pre cruise PCR test

[MarkE]

WE are going to be on the Aug 7 Edge cruise we have taken a pre cruise pcr test on Aug 4 it states in memo from Celebrity 72 hours prior to embarkation when we arrive at ship it will be 75 hours from time test was taken on Aug. 4 at 9:10 AM.  It states we received them at 3:10 PM Aug. 4.  Will this test be allowed for boarding at 12 noon on Aug. 7.  I do not think I could get another appt. to retest again today and have results back in time. Hope we are within alllowable time.

[adolfo2]

24 minutes ago, MarkE said:

WE are going to be on the Aug 7 Edge cruise we have taken a pre cruise pcr test on Aug 4 it states in memo from Celebrity 72 hours prior to embarkation when we arrive at ship it will be 75 hours from time test was taken on Aug. 4 at 9:10 AM.  It states we received them at 3:10 PM Aug. 4.  Will this test be allowed for boarding at 12 noon on Aug. 7.  I do not think I could get another appt. to retest again today and have results back in time. Hope we are within alllowable time.

You're living my FEAR as Celebrity sometimes says 3-days & other times 72-hours... They're not the same thing and what about different time zones?

[countess5]

In talking with my TA, as long as the test was within 3 days of the cruise date. They do not look at the time but do look at the day. So for a Saturday cruise the test needs to be completed no earlier than Wednesday. 

 

Cheers! 

[terrydtx]

54 minutes ago, MarkE said:

WE are going to be on the Aug 7 Edge cruise we have taken a pre cruise pcr test on Aug 4 it states in memo from Celebrity 72 hours prior to embarkation when we arrive at ship it will be 75 hours from time test was taken on Aug. 4 at 9:10 AM.  It states we received them at 3:10 PM Aug. 4.  Will this test be allowed for boarding at 12 noon on Aug. 7.  I do not think I could get another appt. to retest again today and have results back in time. Hope we are within alllowable time.

Maybe you should have waited until today to get tested.

[Turtles06]

13 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Maybe you should have waited until today to get tested.

Perhaps they couldn’t do it then, or were concerned they might not have the results in time. There are reports over in the long thread about testing of folks not getting their PCR  test results in the promised time frame. 
 

Embarkation times are fluid. The airlines are using the simple and easy to understand three days, not 72 hours.  It’s hard to believe there is some scientific basis for Celebrity to be using the latter that the airlines have missed.

[Cg52]

There is another thread (It looks like Celebrity is now requiring negative COVID test before boarding) dedicated to this with many posts. Maybe browse through and see if anyone has actually posted something officially from Celebrity. Otherwise I would get my answer directly from them and ask for it in writing or a reference to a link where it is noted. If you use a chat ask for an email copy of the chat. Best wishes and enjoy your cruise.

[LJJQ]

MarkE,

Where did you get the Rapid PCR test done ? Was it a CVS or Walgreens and did they charge for it! We are on the Summit on September 25th and driving down from NY!

[Jim_Iain]

I doubt there will be any posts from personal experience since your cruise will be the first to require pre-cruise testing.

 

Please come back and report back on your experience when presenting your test results.  I'm sure many will be watching closely.    I scheduled mine 72 hours prior to ship departure time just to cover all bases.

[minniegidget]

I was told by princess today. ( yes I know that the two are completely different companies) that  the 72 hours from from the time the ship set sail. 
 I ask so does that mean if I sail at 6pm on Saturday and take the test Wednesday morning I could have problems? She said “ yes I could do to be safe do it after 6pm Wednesday or better yet Thursday morning” 

 

 

[oskidunker]

12 minutes ago, minniegidget said:

I was told by princess today. ( yes I know that the two are completely different companies) that  the 72 hours from from the time the ship set sail. 
 I ask so does that mean if I sail at 6pm on Saturday and take the test Wednesday morning I could have problems? She said “ yes I could do to be safe do it after 6pm Wednesday or better yet Thursday morning” 

 

 

The rep is guessing, as usual. 

[MarkE]

22 hours ago, LJJQ said:

MarkE,

Where did you get the Rapid PCR test done ? Was it a CVS or Walgreens and did they charge for it! We are on the Summit on September 25th and driving down from NY!

 

[MarkE]

I spoke with Celebrity about the 72 hours and us being at 75 hour when boarding at 12:00 PM, she checked with the supervisor and advised us we would be fine as long as paper work stated tested on 

Aug.5 and we are sailing on Aug 7, which is three days.  I asked for and email stating this and she stated they could not do that.  I hope she is correct as we could not get another appt. for another test and get results in time.  Will let you know how it goes Saturday afternoon, fingers are crossed.

[delondin]

1 hour ago, MarkE said:

I spoke with Celebrity about the 72 hours and us being at 75 hour when boarding at 12:00 PM, she checked with the supervisor and advised us we would be fine as long as paper work stated tested on 

Aug.5 and we are sailing on Aug 7, which is three days.  I asked for and email stating this and she stated they could not do that.  I hope she is correct as we could not get another appt. for another test and get results in time.  Will let you know how it goes Saturday afternoon, fingers are crossed.

The Uk Celebrity sailings clarified it by sending a schedule for the summer sailings showing 3 days, the actual time didn’t matter. 

[UKWLDCruise]

In the UK they provided this handy chart

 

[jgmorgan]

2 hours ago, MarkE said:

Aug.5 and we are sailing on Aug 7, which is three days.

I hope your boarding goes as planned.  You should be in good shape since any test administered on August 5 will be within 72 hours of 12:00 on August 7.  If you tested on August 4 you would need to have the test no earlier than 12:00 (assuming no time zone changes).

 

25 minutes ago, UKWLDCruise said:

In the UK they provided this handy chart

 

This would certainly help to clarify and simplify things if Celebrity would do this in the US.  As many others have noted, the science behind 3 days versus 72 hours seems pretty dubious.  Maybe if we all emailed Ms. Lutoff-Perlo to that effect it would help.  I just sent mine.🙂

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, UKWLDCruise said:

In the UK they provided this handy chart

 

 

What a easy and clear way of communicating the requirement.   

[Denny01]

5 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

What a easy and clear way of communicating the requirement.   

That’s because they speak gooder English in the UK! Of course because I’m a descendant of rebellious colonials, I now need subtitles to watch my favorite English mysteries! 

 

Den

[Jim_Iain]

20 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

That’s because they speak gooder English in the UK! Of course because I’m a descendant of rebellious colonials, I now need subtitles to watch my favorite English mysteries! 

 

Den

You have me laughing.   My husband is a Scot and some of the Scottish shows he pulls up I have to put TeleText on to understand.  

 

Rab C Nesbit comes to mind ---

 

[canderson]

We are a bit OT, but one of my pet peeves is the audio EQ, mic placement and music/voice  mix levels for many British series.  No problems understanding them at all IF they don't hose those up, but some of them are sub-par.  The sibilants that make any speech intelligible get swallowed up by excessive midrange EQ muddiness, poor acoustics vs mic placement, and excessive gain on the music tracks.

[lj77346]

While the chart provided by Celebrity in the UK is clear and helpful, with demand for Covid testing high now, there is no guarantee that labs will have results within 3 days.

 

Before I get flamed for my next comment, let me say that I am fully vaccinated and wear a mask when I'm in an indoor setting that is likely to be crowded.  Now for my comment - I wonder how well thought out Celebrity's new policy for pre-cruise testing was or was it just a knee jerk reaction to a few cases of Covid on their ships?  If a cruise is for fully vaccinated passengers and there is a belief that the vaccines are effective, is this policy an over reaction?

 

Even if everyone is tested 3 days prior to a cruise, there is no guarantee that someone could not pick up an infection in the days after a test especially in their trip involves a flight to catch the cruise.

 

Now that the delta-variant is a problem in many areas, there is also the question of whether limited testing resources should be used for people who want to go on a cruise or for people who are actually ill and/or were exposed to someone with Covid? 

 

I have an upcoming Alaska cruise on the Millennium that I am considering cancelling, not because I am against testing per se, but I am against unnecessary testing.  You either believe that the Covid vaccine is effective and will prevent serious cases or not and apparently Celebrity by its actions has chosen or not.

 

 

[canderson]

9 minutes ago, lj77346 said:

You either believe that the Covid vaccine is effective and will prevent serious cases or not and apparently Celebrity by its actions has chosen or not.

Once again...

It's not a question of what Celebrity believes to be true. 

Celebrity is caught between a rock and hard place between the Florida legal issue and the CDC requirements.  In this case, it's a CDC issue that has your knickers in a twist. 

 

Each ship is graded on an ongoing basis with regard to % positives discovered.  Green/orange/yellow/red.  The consequences for slipping into the 'red' category is a ship that doesn't sail.

 

Even if the vaccine 'works', the problem is the same.  The CDC couldn't care less whether a positive test comes from a vaccinated passenger or not.  As a result, the cruise lines need to deal with the problem at the pier or risk having to turn the ship around. 

 

A site worth your investigation:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/crew-disembarkations-commercial-travel.html

 

[canderson]

Some additional detail on what 'threshold' means in this context, especially as most of the X ships are presently operating in the "Yellow" category with >= 0.1% of passengers testing positive!  On a 3000 pax ship, just 3 onboard positive test reports becomes a large problem, as does a SINGLE crew case.

 

Green Ship Criteria

• No reports of COVID-19 or COVID-19-like illness (CLI) for 7 days, as determined by a qualified medical professional, and
• On-time (by 1200 ET) daily submission of EDC form during past 7 days.

Orange Ship Criteria

• COVID-19 or CLI has been reported in the past 7 days, and the ship is below CDC’s investigation threshold:
  • Restricted Voyages:
    • Cases reported in less than 0.10% of passengers (e.g., if 6500* passengers are on board, it would take at least 7 passenger-cases during the previous 7 days to meet CDC’s investigation threshold), and
    • No crew cases reported.
  • Simulated Voyages:
    • Cases reported in less than 1.5% of passengers, and
    • Cases reported in less than 1.0% of crew.
  • Ships with Crew Only (i.e., not yet submitted requests for simulated voyages or applications for restricted voyages, pending CDC approval, or sailing at a later date).
    • Cases reported in less than 1.0% of crew.

Yellow Ship Criteria

• Ship is at or above CDC’s investigation threshold:
  • Restricted Voyages:
    • Cases reported in 0.10% or more of passengers (e.g., if 6500* passengers on board, CDC’s investigation threshold is met if there are 7 or more cases among passengers occurring during the previous 7 days), or
      • This percentage includes passenger cases occurring within 5 days of disembarkation that CDC was notified of by state or local health departments.
    • One or more cases reported in crew.
  • Simulated Voyages:
    • Cases reported in 1.5% or more of passengers, or
    • Cases reported in 1.0% or more of crew.
  • Ships with Crew Only (i.e., not yet submitted requests for simulated voyages or applications for restricted voyages, pending CDC approval, or sailing at a later date).
    • Cases reported in 1.0% or more of crew.
  • OR
• During the past 7 days, the ship failed to submit one or more daily EDC submissions on time (by 1200 ET). On a weekly basis, CDC emails all ships a reminder to submit the EDC form. In addition, CDC sends a reminder email if a ship does not submit their EDC form.

*The largest cruise ships can carry up to 6500 passengers on board.

Red Ship Criteria

• For a ship to be considered at Red status, the ship has:
  • sustained transmission of COVID-19 or CLI, or
  • potential for COVID-19 cases to overwhelm on board medical center resources.
• In addition, CDC will work closely with the cruise line and consider multiple factors before assigning a “Red” status to the ship. These factors may include, but are not limited to the following:
  • Percent of passengers and crew on board who are fully vaccinated.
  • Variants of concern are identified among cases on board.
  • Epidemiologic data from EDC reporting (e.g., symptomatic persons on board requiring medical care)
  • Epidemiologic links between cases.
  • Number of hospital beds, ventilators, oxygen, and other medical supplies on board relative to the number of cases on board.
  • Ship has not replied to CDC’s request for information within 48 hours.
  • During the past 7 days, the ship missed one or more daily submissions of the EDC form. On a weekly basis, CDC emails all ships a reminder to submit the EDC form. In addition, CDC sends a reminder email if a ship does not submit their EDC form.

Edited August 6, 2021 by canderson
spelchek issues

[lj77346]

"Canderson" - thank you for the link and your subsequent post.

 

I can understand Celebrity's protocols better now.  However, now I just wish that Celebrity would clearly post which tests it will accept as there are a variety available and I wouldn't want to get one that Celebrity does not recognize,

[canderson]

Actually, they've been clear enough, but, understandably, not everyone has taken the descriptions of the two acceptable test types and succeeded in applying them to the differing terminology used by various testing sites.  Presenting a testing site with the Celebrity specifics is the best move, since odds are better that the testing site will interpret the requirements better than the passenger, though there may of course also be a few errors made by testing sites when replying to those requests for information. 

 

There are threads here that have clarified test site (e.g., airport, CVS, Walgreens) terminology a great deal, for U.S. cruises in particular.  By now, in these threads, there should remain no more confusion.

 

For example, Walgreens (corporate) has 3 different tests shown.  Not all of their retail branches offer all 3.  ONE (IDNow, I believe it's called) by its description alone (and in reality as well) does not meet the standard of the two tests Celebrity accepts.

 

Another example:  Celebrity has a blanket and quite clear statement about in-home testing.  In a word, "NO".  Doesn't matter if there's some nurse on a video call at the other end or whether it's taken in privacy. 

[Fouremco]

27 minutes ago, lj77346 said:

I wonder how well thought out Celebrity's new policy for pre-cruise testing was or was it just a knee jerk reaction to a few cases of Covid on their ships?

No, it was a well thought out response to a very significant surge of the Coronavirus and its more contagious variants. While there is no doubt that the implementation was rushed and handled poorly, the testing requirement itself makes a great deal of sense. The cruise industry is still trying to correct the image of cruise ships being floating petrie dishes, so cruise lines will continue to introduce protocols that will hopefully not only minimize cases aboard but will be seen by the general public as a step in that direction.