72 hours from the day of departure or from the actual time of departure?

[Tapi]

Hello:

 

I’m making appointments for PCR tests for my children for our upcoming cruise on the Meraviglia. The website states that the PCR tests must be taken 72 hours from departure, so I’m wondering if it’s from the actual sailway time. 
 

Our cruise is schedule to sail at 7:00pm and we have an 11:00am embarkation time. There are no facilities where we live that will test at 7:00pm, exactly 72 hours prior to our sail away time, which means that the earliest tests I could schedule would be for the following day at 11:00am, (56 hours before the 7:00pm sail away time and 48 hours from our embarkation time). 
 

I’m a bit concerned that this won’t allow enough turn around time to get our results back in time for boarding the ship at 11:00am. If we don’t get the results back in time, as a backup I’ve found some facilities in Miami that will do PCR tests (60 minute results) but, needless to say at a premium, out of pocket price. 
 

Being able to test 3 days prior should provide enough cushion but I don’t want to do that if the results won’t be accepted. Any feedback or personal experience will be greatly appreciated! 

[ditmar2007]

Don't they mean not-more-than-72-hours and not precisely-72-hours?

[twangster]

In the US other cruise lines are implementing a measure of days, not precise hours.

 

Day of test = day 0 (without caring the exact hour the sample was taken)

 

I've not seen MSC communicate the same messaging so you might err on the side of caution.

 

I'm vaccinated but for my Meraviglia cruise I got tested ahead of time to be sure I wasn't bringing something extra to the terminal.  I would hate to be "that guy" who caused an outbreak on a cruise for a clickbait hungry media to pounce on.  My PCR test was done at Walgreens at 4:15pm on a Tuesday and I had my results at 1am on Thursday morning by email.  I boarded Friday at 3pm.  

 

The Walgreens closest to me doesn't have rapid testing and I wanted to see how long a full PCR test would take so I went with the slower PCR test.

 

In my example I would be compliant either by a measure of 72 hours or 3 days.  

 

I'm boarding another cruise line next week who does require vaccinated to be tested so I am repeating this and scheduled my next test in the afternoon 3 days out given my 11:30am appointment time to check in.  If all goes as planned my test will be at 68 hours from my check in time.  That line uses days, not hours so I have a decent buffer in case my check in is moved to later in the day.

[Tapi]

18 minutes ago, twangster said:

My PCR test was done at Walgreens at 4:15pm on a Tuesday and I had my results at 1am on Thursday morning by email.  I boarded Friday at 3pm.  

 

Thanks twangster. This is exactly the same time line that I’m looking at. I can get tests scheduled for Tuesday as late as 4:00pm to sail on Friday. But I’m a bit concerned that testing at 4:00pm for a 7:00pm departure 3 days later won’t be accepted since it’s technically 75 hours. 
 

I messaged MSC directly. Let’s see what they have to say. Once again thanks for your experience. 

[twangster]

1 minute ago, Tapi said:

Thanks twangster. This is exactly the same time line that I’m looking at. I can get tests scheduled for Tuesday as late as 4:00pm to sail on Friday. But I’m a bit concerned that testing at 4:00pm for a 7:00pm departure 3 days later won’t be accepted since it’s technically 75 hours. 
 

I messaged MSC directly. Let’s see what they have to say. Once again thanks for your experience. 

 

I didn't use sail away time, I used check in time in the terminal since that is when the health team will look at the results you present.  

 

My check in "appointment" was 3:30pm but since I was there at 3pm I approached and was never asked for my time.  I think at that point they just wanted everyone on board and the numbers were dwindling so they didn't care.

[Tapi]

43 minutes ago, ditmar2007 said:

Don't they mean not-more-than-72-hours and not precisely-72-hours?

The test can’t be more than 72 hours from departure. What I meant on my previous post is that for me, testing at 7:00pm would be exactly 72 hours from departure. However, the local facilities won’t test after 4:00pm So my options are to either test at 4:00pm 3 days prior and technically 75 hours from sail away time, or test the following morning at 11:00am at the earliest, which would be 56 hours from sail away. 
 

I’m just trying to give myself as much buffer as possible without exceeding the 72 hours. 

[Tapi]

1 minute ago, twangster said:

My check in "appointment" was 3:30pm but since I was there at 3pm I approached and was never asked for my time.

My check in time is at 11:00am. If they use that time, or calendar days as you stated before, then I’m good to go and this whole thread is irrelevant. 😃

[styles27]

Please let us know what MSC’s response is. 
From what I understand we are all going to be tested at the terminal before boarding as well vaccinated or not correct? Or has that changed? 

We’re not cruising til 11/14 so I’m sure a lot will change by then anyway. 

[phissy]

3 hours ago, Tapi said:

My check in time is at 11:00am. If they use that time, or calendar days as you stated before, then I’m good to go and this whole thread is irrelevant. 😃

Very similar to what we had to do for travel to Maui. They want to see results when you present for embarkation. Follow Twangsters lead , testing Tuesday afternoon and you will be fine. (Assuming negative result)

[ditmar2007]

5 hours ago, Tapi said:

I’m just trying to give myself as much buffer as possible without exceeding the 72 hours. 

Got it. I misunderstood you.

[Bgwest]

Does it say “72 hours” or “3 days”?

 

Big difference. 

[Tapi]

5 hours ago, Bgwest said:

Does it say “72 hours” or “3 days”?

 

Big difference. 

The website says 72 hours from departure. What I'm trying to figure out if it's 72 hours from day of departure, or 72 hours from actual time, or sail away time of departure. Other cruise lines are using day of departure, but with MSC, anything is possible so I'm waiting  to hear from them!

 

 

[Tapi]

10 hours ago, styles27 said:

Please let us know what MSC’s response is. 
From what I understand we are all going to be tested at the terminal before boarding as well vaccinated or not correct? Or has that changed? 

Yes. Everyone will be tested at the port. We just have to jump through an additional hoop since we have un-vaccinated small children sailing with us. As soon as i find out, I'll post back,