COVID testing at Port Canaveral for NCL Escape

[Ruskincruiser]

Parking is right by the terminal (#10).  You walk down to the farthest tent and show them your CVS bar code to begin. Time from walking into the first tent to receiving test results was less than 30 minutes.  Now in the terminal waiting to check in. There are only TWO people ahead of us!

[Ruskincruiser]

We are on board and checking in at our muster station at 11:15am 

[JC5240]

Woo!! “See “ you next week as I’ll be boarding as you disembark!! Have an amazing trip and thanks for the tip! What time was you check in scheduled for if you don’t mind me asking?

[rascaldog]

Everything went fairly smooth for first cruise.

[Ruskincruiser]

5 hours ago, JC5240 said:

Woo!! “See “ you next week as I’ll be boarding as you disembark!! Have an amazing trip and thanks for the tip! What time was you check in scheduled for if you don’t mind me asking?

We scheduled it for 900am to 930am. I saw a very long line for the COVID tents around 100pm so I would say the earlier you schedule the less wait you’ll have. 

[qdog123]

We just got off the first sailing of the Escape with an 11:30 check in time. It was a total cluster… Many folks had not registered with CVS to get their bar code so they had a separate line that wrapped around the building for those folks to use the three computers they has there to register. We had pre registered so we were able to walk right into the first tent. All in it was around 2 hours from when we entered the tent to getting on board. We sat in the seats waiting for results for 40 minutes before they just released us to board. We got our results a few hours later. Don’t really see the point of this process. What if we tested positive? Wouldn’t we have potentially exposed everyone we had spent any time with while we were on the ship unmasked? 

[JC5240]

1 hour ago, Ruskincruiser said:

We scheduled it for 900am to 930am. I saw a very long line for the COVID tents around 100pm so I would say the earlier you schedule the less wait you’ll have. 

awesome to hear - I also have a 9am check in! 

[soccermom104]

As Canadians we aren’t able to pre-register for our test and have to register at the pier. Hoping everyone who is able to pre-register takes care of that before we get to Port Canaveral next Saturday.  The process with Eurofin in Barcelona for the Epic in September was pretty quick. We were able to pre-register then. Packing our patience!   

[closecruiser]

4 hours ago, qdog123 said:

We just got off the first sailing of the Escape with an 11:30 check in time. It was a total cluster… Many folks had not registered with CVS to get their bar code so they had a separate line that wrapped around the building for those folks to use the three computers they has there to register. We had pre registered so we were able to walk right into the first tent. All in it was around 2 hours from when we entered the tent to getting on board. We sat in the seats waiting for results for 40 minutes before they just released us to board. We got our results a few hours later. Don’t really see the point of this process. What if we tested positive? Wouldn’t we have potentially exposed everyone we had spent any time with while we were on the ship unmasked? 

How full was the ship on your sailing?  

[qdog123]

9 hours ago, closecruiser said:

How full was the ship on your sailing?  

The number I heard was 2400 passengers were on board. The ship felt empty like the transatlantic I took in 2013 on the Epic. There was never a problem finding a seat at the district, empty elevators were the norm, no problem finding a seat at the buffet, plenty of loungers on deck, plenty of shady spots on GSC. The only time I saw a packed house was at the dueling pianos and the choir of man. Since it was the first sailing they were out of lots of beers mostly craft but there was no Guinness! Similar story in the shops with some types of alcohol not available, even on the islands like Sheridan. Only real knock was the self debark. They were at least 40 minutes behind getting the facial recognition stuff working so we were standing around in o’sheehans for around an hour…

[notworkste]

On 11/20/2021 at 9:46 AM, Ruskincruiser said:

Parking is right by the terminal (#10).  You walk down to the farthest tent and show them your CVS bar code to begin. Time from walking into the first tent to receiving test results was less than 30 minutes.  Now in the terminal waiting to check in. There are only TWO people ahead of us!

I am planning to leave my car at terminal parking. Is it close enough for me to park and my party to walk to testing, or should I drop them off and go park? Reason I ask is that I once cruised with Carnival from Canaveral and I needed a bus ride from parking to checkin, so it was easier to drop the rest of the party off.

[qdog123]

3 hours ago, notworkste said:

I am planning to leave my car at terminal parking. Is it close enough for me to park and my party to walk to testing, or should I drop them off and go park? Reason I ask is that I once cruised with Carnival from Canaveral and I needed a bus ride from parking to checkin, so it was easier to drop the rest of the party off.

They make you drive around the tents and drop off your bags before you can park in the parking garage so you might as well drop off your party with the bags and then come back and meet them after you park.

[upslash]

I just returned from the 11/13 sailing out of Port Canaveral on the Escape.

 

The COVID testing process was horrid. We registered for our test and still had to wait over 2 hours from start to finish. There are three tents. The first is to validate you are registered for a COVID test and check your passport and vaccine cards. You administer the test in the second tend. The third tent is a large waiting room where you look for confirmation numbers on a screen. My advice: don't wait for the confirmation number on the screen. It's hard to see and difficult to hear. Just monitor your email or phone. The email notification seemed to come in first, and the text was shortly after. Someone will come up, validate your negative result on your phone or screen, and give you a wrist band that validates your negative test so you can board the ship.

 

BUT, staff was actually instructed to give out free wrist bands if you had been waiting over 45 minutes. No confirmation needed. I questioned the decision, and their response was "We know when there is a positive test. If you have waited 45 minutes, and we know there were zero positive tests in the last 45 minutes, we know you just missed the confirmation or still haven't gotten the email". It kind of makes sense, but at the same time I wish they would truly validate everyone.

 

They desperately need to improve a handful of things: the COVID testing, horrible excursions delays and lies at St. Thomas, and muli-hour tending process at Great Stirrup Cay .... not sure I will be sailing with NCL again anytime soon.

[C cruise]

On 11/20/2021 at 5:55 PM, qdog123 said:

We just got off the first sailing of the Escape with an 11:30 check in time. It was a total cluster… Many folks had not registered with CVS to get their bar code so they had a separate line that wrapped around the building for those folks to use the three computers they has there to register. We had pre registered so we were able to walk right into the first tent. All in it was around 2 hours from when we entered the tent to getting on board. We sat in the seats waiting for results for 40 minutes before they just released us to board. We got our results a few hours later. Don’t really see the point of this process. What if we tested positive? Wouldn’t we have potentially exposed everyone we had spent any time with while we were on the ship unmasked? 

what do you mean with this?  "Many folks had not registered with CVS to get their bar code"   is there something we have to do? 

[upslash]

10 minutes ago, C cruise said:

what do you mean with this?  "Many folks had not registered with CVS to get their bar code"   is there something we have to do? 

 

Yes. During the check in process, there is a link to a CVS website where you register for a COVID test via CVS. Open your eDocs if you missed this, and the link should still be there.

[BULLOCK]

Upsplash,  the bar code you are referring to, is this the one beside your check in time on your edocs?

 

I do see the link to preregistration with CVS, I have clicked on it where my name is visible but being Canadian, it advises we need to register at the pier.     We do have  bar codes beside our check in time.

[upslash]

29 minutes ago, BULLOCK said:

Upsplash,  the bar code you are referring to, is this the one beside your check in time on your edocs?

 

I do see the link to preregistration with CVS, I have clicked on it where my name is visible but being Canadian, it advises we need to register at the pier.     We do have  bar codes beside our check in time.

 

Personally, I did not use a barcode for the CVS COVID test. All I did was tell them my name and they found my registration.

 

If the wording on their website advises to register at the pier, I would do that. Just be sure you are in the correct line. The line for registering for a test should be much shorter. Once you register, you can get in the second line for actually doing the test.

 

The barcode you probably see in the check in documents is what you need to get on the ship (after the COVID test).

[JC5240]

2 hours ago, BULLOCK said:

Upsplash,  the bar code you are referring to, is this the one beside your check in time on your edocs?

 

I do see the link to preregistration with CVS, I have clicked on it where my name is visible but being Canadian, it advises we need to register at the pier.     We do have  bar codes beside our check in time.

 

I’m on the upcoming cruise on the Escape this Saturday. The barcode on your eDocs is not the CVS barcode. The CVS Covid test check in takes you to another site, and the barcode is generated after you register (I also believe it begins with CVS on the barcode). 
 

hopefully you were able to acquire an early check in time (which will be on your eDocs). 
 

 

 

[Ruskincruiser]

On 11/22/2021 at 8:15 AM, notworkste said:

I am planning to leave my car at terminal parking. Is it close enough for me to park and my party to walk to testing, or should I drop them off and go park? Reason I ask is that I once cruised with Carnival from Canaveral and I needed a bus ride from parking to checkin, so it was easier to drop the rest of the party off.

It is walking distance.  My video is taken from my room and shows how far it is to walk as well as a brief tour of room 15156 if anyone is interested in getting a spa balcony.

 

 

[notworkste]

@Ruskincruiser magic, that's fantastic thanks!

[CastawayCruiser]

On 11/22/2021 at 7:38 PM, BULLOCK said:

Upsplash,  the bar code you are referring to, is this the one beside your check in time on your edocs?

 

I do see the link to preregistration with CVS, I have clicked on it where my name is visible but being Canadian, it advises we need to register at the pier.     We do have  bar codes beside our check in time.

We are Canadian and were on the Nov 13 Escape sailing.  Canadians can't register in advance for the testing. There is a line for folks who could not or did not register in advance.  It was very slow (I think there were 3 I Pads being used.  It took us 2.5 hours total in the tents but we heard from other Canadians that they waited close to 4 hours (the line outside the registration tent got really long).

 

[momofjohnjr]

On 11/20/2021 at 9:46 AM, Ruskincruiser said:

Parking is right by the terminal (#10).  You walk down to the farthest tent and show them your CVS bar code to begin. Time from walking into the first tent to receiving test results was less than 30 minutes.  Now in the terminal waiting to check in. There are only TWO people ahead of us!

Found the answer. Wish I could have deleted all of this post.

Edited January 9, 2022 by momofjohnjr