COVID Testing to disembark back into US

[joyy7403]

We’re trying to find the answer. We would like to go on a Caribbean cruise that will go to islands with 3 & 4 Covid ratings. For those of you who have recently cruised, is a Covid test required when you leave the ship or going through customs? And what happens if you’re positive? We’ve probably read the answer somewhere, but can’t find it. Thank you!

 

PS. We are both vaccinated & boosted

Edited November 19, 2021 by joyy7403

[julig22]

Following - I've also asked about return to US testing on Caribbean cruises, haven't seen an answer.  And since the policy is changing in January regarding testing for boarding, it would be nice to know if there will be a fee.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, joyy7403 said:

We’re trying to find the answer. We would like to go on a Caribbean cruise that will go to islands with 3 & 4 Covid ratings. For those of you who have recently cruised, is a Covid test required when you leave the ship or going through customs? And what happens if you’re positive? We’ve probably read the answer somewhere, but can’t find it. Thank you!

 

PS. We are both vaccinated & boosted

 

58 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Following - I've also asked about return to US testing on Caribbean cruises, haven't seen an answer.  And since the policy is changing in January regarding testing for boarding, it would be nice to know if there will be a fee.

Cruises originating and ending in the US do not require a test prior to disembarkation . If you then were flying home to another country that requires testing for arriving air passengers NCL will administer the necessary test while you're on board. Since both of you apparently are US residents presumably you will not be flying to a foreign country after your cruise and you will have no need to be tested.

 

Transatlantic repositioning cruises ending in the US do require testing, and the test will be administered by NCL while you're on board.

[julig22]

17 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

 

Cruises originating and ending in the US do not require a test prior to disembarkation . If you then were flying home to another country that requires testing for arriving air passengers NCL will administer the necessary test while you're on board. Since both of you apparently are US residents presumably you will not be flying to a foreign country after your cruise and you will have no need to be tested.

 

Transatlantic repositioning cruises ending in the US do require testing, and the test will be administered by NCL while you're on board.

Personal experience or speculation?  Going to Bermuda and/or Bahamas is no less "out of the country" than transatlantic.  When I get to JFK to fly home, how are they going to know where I cruised from - or that I even cruised?

[joyy7403]

Thank you, njhorseman! That answers my question.

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, julig22 said:

Personal experience or speculation?  Going to Bermuda and/or Bahamas is no less "out of the country" than transatlantic.  When I get to JFK to fly home, how are they going to know where I cruised from - or that I even cruised?

It's neither personal experience from having cruised yet, nor speculation . It's from the research I've done planning for cruises I've considered booking but ultimately didn't and the future cruises I actually have booked. For starters, NCL's website has explanations of all current testing requirements for both embarkation and disembarkation . When you read the following web pages you'll see that the only two circumstances where testing prior to disembarkation are mentioned are the two I stated, testing of passengers who will be flying home to a foreign country immediately after disembarkation, and testing of passengers arriving on transatlantic repositioning cruises .

 

First, regarding passengers who are flying home to a foreign country:

https://www.ncl.com/sail-safe?intcmp=pdt_sl_SAILSAFEVAC

"Will NCL offer testing onboard to meet travel requirements for guests flying back to countries that require negative COVID-19 test results to re-enter the country post cruise?

Yes, COVID-19 antigen or PCR tests prior to disembarkation will be administered on board and paid for by the Cruise Line for those guests who require a test to return home. If a PCR test is required for any travel home, the cruise line will administer and pay for a PCR test, only for those guests whose home country specifically requires a PCR test. The PCR test onboard for cruises from Europe will be administered by Eurorfins. The PCR test for US based sailings will be administered by Norwegian Cruise Line’s medical staff.

If a guest has any other travel plans after disembarking the ship, other than returning to their home country, the guest can still request a PCR test onboard, at a fee of $150 per person.

If a guest booked a post-cruise hotel for more than three nights, it is the responsibility of the guest to make their own arrangements to get re-tested at their own expense."

 

Second, regarding passengers on transatlantic repositioning cruises:

https://www.ncl.com/travel-requirements-by-country

"Transatlantic Cruise Protocols

Country Requirements

Vessels repositioning to the United States must undergo full guest COVID-19 testing prior to arrival. All guests sailing to the United States on a transatlantic voyage will receive a COVID-19 test while onboard. This test will be paid for by the Cruise Line."

 

 I've also extensively read and participated in discussions on the Cruise Critic board for Crystal as well as researching their protocols, and they also do not routinely test passengers disembarking from US-based cruises. 

In Cruise Critic discussions not one passenger on NCL or Crystal has reported being routinely tested for disembarkation purposes. I'm confident that if you read the protocols and Cruise Critic discussions for every other cruise line...Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, etc. you'd find the same results...no routine testing of returning passengers on US-based cruises.

 

Finally, your airline has no need to know where you've been or whether you've cruised.  You're in the US flying to another city in the US . There are no testing requirements for that. They don't care that you may have been in a foreign country. Any reentry requirements (in this case none) would have been met when you were permitted to reenter the US.

 

Edited November 19, 2021 by njhorseman

[julig22]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

It's neither personal experience from having cruised yet, nor speculation . It's from the research I've done planning for cruises I've considered booking but ultimately didn't and the future cruises I actually have booked. For starters, NCL's website has explanations of all current testing requirements for both embarkation and disembarkation . When you read the following web pages you'll see that the only two circumstances where testing prior to disembarkation are mentioned are the two I stated, testing of passengers who will be flying home to a foreign country immediately after disembarkation, and testing of passengers arriving on transatlantic repositioning cruises .

 

First, regarding passengers who are flying home to a foreign country:

https://www.ncl.com/sail-safe?intcmp=pdt_sl_SAILSAFEVAC

"Will NCL offer testing onboard to meet travel requirements for guests flying back to countries that require negative COVID-19 test results to re-enter the country post cruise?

Yes, COVID-19 antigen or PCR tests prior to disembarkation will be administered on board and paid for by the Cruise Line for those guests who require a test to return home. If a PCR test is required for any travel home, the cruise line will administer and pay for a PCR test, only for those guests whose home country specifically requires a PCR test. The PCR test onboard for cruises from Europe will be administered by Eurorfins. The PCR test for US based sailings will be administered by Norwegian Cruise Line’s medical staff.

If a guest has any other travel plans after disembarking the ship, other than returning to their home country, the guest can still request a PCR test onboard, at a fee of $150 per person.

If a guest booked a post-cruise hotel for more than three nights, it is the responsibility of the guest to make their own arrangements to get re-tested at their own expense."

 

Second, regarding passengers on transatlantic repositioning cruises:

https://www.ncl.com/travel-requirements-by-country

"Transatlantic Cruise Protocols

Country Requirements

Vessels repositioning to the United States must undergo full guest COVID-19 testing prior to arrival. All guests sailing to the United States on a transatlantic voyage will receive a COVID-19 test while onboard. This test will be paid for by the Cruise Line."

 

 I've also extensively read and participated in discussions on the Cruise Critic board for Crystal as well as researching their protocols, and they also do not routinely test passengers disembarking from US-based cruises. 

In Cruise Critic discussions not one passenger on NCL or Crystal has reported being routinely tested for disembarkation purposes. I'm confident that if you read the protocols and Cruise Critic discussions for every other cruise line...Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, etc. you'd find the same results...no routine testing of returning passengers on US-based cruises.

 

Finally, your airline has no need to know where you've been or whether you've cruised.  You're in the US flying to another city in the US . There are no testing requirements for that. They don't care that you may have been in a foreign country. Any reentry requirements (in this case none) would have been met when you were permitted to reenter the US.

 

Thanks for your answer - I've been following several sources of info and, as you pointed out, nobody has mentioned that they were tested at the end of their cruise - but since people don't always come back and post about such things after a cruise, no news is just that - no news.

The only requirements that I've found for US citizens has to do with flying back to the US - and of course that doesn't apply.

But it does seem odd that a TA is treated differently than a US-based cruise that does, in fact, leave the US.

Fortunately it's now a non-issue for me, so just curious now. 

[njhorseman]

32 minutes ago, julig22 said:

But it does seem odd that a TA is treated differently than a US-based cruise that does, in fact, leave the US.

Remember that your US-based cruises requires that you be tested prior to embarkation, so that's similar to being tested prior to boarding your flight. While your cruise then visits other countries, during the cruise you're spending the majority of your time on the ship and the ship has complied with the CDC protocols, making it not highly probable that an ill person will slip though the cracks and renter the US undetected. That's in stark contrast to your largely unknown actions and activities while staying in  a foreign country. I'm sure if the CDC determined that a significant number of COVID cases were coming into the US via US-based cruises they would impose an entry testing requirement .

43 minutes ago, julig22 said:

but since people don't always come back and post about such things after a cruise, no news is just that - no news.

It's not "no news" .I've seen the question asked multiple times, and the answer from returning passengers has always been "No, we weren't tested prior to being allowed to disembark in the US."

[BirdTravels]

8 hours ago, joyy7403 said:

We’re trying to find the answer. We would like to go on a Caribbean cruise that will go to islands with 3 & 4 Covid ratings. For those of you who have recently cruised, is a Covid test required when you leave the ship or going through customs? And what happens if you’re positive? We’ve probably read the answer somewhere, but can’t find it. Thank you! PS. We are both vaccinated & boosted

No disembarkation testing. You only need testing when flying into the US. 

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, julig22 said:

but since people don't always come back and post about such things after a cruise, no news is just that - no news.

Since you are looking for personal experiences, I’ll post. We sailed on the Breakaway last month, round trip out of NY to Bermuda. No test required prior to disembarking in NY.  

[Turtles06]

4 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Second, regarding passengers on transatlantic repositioning cruises:

https://www.ncl.com/travel-requirements-by-country

"Transatlantic Cruise Protocols

Country Requirements

Vessels repositioning to the United States must undergo full guest COVID-19 testing prior to arrival. All guests sailing to the United States on a transatlantic voyage will receive a COVID-19 test while onboard. This test will be paid for by the Cruise Line."

Paul, that’s fascinating. It’s the first time I’ve seen any mention on CC of any testing requirement to enter the U.S. by ship. Granted, there haven’t been that many TAs this year, but still. Thanks for posting. 

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

Paul, that’s fascinating. It’s the first time I’ve seen any mention on CC of any testing requirement to enter the U.S. by ship. Granted, there haven’t been that many TAs this year, but still. Thanks for posting. 

Judith, it makes sense to me. Perhaps it was instituted at the same time earlier this month when the US opened its borders to air travelers from Europe and elsewhere who were previously barred from entering the country.

Thinking about it, I'm not sure there have been any transatlantic repos yet...certainly not many...although admittedly I don't follow every cruise line's activities. My impression is that ships coming here from Europe have been carrying crew only .

[Turtles06]

11 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Thinking about it, I'm not sure there have been any transatlantic repos yet...certainly not many...although admittedly I don't follow every cruise line's activities. My impression is that ships coming here from Europe have been carrying crew only .

 

Definitely very few TAs with guests.  The Celebrity Silhouette sailed back from Southampton with only crew, but the Celebrity Apex was carrying passengers -- after the port call in Tenerife, only American guests.  I didn't read anything about testing before they disembarked in Florida, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

 

I hope you are both well, and have a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

 

I hope you are both well, and have a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

And the same to both of you!

[milolii]

Per a CC  member and passenger, Sky Princess arrived at PE from Southampton on Thursday with passengers.  Guests were tested a day before and 100% were negative.  They were also tested before boarding in the UK. 

[putums]

I tried to get answers for my back to back Alaskan cruise next August. First cruise starts with a 6 day land tour through NCL. If I understand it right I will need to test in Denali, prior to sailing out of Seward. The 2nd cruise will be leaving from Vancover and I think I will be able to test on the ship. Just wondering if anyone has come across this. Not sure if NCL will arrange for testing on the land tour or not?

[julig22]

17 minutes ago, putums said:

I tried to get answers for my back to back Alaskan cruise next August. First cruise starts with a 6 day land tour through NCL. If I understand it right I will need to test in Denali, prior to sailing out of Seward. The 2nd cruise will be leaving from Vancover and I think I will be able to test on the ship. Just wondering if anyone has come across this. Not sure if NCL will arrange for testing on the land tour or not?

August is way too far away to know what will happen.  As it stands now, you have the option to pay NCL to give you a test at the pier.  If you'd asked this question last month, the answer would have been NCL tests everyone at the pier.

Based on my experience with an Alaska cruisetour, they will make sure that you have the opportunity to get tested if it is required before you get to the port - you are on a private bus. Or they might include the testing at the pier in the cost of the trip.

[navychop3]

What is the current delay in boarding, for testing, etc?  Going on the 12/9/21 sailing, NYC to Bermuda.  I've read about having to wait in line for 1-2 hours, get tested, wait for results, then back in a line for another couple of hours.

 

Is it really that bad?  I will have a 90 yo in our group.