Our Experience - Celebrity PCR Test for Flight Home to Canada

[AlbertaCruisers]

We are from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  We just got home late last night from our cruise on the Celebrity Equinox (August 27 to September 5), lots of flight delays.

 

When we got on the ship, the first night I called front desk to let them know we are Canadian and needed PCR tests to fly home.  She confirmed that we for sure needed PCR and not Antigen and once I confirmed that she said no problem, she would put me on the list and I would get information later in the cruise.  I believe you need to let them know you need a test and they don't automatically put you on the list.  

 

I believe it was Tuesday, August 31 that we got a call from the Events Coordinator confirming we would have our PCR test at 4:00 pm on Friday night (the second last day of the cruise, as we got off the cruise on Sunday).  There was no choice as to the time or the date, but the timing worked in our 72 hour time frame as we flew home Monday at 1:05 pm.

 

They had the test process set up in the meeting rooms on Deck 14, the same place that all the crew are getting their tests done weekly.  It was well organized and fast.

 

We got the results about 2:00 pm on the last day, they emailed them to us and the original showed up at our door a few hours later.  It was all fine, except it didn't show the date the sample was taken just the date (so just September 3).  The ship said it was a set form for all the Royal family of ships and they never put the date in and that it was the date the test was actually run (which is on the second page), which was Saturday that matters.  I don't believe that is true and I believe that it is the date the sample is taken that matters (if they take the sample on Wednesday and keep it on ice and don't run the test until Saturday, it seems that really we had COVID or not as of Wednesday, not Saturday?).  I called the Canada Health number in the ArriveCan help information and they advised that it was the date the sample was taken that mattered, not when they actually run the test.  The ship did not really believe me on that point, but they were able to add the time on my test result sheets, they just handwrote in the time and the doctor initialed in and affixed a seal.  

 

I believe, if you were flying home the date you get off the ship, this would not have been as big of an issue as a test any time on Friday would have been fine, as your 72 hour time frame would have started from your flight departure time on Thursday.  Since we were flying out on Monday, our 72 hours started from 1:05 pm on Friday, so I'm not sure that the result showing the test was taken on Friday would have been sufficient, because any time before 1:05 pm on Friday would have been too early.

 

Everything went fine for the trip home, but I'm not sure at this point if the 4:00 pm time being written in was necessary or not, as no one said anything.  The Air Canada representative that checked us in at Fort Lauderdale looked closely at the tests and seemed a bit confused.  She took a lot of time to review it, but didn't say anything and in the end approved it and stamped our boarding passes with the documents approved stamp.  No one in the Toronto Airport even asked for or looked at the tests at all in Customs, which I believe is unusual.

 

We go back at the end of October, and again, we are staying a day after the cruise.  I will be asking them to add the time the sample was taken, just in case, or asking if they can do our test the morning of the last day (but, since there was an entire process set up of all the people that needed tests, I'm not sure they would be willing to do ours on a different day).

[Fouremco]

4 minutes ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

No one in the Toronto Airport even asked for or looked at the tests at all in Customs, which I believe is unusual.

As the airlines have to check to let you board the flight home, and as the information is loaded into your ArriveCan app, CBSA officials may not need to look at the original document. Just speculation on my part, though. Thanks for posting! 😉

[LooseMoose]

Thanks for the information, we are also booked for October. With the Canadian government advisory saying no to non essential travel outside of the country, especially cruising,which insurance company did you use to secure medical coverage. Thanks again

[Covepointcruiser]

Many people just ignore the government warnings in the U.S.    Is it any different in Canada?

[upwarduk]

The timing of the testing that you had is consistent with that which staff and children had on Silhouette, next to the last day in the afternoon, after passengers returned from tours.

[Cg52]

1 hour ago, LooseMoose said:

Thanks for the information, we are also booked for October. With the Canadian government advisory saying no to non essential travel outside of the country, especially cruising,which insurance company did you use to secure medical coverage. Thanks again

I’m finding this very frustrating. As long as the advisory say not to travel my TA says it’s difficult to find an insurance company that will cover COVID. In particular for cancellation.

[paulajj]

Thank you for posting. Please let us know how you do your testing before embarking in October as most have changed it to the 2 days. 

[AlbertaCruisers]

4 hours ago, LooseMoose said:

Thanks for the information, we are also booked for October. With the Canadian government advisory saying no to non essential travel outside of the country, especially cruising,which insurance company did you use to secure medical coverage. Thanks again

 

3 hours ago, Cg52 said:

I’m finding this very frustrating. As long as the advisory say not to travel my TA says it’s difficult to find an insurance company that will cover COVID. In particular for cancellation.

 

2 hours ago, paulajj said:

Thank you for posting. Please let us know how you do your testing before embarking in October as most have changed it to the 2 days. 

 

For insurance we had the Johnson Insurance annual plan. No trip cancellation or trip interruption but they cover COVID and other medical both on and off the ship. I also ended up buying the Manulife pandemic plan (it only covers one specific trip), I just felt better having both in this case. 

 

No insurance I could find covers cancellation or interruption for COVID, and we knew that going in. The cruise line policy gave us some comfort on some potential issues (such as testing positive in advance - you get your cruise refunded) and flights are a bit more flexible right now if you need to change (one time no change fee).

 

For testing on the way down, we did the $40 Rapid Antigen Test at Shoppers Drug Mart and we will do it again. It was fine for the flight and cruise, as long as nothing changes and both keep accepting the rapid Antigen tests. Our local Shoppers just does walk ins. We walked in at 8:00 am when they opened, did the test and were walking out with our negative results in 30 minutes total. This time we went Tuesday morning for our Friday cruise, but next time we will have to go Wednesday morning for our Friday cruise. 

[Cg52]

16 minutes ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

 

 

 

For insurance we had the Johnson Insurance annual plan. No trip cancellation or trip interruption but they cover COVID and other medical both on and off the ship. I also ended up buying the Manulife pandemic plan (it only covers one specific trip), I just felt better having both in this case. 

 

No insurance I could find covers cancellation or interruption for COVID, and we knew that going in. The cruise line policy gave us some comfort on some potential issues (such as testing positive in advance - you get your cruise refunded) and flights are a bit more flexible right now if you need to change (one time no change fee).

 

For testing on the way down, we did the $40 Rapid Antigen Test at Shoppers Drug Mart and we will do it again. It was fine for the flight and cruise, as long as nothing changes and both keep accepting the rapid Antigen tests. Our local Shoppers just does walk ins. We walked in at 8:00 am when they opened, did the test and were walking out with our negative results in 30 minutes total. This time we went Tuesday morning for our Friday cruise, but next time we will have to go Wednesday morning for our Friday cruise. 

Thank you for this. I didn’t realize the rapid antigen was acceptable. They just started offering it at our local Zehrs pharmacy. I have health insurance through my retirees medical travel plan but I’m always looking for cancellation. Manulife will provide if our government lowers the travel advisory level. Very helpful information.

[Cg52]

6 minutes ago, Cg52 said:

Thank you for this. I didn’t realize the rapid antigen was acceptable. They just started offering it at our local Zehrs pharmacy. I have health insurance through my retirees medical travel plan but I’m always looking for cancellation. Manulife will provide if our government lowers the travel advisory level. Very helpful information.

We have cancelled our January 2022 cruise as we have some underlying conditions and even though fully vaccinated we are uncomfortable entering the US for now. We are booked on the Viking Zurich to Paris river cruise in April. We have Vikings insurance on everything along with our own health benefits. Fingers crossed this one sails, we are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary and my 70th birthday. Fingers crossed.

[paulajj]

7 hours ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

For testing on the way down, we did the $40 Rapid Antigen Test at Shoppers Drug Mart and we will do it again. It was fine for the flight and cruise, as long as nothing changes and both keep accepting the rapid Antigen tests. Our local Shoppers just does walk ins. We walked in at 8:00 am when they opened, did the test and were walking out with our negative results in 30 minutes total. This time we went Tuesday morning for our Friday cruise, but next time we will have to go Wednesday morning for our Friday cruise. 

Oh that’s great. For some reason I was thinking we needed the longer pcr test that takes 48 hours for results and was thinking we’d end up needing 2 tests. 
We’re not going until January so who knows what things will be like then but hopefully testing will be easy 🤞 

[AlbertaCruisers]

11 hours ago, Cg52 said:

Thank you for this. I didn’t realize the rapid antigen was acceptable. They just started offering it at our local Zehrs pharmacy. I have health insurance through my retirees medical travel plan but I’m always looking for cancellation. Manulife will provide if our government lowers the travel advisory level. Very helpful information.

 

I just suggest you double check on the CDC website and the cruise lines website closer to when you go to make sure the rapid antigen test is acceptable.

[AlbertaCruisers]

I should add, both me and my husband have 2 Pfizer doses of vaccine and are considered fully vaccinated by Celebrity.  Some things are different for children and unvaccinated adults (if they can cruise at all), for example, I believe children and unvaccinated adults need PCR tests to get on the ship (the rapid antigen is not sufficient) and the website says they only provide the free PCR test to go home for the fully vaccinated guests.

[AlbertaCruisers]

Interestingly, I just found another website with a person that had the same issue, meaning the result was stamped with the date of collection and not the time and someone pointed him to the below, so maybe the time is not necessary.  The below does make it seem like it is on the airlines to be checking the tests, so maybe it wasn't so unusual that no one in Toronto looked at our test.

 

https://tc.canada.ca/en/initiatives/covid-19-measures-updates-guidance-issued-transport-canada/covid-19-guidance-material-air-operators-managing-travellers-coming-canada-transborder-international-airports#annex_d

 

72 hours versus 3 days:

In the instance where a traveller presents a test that has no time stamp, air operators are to assess the test result using 3 days as the benchmark. Air operators can use the date of the scheduled flight to Canada as day 1, and count backwards by 3 days, to determine the testing window.

Example: A traveller has a flight scheduled to Canada on Friday, March 5th, 2021 at 10am. They arrive at the airport with a valid molecular COVID-19 test result that is negative. The date stamp on the test result indicates March 2, 2021 for when the test was administered. The air operator can use March 5th less 3 days, which brings us to March 2nd, as their basis to determine whether or not to board the traveller as indicated below in the following sample calculation:

Calculation:
From March 5 to March 4 (-1 day from departure)
From March 4 to March 3 (- 2 days from departure)
From March 3 to March 2 (- 3 days from departure) **limit**
= test is valid if administered on March 2nd or later

 

 

[Fouremco]

18 hours ago, LooseMoose said:

Thanks for the information, we are also booked for October. With the Canadian government advisory saying no to non essential travel outside of the country, especially cruising,which insurance company did you use to secure medical coverage. Thanks again

If you visit the Canadian Cruisers board, there is a lot of information on travel insurance and myriad other topics from a Canadian perspective.

[LooseMoose]

8 hours ago, Fouremco said:

If you visit the Canadian Cruisers board, there is a lot of information on travel insurance and myriad other topics from a Canadian perspective.

Thank You for the link, it certainly does contain a wealth of information and experience 

Cheers 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, LooseMoose said:

Thank You for the link, it certainly does contain a wealth of information and experience 

Cheers 

I'm glad that you found it useful. 😊