Covid test 72 hours before trip.

[ChiefMateJRK]

55 minutes ago, greatestvalue said:

This is the wording on sail safe that makes me think one wouldnt get a dime for the cruise or anything else.  

 

Guests who are denied boarding due to a violation of protocols, for example not testing in advance, will not receive a refund.

If I didn't plan to get tested at home (or if I planned a self-test), this would make me nervous as well.  I plan to get the rapid Antigen test at Walgreens.  I think that will maximize my chances of being deemed compliant in the unlikely event that I test negative at home but positive at the port.  I'm just really looking forward to having this stuff in the rear view mirror as I board the ship.  😎

[aubreyc1988]

12 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

If I didn't plan to get tested at home (or if I planned a self-test), this would make me nervous as well.  I plan to get the rapid Antigen test at Walgreens.  I think that will maximize my chances of being deemed compliant in the unlikely event that I test negative at home but positive at the port.  I'm just really looking forward to having this stuff in the rear view mirror as I board the ship.  😎

you and me both! I do wish I could get a PCR test but the wait times for results scare me so I'm doing rapid test at CVS. 

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

There it is!!  One more accusatory post against an infraction that nobody ever suggested they intended to commit.  Who is it you think fails to understand this?

Yes, it's pretty simple to understand. Airline policies, Amtrak policies do not allow you to travel if you are experiencing COVID symptoms (not necessarily with a positive test in hand), and especially if you have a positive test in your hand. You have to electronically assert to the fact that you are free of symptoms before check-in. Other cruise lines go even further saying that if you falsify anything and are a cause of a COVID on a ship, they will hold you financially responsible for all costs resulting from your falsification. 

 

 

[classy_cruiser]

Just came across this article about passengers who were denied boarding in Greece https://www.newsweek.com/solitary-confinement-texas-couple-recalls-being-quarantined-greece-19-days-over-covid-1624080?amp=1

[BirdTravels]

18 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Yep.  We may not know what will really happen until somebody who tests positive at port reports their experience here on the forum or elsewhere on the internet.  Since we're talking about a miniscule population, I doubt we'll ever really know.

So far, NCL has assisted them in getting home. And NCL has realized how much it costs, so NCL is now requiring you to test negative prior to arriving at the port if you want their assistance. Pretty simple, minimize your financial liability from their Sail Safe policy. 

 

Royal did several similar things. After multiple COVID positive cases with vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers on ships, they started requiring everyone to show up at check-in with a negative 72-hour test. They actually started their 100% testing requirement 2 days prior to my cruise.  No test, no cruise, no refund. And after a few international air charters, they realized how much that costs, and they require all unvaccinated passengers to buy travel insurance and provide proof of that insurance at check-in. No insurance, no cruise, no refund. 

 

Unfortunately, Royal had a fully vaccinated passenger test positive onboard a few weeks ago and that passenger died of COVID. The passenger was disembarked in Belize, treated at a hospital there, and transferred back to the states, where she passed away. 

[BirdTravels]

5 minutes ago, classy_cruiser said:

Just came across this article about passengers who were denied boarding in Greece https://www.newsweek.com/solitary-confinement-texas-couple-recalls-being-quarantined-greece-19-days-over-covid-1624080?amp=1

The first voyage of the Encore had fully vaccinated passengers that were denied boarding because they failed multiple COVID tests at check-in. That fact came directly from the Captain. 

[BermudaBound2014]

50 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Other cruise lines go even further saying that if you falsify anything and are a cause of a COVID on a ship, they will hold you financially responsible for all costs resulting from your falsification. 

 

Interesting, can you please share a link, or at least tell us which cruise line so we can look it up ourselves?

[BermudaBound2014]

47 minutes ago, classy_cruiser said:

Just came across this article about passengers who were denied boarding in Greece https://www.newsweek.com/solitary-confinement-texas-couple-recalls-being-quarantined-greece-19-days-over-covid-1624080?amp=1

Interesting article, thank you for sharing. I wonder who paid for 19 days at a hotel? Who picked up the room service/food tab? The travel insurance policies I have reviewed cover $50 a day toward hotel for 10 days. In that case, even additional travel insurance would have left this couple with a 9 day hotel stay bill. 

[zdcatc12]

43 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Unfortunately, Royal had a fully vaccinated passenger test positive onboard a few weeks ago and that passenger died of COVID. The passenger was disembarked in Belize, treated at a hospital there, and transferred back to the states, where she passed away. 

Same thing happened on Carnival a few weeks ago on the Vista.

[BermudaBound2014]

47 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

.Unfortunately, Royal had a fully vaccinated passenger test positive onboard a few weeks ago and that passenger died of COVID. The passenger was disembarked in Belize, treated at a hospital there, and transferred back to the states, where she passed away. 

 

For clarity: It was a Carnival passenger that passed away. Yes, Royal has had several passengers test positive mid-cruise and be disembarked at the next port (so has Carnival), but there has only been one death connected to Covid on a cruise ship since resuming sailing and that was the Carnival Vista.

[ChiefMateJRK]

22 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

The travel insurance policies I have reviewed cover $50 a day toward hotel for 10 days.

That isn't much.  I think even motel 6 costs more than that now.  

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

And after a few international air charters, they realized how much that costs, and they require all unvaccinated passengers to buy travel insurance and provide proof of that insurance at check-in.

Do you have a link to any insurance providers who specifically cover Covid quarantines and evacuations?  Did the cruise line specify which specific coverages were required?

[BermudaBound2014]

15 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

That isn't much.  I think even motel 6 costs more than that now.  

 

IMO: Here is the real issue that anyone traveling should investigate. I obviously can't speak for Greece but I can speak for Maui and I suspect similar policies are in place across the globe for obvious reasons. When there was a mandatory quarantine in  Maui, the quarantine needed to happen at a government approved hotel/resort. There are literally 1000's of rentals in Maui, but only a dozen or so were approved for quarantine. Cheapest I found came in around $500 a night (to be locked up in your room without a key). I doubt the Greece couple were given a choice of where to quarantine, but that's just a guess. Anyone considering travel at this time may want to research these 'what if's' just in case. 

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Do you have a link to any insurance providers who specifically cover Covid quarantines and evacuations?  Did the cruise line specify which specific coverages were required?

As a condition of boarding, each guest 12 and older must provide proof of a valid insurance policy that has a minimum of (a) $25,000 per person in medical expense coverage and (b) $50,000 coverage for emergency medical evacuation and no COVID-19 exclusions. 

 

Guests that purchase insurance from a provider other than the Royal Caribbean Travel Protection Plan need to bring a printed version of the insurance policy, showing the name of each of the covered unvaccinated guest(s) and a description of the coverage in the policy. This documentation will be reviewed by our staff at the terminal, prior to boarding. Guests that purchase coverage from Royal Caribbean do not need to present these documents as this information will be included on your reservation and visible to the terminal agent.  

 

The insurance policy must name the guest as the policy holder or beneficiary and may be purchased from a travel insurance company of the guest's choosing or through the Royal Caribbean Travel Protection Program which fulfills these requirements and provides other benefits for travel protection.

[BirdTravels]

 

3 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Interesting, can you please share a link, or at least tell us which cruise line so we can look it up ourselves?

 

This is the Royal policy. It also documents that the scans of your vaccine cards may be provided to the health officials in other countries,,, and that if they determine them to be fraudulent (i.e., you got by the Royal check, but maybe not the Mexican check), you are subject to prosecution in those countries if you enter their country with fake documents. 

 

 

Fraudulent Documentation of Vaccination

We will record all documentation of vaccination and review it for signs of fraud. We routinely provide documentation of vaccination to immigration, health and port authorities in the ports where we call. Falsifying documentation of vaccination is a crime in the U.S. and may lead to criminal prosecution in the various jurisdictions from where we sail, and in our ports of call. We reserve the right to deny boarding or remove from the ship any guest whom we believe has submitted a falsified documentation of vaccination.

 

We further reserve the right to bring a civil action against any guest who submits false documentation of vaccination to recover all costs and damages caused by such fraudulent conduct.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-documents-are-accepted-as-proof-of-vaccination

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

19 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

As a condition of boarding, each guest 12 and older must provide proof of a valid insurance policy that has a minimum of (a) $25,000 per person in medical expense coverage and (b) $50,000 coverage for emergency medical evacuation and no COVID-19 exclusions. 

 

Guests that purchase insurance from a provider other than the Royal Caribbean Travel Protection Plan need to bring a printed version of the insurance policy, showing the name of each of the covered unvaccinated guest(s) and a description of the coverage in the policy. This documentation will be reviewed by our staff at the terminal, prior to boarding. Guests that purchase coverage from Royal Caribbean do not need to present these documents as this information will be included on your reservation and visible to the terminal agent.  

 

The insurance policy must name the guest as the policy holder or beneficiary and may be purchased from a travel insurance company of the guest's choosing or through the Royal Caribbean Travel Protection Program which fulfills these requirements and provides other benefits for travel protection.

Thanks.  That's interesting.  I'm guessing that if most of us were sailing RCI, we would just buy their insurance to avoid the risk of them finding something in a brand X policy that they weren't happy with.

[Mrs_Reevo]

4 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Interesting article, thank you for sharing. I wonder who paid for 19 days at a hotel? Who picked up the room service/food tab? The travel insurance policies I have reviewed cover $50 a day toward hotel for 10 days. In that case, even additional travel insurance would have left this couple with a 9 day hotel stay bill. 

The Greek government pay for quarantine for travellers who test positive 

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

When there was a mandatory quarantine in  Maui, the quarantine needed to happen at a government approved hotel/resort. There are literally 1000's of rentals in Maui, but only a dozen or so were approved for quarantine. Cheapest I found came in around $500 a night (to be locked up in your room without a key). 

I quarantined twice when returning to Hawaii. Fortunately, they allow you to quarantine at home on Oahu (along with the annoying daily check-in). We did one big Safeway dropship to restock the fridge and were happy to UberEats or GrubHub additional meals for the two weeks. I was really happy when they allowed us to PCR test then upload a vaccination card to get in without quarantine. 

[JezzaC]

If you have travel insurance which covers also COVID situation, then there isn't any point of taking the test 72 hours before either. If you would test positive in terminal then you can use your insurance instead of NCL paying the costs. Since anyway situation can be so that people test negative 72 hours before and test result will change in couple days. 

[Shellbelle28]

I just was looking at my United Airlines mileage account, and saw that United suggests an online service called eMed.com for supervised testing (antigen not PCR) that I am going to check on doing for our pre travel testing.

Looks as though the test is $25 and results are available in 24 hours. They use the BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Ag Card Home Test and remotely supervise administration. The test manufacturer has an app that documents results. 

This makes me feel slightly less stressed about test timing prior to travel.

[zdcatc12]

53 minutes ago, Shellbelle28 said:

I just was looking at my United Airlines mileage account, and saw that United suggests an online service called eMed.com for supervised testing (antigen not PCR) that I am going to check on doing for our pre travel testing.

Looks as though the test is $25 and results are available in 24 hours. They use the BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Ag Card Home Test and remotely supervise administration. The test manufacturer has an app that documents results. 

This makes me feel slightly less stressed about test timing prior to travel.

There had been issues with people being on hold with them for hours trying to take a test. Not sure if it is still an issue or not. I guess that their call center is in the Phillipines and they had a lot of COVID issues there. 

 

 Also, it is only $25 if you buy a 6-pack. The minimum is a 2-pack and that is $70.

[mma__leanne]

Has anyone used BinaxNOW, and does the report show your birthday? The NCL Sail Safe FAQs list that as a requirement.I want to buy them, but not if they can’t be used with NCL

[CruiseAddict396]

I just spoke with a NCL rep, they said that a Covid test 72 hours prior to boarding is recommended but not a requirement.  They will be performing testing on all passengers prior to boarding regardless of home testing

[Cruiser021421]

42 minutes ago, CruiseAddict396 said:

I just spoke with a NCL rep, they said that a Covid test 72 hours prior to boarding is recommended but not a requirement.  They will be performing testing on all passengers prior to boarding regardless of home testing

However, although not required, if you don’t have one and either test positive at the pier or become positive during the cruise, per NCL’s Sail Safe policy, NCL will not assist with any expenses that may be above and beyond your insurance coverage or with any expenses at all, if you do not have insurance. All outlined in the FAQs toward the bottom of the Sail Safe page.

 

https://www.ncl.com/sail-safe

[DanielNL]

I will take a antigen test by a third party for only €39 per person in The Netherlands. Just to make sure, and also to have NCL covered any expenses by a positive test, if my insurance don’t take care of any extra costs. Better safe then sorry.