CAN I FLY ON AIR CANADA FLIGHT TO FORT LAUDERDALE WITH AN ANTIGEN TEST INSTEAD OF PCR TEST

[thewhip]

Have Princess cruise booked for end of January.  Flying Air Canada from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale. Do we require a PCR test to fly or can we get an Antigen test to fly to USA?  Flying Jan 28 for Jan 29 cruise.  Need test within 3 days before flight BUT need test within 2 days before boarding.  PCR test takes 24-48 hours for results which would make it almost impossible to get results before our flights.  If we can fly Air Canada with an Antigen test, we can get test Thursday morning and pretty sure we can get results before heading into Toronto for our flight.  Any comments appreciated.

 

 

[mikenbon]

Right now, you just need the antigen test to fly into the states, but keep checking because things continue to change. What's required now may be different from what's required in January. 

[bookbabe]

The Shoppers Drug Mart antigen tests are done while you wait, results in about 15 min, cost $40.  They definitely can be used to travel to the US.

 

There are cheaper antigen tests at Walmart, but I haven’t used those yet so I don’t know what their turnaround time is.

[Fouremco]

Go to your local Shoppers Drug Mart or Walmart offering rapid antigen tests, as there is currently no need for a PCR test when flying to the US. Get your test on the 27th, fly on the 28th and board on the 29th.

 

You will need a PCR test to return to Canada. Some lines provide them free on the last full day of the cruise for Canadians and others requiring one to fly home. I don't know whether or not Princess provides them.

 

 

[Kit & Kat]

Walmart $20.00 for test with a 15 minute result.

[lx200gps]

49 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Go to your local Shoppers Drug Mart or Walmart offering rapid antigen tests, as there is currently no need for a PCR test when flying to the US. Get your test on the 27th, fly on the 28th and board on the 29th.

 

You will need a PCR test to return to Canada. Some lines provide them free on the last full day of the cruise for Canadians and others requiring one to fly home. I don't know whether or not Princess provides them.

 

 

Apparently, Princes does provide free testing (for whatever type the passenger requires to return home, so PCR for Canada). They are supposed to be doing the tests immediately AFTER disembarkation, at the pier. Seems to work well so far.

[Fouremco]

Just now, lx200gps said:

Apparently, Princes does provide free testing (for whatever type the passenger requires to return home, so PCR for Canada). They are supposed to be doing the tests immediately AFTER disembarkation, at the pier. Seems to work well so far.

Now that you mention the testing on the pier post disembarkation, I do recall them offering the test. Do you know how quickly they make the results available?

[LouCoop]

20 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

Apparently, Princes does provide free testing (for whatever type the passenger requires to return home, so PCR for Canada). They are supposed to be doing the tests immediately AFTER disembarkation, at the pier. Seems to work well so far.

Hi Ix200gps

I'm looking for a place to take an antigen test. I live between Montreal and Quebec. All I can find is laboratories that charge between 99 to 120 dollars. I noticed that in Ontario they can get one at Walmarts for 40 dollars. Do you know of any place in Quebec that we could get them at around that price?

[Nickles76]

You can get an antigen test for travelling purposes at Costco for $16.99.

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Nickles76 said:

You can get an antigen test for travelling purposes at Costco for $16.99.

I believe that this is limited to very few Canadian stores at the current time.

[scottbee]

3 hours ago, LouCoop said:

Hi Ix200gps

I'm looking for a place to take an antigen test. I live between Montreal and Quebec. All I can find is laboratories that charge between 99 to 120 dollars. I noticed that in Ontario they can get one at Walmarts for 40 dollars. Do you know of any place in Quebec that we could get them at around that price?

Annoying isn't it.  Cheapest is $70 in BC too.  Only ON and AB seem to have cheap tests from the major retailers (SDM,Walmart,Costco)

 

[lx200gps]

4 hours ago, LouCoop said:

Hi Ix200gps

I'm looking for a place to take an antigen test. I live between Montreal and Quebec. All I can find is laboratories that charge between 99 to 120 dollars. I noticed that in Ontario they can get one at Walmarts for 40 dollars. Do you know of any place in Quebec that we could get them at around that price?

Unfortunately, I am not aware of any local tests available that cheap around Montreal. I haven't yet called to ask about it, but it's possible the SDM in Hawkesbury might offer them, as the store is on the list of SDMs offering the tests. It would be a bit of a long drive to save a few $$$s, Hawkesbury is about 30 minutes from the West Island. I do know that our local SDM (branded Pharmaprix in Quebec) told me flat out NO COVID TESTS.

 

There have been a few new testing places popping up in the area in the last few weeks, literally drive-through testing centers. Most sites are within maybe 10kms of the airport.  Prices are OK, $80 for the Antigen test, but there's an Air Canada promo code that gives a $25 discount, presumably you have to prove you're taking AC?

 

The URL for the testing company is:

 

https://rapidtestandtrace.ca/drive-thru-rapid-covid-tests-montreal/

 

There is also a laboratory in Laval offering PCR tests for only $99, results in about 5 hours, but we only need Antigen

 

https://www.liliumdiagnostics.com/travel 

[lx200gps]

21 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Now that you mention the testing on the pier post disembarkation, I do recall them offering the test. Do you know how quickly they make the results available?

We don't yet have personal experience with Princess pier-side testing, as we are only making our next cruise in late November out of PE. From reading other posts here on CC, it seems that the testing in Seattle and San Pedro is yielding results in about an hour. Our flight back to YUL from FLL leaves at 13:20, so we are planning to stick around at the pier until our test results appear on our phones before heading to the airport.  Fortunately we are always very early walk-offs and as we know, FLL is so close to PE you can see the ships from the departure lounge so I don't think we will have any time pressure.

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, lx200gps said:

We don't yet have personal experience with Princess pier-side testing, as we are only making our next cruise in late November out of PE. From reading other posts here on CC, it seems that the testing in Seattle and San Pedro is yielding results in about an hour. Our flight back to YUL from FLL leaves at 13:20, so we are planning to stick around at the pier until our test results appear on our phones before heading to the airport.  Fortunately we are always very early walk-offs and as we know, FLL is so close to PE you can see the ships from the departure lounge so I don't think we will have any time pressure.

Thanks. An hour seems reasonable if you don't schedule your flight too early. A 13:20 flight is perfect.

[Ginnyfyr]

6 hours ago, lx200gps said:

We don't yet have personal experience with Princess pier-side testing, as we are only making our next cruise in late November out of PE. From reading other posts here on CC, it seems that the testing in Seattle and San Pedro is yielding results in about an hour. Our flight back to YUL from FLL leaves at 13:20, so we are planning to stick around at the pier until our test results appear on our phones before heading to the airport.  Fortunately we are always very early walk-offs and as we know, FLL is so close to PE you can see the ships from the departure lounge so I don't think we will have any time pressure.

We had our PCR tests done at the terminal in Seattle last month. We had our tests in hand within about 40 minutes. Very thankful to Princess for covering the cost based on the pricing I'm seeing for Miami for our Virgin cruise next week (cheapest PCR I've seen there is $149 USD - most are closer to $200). 

[lx200gps]

45 minutes ago, Ginnyfyr said:

We had our PCR tests done at the terminal in Seattle last month. We had our tests in hand within about 40 minutes. Very thankful to Princess for covering the cost based on the pricing I'm seeing for Miami for our Virgin cruise next week (cheapest PCR I've seen there is $149 USD - most are closer to $200). 

Excellent data point, thanks for posting. How did they supply you with the results?  Email/PDF or did they give you an actual piece of paper? Did you have to make an appointment onboard before disembarkation, or did you just show up? What was the crowd like for testing, lots of people? We're very early walk-offs so I expect to be among the first in the tent, even though AC just today pushed our flight home back by 1/2 an hour and gave us more time.  Apologies for the questions, but I do like to be prepared ;o)

[Fouremco]

6 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

Apologies for the questions, but I do like to be prepared ;o)

For every person posting a question, there are dozens waiting to see the answer. No need for apologies! 👍

[Ginnyfyr]

23 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

Excellent data point, thanks for posting. How did they supply you with the results?  Email/PDF or did they give you an actual piece of paper? Did you have to make an appointment onboard before disembarkation, or did you just show up? What was the crowd like for testing, lots of people? We're very early walk-offs so I expect to be among the first in the tent, even though AC just today pushed our flight home back by 1/2 an hour and gave us more time.  Apologies for the questions, but I do like to be prepared ;o)

No worries! I like to be prepared, too. They handed us a piece of paper but there was also a website listed on the paper that you could sign up for to access your results digitally if you wanted to. No appointment necessary, you just collected your luggage and walked across the parking lot to a tent. There were maybe 7 people waiting for results (all Canucks!) I was surprised that this was not like the brain-scratching-up-the-nose PCR test Ontario Public Health gave me last winter when I'd been exposed. This was more of a shallow nasal swab, much less invasive. I was worried they'd done the wrong test given my previous experience, but our results said RT-PCR so who am I to argue? I was worried that testing off the ship would be a huge inconvenience but it really wasn't. Certainly far less of an inconvenience than having to pay out of pocket and find our own place to get a PCR test to come home after our next cruise! 

[LouCoop]

On 10/19/2021 at 3:42 PM, lx200gps said:

Unfortunately, I am not aware of any local tests available that cheap around Montreal. I haven't yet called to ask about it, but it's possible the SDM in Hawkesbury might offer them, as the store is on the list of SDMs offering the tests. It would be a bit of a long drive to save a few $$$s, Hawkesbury is about 30 minutes from the West Island. I do know that our local SDM (branded Pharmaprix in Quebec) told me flat out NO COVID TESTS.

 

There have been a few new testing places popping up in the area in the last few weeks, literally drive-through testing centers. Most sites are within maybe 10kms of the airport.  Prices are OK, $80 for the Antigen test, but there's an Air Canada promo code that gives a $25 discount, presumably you have to prove you're taking AC?

 

The URL for the testing company is:

 

https://rapidtestandtrace.ca/drive-thru-rapid-covid-tests-montreal/

 

There is also a laboratory in Laval offering PCR tests for only $99, results in about 5 hours, but we only need Antigen

 

https://www.liliumdiagnostics.com/travel 

Thank you. I was told the same thing at out Walmart and our Pharmaprix. I will look up the drive thru, thanks for the info.

[lx200gps]

2 hours ago, LouCoop said:

Thank you. I was told the same thing at out Walmart and our Pharmaprix. I will look up the drive thru, thanks for the info.

Pas de probleme, bon voyage ;o)

[lx200gps]

4 hours ago, Ginnyfyr said:

No worries! I like to be prepared, too. They handed us a piece of paper but there was also a website listed on the paper that you could sign up for to access your results digitally if you wanted to. No appointment necessary, you just collected your luggage and walked across the parking lot to a tent. There were maybe 7 people waiting for results (all Canucks!) I was surprised that this was not like the brain-scratching-up-the-nose PCR test Ontario Public Health gave me last winter when I'd been exposed. This was more of a shallow nasal swab, much less invasive. I was worried they'd done the wrong test given my previous experience, but our results said RT-PCR so who am I to argue? I was worried that testing off the ship would be a huge inconvenience but it really wasn't. Certainly far less of an inconvenience than having to pay out of pocket and find our own place to get a PCR test to come home after our next cruise! 

Great info, thanks very much. I'm particularly chuffed to hear about the relatively un-invasive swabbing, and I hope they continue that practice at Port Everglades.

[LouCoop]

Hi everyone, just got an E-Mail from Air-Canada. They are now selling kits for PCR tests and rapid antigen tests that you do yourself. Don't really know how it all works for now but seems you would be doing the test in front of a professional on your mobile. I'm sure we will be hearing more about this in the near future. This would be a great solution for lots of travellers.

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, LouCoop said:

Hi everyone, just got an E-Mail from Air-Canada. They are now selling kits for PCR tests and rapid antigen tests that you do yourself. Don't really know how it all works for now but seems you would be doing the test in front of a professional on your mobile. I'm sure we will be hearing more about this in the near future. This would be a great solution for lots of travellers.

Lots of discussion on this already, including this thread started a couple of days ago that you will find informative:

 

 

[GeriatricNurse]

On 10/19/2021 at 10:04 AM, bookbabe said:

The Shoppers Drug Mart antigen tests are done while you wait, results in about 15 min, cost $40.  They definitely can be used to travel to the US.

 

There are cheaper antigen tests at Walmart, but I haven’t used those yet so I don’t know what their turnaround time is.

The 'Rapid Antigen Tests' may be booked at WalMart Pharmacy.

It costs $19.95, with no tax and the results are ready in 15 minutes.

[GeriatricNurse]

On 10/19/2021 at 11:34 AM, Nickles76 said:

You can get an antigen test for travelling purposes at Costco for $16.99.

Thank you for the tip about Costco!  I knew that it can be done at WalMart for $19.95, with no tax, but I did not know that Costco Pharmacy also offered the 'Rapid Antigen Test' for (only) $16.99!  I'll check at my local Costco Pharmacy tomorrow on October 28th.!