Questions related to all things Covid testing relating to Princess Cruises

[erber]

Thanks for the update. Let us know if you can successfully do the emed testing on Friday. Fingers crossed. I wonder if you could do it at the port with the port's wifi when you disembark if it won't work on board? Keep us posted. Hope you are having a great trip! 

 

How is the wifi so far?

Edited May 17, 2022 by erber

[Buckeye10640]

1 hour ago, erber said:

Thanks for the update. Let us know if you can successfully do the emed testing on Friday. Fingers crossed. I wonder if you could do it at the port with the port's wifi when you disembark if it won't work on board? Keep us posted. Hope you are having a great trip! 

 

How is the wifi so far?

My basic browsing is working fine. My daughter and her fiance have been doing video chat with friends back home and said the calls have not dropped but will sometimes experience a delay/lag. and they have not tried a straight 20 minute or so connection.  I will let you know how it goes when we try it on Friday. 

[Earthworm Jim]

On 5/13/2022 at 5:10 PM, stevenr597 said:

The NAAT Test is what the Canadians Call a “Molecular Test”  It is more sensitivity then the Antigen test and accepted by both the Canadians and the United States.  It is the equivalent to the PCR.  

 

This is all well and good. The Canadian requirements are clear. The problem leading to confusion is the Princess requirements don't say exactly what the Canadian requirements say. In theory, Princess could have more stringent requirements than what Canada requires.

 

Princess says the NAAT test is accepted in their FAQs, but then muddies the water saying tests must be within 2 days for antigen (which a Rapid NAAT clearly is not) and 72 hours for PCR (which, though both are NAAT tests, a Rapid NAAT test isn't a PCR test either)

 

So we're left with having to guess that when they say 72 hours for PCR, they really mean 72 hours for any accepted NAAT test. Which makes one uncomfortable relying on your guess being right to get on the ship. Why not just use the same language Canada uses and avoid confusion?

Edited May 17, 2022 by Earthworm Jim

[travelhound]

5 hours ago, erber said:

Thanks for the update. Let us know if you can successfully do the emed testing on Friday. Fingers crossed. I wonder if you could do it at the port with the port's wifi when you disembark if it won't work on board? Keep us posted. Hope you are having a great trip! 

 

How is the wifi so far?

We had very inconsistent bandwidth problems in our hotel room when taking the emed test.  

[Willwils]

I'm confused about  the ARRIVECAN App for our Majestic Princess cruisetour  southbound from Whittier to Vancouver in July . Does completion of the APP before boarding in Whittier cover both our Skagway bus excursion to the Canadian Summit (requires Passort) as well as disembarkation at Vancouver? 

[stevenr597]

2 hours ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

This is all well and good. The Canadian requirements are clear. The problem leading to confusion is the Princess requirements don't say exactly what the Canadian requirements say. In theory, Princess could have more stringent requirements than what Canada requires.

 

Princess says the NAAT test is accepted in their FAQs, but then muddies the water saying tests must be within 2 days for antigen (which a Rapid NAAT clearly is not) and 72 hours for PCR (which, though both are NAAT tests, a Rapid NAAT test isn't a PCR test either)

 

So we're left with having to guess that when they say 72 hours for PCR, they really mean 72 hours for any accepted NAAT test. Which makes one uncomfortable relying on your guess being right to get on the ship. Why not just use the same language Canada uses and avoid confusion?

To be blunt, Princess is not exactly sure what they want, or think that they need with. 

[stevenr597]

8 minutes ago, Willwils said:

I'm confused about  the ARRIVECAN App for our Majestic Princess cruisetour  southbound from Whittier to Vancouver in July . Does completion of the APP before boarding in Whittier cover both our Skagway bus excursion to the Canadian Summit (requires Passort) as well as disembarkation at Vancouver? 

I think that Princess has discontinued the Bus/Train visit that enters into Canada.  I believe that you can still find a private tour group that will travel into Canada by bus in Skagway.

[Willwils]

2 hours ago, stevenr597 said:

I think that Princess has discontinued the Bus/Train visit that enters into Canada.  I believe that you can still find a private tour group that will travel into Canada by bus in Skagway.

Yes, we originally had the Skagway combo White Pass rail to Summit/Yukon & return via bus w/lunch etc. But very disappointed Princess notified us it was canceled. We then re-booked the Princess round trip BUS only excursion to the summit + The Days of 98 show in Skagway. 

[Willwils]

Will we need to have WiFi on board the Majestic Princess to complete the ARRIVECAN app before getting off in Skagway(for our excursion to the summit) + then getting off ship for disembarkation in Vancouver? 

[Oceans22]

What happens when tested positive to Covid-19 on ship  do we just remain in our cabins for 7 days dose anyone know what  the procedure  on board is 

[capriccio]

24 minutes ago, Oceans22 said:

What happens when tested positive to Covid-19 on ship  do we just remain in our cabins for 7 days dose anyone know what  the procedure  on board is 

There are recent threads on this (just check out the first few pages of the threads listing) including:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2850795-what-happens-in-quarantine/

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2848763-anyone-been-quarantined/

 

[travelhound]

On 5/17/2022 at 4:46 PM, stevenr597 said:

To be blunt, Princess is not exactly sure what they want, or think that they need with. 

Yup, I wonder how much longer people will put up with these ridiculous protocols.  Princess needs to develop more practical protocols like, show proof of vaccination or a negative test, but not both.  

[memoak]

1 hour ago, travelhound said:

Yup, I wonder how much longer people will put up with these ridiculous protocols.  Princess needs to develop more practical protocols like, show proof of vaccination or a negative test, but not both.  

You really want unvaccinated people all over your cruise ?  I don’t 

[erber]

Wifi on southbound Whittier to Vancouver cruisers...How is the Internet speed as you get closer to Vancouver? Anyone do an internet speed test???? Hope everyone is having a great cruise in Alaskan waters! 

[Thrak]

50 minutes ago, erber said:

Wifi on southbound Whittier to Vancouver cruisers...How is the Internet speed as you get closer to Vancouver? Anyone do an internet speed test???? Hope everyone is having a great cruise in Alaskan waters! 

 

Just disembarked Royal Princess a few days ago. The Internet connectivity was pretty bad for the entire cruise. The bar staff often had to stand around waiting for their units to connect in order to take an order. They would apologize and say they were waiting for the units to connect.

[erber]

This is concerning since we have the Emed binaxNow tests. We are hoping to use them to test before disembarkation in Vancouver ( prior to flying back to U.S. midday.) 

[Thrak]

6 minutes ago, erber said:

This is concerning since we have the Emed binaxNow tests. We are hoping to use them to test before disembarkation in Vancouver ( prior to flying back to U.S. midday.) 

 

We also had the same tests but didn't use them. We had a hotel booked and were flying home the day after the cruise ended. Princess had free testing on the ship for people flying home the day the cruise ended. We lucked out and they also offered free testing the day the cruise ended. We disembarked, picked up our luggage, and went straight to the hotel across the street where we were tested for free. We had thought we would end up using the BinaxNOW tests using the hotel WiFi but ended up not needing to do so. Of course I now have a 3-pack ($99) of the tests that I don't need.

 

We were also told that the Vancouver airport was offering testing but it was $79 CAD per person.

[highloyo]

On 5/17/2022 at 5:09 PM, Willwils said:

Will we need to have WiFi on board the Majestic Princess to complete the ARRIVECAN app before getting off in Skagway(for our excursion to the summit) + then getting off ship for disembarkation in Vancouver? 

It’s supposed to be completed before boarding the ship. 

[PacnGoNow]

On 5/17/2022 at 8:09 PM, Willwils said:

Will we need to have WiFi on board the Majestic Princess to complete the ARRIVECAN app before getting off in Skagway(for our excursion to the summit) + then getting off ship for disembarkation in Vancouver? 

There have been huge delays on ships embarkation, because people did not complete ArriveCAN ahead of time.

I believe you can do it 96 hours before your embarkation day.  Download the App now and then fill out the required info on the ArriveCAN  app

BEFORE your embarkation day.

 

It’s all explained in the app.or on the Canada website.

 

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/arrivecan.html

 

Theres also a link to the App from the princess website.

 

maybe you know this already? And this is in addition to the embarkation?

 

Just realized that.  If so, disregard.

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by PacnGoNow

[Thrak]

On 5/17/2022 at 5:09 PM, Willwils said:

Will we need to have WiFi on board the Majestic Princess to complete the ARRIVECAN app before getting off in Skagway(for our excursion to the summit) + then getting off ship for disembarkation in Vancouver? 

 

You will need to complete the ArriveCAN app before you board the ship. It's a requirement to enter Canada.  You will also need to complete it again before arriving back in Canada.

[Louby-Lou]

15 hours ago, memoak said:

You really want unvaccinated people all over your cruise ?  I don’t 

You probably encounter unvaccinated people every day without your knowledge.  Going on a cruise with the possibility of unvaccinated guests is your choice.

[bobby3334]

20 minutes ago, Louby-Lou said:

You probably encounter unvaccinated people every day without your knowledge.  Going on a cruise with the possibility of unvaccinated guests is your choice.

But not usually in confined small spaces.  Foresee no changes.  Read about Covid on almost all cruise lines.   You don’t have a choice generally to go unvaccinated 

[memoak]

43 minutes ago, Louby-Lou said:

You probably encounter unvaccinated people every day without your knowledge.  Going on a cruise with the possibility of unvaccinated guests is your choice.

Not crammed into an elevator. My county is highly vaccinated and boosted. If kids need a vaccine for measles to go to school we should require a covid vaccine to cruise

[Louby-Lou]

My point is that you do not know who you are mixing with - in a cinema, restaurant, sporting events with no choice but you do have a choice whether you cruise or not.  

[bobby3334]

15 minutes ago, Louby-Lou said:

My point is that you do not know who you are mixing with - in a cinema, restaurant, sporting events with no choice but you do have a choice whether you cruise or not.  

Amen