terry&mike

Hubby and I are sailing the QM2 on August 5, NYC to Southampton. We will debark QM2 on August 12, and board the Island Princess on the same day, August 12, in Southampton for an Iceland/Greenland itinerary. 

We are considering our options for getting our needed Covid test for boarding the Princess ship.  As vaccinated travelers, we can have an antigen test done up to 3 days before boarding, which opens up the possibility of having the test done by Cunard during our transatlantic sailing.  I know they have the ability to test passengers and crew who are symptomatic, but I am wondering if we would be able to pay for testing while on board and receive a document with our results so that we could use this to board the Princess ship? Anyone know if this is a possibility for non-symptomatic guests, and if we could get something in writing? 

Our other options are to make appointments at the Regenerative Wellness Clinic in Southampton for the morning of August 12 at 39L each; to try to find a quiet place with good and reliable wifi to take one of our zoom proctored tests; or to line up for the tests Princess offers at $69 usd each, but has very long queues for.  

Trying to find the most efficient and simple option.  

Boarded Quest today with Negative test certificates from Proctored eMed tests we took yesterday afternoon. All fine. Took them in the hotel room in Madrid, using hotels Wi-Fi, through the app. 

My experience was no extra fee for early ticketing. Selected Princess EZ Air for return flight from London Gatwick back to US, on British Airways. Sailing is in August, ticket held in late May.  (Sailing over to UK on Cunard QM2, so only needed flight home). Unable to select seats on BA until ticket paid, so one week after holding tickets I called Princess and had flights ticketed; no extra fee for early ticketing but you lose the ability to cancel flights for refund. Was then able to log in to BA site and select seats. 

We have twice booked with Tripsite, one of the companies mentioned above, and had a positive experience on both trips. 

On 5/17/2022 at 1:11 PM, 2012_Alaska_bound said:

 

You may change your mind after you cruise.  We certainly had no response or help pre-cruise from the Scenic office, including claiming that they wouldn't help with required covid testing. It took our TA several long calls to even get them to tell her what hotel we would be staying in!

 

(Just came back from the Wonderful Douro and Lisbon pre-cruise.)

 

BUT..... once we started on our pre-cruise stay, everything changed.  Staff both on the pre-cruise and on the ship itself were VERY helpful and well informed! Nothing was too much trouble. Food and drinks were excellent. Excursions were excellent with Scenic guides on each one.

 

So, now I'm looking at the Bordeaux cruise on Scenic for next year!

We sailed the Bordeaux 10 day itinerary with Scenic last September, and it was one of our favorite vacations!

11 hours ago, earn said:

Does anyone know if you need to book the Azamara test at the port or can you just turn up and take one?

You do not book ahead, but take it at the port upon your arrival. To speed things up it was mentioned that, if possible, you should get one independently before arriving at the port. 

Depending on where you are sailing from, there are most likely lots of options for testing. We've been successful in finding plenty of sites at pharmacies and independent testing store fronts, at reasonable prices, in Portugal, France, Israel, Jordan, and Cyprus in the past few months. Our upcoming Azamara is sailing from Barcelona, and I have found several sites within a couple blocks of our hotel in Madrid (where we will be the day before boarding) for an Antigen test. 

5 hours ago, roberts2005 said:

Was there any discussion in your zoom call about timing of the PCR test of 3vdays vs. 72 hours?

I was stated as 72 hours for a PCR, or 1 day for an Antigen.

5 hours ago, uktog said:

Cant they "proctor" them at the port -  they can watch me do it, I will bring the test

Unfortunately, no.

17 hours ago, lizziebargain said:

Does anyone know if you can use OBC to purchase the test "in the terminal or on the boarding deck". Thanks in advance.

You cannot. It is a 3rd party provider handling the testing, and you will pay them directly.

18 hours ago, uktog said:

Good point, can I bring my NHS Antigen test and do it in front of them, we might have two spare at the time of our cruise.  Its exactly the same test that they use.........  I am really not prepared to lose some planned sight seeing time at our point of embarkation.  

 

American Queen stopped providing testing earlier this year and had to reverse their decision in weeks due to customer backlash.  I wonder if the same will apply here......

I was in a zoom meeting with Azamara yesterday and the test has to be a "proctored" test. So, you can use one of the EMed at home tests that are proctored (witnessed through a call, and they send you a certificate), but you cannot use an at home test that is not proctored. 

1 hour ago, UK6 said:

Just to let everyone know that we arrived in Bordeaux on time and boarded Scenic Diamond without any problems and everything seems fine and well organised on board..The service and attention is excellent. I understand the ship is about 50% full.

Writing this as we spend Saturday morning cruising in really nice spring sunshine.

Wonderful news! We sailed the Beautiful Bordeaux itinerary with Scenic in September 2021, and it was one of our favorite trips. If you are in to biking, you will love some of the daily itineraries. 

13 hours ago, flyfishing37 said:

We just received word this morning that our April 28 departure on Amber from Budapest to Nuremburg was cancelled. No explanation other than "global conditions." We were given the option to take later dates,  all with reverse itineraries. Less than three weeks out and all of our travel plans made. 

This is really becoming distressing.  

We sailed with AMA in Portugal in early September 2021. A passenger tested positive for Covid 2 days before disembarkation. All onboard were fully vaccinated, the passenger was not having symptoms or feeling ill.  That passenger, along with his wife, were quarantined to their room for the final 2 days of the sailing. They were traveling with 10 other friends who were allowed to go about their trip, per normal.  At the end of the sailing, the positive case husband and his wife were escorted by someone from the ship to a local hotel that is designated to accept Covid cases, and required to complete a quarantine stay at the hotel.  All quarantine expenses while at the hotel were the passengers responsibility. 

This also happened to us again while on SeaDream in December. A passenger tested positive mid-cruise, the ship rerouted to Puerto Rico the next day, and the passenger was removed from the ship and taken to a hotel designated for quarantine purposes, at their expense. SeaDream had all passengers sign a statement before boarding saying that you realized that is you tested positive and had to quarantine, all expenses were on the guest. 

We depart in a few days for Israel, Jordan, and Cyprus. We are on a small group tour in Jordan, and traveling independently for the rest of the trip. We have to do 7 tests in 18 days of travel, and know that at any time things could go sideways on that front.  We always hope this isn't the case, and do what we can to prevent it, but are aware it is a possibility.  It's the risk of travel these days.

I posted under the heading "Currently on SDII - ask your questions" about my sailing Dec. 13-19, 2021, and what occurred with a positive Covid case onboard. Look for my name terry&mike under that thread.

One thing you might consider is booking the Halong Bay area extension on your own.

We have a dear friend who is a guide in Vietnam, and he suggested we look at Lan Ha Bay, which is just as beautiful as Halong Bay, but without the hundreds of ships packed together.  We booked directly with a local operator for a 2 night sailing over Christmas on Orchid Cruises. They will pick us up at our hotel in Hanoi and bring us to the ship for boarding, and then we will taxi to a local airport when we debark the junk boat, and fly on to Danang for a few days stay in Hoi An.

We are booked with Scenic, and are doing their Southeast Asia river cruise on the itinerary that also includes a few days in Angor Wat. We chose the end of December 2022.

I think the heat in August would be sweltering. 

19 hours ago, cabosal1 said:

Thanks so much for the response.  Sounds like great trip, almost back to normal. One more quicky question. How many passengers? Thanks, again.   

There were 85 passengers on our sailing. 

14 hours ago, cabosal1 said:

Having an upcoming cruise (Jan. 23) and having been on a June cruise that was Covided (new word) I am curious as to how it went on SD.  Did you get to all your stops? Was it all "bubble" excursions?  Any places where you were free to walk around town?  Masks?  Our June cruise went to NONE of our scheduled stops so we are hoping things have gotten at least a little better. 

Any info, much appreciated.  Merry Christmas all!! 

I'm not the original poster, but can speak to our sailing of December 13-19, 2021. We made it to all of our stops except for the 1 day where were isolated in our cabins, and sat docked in the San Juan port. As mentioned above, this is due to a passenger testing positive on Thursday evening during the sailing, and us all being retested on Friday. This caused us to miss a day of our itinerary that was going to visit Soper's Hole in Tortola, and Norman Island. 

We had no bubble tours, and were allowed to roam freely in all of our stops (St John, St Barth's, Nevis, Jost Van Dyke) - hiking, shopping, eating/drinking, whatever. We wore masks while in shops or businesses in town.

 We were supposed to wear masks onboard the ship when moving through public spaces, but we found that passengers were not very respectful of this policy. 

2 hours ago, Zimmy said:

Thank you. And I'm glad that the two of you were safe and not among the infected passengers. It is helpful to know the procedure about the local health department, and a quarantine hotel. As careful as we are (and we are very careful), we are certainly aware that this can happen to anyone. So we are sailing with our eyes wide open. But I did have concerns about being "abandoned" in a foreign country with Covid. And I expected that should this happen to us it would be our financial responsibility, and hopefully covered by our travel insurance. But I guess I was just looking for some security in this unsure world we currently live in, and you have provided that. For this I thank you. Happy Holidays.

It is my understanding that the local health authorities check in with the folks who are in the quarantine hotels daily, to monitor their symptoms and also to make sure they aren't slipping outside. So I believe you won't be abandoned, just bored!

Happy holidays to you as well, and wishes for a smooth and healthy sailing!

1 hour ago, Zimmy said:

Wow. Thank you for your candid response. It does sound like SD handled this as well as it could be handled. These are just not normal times, and we can't expect them to be. But I'm wondering (and I don't know that you know this, but perhaps someone else does), what happens if you are the unlucky person who tests positive while on the voyage? You are removed from the ship - what does that mean? Where do you go? You don't have a house to go to. I'm assuming that you're not ill enough to go to a hospital. You've tested positive for Covid, so you can't in good conscience get on a plane (although from San Juan you could, if you had no conscience - there are currently no testing requirements to travel from San Juan to the US). Do you check into a hotel that has room service and just stay there for however many days? And then when you leave say "Oh, by the way, clean the room really well because I had Covid." Does SD help you, or just remove you from the ship?

I know this is my anxiety talking because we're boarding next week, but these are the things that are keeping me up at night. 

It is my understanding that the information has to be reported to the local health authorities, in this case in San Juan, and the client is passed from the ship over to them. At that point, it is whatever the local health authorities have as policy, which is usually a local hotel that is designated as a quarantine facility, and the guest has to stay there for the set amount of days required, and then fly home. Yes, ordering from room service and staying put. According to SeaDream docs it is on travelers dime. 

We had this happen in Portugal in early September of this year, on an AMA river cruise. They handled it a bit differently in that the positive guest and traveling companion were quarantined to their cabin for the 2 days left in the sailing, and the rest of us were left to enjoy our trip and the ship.  At the end of the sailing, these 2 guests were escorted by a ship personnel to a quarantine hotel where they would remain for 14 days there, ordering room service. After this period of time they would be allowed to return to the U.S. On AMA it is on the travelers dime as well. I posted a daily update on this sailing, and on this incident back when we sailed which started in late August 2021 and went into September 2021, if you want to read it. 

On 12/20/2021 at 4:22 PM, TrapperZimmy said:

Terry and Mike

Interested in the cruise you just got off of.  We will be on SD2 on 12/27, and really want to know what it was like.  We've done may sailings, and we're excited to see the renovations.  But we are anxious to know what the experience was like in this new world.

It was very nice.

 I had not sailed SD before, so to compare the renovations would be difficult, but I can share my thoughts on the current style.  I found the cabin to be beautifully done, shades of oatmeal and grays, set off with pale woods. Very relaxing and elegant.  The mattress was extremely comfortable, and the bed linens were soft and of high end quality.  

We also found the food to be of a very high bar, with most meals being outstanding in presentation and flavors. Some notably excellent dishes were a Peking Duck, and Lamb Chops.  

The staff was delightful and extremely accommodating. 

As you've sailed them many times, you are familiar with, and a fan of, the tribe and the vibe of the SD concept.

Towards the end, we had a guest test positive for Covid, the Captain informed us of this at a cocktail party on Thursday night, and we were all sent to isolate in our rooms. Thursday dinner was served in our cabins, and we sailed back to San Juan Thursday night. We were all given PCR tests on Friday, and remained in our cabins through breakfast and lunch while we awaited the results.  Most guests were freed from their cabins on Friday evening around 7:45pm and had dinner in the dining room. As my PCR test was inconclusive, along with several other guests, I had to have an additional test on Friday evening and await the results in the cabin through Friday night's dinner, which was served in our cabin.  We received a call around 11:15pm on Friday night that my test was negative, and we were free to leave our cabin. We then sailed back south to Jost Van Dyke and did a beach party day on Saturday, and then back to San Juan where we disembarked as scheduled on Sunday.  We were told the guest who tested positive for Covid was removed from the ship in San Juan on Friday. 

Let me know if there was anything specific you were interested in that I missed. 

Thanks for the update. We board SDII this Monday - getting excited!

Boarding SDII in a few days, will post how things go....

2 hours ago, Scots Caz said:

the official CDC site states one day before travel (there has been lots of misreporting of 24 hours in media)

Why does the Order specify 1 day rather than 24 hours? what is Considered 1 day?

The 1-day period is 1 day before the flight’s departure. The Order uses a 1-day time frame instead of 24 hours to provide more flexibility to the air passenger and aircraft operator. By using a 1-day window, test acceptability does not depend on the time of the flight or the time of day that the test sample was taken.

For example, if your flight is at 1pm on a Friday, you could board with a negative test that was taken any time on the prior Thursday.

 

Correct, the U.S. is 1 day before, not 24 hours. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but we have a flight out on a Sunday at 6:30pm, so allows us to test anytime Saturday. 

7 hours ago, kjenaz said:

All,

 

We had booked thru the ship. There were many many people that were herded into lines that wrapped back and forth thru the building below.  From that line we were taken to a gate on the right side of this picture and sent in groups to cabs.  When we reached the resort each cab driver gave his group a time to be back at the resort entrance for the return trip.  We were able to walk the entire length of the beach and even went down to one of the other bars who we had visited before covid.  At the end of our time the cab driver took us back to the far end of the fenced off shopping area.  

Based on what I watched while waiting for our cab driver, when we returned I stopped at the Booth on the right side of this picture.  An employee told me that as of that day and for future trips we can just get off and arrange a tour with a cab driver thru her.  

 

Note that based on what RCCL had posted, we booked thru the ship, but for future trips I will not go with the herds of people, but instead will book privately.  I will note that we did book a private tour for our group in Antiqua, and found out that we could have done the same in Barbados.

 

This was our experience, but everyone needs to contact RCCL or make an interpretation for themselves.  Also note that our entire group were vaccinated.  The rules are VERY different if you have children who have not been vaccinated.

Thank you for this very helpful "real time" update on St Kitts. We will be there in just over 2 weeks, and are vaccinated.

I see online that the entry requirements for St Kitts require "negative PCR test 3 days before embarkation" - can you speak to this? We will be given a test at the dock by SeaDream before embarkation, but I am assuming it will not be a PCR test as the results will be back "within 30 minutes". I am trying to figure out if that test will suffice for St Kitts, or if we need to arrange for a PCR test as well. Any thoughts would be appreciated.