New COVID testing requirements in PR and USVI, NCL denies knowing anything about it

[Javajitterz]

Just got off the phone with NCL regarding our upcoming Jan 8th cruise on the Escape. We are supposed to be going to San Juan, PR and St Thomas, USVI. Both of these calls have added testing requirements that will not work with the covid test we take at the port before we can embark. I asked if we would be testing on board in order to make the call or if NCL was going to substitute ports. I was put on hold a very long time as she talked to her supervisor and the answer was that NCL doesn't know anything about any new requirements and there is no plan on doing testing onboard the ship. I feel that NCL is going to show up at these ports and get turned away and say it wasn't their fault, keep my port fees and sail aimlessly around the ocean for 7 days with us not hitting any ports. We have never made Great Stirrup Cay on any of our sailings so I never count that as a port of call, which leaves us with just the Dominican Republic as our only "guaranteed" port of call. Not feeling warm & fuzzy about the way NCL is handling this. I wanted facts, not sunshine blown up my @ss

[BermudaBound2014]

Do you have a source for the St Thomas changing the entry requirements? 

 

There were rumors that Mexico has closed it's ports too, but according to this article it's just rumors...

• Mexico announced Tuesday it will allow cruise ships with passengers and crew members to dock at its ports https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10350325/Mexico-allow-non-infected-disembark-cruise-ships-positive-COVID-19-cases-onboard.html
•  

[Javajitterz]

7 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Do you have a source for the St Thomas changing the entry requirements? 

 

There were rumors that Mexico has closed it's ports too, but according to this article it's just rumors...

• Mexico announced Tuesday it will allow cruise ships with passengers and crew members to dock at its ports https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10350325/Mexico-allow-non-infected-disembark-cruise-ships-positive-COVID-19-cases-onboard.html
•  

https://newsofstjohn.com/covid-19-update-important-changes-to-travel-testing/

[Firstin87]

Thank you for posting this.  Yikes!  We are on an 11 day Caribbean cruise late Jan. to early Feb. and hit both St. Thomas and San Juan.  Or, maybe not...

 

So many changes every day.  Just the hassles of trying to stay on top of the changes to plan for the trip is enough to make someone need a vacation - lol.

 

[kfnesq]

2 minutes ago, Firstin87 said:

Thank you for posting this.  Yikes!  We are on an 11 day Caribbean cruise late Jan. to early Feb. and hit both St. Thomas and San Juan.  Or, maybe not...

 

So many changes every day.  Just the hassles of trying to stay on top of the changes to plan for the trip is enough to make someone need a vacation - lol.

 

Same.....if this holds true for our cruise, we would have to test at the port, on day 3, and then again on day 6 I think.....UGH.  Logistically that is a lot for NCL to take on.  Or, as you point out, perhaps we miss those two ports.

[beerman2]

OP you don’t lose port fees, they are credited to your OBC. As far as all the other things you mentioned wait a day or two and there very well might be more changes.

 

Obviously it’s a total crap shoot right now with all cruise lines.

 

It’s not what pax want to hear however it’s the reality of things.

 

 

[Javajitterz]

Just now, beerman2 said:

OP you don’t lose port fees, they are credited to your OBC. As far as all the other things you mentioned wait a day or two and there very well might be more changes.

 

Obviously it’s a total crap shoot right now with all cruise lines.

 

It’s not what pax want to hear however it’s the reality of things.

 

 

We had credits to our account pre-pandemic when we missed a Bahamas port but on the Gem in October of this year we missed the same port and NCL kept the port fees. Different answer each time we asked why we were not getting them back. We called NCL multiple times once we were onshore as well and no one could give us a straight answer

[TAMUPhD]

keeping my fingers crossed for our cruise in 2.5 weeks.  On the Encore and slated to arrive in St. Thomas around the 64 to 66 hour mark post departure.  This would be right at the back end of the 72hour window post test for the pre-embarkation antigen test in Miami.

 

I guess i will stay tuned to the boards to see impact of cruises before we depart on Jan 16 for port changes.

[Firstin87]

22 minutes ago, kfnesq said:

Same.....if this holds true for our cruise, we would have to test at the port, on day 3, and then again on day 6 I think.....UGH.  Logistically that is a lot for NCL to take on.  Or, as you point out, perhaps we miss those two ports.

 

Sounds like you may be on the same cruise we are - the Dawn out of Tampa on Jan. 29.

 

We are scheduled to visit six ports, but if two are removed form our itinerary, that really impacts the trip. 

[kfnesq]

5 minutes ago, Firstin87 said:

 

Sounds like you may be on the same cruise we are - the Dawn out of Tampa on Jan. 29.

 

We are scheduled to visit six ports, but if two are removed form our itinerary, that really impacts the trip. 

We are the one before you - Jan 18.  Likely same itinerary though.  At any rate, if they start dropping ports I agree the trip is hugely impacted, at least for me.  These things seem to be changing daily though, so I guess we see what happens tomorrow.  And the next day.   🙂

[CarolinaMamma]

12 minutes ago, TAMUPhD said:

keeping my fingers crossed for our cruise in 2.5 weeks.  On the Encore and slated to arrive in St. Thomas around the 64 to 66 hour mark post departure.  This would be right at the back end of the 72hour window post test for the pre-embarkation antigen test in Miami.

 

I guess i will stay tuned to the boards to see impact of cruises before we depart on Jan 16 for port changes.

We are also on Encore Han 16. I guess this is yet another thing to keep an eye on, and we will likely learn info here on CC before NCL shares it with us. 

[Firstin87]

18 minutes ago, kfnesq said:

We are the one before you - Jan 18.  Likely same itinerary though.  At any rate, if they start dropping ports I agree the trip is hugely impacted, at least for me.  These things seem to be changing daily though, so I guess we see what happens tomorrow.  And the next day.   🙂

 

And the next day... and the next day...

 

Really takes a lot of the fun out of planning a trip, but, as the kids say, "first world problems".  Grateful to be healthy and working.  Really miss "the old days", though.

[PointNemo]

Yeah for the looks of it, USVI, BVI and Puerto Rico are off limits for cruise ships at the moment...

[marktwothousand]

Routine testing for ports is not something any cruise line will want to be doing right now as it will uncover a whole slew of asymptomatic cases and quarantines. That would be a disaster  

[MNcruisingcouple]

3 hours ago, Javajitterz said:

Just got off the phone with NCL regarding our upcoming Jan 8th cruise on the Escape. We are supposed to be going to San Juan, PR and St Thomas, USVI. Both of these calls have added testing requirements that will not work with the covid test we take at the port before we can embark. I asked if we would be testing on board in order to make the call or if NCL was going to substitute ports. I was put on hold a very long time as she talked to her supervisor and the answer was that NCL doesn't know anything about any new requirements and there is no plan on doing testing onboard the ship. I feel that NCL is going to show up at these ports and get turned away and say it wasn't their fault, keep my port fees and sail aimlessly around the ocean for 7 days with us not hitting any ports. We have never made Great Stirrup Cay on any of our sailings so I never count that as a port of call, which leaves us with just the Dominican Republic as our only "guaranteed" port of call. Not feeling warm & fuzzy about the way NCL is handling this. I wanted facts, not sunshine blown up my @ss

 

I highly doubt that NCL knows nothing about the new requirements.  The call center people just aren't informed, per usual.

[CarolinaMamma]

10 minutes ago, marktwothousand said:

Routine testing for ports is not something any cruise line will want to be doing right now as it will uncover a whole slew of asymptomatic cases and quarantines. That would be a disaster  

Good point. They’d probably rather skip or change ports than discover and have to deal with a bunch of cases. 

[jstraw89]

What will they do for the cruises that depart San Juan and come back 7 days later. Will they require a test for disembarking?

[Javajitterz]

6 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Do you have a source for the St Thomas changing the entry requirements? 

 

There were rumors that Mexico has closed it's ports too, but according to this article it's just rumors...

• Mexico announced Tuesday it will allow cruise ships with passengers and crew members to dock at its ports https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10350325/Mexico-allow-non-infected-disembark-cruise-ships-positive-COVID-19-cases-onboard.html
•  

https://www.vi.gov/governor-bryan-has-briefing-with-president-biden-stresses-getting-vaccine-and-booster-shot-amid-likely-presence-of-omicron-variant-in-the-territory/

[dmh165638]

4 hours ago, jstraw89 said:

What will they do for the cruises that depart San Juan and come back 7 days later. Will they require a test for disembarking?

We are departing 1/23 and are wondering the same thing.  I have been following all roll calls for PR including RCCL hoping for an answer.

[CiaraMissed]

Based on my reading of the letter, a cruise departing/arriving San Juan is not a "port of call" (rather the embark/debark point) and would not be subject to the requirements listed. NCL has said that they would complete testing onboard as required to comply with local regulations as necessary: https://www.ncl.com/travel-requirements-by-country

[luckyinpa]

what is the difference between thousands of people traveling to the island to take a cruise vs those who just stop there for the day. they turn away ships now so it's weird to let one embark there

[rnfulk]

The Encore is docked at St. Thomas now....

[MS52]

17 hours ago, kfnesq said:

Same.....if this holds true for our cruise, we would have to test at the port, on day 3, and then again on day 6 I think.....UGH.  Logistically that is a lot for NCL to take on.  Or, as you point out, perhaps we miss those two ports.

I just returned from a transatlantic with Viking.  They test everyone - passengers and crew- EVERY day.  Felt safer on that ship than I do in my hometown.

Planning on cruising to the Caribbean on January 9th.  Looking like it's going to be a cruise to nowhere.  Not totally happy but at least I'll have sun, sea and an open bar.  I'll make do!

[MS52]

5 minutes ago, rnfulk said:

The Encore is docked at St. Thomas now....

If you read the press release, it said restrictions will begin January 3rd

[Karaboudjan]

Everyone getting onto an NCL ship has a negative test, so wouldn't that satisfy the USVI policy as long as the ship arrives on or before the 3rd day of the cruise?