Thoughts on Carnival's Rapid Covid Testing at Terminal/Pier.

[sanger727]

2 hours ago, grumpyjr88 said:

I don't live in a rural area. 😂

 

Then I am surprised it's hard to get tests. Walgreens and CVS have them. So do our main grocery store. And pretty much all doctor's offices and urgent cares. Plus, I recently found out that we have a county organization that organizes free testing sites every day....

[K_e_short]

49 minutes ago, sm3ds said:

Any cvs or Walgreens will test you results are usually under 48 hours. If you need same day test for travel you just have to pay for it. I’m not sure why people think they should get a free expedited PCR’s test for a cruise. 

 

I agree with the free part. If people are whining because they have to pay for a travel cost then thats just selfish.

 

It is an added travel cost and needs to be budgeted in. If that is your breaking point in terms of cost then I guess you need to find another vacation that is cheaper.

 

My comment was that people couldn't find a test at all.

 

There are many posts about that in here.

 

Edited September 6, 2021 by K_e_short

[beloum]

3 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

Then I am surprised it's hard to get tests. Walgreens and CVS have them. So do our main grocery store. And pretty much all doctor's offices and urgent cares. Plus, I recently found out that we have a county organization that organizes free testing sites every day....

I live in Tampa and not a single Walgreen or CVS has any avail appointments for Antigen test in the next 2 weeks.  Many have PCR with a timeframe listed for results at 48-72 hrs.    This is what a lot of people are running into.   

[grumpyjr88]

3 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

Then I am surprised it's hard to get tests. Walgreens and CVS have them. So do our main grocery store. And pretty much all doctor's offices and urgent cares. Plus, I recently found out that we have a county organization that organizes free testing sites every day....

Why surprised? They can't keep up with the demand. A month ago we couldn't even find the self-tests within 100 miles much less a drive thru. 

[Joe817]

1 minute ago, grumpyjr88 said:

Why surprised? They can't keep up with the demand. A month ago we couldn't even find the self-tests within 100 miles much less a drive thru. 

Where in Texas are you grumpy? As you can tell by my signature, I'm in Arlington.

[grumpyjr88]

Just now, Joe817 said:

Where in Texas are you grumpy? As you can tell by my signature, I'm in Arlington.

New Braunfels. Lots of retired people here.

[Joe817]

11 minutes ago, grumpyjr88 said:

New Braunfels. Lots of retired people here.

Beautiful country down there. But you aren't but 32 miles from San Antonio; 19 miles from San Marcos and only 48 miles from Austin. Surely there must be a place there that you can get a rapid test, even if you have do do a little driving. 

[grumpyjr88]

4 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Beautiful country down there. But you aren't but 32 miles from San Antonio; 19 miles from San Marcos and only 48 miles from Austin. Surely there must be a place there that you can get a rapid test, even if you have do do a little driving. 

Been checking just to see what the appts look like. On Thursday and Friday there were no slots available. We are most likely going to order online just to be safe. 

[sanger727]

34 minutes ago, grumpyjr88 said:

Why surprised? They can't keep up with the demand. A month ago we couldn't even find the self-tests within 100 miles much less a drive thru. 

surprised because in cincinnati they can. They have so much testing availability that they can put on county wide free testing opportunities with no need to pre-qualify. My work place is creating a testing requirement where anyone who isn’t vaccinated has to get tested weekly, and they don’t seem to have any concerns about getting enough tests to do that.

[sanger727]

13 minutes ago, grumpyjr88 said:

Been checking just to see what the appts look like. On Thursday and Friday there were no slots available. We are most likely going to order online just to be safe. 

walgreens only schedules out a day or two ahead. But there are loads of Walgreens with appointments in San Antonio. 
 

[grumpyjr88]

Just now, sanger727 said:

walgreens only schedules out a day or two ahead. But there are loads of Walgreens with appointments in San Antonio. 
 

I will need to take the test on a Thursday or Friday before my cruise... That's why I'm only checking on Thursdays and Fridays to see what the schedules look like. Last week there were zero appts available through all 3 links listed on the NB covid website. 

[grumpyjr88]

8 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

surprised because in cincinnati they can. They have so much testing availability that they can put on county wide free testing opportunities with no need to pre-qualify. My work place is creating a testing requirement where anyone who isn’t vaccinated has to get tested weekly, and they don’t seem to have any concerns about getting enough tests to do that.

That's awesome for you. 

[sanger727]

15 minutes ago, grumpyjr88 said:

I will need to take the test on a Thursday or Friday before my cruise... That's why I'm only checking on Thursdays and Fridays to see what the schedules look like. Last week there were zero appts available through all 3 links listed on the NB covid website. 

yeah. You won’t be able to schedule with Walgreens for that until wed. That doesn’t mean there are no tests available.

[snowballs mom]

19 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

walgreens only schedules out a day or two ahead. But there are loads of Walgreens with appointments in San Antonio. 
 

I have been stalking the Walgreens in the Denver area. The blue dots indicate they are PCR tests. The red dots indicate they are rapid tests. Here, the rapid tests are usually gone by the morning after they are released. I bet the available San Antonio tests are PCRs.

[grumpyjr88]

1 hour ago, sanger727 said:

yeah. You won’t be able to schedule with Walgreens for that until wed. That doesn’t mean there are no tests available.

You're not getting it. 🙈I can't test on a Weds so why would i even check. I can only test Thurs or Friday before i leave for the port. I can't be bothered to argue this with you anymore. It's like trying to reason when my cats. 😂

[grumpyjr88]

1 hour ago, snowballs mom said:

I have been stalking the Walgreens in the Denver area. The blue dots indicate they are PCR tests. The red dots indicate they are rapid tests. Here, the rapid tests are usually gone by the morning after they are released. I bet the available San Antonio tests are PCRs.

Yes, the rapid tests, including the self-tests, get snatched up quickly.

[sanger727]

1 hour ago, grumpyjr88 said:

You're not getting it. 🙈I can't test on a Weds so why would i even check. I can only test Thurs or Friday before i leave for the port. I can't be bothered to argue this with you anymore. It's like trying to reason when my cats. 😂

lol. You can test Thursday or Friday. So you can register for a Thursday or Friday test on WEDNESDAY. Because Walgreens only registers 1-2 days ahead. I feel like you are intentionally being obtuse because it diverts attention from being wrong.

 

I really don’t care what test you get or where you get it. But there’s this idea being spread on here that tests are hard to get. I fell for it and felt very anxious about it because we have a test for an upcoming trip as well. Then when I started really looking into it. I saw how readily available tests were and that it wasn’t worth stressing out about at all. Not a fan of people spreading misinformation without checking themselves.

[Johnc3211]

We also live in Ohio and my county health department website states I can get 3 free at home test

kits from my local county library branch. We went through our county health department for our vaccines, no muss no fuss.

[Virga]

Count me as one of the people who is shocked to discover that it is pretty difficult to get an appointment for a rapid test near my home in Florida.  On the Walgreens site, I had to click 'See more nearby locations' three times before it found a single location - the 37th closest Walgreens to me, over an hour away, with 'few appointments available.'  CVS isn't pulling up anything at all, even further away.  We don't sail until next week, but I thought I should check and see what availability looks like this week, to let me know what we're in for.  I have to admit, I kinda thought people were exaggerating.  We had no trouble getting in for tests in the spring, but the situation has clearly changed somewhat.  The drive isn't a dealbreaker for us, but...

 

We may order the emed bundle, just so I don't have to fret about availability and long drives last minute.  It's cheaper than urgent care, where I assume we'd be able to do a walk-in if push came to shove. 

[firefly333]

10 hours ago, grumpyjr88 said:

Why surprised? They can't keep up with the demand. A month ago we couldn't even find the self-tests within 100 miles much less a drive thru. 

Yikes where are you in texas? My test is booked for Wednesday and I had tons of CVS near me to choose from. Should I call to make sure that my test wouldnt be cancelled.  I read stuff like that and dont know what to think. I'm leaving sat on vista. 

[wesorbeth]

What happens if you don't get your results in time?  

[topaz123]

8 hours ago, Virga said:

Count me as one of the people who is shocked to discover that it is pretty difficult to get an appointment for a rapid test near my home in Florida.  On the Walgreens site, I had to click 'See more nearby locations' three times before it found a single location - the 37th closest Walgreens to me, over an hour away, with 'few appointments available.'  CVS isn't pulling up anything at all, even further away.  We don't sail until next week, but I thought I should check and see what availability looks like this week, to let me know what we're in for.  I have to admit, I kinda thought people were exaggerating.  We had no trouble getting in for tests in the spring, but the situation has clearly changed somewhat.  The drive isn't a dealbreaker for us, but...

 

We may order the emed bundle, just so I don't have to fret about availability and long drives last minute.  It's cheaper than urgent care, where I assume we'd be able to do a walk-in if push came to shove. 

Second that.....6 Walgreens, 6 CVS in area....one offers the Rapid Test, there are openings for the ID NOW, and PCR, but if you need the Rapid Test.....good luck. The one Walgreens that does offer the Rapid only schedules a day in advance, and it's impossible to get a time slot.  If you have a flight leaving  on Saturday for your Sunday Cruise Departure...good luck finding a Rapid Test on Friday. Huge problem.....

[crewsweeper]

9 hours ago, Johnc3211 said:

We also live in Ohio and my county health department website states I can get 3 free at home test

kits from my local county library branch. We went through our county health department for our vaccines, no muss no fuss.

For cruising just be sure those are proctored tests.  But free home tests of any sort would be a good way to "pre-test" yourself a couple of weeks before and if proctored, test again right before you cruise.  Or schedule at a physical location.

[balcony bound]

1 hour ago, wesorbeth said:

What happens if you don't get your results in time?  

You can't board.

[morningstarme]

For those of us “trying” to sail out of Florida, has anyone had their required tests done at MIA or MCO?   Is this even an option?  
Everyone states that it is easy to get an appointment for the necessary test but it does seem like it is getting more difficult to do so with the variant.  We tend to arrive 2-3 days early for cruises to avoid travel complications but now iam not so sure that is the best practice.  Thanks in advance for your responses.