ALD18

Clarification.  If the original post has had COVID and is concerned about entering US and/or ship due to fact PCR test will likely detect the virus after X number of days.  The antigen test is less likely to detect the virus and comes back negative.  The OP can enter the US and the ship within 24 hrs of the negative antigen test.  Don't do PCR because you don't need too and antigen is sufficient and cheaper.  Cruise lines will not accept a positive PCR with doctors/recovery letter for that person who has had COVID.  The person gets negative antigen, goes on cruise, and disembarks.  Requires negative PCR to fly and/or return to Canada.  The person tests positive for COVID with PCR test, but can they fly or return home without quarantine with the doctor or recovery letter.  One would suspect they would, but that is what I would be far more worried about.

Antigen tests are sufficient to enter US and board ship.  I would suspect you should be good going that way.  My concern would be returning afterwards with current PCR test requirements in Canada.  Will Canada accept the recovery letter with a positive PCR test to let you back in?  

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, wonder why they would not sail with passengers?  Takes about 7-11 days to cross.  What would sailing empty accomplish as opposed to a 7 day Mediterranean cruise loaded up? 

Interested to see where any TA scheduled cancelled ships go.  Continue with Caribbean routes?

I too read pill would be administered primarily to the unvaccinated who had COVID.  Reason was since it was not a vaccine they may be more willing to take it to cure them.  As I understand it is to be used on infected person only, it is not a preventative.

Above 2 posts, thanks for the clarification.  Indeed our booking got us on just under the wire room wise.  Would rather see them mark the cruise as "sold out" or something rather than taking it off completely.  With current sailing conditions and closing of ports of call would calm a lot of nerves.  Disappearing cruises these days causes us to go believing worst case scenario that that cruise is shut down all together, but we're a little jumpy right now🙂

Will be monitoring this closely.  We're on the Antem TA May 2.  Been watching ShipTracker and Anthem seems to be running on regular basis from New Jersey.  Smaller ships in fleet not as frequent.  Wondering if they load up the big ships and utilize healthy staff from smaller ships.  TA ports in Europe seem to be shut down in a lot of places.  France (Cherborg and Lahavre) show zero cruise traffic and no shore excursions listed for Azores.  Getting kind of nervous on if they'll go.

L&S added to acronym dictionary😀  Now just have to decipher context of TA as travel agent or trans Atlantic.  Thanks all!!!!!!!!

I concede my acronym dictionary is limited but growing, but what is a L&S?  Sorry, tried to decipher but failed miserably to figure that one out🤔

For me the key point in the OP is "Peel Region’s Medical Officer and others have stated it’s likely we will all catch Omicron."  I personally have conceded it is not a matter of IF I am going to get COVID but to WHEN I'm going to get it and how bad.  I have had my 3 shots of PFizer, followed all prescribed procedures to protect myself, but that will not prevent me from getting it.  It will only assist my immune system to control how badly I get it.  So in my opinion all the testing is getting to a point where what purpose is it supposed to serve?  Is it being used on travelers to stop the spread?  No, all the variants are here.  They were forewarned and prepared when Omicron was found in South Africa and we saw what travel testing did for that.  I think they have to refocus their testing program as it currently stands to provide the service to people who are showing severe reactions to supposed infections, here in Canada.  Use the quick test to set preliminary results and if you have it or not and then move to PCR testing to be absolute certain you have it, in Canada.  Testing the individual showing no symptoms prior to travel to/from anywhere for whatever reason to stop the spread seems to be a moot point anymore.  If you show severe symptoms while abroad get yourself a N95 mask and get home asap. I would far rather see the costs associated testing abroad redirected to support the health care system hear at home AND provide the funds to the scientific, medical, and pharmaceutical companies to find a CURE or 100% PROTECTION so we do not get it at ALL.  We are still planning to go on our cruise in May for this reason.  Cruise ships and planes are an easy target to place blame, but so are our schools, shopping centers, and normal everyday personal interaction the way things currently stand.  Hopefully better times are getting closer rather than further away.    

17 hours ago, Airbalancer said:

Our TA has been doing it for a 40 years she knows all the tricks 

she was only TA that was able to L&S the Reflection TA in 2021 to the Apex TA in 2022 , even if you book with Celebrity they wouldn’t let you L&S 

Her group prices are just as good as the big box store 

Is your TA local or out of town?  If local are they near the train station, mall, or home plate?  I'm in Cobourg too and would maybe use them in the future.  We had issues with the one near the train station.

Historically I've done all the research and planning and mostly do it online myself, I enjoy that part of the trip.  I may or may not get all the hidden perks a TA or cruise line rep might be aware of, but to be honest have never really had an issue regardless.  We've tried a couple of local TA's, but in both cases keeping a clear and timely line of communication with them was horrible and we were just another number.  I've had a couple of cruise line agents who were very helpful and went the extra mile to get us every deal they could.  One actually placed us on a watch list and if the price of our cruise went down or extra perks were offered would automatically give them to us.  But she was the exception, not the rule.  During these times I would encourage anyone to get a reputable local TA or cruise agent to help guide you, alert you, and take care of you with all the changes to rules and regulations.  As airbalancer stated you get one who knows the tricks and has the experience is priceless right now.  

2 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

If you are flying into the US, you pre-clear in Canada and aren't subjected to the same process when you arrive. This is the model that Canada should follow for testing, show proof of your negative test at the airport in the US and that's it. The double testing is a terrible waste of resources and does little to control Omicron.

Exactly, preferably with with an antigen test. 

Excellent, common sense article.  Thanks for sharing.

As well, note the itinerary changes.  Testing on testing and not going where you want complicates things even more.  I can deal with the additional testing on testing as it is for my own benefit and that of others at the end of the day.  But when you start being "locked out" of destinations you want to go to makes you REALLY start wondering on whether to cancel.  

Since the warnings are based on cases to population was sort of expecting this to happen.  My concern is if our #'s continue to rise whether the Feds will shut the border again.  I think the #'s will need to rise significantly before that happens on either side though.  Appears as if the provinces are preparing to open the schools again so that could be an indicator cases may be getting close to peaking, just an uneducated guess on my part though.  Have to sit tight on the never ending roller coaster of COVID once again until things settles down.  As usual wait a day or two and it will all change again, hopefully in a good direction. 

Bad news indeed.  Suspect other lines will follow suit soon.  

It would be interesting to know if you could only go ashore via ship sponsored excursions and were contained within those "bubbles" if you were exempt from this?

Same issue here for us in early May.  Hopefully that far off resolves cruise ship accessibility by then.  The whole cruise ship and country bureaucracy is getting more complicated and disheartening by the minute.  This is getting crazier rather than easier😔

10 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Thank you.  You must have to do that on a desktop because it doesn’t do anything on an iPad.  I’ve cleared my cookies before but then it clears things I don’t want cleared on other sites and it doesn’t seem to last that long.

Can't speak for IPads as I don't have one.  I use laptops and desktops and the above procedure o nly messes with the cruise critic board cookies and such.  No other site data is cleared.  As well have done the procedure on those and have to do again 1-2 hours later as it gets hung.  Other times it will go for a day or so, fluctuates. 

6 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I have to switch back and forth between browsers every couple days logging out of cruise critic before I switch over.  You’d think that they could fix this by now.  It’s been going on since the summer.

PITA, but to temporarily resolve go to address bar and directly beside the "https??........." portion is a lock symbol.  Left click on that and then click on "clear cookies and site data" and then "Remove".  You will physically need to log back into the boards with your username and password again, but you will be able to post and interact again until the site locks you up again.  Has been an ongoing issue for quite some time, waiting for site to make fix. 

Interesting, but not shocking development.  Kind of sucks having to add another rather pricey part of your vacation at end of trip but if you want to go, guess you gotta pay.  Feel sorry for families with a bunch of kids tagging along, that's going to hurt a lot.  Hopefully Canada will eventually drop back to a antigen test to come home, but not holding my breath on that any time soon either. 

And another issue with RC Odyssey adventure...................

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/royal-caribbean-covid-outbreak-port-entry-denied/index.html

And this.........

https://torontosun.com/news/world/55-test-positive-for-covid-19-on-second-royal-caribbean-cruise-ship

We're kind of going against the grain here, but we built in a return safety net time wise for our cruise in May.  As usual we're going a fly in a day early to take all the guess work out of travel and have our antigen test results at the ready.  Coming home we decided to build in a similar stay over regardless to make sure we get the appropriate test(s) all done on the day of disembarkation and results prior to flying home the following day.  Added cost of testing out of your pocket instead of the cruise line picking up the tab, but calms the nerves a bit instead of worrying about catching flights in a timely fashion.  Role with the punches, simplify things, and hope for the best.  

We had a similar experience with Air Canada a while back.  They have really handled these ongoing crisis' very well with great customer service.  AirTransat........different story.