things may be different.

 

any feedback on the PCR test timings would be appreciated, thanks!

11 minutes ago, toronto guys said:

We are on the Apex departing Feb 29, 2022 and were told since we are from Canada that we will get tested on the ship on the last sea day and not on debarkation. You may want to give Celebrity a call.

Bruce

Please see the thread below for some details.  I think timing will really depend on if they get this process figured out and can get more organized.  If you can carry your luggage off and be some of the first appoints (if they are booking appointments) or first in line you could be ok.  Our testing people had 5 machines and each machine ran 1 test in 30 minutes. 

toronto guys - I'm not sure when you were told that, but it changed on January 2 for our January 3 departure and the website wording was changed last week to confirm the testing will be in the terminal on disembarkation.  The wording on the website still said the testing would be on the ship on January 3 when we got off the Constellation and they essentially told us too bad, the process had changed and we could not get our tests while onboard.

We were back to back on the Equinox in October/November.  The last full day of the cruise, which was a sea day we went to the back to back meeting at 9:00.  They gave us some quick information and then we all went over to Quisar and got a rapid antigen test.  They essentially told us to assume we were negative unless they got in touch with us.  The next morning, during the back to back process they gave us our negative test result with the new keys.  

As a note, I understand that if you end up being a close contact on the first cruise, even if you test negative, you cannot go on the second cruise, as you cannot say you have not been a close contact with someone that tested positive in the last 14 days.  We tried to be very careful on the first leg of the cruise for sure!

Hi,

Please see this thread in the Canadian forum for some thoughts and my experience with this change.

On 1/6/2022 at 3:06 PM, AlbertaCruisers said:

Isn't the below wording on the Celebrity site in Frequently asked questions new?

 

All fully vaccinated guests requiring a COVID-19 test to return to their home country will be provided the opportunity to receive testing in the cruise port during disembarkation. Proof of return travel scheduled within 24 hours of disembarkation will be required. Details on testing registration will be provided onboard. Testing will be complimentary for guests with cruise reservations booked and paid in full prior to November 16, 2021.  For new bookings made on or after November 16, 2021, testing will be available for a per person fee. The cost for onsite cruise port testing starts at $99* per person.  Prices vary by port and test type.

*Test prices are set by each vendor and not by Celebrity Cruises. Payments will be made directly to the vendor providing the service. Celebrity Cruises will not collect or retain any portion of this payment.

So, maybe a little bit of good news, it looks like they have thought better about adding in the "paid in full wording" I noted above.  The wording on the website is now as set out below.  The wording is the same in the FAQ and the Country Travel Requirements - which is nice for once.

All fully vaccinated guests requiring a COVID-19 test to return to their home country will be provided the opportunity to receive testing in the cruise port during disembarkation. Proof of return travel scheduled within 24 hours of disembarkation will be required. Details on testing registration will be provided onboard. Testing will be complimentary for guests with cruise reservations booked prior to November 16, 2021.  For new bookings made on or after November 16, 2021, testing will be available for a per person fee. The cost for onsite cruise port testing starts at $99* per person.  Prices vary by port and test type.

*Test prices are set by each vendor and not by Celebrity Cruises. Payments will be made directly to the vendor providing the service. Celebrity Cruises will not collect or retain any portion of this payment.

24 minutes ago, K_e_short said:

 Reading is hard you know.

It's not like your nickname on here is clear about where you are from. 🙂

 

Woohoo! Go out! Enjoy!

 

Don't come to Ontario. It's a bit of a disaster right now 🙂

The funny thing is I don't really go out - too scary!!  I work from home and cruise - 🙂!  Got a bit lucky this time I think.  Cruising was much less stressful in August and Oct! 

3 minutes ago, K_e_short said:

 Oh thank goodness.

 

So glad you got your results and can go outside and do things now.. or wait everything is closed 🙂

 

 

I think we are a bit less closed here in Alberta!

I finally got my results this morning, so approximately 160 hours from when the test was administered (Air Canada terminal at Pearson).

I don't think anyone cares about the lab location, it is just interesting.  People who were tested Friday got one of their results today, from a lab in Toronto.  We got tested on Monday, looks like our tests were flew to Ottawa, my husband got his result today (after approximately 134 hours) and I'm still waiting - I will be at 6 days waiting in 2 hours.