luv2ndhalf Posted September 16, 2021 #1 Share Posted September 16, 2021 I know I have seen it in numerous places, but of course I cannot find it now. If we are set to sail on Saturday, and we are US residents, do we test on either Thursday or Friday? Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruzzzinma Posted September 16, 2021 #2 Share Posted September 16, 2021 Yes, Thursday or Friday for a Saturday boarding. We tested on Wednesday two weeks ago for a Friday sailing. From the Celebrity website https://www.celebritycruises.com/health-and-safety All vaccinated guests 12 years and older must present a negative Covid-19 test result taken as either as an Antigen or PCR test conducted within two days of embarkation 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ipeeinthepools Posted September 16, 2021 #3 Share Posted September 16, 2021 10 minutes ago, luv2ndhalf said: I know I have seen it in numerous places, but of course I cannot find it now. If we are set to sail on Saturday, and we are US residents, do we test on either Thursday or Friday? Thank you! Yep, that's correct. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet524 Posted September 16, 2021 #4 Share Posted September 16, 2021 The new 2 day requirement has put a real kink in my travel plans. My BFF and I are driving from Virginia to Ft. Lauderdale. It's a 2 day drive for us, so we'll be leaving on Friday for our Sunday departure. (We like to get to FLL the day before the cruise.) This means we'll have to have our test done the morning that we leave. Fortunately, we can make an appointment at our local urgent care to get the test done at 8 AM on Friday, and we'll have the results and corresponding documentation by 9 AM. We'll get on the road later than we'd like, but it's doable. I suspect others who have a longer drive to the port may have issues with the timing for their tests and departure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix_dream Posted September 16, 2021 #5 Share Posted September 16, 2021 12 minutes ago, Janet524 said: The new 2 day requirement has put a real kink in my travel plans. My BFF and I are driving from Virginia to Ft. Lauderdale. It's a 2 day drive for us, so we'll be leaving on Friday for our Sunday departure. (We like to get to FLL the day before the cruise.) This means we'll have to have our test done the morning that we leave. Fortunately, we can make an appointment at our local urgent care to get the test done at 8 AM on Friday, and we'll have the results and corresponding documentation by 9 AM. We'll get on the road later than we'd like, but it's doable. I suspect others who have a longer drive to the port may have issues with the timing for their tests and departure. Frankly, many of us envy those who can drive. The majority of us have to fly in, and that presents much more logistical stress and a much bigger "kink". To be as safe as can be and follow protocol, we need to test before our flight because we don't want to test positive and then be stuck in our port of embarkation without being able to fly home, and then do another test when we arrive (most of us fly in a day or two early). At least if, heaven forbid, you don't get your results in time but rather on the road you can turn your car around and just drive back. Best of luck to you on your testing and hope you have a great cruise! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missymo Posted September 16, 2021 #6 Share Posted September 16, 2021 13 hours ago, luv2ndhalf said: I know I have seen it in numerous places, but of course I cannot find it now. If we are set to sail on Saturday, and we are US residents, do we test on either Thursday or Friday? Thank you! Thank you for the post. I had made arrangements with my local FastLab two weeks ago, and didn't even think to check to make sure the test was done within the 2 day mandate. Read your post and decided to recheck my confirmation and of course I was one day off. Called them this morning, and fortunately they changed it to Thursday the 23rd for my sailing on the Saturday September 25. sailing. Much appreciated that you sent this reminder out. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeRick Posted September 16, 2021 #7 Share Posted September 16, 2021 5 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said: Frankly, many of us envy those who can drive. The majority of us have to fly in, and that presents much more logistical stress and a much bigger "kink". To be as safe as can be and follow protocol, we need to test before our flight because we don't want to test positive and then be stuck in our port of embarkation without being able to fly home, and then do another test when we arrive (most of us fly in a day or two early). At least if, heaven forbid, you don't get your results in time but rather on the road you can turn your car around and just drive back. Best of luck to you on your testing and hope you have a great cruise! OK here is the current scenario for most needing to fly into the port city. In this example, the cruise leaves on Saturday. You have a flight on Friday because you did not want to fly on Saturday, the day of the cruise. You need to test on Thursday and hope for a negative result delivered to you on Thursday before you board your flight on Friday. All good at that point. Happy cruisers. But that scenario assumes flight(s) and connections within the timing needed. But what if you live in a place where that timing is not possible? You need to leave on Thursday instead of Friday for the Saturday cruise. So you decide to test on Wednesday which gives you some confidence that you will be negative before you fly- but not valid for the Saturday cruise. So you get to your port city and do the 2-day test on Thursday or Friday. But it is positive. Then what? Yes Celebrity will compensate your cruise with FCC. But how do you quarantine? And where? How do you fly home? The change from 3 days to 2 days has a lot of impact for some people in terms of risk if you cannot fly to the port city with a negative valid test result in hand taken 2 days prior to the cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Oceansaway17 Posted September 16, 2021 #8 Share Posted September 16, 2021 2 hours ago, phoenix_dream said: Frankly, many of us envy those who can drive. The majority of us have to fly in, and that presents much more logistical stress and a much bigger "kink". And if on the day of testing you have to appointment and both are cancel then you have an issues because you are past the 48 hours to cancel with confidence. It seems like everyone has to have 2 or 3 way to get a test and to me that is stressful. And it is best to test before leaving home area as you would not want to get quarantined in the city the ship leaves from Time for more production of tests, more sites that do them, and perhaps too another company besides eMed with folks not even in the USA. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGW59 Posted September 16, 2021 #9 Share Posted September 16, 2021 1 hour ago, TeeRick said: OK here is the current scenario for most needing to fly into the port city. In this example, the cruise leaves on Saturday. You have a flight on Friday because you did not want to fly on Saturday, the day of the cruise. You need to test on Thursday and hope for a negative result delivered to you on Thursday before you board your flight on Friday. All good at that point. Happy cruisers. But that scenario assumes flight(s) and connections within the timing needed. But what if you live in a place where that timing is not possible? You need to leave on Thursday instead of Friday for the Saturday cruise. So you decide to test on Wednesday which gives you some confidence that you will be negative before you fly- but not valid for the Saturday cruise. So you get to your port city and do the 2-day test on Thursday or Friday. But it is positive. Then what? Yes Celebrity will compensate your cruise with FCC. But how do you quarantine? And where? How do you fly home? The change from 3 days to 2 days has a lot of impact for some people in terms of risk if you cannot fly to the port city with a negative valid test result in hand taken 2 days prior to the cruise. Could not do it under these circumstances, way to much uncertainty and stress, ships will still be sailing when I am ready to go ?????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39august Posted September 16, 2021 #10 Share Posted September 16, 2021 Rick. I believe under the current Healthy at Sea protocols it says that if you test positive within 14 days of your cruise that the cruise fare will be refunded to you. Is that not correct? No FCC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Turtles06 Posted September 16, 2021 #11 Share Posted September 16, 2021 39 minutes ago, 39august said: Rick. I believe under the current Healthy at Sea protocols it says that if you test positive within 14 days of your cruise that the cruise fare will be refunded to you. Is that not correct? No FCC. I haven't seen refund language in the Healthy at Sea protocols (if it's there, I hope someone will quote and link to it). However, the cruise ticket that accompanied our recent final payment does say a passenger who tests positive within 14 days of the cruise will be denied boarding and "entitled to a refund or future cruise credit. . . " (See language below.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeRick Posted September 17, 2021 #12 Share Posted September 17, 2021 18 hours ago, 39august said: Rick. I believe under the current Healthy at Sea protocols it says that if you test positive within 14 days of your cruise that the cruise fare will be refunded to you. Is that not correct? No FCC. I thought it was FCC but honestly it does not matter. Being stuck in the port city is the point. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missymo Posted September 17, 2021 #13 Share Posted September 17, 2021 22 hours ago, Missymo said: Thank you for the post. I had made arrangements with my local FastLab two weeks ago, and didn't even think to check to make sure the test was done within the 2 day mandate. Read your post and decided to recheck my confirmation and of course I was one day off. Called them this morning, and fortunately they changed it to Thursday the 23rd for my sailing on the Saturday September 25. sailing. Much appreciated that you sent this reminder out. For sailings that require a pre-cruise test, you will be asked to take the test no more than 3 days before your sail date for UNVACCINATED (UNDER 12)guests and no more than 2 days for VACCINATED How to calculate 3 and 2 days before: The day you set sail is not included as one of the days. For example,UNVACCINATED if you are setting sail on a Saturday, you can take your test on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday before your sailing and for VACCINATED 2 days you can take the test Thursday or Friday. Make sure that your selected test provider can provide you a valid results document in time for your travel. For fully vaccinated guests living in the United States, a home-test kit is available for purchase on our Website. We are working with Optum, an authorized medical provider to offer this option to our guests. Complete your pre-cruise test kit at home or any place of your choosing with the help of live video supervision by a Certified Guide. TEST KIT - SHIPPING TIMES We recommend ordering your test kit at least one full week before you plan to take your test. If you’re in a pinch, see below to understand if your order will arrive in time. ORDER TEST KIT ON: GET TEST KIT NO LATER THAN: Monday Thursday evening Tuesday Friday evening Wednesday Monday evening Thursday Tuesday evening Friday Wednesday evening Saturday Wednesday evening Sunday Wednesday evening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josie201 Posted September 17, 2021 #14 Share Posted September 17, 2021 Yes, pity us poor Canadians! We can't access the Emed/Abbott proctored tests, even if we are in the US (eg. pre cruise hotel etc) as you must have a valid US phone number/e-mail etc. We can't even set up the on-line account ... So, we will have a test here to board the flight ($$), and then another test ($$) in Fort Lauderdale two days before the cruise (we are spending four days in Fort Lauderdale pre-cruise). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeRick Posted September 17, 2021 #15 Share Posted September 17, 2021 @39august was correct. And thanks to @Turtles06 too. Here is the official RCG (Royal Caribbean and Celebrity) Refund And Cancellation Policy For COVID-19. From their website. Yes full refunds or FCC if you test positive. But it still does not solve what happens to you if Covid+ and stranded in the port city pre-cruise. ROYAL CARIBBEAN GROUP REFUND* AND CANCELLATION POLICY FOR COVID-19 The following information applies to sailings on Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises (collectively, referred to herein as “RCG”) scheduled during the nationally declared Public Health Emergency involving COVID-19. Except as specifically stated below, or as otherwise provided in the Cruise/CruiseTour Ticket Contract (the “Ticket Contract”) for your cruise, the standard cancellation policies and penalties described in the Ticket Contract apply. The below policies are effective April 28, 2021 and apply to all RCG cruises scheduled to sail between April 28, 2021 and October 31, 2021, inclusive: Cruise Cancelled By RCG If your cruise is cancelled by RCG or boarding is delayed by twenty-four (24) hours or more due to government order or declaration of a Public Health Emergency, you are entitled to a refund of the cruise fare paid to RCG within 180 days, or an optional Future Cruise Credit (“FCC”). Cruise Cancelled By Guest • If, following a declaration of a Public Health Emergency, you cancel a booking for a cruise scheduled during the declared emergency, or must cancel your booking because you are prohibited from traveling to the vessel due to a governmental travel restriction, but the cruise is not cancelled, you are entitled to a FCC for the cruise fare paid to RCG. In all other cases our standard cancellation policy will apply, as set forth in the Ticket Contract for your cruise. • If you, or someone in your Travelling Party, cancel a cruise booking due to testing positive for COVID-19 within 14 days of embarkation, you and they are entitled to a refund, or an optional FCC, for the cruise fare paid to RCG. If you had close contact with a positive or suspected COVID19 case within 14 days of embarkation, and RCG deems you are unfit to travel, you, and anyone else in your Travelling Party who cancels, are eligible for a refund of the cruise fare paid to RCG, or an optional FCC equal in value to the same. To qualify for a refund or the FCC, if your COVID19 test was administered by a provider other than one retained by RCG, you must present your verified positive test result in a form acceptable to RCG. • If you report, or we identify, that you may have been exposed to or are likely to have been infected by COVID-19, we may require that you and others in your Travelling Party do not travel to the port. This is in order to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Anyone effectively denied boarding in these circumstances will be entitled to a refund, or an optional FCC, for the cruise fare paid to RCG. Denial of Embarkation or Reboarding; Quarantine and/or Disembarkation • If you, your family members, travelling companions or other close contacts are denied embarkation or reboarding, or quarantined or disembarked during the voyage, due to a positive COVID-19 test or being suspected of having COVID-19, you and they are entitled to a refund, or an optional FCC, for the cruise fare paid to RCG in the event of denial at embarkation, or a pro-rated refund or prorated FCC for the unused portion of your cruise fare in all other cases. 1 • If you test positive for COVID-19 during the voyage, the cruise line will: • cover the cost of necessary COVID-19 related medical treatment onboard the ship; • coordinate and cover the costs of any required land-based quarantine for you and members of your Travelling Party; and • coordinate and cover the costs of travel arrangements to get you and members of your Travelling Party back home. We will also provide the same assistance to identified close contacts if they are required to quarantine onboard or are disembarked or denied re-boarding due to have been in close contact to a guest who tests positive for COVID-19. • If a guest who purchased flights through the cruise line is denied boarding at embarkation or reboarding, or is disembarked during the voyage due to a positive COVID-19 test or being suspected of having COVID-19, the cruise line will coordinate the travel arrangements, and cover the airline change fees and any difference in the airfare for the same class of service, necessary to fly the guest back to the city of their original flight departure point. If such a guest did not purchase flights through the cruise line, the cruise line will assist with coordinating travel arrangements necessary to get the guest back home but will not be responsible for any associated costs. Obligation to Comply with RCG COVID-19 Policies and Procedures Guests denied embarkation or reboarding, or who are disembarked or quarantined during the voyage, for failure to comply with the RCG COVID-19 Policies and Procedures in effect at the time of the cruise, shall not be entitled to a refund or FCC, compensation of any kind, or any of the assistance described in this Policy. Please refer to the Ticket Contract issued for your cruise for complete details. General For purposes of this Policy, your “Travelling Party” means your family members living with you in the same household and travelling companions assigned to your stateroom on the cruise. This Policy does not apply to guests booked on chartered sailings. The terms of this Policy will remain in full force until we choose, in our sole discretion, to update or modify all or part of it. Updates or the modifications may be made and shall be effective without publication, although we will endeavor to post any updates or changes in a timely manner to a publicly accessible forum such as the Royal Caribbean Group websites or mobile phone applications. ________________________ *All refund requests must be made within six (6) months of the date your booking is cancelled or the scheduled embarkation date, whichever is earlier, or you will only be entitled to a Future Cruise Credit for the amount specified. 04/2021 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fouremco Posted September 17, 2021 #16 Share Posted September 17, 2021 7 minutes ago, Josie201 said: Yes, pity us poor Canadians! We can't access the Emed/Abbott proctored tests, even if we are in the US (eg. pre cruise hotel etc) as you must have a valid US phone number/e-mail etc. We can't even set up the on-line account ... So, we will have a test here to board the flight ($$), and then another test ($$) in Fort Lauderdale two days before the cruise (we are spending four days in Fort Lauderdale pre-cruise). Have you spoken to someone at Emed/Abbott to see if there is a workaround? I regularly run into website forms whose designers have never made allowances for non-US customers. I suspect that Emed/Abbott don't want to run tests other than in the US, and set up their account form accordingly, but they might not have even considered Canadians travelling to the US and getting tested. If you haven't called them, it might be worth your while giving it a try. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josie201 Posted September 17, 2021 #17 Share Posted September 17, 2021 3 minutes ago, Fouremco said: Have you spoken to someone at Emed/Abbott to see if there is a workaround? I regularly run into website forms whose designers have never made allowances for non-US customers. I suspect that Emed/Abbott don't want to run tests other than in the US, and set up their account form accordingly, but they might not have even considered Canadians travelling to the US and getting tested. If you haven't called them, it might be worth your while giving it a try. I guess it doesn't hurt to try. I never got a reply to my e-mail, and others reported here that it was not possible but perhaps if I'm physically in the US when taking the test that will make a difference. I'll give them a call but I've decided to wait until closer to our travel date (November 😎 so that I have all the current testing requirements understood .... or at least am aware of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fouremco Posted September 17, 2021 #18 Share Posted September 17, 2021 3 minutes ago, Josie201 said: I guess it doesn't hurt to try. I never got a reply to my e-mail, and others reported here that it was not possible but perhaps if I'm physically in the US when taking the test that will make a difference. I'll give them a call but I've decided to wait until closer to our travel date (November 😎 so that I have all the current testing requirements understood .... or at least am aware of them! Given how often things change, waiting is a very good idea. Keeping my fingers crossed for you! 🤞 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cangelmd Posted September 17, 2021 #19 Share Posted September 17, 2021 3 hours ago, TeeRick said: I thought it was FCC but honestly it does not matter. Being stuck in the port city is the point. 21 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said: And it is best to test before leaving home area as you would not want to get quarantined in the city the ship leaves from Time for more production of tests, more sites that do them, and perhaps too another company besides eMed with folks not even in the USA. It’s very tough right now. Increased production of tests will take time and frankly, the market has to be there. The Recent Biden speech confuses matters considerably, - what he proposed regarding testing is a great idea that has been preached since the beginning of the pandemic, but the devil is in the details of launching the testing program. A lot of test kits have expired unused and the manufacturers will want some guarantees before ramping up production. Another problem is manufacturing capacity - will we start to run low on testing for other illnesses, we’ve already seen some of that. Im going to sound nagging now, but the best insurance is to isolate yourself, including masking when no one else is (I swear that’s the hardest!) for a couple of weeks before the trip. Get a PCR 1 week out and have a backup plan. If you have to fly cross country or transatlantic, maybe this isn’t the time to go, sad to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gina21764 Posted September 24, 2021 #20 Share Posted September 24, 2021 On 9/15/2021 at 7:51 PM, cruzzzinma said: Yes, Thursday or Friday for a Saturday boarding. We tested on Wednesday two weeks ago for a Friday sailing. From the Celebrity website https://www.celebritycruises.com/health-and-safety All vaccinated guests 12 years and older must present a negative Covid-19 test result taken as either as an Antigen or PCR test conducted within two days of embarkation On 9/15/2021 at 7:51 PM, cruzzzinma said: Yes, Thursday or Friday for a Saturday boarding. We tested on Wednesday two weeks ago for a Friday sailing. From the Celebrity website https://www.celebritycruises.com/health-and-safety All vaccinated guests 12 years and older must present a negative Covid-19 test result taken as either as an Antigen or PCR test conducted within two days of embarkation Anyone have any idea why or the rationale used to say vaccinated guests only get 2 days to take their test and unvaccinated guests get 3??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichYak Posted September 24, 2021 #21 Share Posted September 24, 2021 9 hours ago, gina21764 said: Anyone have any idea why or the rationale used to say vaccinated guests only get 2 days to take their test and unvaccinated guests get 3??? They get tested again at embarkation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D C Posted September 24, 2021 #22 Share Posted September 24, 2021 On 9/16/2021 at 12:07 PM, TeeRick said: OK here is the current scenario for most needing to fly into the port city. In this example, the cruise leaves on Saturday. You have a flight on Friday because you did not want to fly on Saturday, the day of the cruise. You need to test on Thursday and hope for a negative result delivered to you on Thursday before you board your flight on Friday. All good at that point. Happy cruisers. But that scenario assumes flight(s) and connections within the timing needed. But what if you live in a place where that timing is not possible? You need to leave on Thursday instead of Friday for the Saturday cruise. So you decide to test on Wednesday which gives you some confidence that you will be negative before you fly- but not valid for the Saturday cruise. So you get to your port city and do the 2-day test on Thursday or Friday. But it is positive. Then what? Yes Celebrity will compensate your cruise with FCC. But how do you quarantine? And where? How do you fly home? The change from 3 days to 2 days has a lot of impact for some people in terms of risk if you cannot fly to the port city with a negative valid test result in hand taken 2 days prior to the cruise. The 2-day requirement is frustrating and serves no useful purpose. It merely pushes people toward less-accurate rapid tests. My plan will be a PCR on Thursday, hopefully with a result before my flight on Friday for a Saturday embarkation. Backup is a pre-flight rapid test on Friday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fouremco Posted September 24, 2021 #23 Share Posted September 24, 2021 22 minutes ago, D C said: The 2-day requirement is frustrating and serves no useful purpose. It merely pushes people toward less-accurate rapid tests. My plan will be a PCR on Thursday, hopefully with a result before my flight on Friday for a Saturday embarkation. Backup is a pre-flight rapid test on Friday. Just curious, but why PCR? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D C Posted September 24, 2021 #24 Share Posted September 24, 2021 (edited) 25 minutes ago, Fouremco said: Just curious, but why PCR? Higher 'accuracy' with lower risk of a false positive. Good info on the rapid tests here: https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/letters-health-care-providers/potential-false-positive-results-antigen-tests-rapid-detection-sars-cov-2-letter-clinical-laboratory These 3 bullet items really scream "remember that these rapid tests really aren't that good" Consider the CDC's recommendations when using antigen testing in nursing homes and other settings. For positive results, especially in low incidence counties, consider performing confirmatory RT-PCR test within 48 hours. Remember that positive predictive value (PPV) varies with disease prevalence when interpreting results from diagnostic tests. PPV is the percent of positive test results that are true positives. As disease prevalence decreases, the percent of test results that are false positives increase. For example, a test with 98% specificity would have a PPV of just over 80% in a population with 10% prevalence, meaning 20 out of 100 positive results would be false positives. The same test would only have a PPV of approximately 30% in a population with 1% prevalence, meaning 70 out of 100 positive results would be false positives. This means that, in a population with 1% prevalence, only 30% of individuals with positive test results actually have the disease. At 0.1% prevalence, the PPV would only be 4%, meaning that 96 out of 100 positive results would be false positives. Health care providers should take the local prevalence into consideration when interpreting diagnostic test results. Consider positive results in combination with clinical observations, patient history, and epidemiological information. Edited September 24, 2021 by D C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovecruzin Posted September 24, 2021 #25 Share Posted September 24, 2021 It would be nice if the rules for vaccinated were 3 days for PCR and 2 days for Antigen. I guess that would create even more confusion! I would prefer to do PCR but timing doesn't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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