Testing Question

[rbslos18]

In my MVJ it states: "If you are traveling independently outside of your home country, you must take a PCR test no more than 72 hours prior to your first Viking activity (embarking ship or joining pre-cruise extension)."

 

Would this pertain to arriving for a cruise a day early? 

[CCWineLover]

2 hours ago, rbslos18 said:

In my MVJ it states: "If you are traveling independently outside of your home country, you must take a PCR test no more than 72 hours prior to your first Viking activity (embarking ship or joining pre-cruise extension)."

 

Would this pertain to arriving for a cruise a day early? 

I believe you are covered, since you had to get a COVID PCR test for Viking within 72 hours of first flight.  Others on the Nov 29th Viking Sea thread have said Viking said they are covered by that.   For us, we are arriving (to Rome) 5 days early for Monday embarkation, so we are told by Viking we must take a 2nd PCR test on Friday in Rome (with results hopefully coming over the weekend but who knows).   In hindsight, we probably should have anticipated that restrictions would get tighter as cases get less, and not wanted to see Rome (for the first time!), but just gone straight to the ship or just a day early.  The price of traveling these days!  Still better than sitting home going stir crazy!!

[Peregrina651]

Seems to me that it doesn't hinge on your travel plans. If Day 1 of your Viking itinerary is Friday, then regardless of when you leave home, test results from a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday test should meet the Viking requirement, provided you have the test results in hand.  

 

 

[rbslos18]

1 minute ago, Peregrina651 said:

Seems to me that it doesn't hinge on your travel plans. If Day 1 of your Viking itinerary is Friday, then regardless of when you leave home, test results from a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday test should meet the Viking requirement, provided you have the test results in hand.  

 

 

The challenge for us is we depart on a Monday. It is very difficult to find PCR tests over the weekend. We even had to take an earlier flight to meet the 72 hour requirement.

[JeriGail]

1 minute ago, rbslos18 said:

The challenge for us is we depart on a Monday. It is very difficult to find PCR tests over the weekend. We even had to take an earlier flight to meet the 72 hour requirement.

Viking Guest services has told others on our Viking Sea cruise that only those who arrive MORE than 3 days before their cruise need the 2nd test.

[CCWineLover]

36 minutes ago, rbslos18 said:

The challenge for us is we depart on a Monday. It is very difficult to find PCR tests over the weekend. We even had to take an earlier flight to meet the 72 hour requirement.

 

Viking told us that if we had arrived on Sat or Sun for a Monday embarkation (in Rome, not the USA), then we would have only needed one test - but because we came early (to see Rome), we got stuck with it - and this new Viking restriction was meant to "catch" people who travel independently ahead of time they told me.   Should be interesting!   Rome will be a snap though - won't be on buses.  It will be when we start the cruise that we will consider NOT doing tour buses for the first several days - and then again when people get on in Barcelona, not doing tour buses again for a couple days with this new group of potential positive testers. 

[DaveSJ711]

1 hour ago, JeriGail said:

Viking Guest services has told others on our Viking Sea cruise that only those who arrive MORE than 3 days before their cruise need the 2nd test.

 

3 hours ago, rbslos18 said:

In my MVJ it states: "If you are traveling independently outside of your home country, you must take a PCR test no more than 72 hours prior to your first Viking activity (embarking ship or joining pre-cruise extension)."

 

Would this pertain to arriving for a cruise a day early? 

JeriGail is correct. Viking emailed us and wrote, quote: "If you are traveling independently and outside of your home country for more than 3 days, a PCR test must be taken 72 hours prior to your first Viking activity (embarking ship or joining pre-extension)." That is how the company is interpreting and applying the language in MVJ.

[ricki]

We boarded Orion on October 20, and nobody asked to see our test results at anytime. Quite disconcerting!

[vslparis]

15 hours ago, ricki said:

We boarded Orion on October 20, and nobody asked to see our test results at anytime. Quite disconcerting!

But at least you knew that  more than likely would not test positive on embarkation day 😀.

 

It's not a perfect system and Viking's conflicting information ( between MNJ and the Pre Cruise Covid requirements on the Resources page of the itinerary ) does  makes it confusing for people to figure out when the testing needs to be done based on their travel situation. Especially if people are trying to figure it out before Viking sends that email at about 14 days prior to your trip. 

 

Crazy, but you have to do it ,even if it is possible that no one will look at the test results. 

 

[PKNC]

I assume that we can factor in the time difference for the PCR testing? We are arriving 2 days early in Athens (7 hours ahead of us) and plan on doing tests for ourselves in the US just prior to departure with time to get results back (rapid antigen and pcr) and one the morning of our departure to meet the 72 hour requirement before embarkation. Monday 10 am ET is 5 pm in Athens. 72 hours would be 5 pm on Thursday in Athens, embarkation is Thursday. That’s what I’ve been counting on.