Positive for Covid at check-in

[JamieLogical]

11 hours ago, MsTabbyKats said:

I thought you couldn't get the fare back unless you tested negative 72 hours prior to the cruise...but then tested positive at the pier.

 

There was some confusion in the beginning, when the 72 hour testing first showed up in the FAQ, but it seems pretty settled now that you WILL receive a refund, or at least FCC for your cruise fare. It's just travel/quarantine expenses that you will be on the hook for yourself if you don't do the pre-testing.

[luckyinpa]

I just got my official welcome to the cruise and it says Bermuda requires 96 hour test before you get on board. Is that what the language in the old letters always used to say

[JamieLogical]

44 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

I just got my official welcome to the cruise and it says Bermuda requires 96 hour test before you get on board. Is that what the language in the old letters always used to say

 

Yes. It has always said that. It's important to note that it's 96 hours before embarkation DAY, not before embarkation. Bermuda wants you to take your test "first thing" Wednesday morning, if you look at the timeline on their travel authorization page.

[seemoreroyals]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

There was some confusion in the beginning, when the 72 hour testing first showed up in the FAQ, but it seems pretty settled now that you WILL receive a refund, or at least FCC for your cruise fare. It's just travel/quarantine expenses that you will be on the hook for yourself if you don't do the pre-testing.

 

Hard to disagree with Jaime Logical on this.  She seems to always be up to date on her facts.  We are driving in for our NOLA Breakaway cruise in December.  We have  purchased the NCL travel insurance  and were going to get the PCR/antigen test three days before we arrive at the pier to make sure we would be reimbursed for our cruise fare should we test positive.  We may go ahead and get one anyway for peace of mind. 

 

I wonder what would happen if we tested positive on this antigen test three days ahead of time.  Could we contact NCL and have our cruise fare refunded without having to drive to the port and take a chance of infecting others?  I am assuming that we can and that would be a benefit of getting the antigen test ahead of time.  

[JamieLogical]

8 minutes ago, seemoreroyals said:

 

Hard to disagree with Jaime Logical on this.  She seems to always be up to date on her facts.  We are driving in for our NOLA Breakaway cruise in December.  We have  purchased the NCL travel insurance  and were going to get the PCR/antigen test three days before we arrive at the pier to make sure we would be reimbursed for our cruise fare should we test positive.  We may go ahead and get one anyway for peace of mind. 

 

I wonder what would happen if we tested positive on this antigen test three days ahead of time.  Could we contact NCL and have our cruise fare refunded without having to drive to the port and take a chance of infecting others?  I am assuming that we can and that would be a benefit of getting the antigen test ahead of time.  

 

Yes. You can absolutely receive FCC for your cruise fare if you test positive on that 72-hour pre-test:

 

• If you, your family members or travelling companions assigned to the same stateroom cancel a cruise booking due to testing positive for COVID-19 within 14 days of embarkation, you and they are entitled to a FCC for the amount paid to Norwegian. To qualify for the FCC, if your COVID-19 test was administered by a provider other than one retained by Norwegian, you must present your verified positive test result in a form acceptable to Norwegian.

https://www.ncl.com/refund-and-cancellation-policy-covid-19

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by JamieLogical

[luckyinpa]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Yes. It has always said that. It's important to note that it's 96 hours before embarkation DAY, not before embarkation. Bermuda wants you to take your test "first thing" Wednesday morning, if you look at the timeline on their travel authorization page.

See this is the part where I get confused. I do not need help with travel driving home if I get a positive test and everything I've been reading on this forum says if you're not worried about traveling home then you do not need a test before you get to the pier but now for what you are saying is bermuda wants you to test on Wednesday no matter what but then the other official Norwegian thing says we recommend you test. Is it super confusing.

Edited October 14, 2021 by luckyinpa

[Turtles06]

9 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

See this is the part where I get confused. I do not need help with travel driving home if I get a positive test and everything I've been reading on this forum says if you're not worried about traveling home then you do not need a test before you get to the pier but now for what you are saying is bermuda wants you to test on Wednesday no matter what but then the other official Norwegian thing says we recommend you test. Is it super confusing.

 

It's not confusing.   Bermuda has requirements for testing that are separate and apart from NCL's.  In order to cruise to Bermuda right now, you need a Travel Authorization from Bermuda.  To get that, you need, among other things, a negative PCR test taken four days before your cruise; don't count the day of the cruise.  So if the ship sails on Sunday, get tested on Wednesday.  If you aren't sailing to Bermuda, you can ignore this testing requirement.   But if you are sailing to Bermuda, you MUST get this test.

 

Separately, NCL, which administers its own rapid antigen test at the pier, has a policy right now of helping pax with expenses of quarantine/traveling home if that antigen test is positive and they are denied boarding, so long as the pax have taken an optional Covid test within 96 hours of sailing, with a negative result.  (This was recently changed from 72 hours.)   This is totally optional in terms of NCL policy.   The test is only REQUIRED if you are cruising to Bermuda.  If not, it's up to each guest to determine whether he or she wants to get that pre-cruise test.  For folks sailing to Bermuda, obviously the single pre-cruise PCR test will satisfy both Bermuda and NCL.

 

(And Bermuda cruisers will also be given a PCR test at the pier by NCL, required by Bermuda.)

Edited October 14, 2021 by Turtles06

[milolii]

6 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

See this is the part where I get confused. I do not need help with travel driving home if I get a positive test and everything I've been reading on this forum says if you're not worried about traveling home then you do not need a test before you get to the pier but now for what you are saying is bermuda wants you to test on Wednesday no matter what but then the other official Norwegian thing says we recommend you test. Is it super confusing.

The Wednesday/ 96 hour requirement is for only for cruises involving Bermuda.   The other conversations involve other cruises, for example, Alaska or the Bahamas.  If you can drive to the port(Seattle or Miami) you don’t need to worry as much about testing before you reach the pier. 

[Trimone]

When we queued for our tests and sat and waited for results if anyone had covid about 50 people would have been infected, and to get off ship we were tested in the small dining room and sent on our way. 
No real precautions, same as getting off in Italy, they allowed you hours to shop.

[JamieLogical]

On 10/14/2021 at 1:45 PM, Trimone said:

When we queued for our tests and sat and waited for results if anyone had covid about 50 people would have been infected, and to get off ship we were tested in the small dining room and sent on our way. 
No real precautions, same as getting off in Italy, they allowed you hours to shop.

Weren't you all masked and vaccinated? If so, even if you were within 6 feet of the same people (probably weren't all the same people as results are staggered) for the full 30 minutes, if one person among you had COVID, the chances of additional people being infected were pretty low.

 

When I was tested at the pier in NYC, everyone was masked the entire time and while the chairs weren't six feet apart, they were spaced out a bit and there weren't people in every single chair around me.

[bookbabe]

Where was that FAQ that said NCL would pay for the quarantine expenses that your travel insurance didn’t cover if you were denied boarding?

 

I remember reading it, but I can’t find it on the Sail Safe page now…

 

 

[JezzaC]

48 minutes ago, bookbabe said:

Where was that FAQ that said NCL would pay for the quarantine expenses that your travel insurance didn’t cover if you were denied boarding?

 

I remember reading it, but I can’t find it on the Sail Safe page now…

 

 

 

Yes - it was mentioned before on the page and now it have been removed. Seems that recommendation for testing has been also changed to 96 hours.

[Turtles06]

1 minute ago, JezzaC said:

 

Yes - it was mentioned before on the page and now it have been removed. Seems that recommendation for testing has been also changed to 96 hours.

 

I can't find it either.  It was definitely there yesterday, as we were discussing the fact that it still said 72 hours when NCL had just changed their recommendation that folks take an optional test within 96 hours of the sail date, not 72.

[JezzaC]

Just now, Turtles06 said:

 

I can't find it either.  It was definitely there yesterday, as we were discussing the fact that it still said 72 hours when NCL had just changed their recommendation that folks take an optional test within 96 hours of the sail date, not 72.

 

I actually discussed about with my travel agent yesterday since I wanted to make sure that I would get a refund anyway if I tested positive in the port without pretest. And they made calls to NCL and got confirmation for it. And now the whole thing has been removed from there. 

[bookbabe]

I’m just worried that they’ve figured out how expensive it is to cover quarantine hotels for everyone that’s been denied boarding, so they’ve decided not to do it anymore and have thus pulled that statement from the website.

 

Hopefully they still honor that policy for people who booked when that policy was in effect.

 

[lixogab]

Is there any travel insurance that covers mandatory quarantine?

[Tonysplus2]

I spoke with Ncl agent today and was told they are recommending testing 96 hours before cruise on all sailings. If you test positive at check in and was negative at 96 hours they will help with quarantine. 

[milolii]

5 hours ago, lixogab said:

Is there any travel insurance that covers mandatory quarantine?

Yes, there is. However, it appears you may also need  a physician evaluation, not just a positive test.  Here is an article from one of the experts who frequent the insurance forum on cruise critic.  I  would talk to an expert before or you purchase a plan. 

 

https://tripinsurancestore.com/blog/

[JezzaC]

17 hours ago, Tonysplus2 said:

I spoke with Ncl agent today and was told they are recommending testing 96 hours before cruise on all sailings. If you test positive at check in and was negative at 96 hours they will help with quarantine. 

 

I wouldn't count their customer care a lot. Since web page haven't got anything mentioned about it (it previously had) - I wouldn't bet of that being accurate information.

[Baron Barracuda]

Brother and his wife were scheduled to sail today on NCL from Miami for their 25th anniversary.  They both passed rapid and PCR tests two days ago.  Flew down from NYC this morning and brother tested positive at pier, wife ok.  Re-test also positive.  They were evicted from building and have been outside over two hours waiting to have their luggage returned.  They have only been able to speak with port security.   Told no one from NCL could speak with them.  All they've been offered is a car back to the airport.  Currently trying to work with TA to see what they should do.  

[milolii]

6 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Brother and his wife were scheduled to sail today on NCL from Miami for their 25th anniversary.  They both passed rapid and PCR tests two days ago.  Flew down from NYC this morning and brother tested positive at pier, wife ok.  Re-test also positive.  They were evicted from building and have been outside over two hours waiting to have their luggage returned.  They have only been able to speak with port security.   Told no one from NCL could speak with them.  All they've been offered is a car back to the airport.  Currently trying to work with TA to see what they should do.  

Oh my! Wishing them the best. 

[Oakman58]

35 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Brother and his wife were scheduled to sail today on NCL from Miami for their 25th anniversary.  They both passed rapid and PCR tests two days ago.  Flew down from NYC this morning and brother tested positive at pier, wife ok.  Re-test also positive.  They were evicted from building and have been outside over two hours waiting to have their luggage returned.  They have only been able to speak with port security.   Told no one from NCL could speak with them.  All they've been offered is a car back to the airport.  Currently trying to work with TA to see what they should do.  

 

I thought NCL was supposed to help them under those circumstances.  WTH!

[JamieLogical]

35 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Brother and his wife were scheduled to sail today on NCL from Miami for their 25th anniversary.  They both passed rapid and PCR tests two days ago.  Flew down from NYC this morning and brother tested positive at pier, wife ok.  Re-test also positive.  They were evicted from building and have been outside over two hours waiting to have their luggage returned.  They have only been able to speak with port security.   Told no one from NCL could speak with them.  All they've been offered is a car back to the airport.  Currently trying to work with TA to see what they should do.  

 

Oh no! That is terrible! First of all, I hope your brother is feeling alright and that they ultimately get some help with their situation. Please keep us posted!

[milolii]

Which ship?  Is it the Gem?  Hope they get help.

Edited October 17, 2021 by milolii

[JamieLogical]

6 minutes ago, milolii said:

Which ship?  Is it the Gem?  Hope they get help.

 

Has to be the Gem, as that is the only NCL ship sailing out of Miami right now.