Proctored tests onboard NCL ships wifi

[Slk1z]

I have been following this thread....  I have taken the leap and ordered the Switch Health PCR test for return to Canada.   I will be on the Encore for the week of Jan 30-Feb6.    However I will be upgrading the internet to unlimited streaming ( I like streaming music).

I will update once I complete the test .

[marktwothousand]

3 hours ago, Blueberry89 said:

I was considering getting the one through Aeroplan for my April Panama cruise, but like you, I’m not sure if it could be done via the ships wifi. There’s been some stories about the location of the test - meaning you have to take it in the last country prior to entry. I was going to take it on the ship in our last port in Mexico but I’m not sure it would be valid. Our flight out of LA is at noon but I’m considering a later flight to do the test at the port. 
 

When/where are you cruising? My decision might be based on what you do 🤪

I think this story of it not being accepted was a case of someone doing it in Canada for a short 72 hour border trip. According to a news story, the rule is “the pre-arrival test must be taken in a country other than Canada”. 
 

im looking at bliss LA with a WestJet flight after 1 PM home. 
 

I don’t think the last country prior to entry would apply in this case because the ship is essentially “connecting transportation” to your plane, so it’s acceptable to take it before you get to the port because the port is just a transit point for you to continue getting home 

Edited January 25, 2022 by marktwothousand

[Blueberry89]

4 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

I think this story of it not being accepted was a case of someone doing it in Canada for a short 72 hour border trip. According to a news story, the rule is “the pre-arrival test must be taken in a country other than Canada”. 
 

Actually it was a case of two women from Winnipeg who crossed the border to catch a flight to Aruba. They tested in Aruba, flew back to the States and were fined at the border because the test wasn’t done stateside. 
 

But your last comment about being in transit makes a whole lot of sense!

[mking8288]

BA.2 - the "newer" stealth Omicron mutant variant is what I am paying attention to, as this can quickly become a problem for those of us cruising soon, representing 50% of the cases in Denmark - now tracked to 40 countries, and already here in the Americas.  I'm not going to comment further, read for yourself & "research" the implications - https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-united-states-d09b3c6cc8b047c41d6cbf74043d0713

 

US-CDC recently stated that Micron was believed to be present here in the US, a "little" earlier than being reported by Africa countries - the problem as it related to our passion for cruising is that, current rapid screening might not detect this ... and, this can be a big monkey wrench to the cruise sector, if true.  We aren't doing enough genetic sequencing to track and trace in reporting the lab findings, unlike ... 

 

Anyway, we might be back at the pier or onboard, doing "mandatory" testing as the proctored tests might be inadequate.  No, I don't like this one bit and not happy cruisers cause we are packing our bags pretty soon.  

Edited January 26, 2022 by mking8288

[gmbhardy]

Although I purchased a Switch COVID test kit I’m seriously thinking about getting a PCR test in Cozumel Mexico. I found a medical facility that performs PCR Tests for $80.00 US with a one day turn around that’s not too far from the pier. As I stated earlier we are there Thursday and then flying back to Toronto Saturday afternoon so the 24 hour turn around will work fine for us. We’ll use the test kit for another cruise.
 

[Slk1z]

On 1/25/2022 at 8:37 PM, gmbhardy said:

Although I purchased a Switch COVID test kit I’m seriously thinking about getting a PCR test in Cozumel Mexico. I found a medical facility that performs PCR Tests for $80.00 US with a one day turn around that’s not too far from the pier. As I stated earlier we are there Thursday and then flying back to Toronto Saturday afternoon so the 24 hour turn around will work fine for us. We’ll use the test kit for another cruise.
 

Not sure that would be acceptable to return as you are returning from the US and not mexico.  

There was a story recently about a Mother and Daughter that returned from Aruba to a US airport and then drove back to Canada and they were fined $8500k each because the test was not done in the USA...

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/manitoba-traveller-questions-8-500-fines-after-pcr-test-results-rejected-at-border-1.5741189

Just be aware.

[gmbhardy]

1 hour ago, Slk1z said:

Not sure that would be acceptable to return as you are returning from the US and not mexico.  

There was a story recently about a Mother and Daughter that returned from Aruba to a US airport and then drove back to Canada and they were fined $8500k each because the test was not done in the USA...

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/manitoba-traveller-questions-8-500-fines-after-pcr-test-results-rejected-at-border-1.5741189

Just be aware.

 

1 hour ago, Slk1z said:

Not sure that would be acceptable to return as you are returning from the US and not mexico.  

There was a story recently about a Mother and Daughter that returned from Aruba to a US airport and then drove back to Canada and they were fined $8500k each because the test was not done in the USA...

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/manitoba-traveller-questions-8-500-fines-after-pcr-test-results-rejected-at-border-1.5741189

Just be aware.

If you read the article again, there’s a paragraph that states prior to Dec.21/2021  the test had to be done from your returning country. Now the rule is simply within 72 hours, outside of Canada. The ladies in the story travelled prior to the rule change so they were subject to the fine.

[WindyCs]

On 1/25/2022 at 3:51 AM, sanger727 said:

naat tests are not the same thing as pcr tests. Naat is a heading of tests and pcr is one version. Just like rapid is a heading of tests and antigen is one version. You can have a naat test that is not a pcr test. This company is very careful to not say that it’s a pcr test. So it’s clearly a naat test that is not pcr. Just like pcr. The ID now test at Walgreens is similar. It is also a naat test that is not a pcr test.

 

Yes that's true. The RT-LAMP (which is the test that Switch health provides for out of country testing) is not a PCR test. However, RT-LAMP tests are permitted by Canadian government along with PCR and NAAT. If you're not travelling back to Canada you'd need to check whether that type of test is accepted. 

 

Accepted types of molecular tests

• PCR - Polymerase chain reaction
• Nucleic acid test (NAT) or Nucleic acid amplification test (NAATs)
• Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP)

 

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, WindyCs said:

 

Yes that's true. The RT-LAMP (which is the test that Switch health provides for out of country testing) is not a PCR test. However, RT-LAMP tests are permitted by Canadian government along with PCR and NAAT. If you're not travelling back to Canada you'd need to check whether that type of test is accepted. 

 

Accepted types of molecular tests

• PCR - Polymerase chain reaction
• Nucleic acid test (NAT) or Nucleic acid amplification test (NAATs)
• Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP)

 

RT-PCR and LAMP are two of the several methods that can be used for conducting NAAT tests. It's not an "along with" situation...either method, and others, are NAAT tests. Unfortunately there's a lot of misuse and misunderstanding of the terminology.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/naats.html

 

The NAAT procedure works by first amplifying – or making many copies of – the virus’s genetic material, if any is present in a person’s specimen. Amplifying those nucleic acids enables NAATs to detect very small amounts of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in a specimen, making these tests highly sensitive for diagnosing COVID-19. In other words, NAATs can reliably detect small amounts of SARS-CoV-2 and are unlikely to return a false-negative result of SARS-CoV-2.

NAATs can use many different methods to amplify nucleic acids and detect the virus, including but not limited to:

• Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)
• Isothermal amplification including:
  • Nicking endonuclease amplification reaction (NEAR)
  • Transcription mediated amplification (TMA)
  • Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)
  • Helicase-dependent amplification (HDA)
  • Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)
  • Strand displacement amplification (SDA)

[WindyCs]

20 hours ago, njhorseman said:

RT-PCR and LAMP are two of the several methods that can be used for conducting NAAT tests. It's not an "along with" situation...either method, and others, are NAAT tests. Unfortunately there's a lot of misuse and misunderstanding of the terminology.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/naats.html

 

The NAAT procedure works by first amplifying – or making many copies of – the virus’s genetic material, if any is present in a person’s specimen. Amplifying those nucleic acids enables NAATs to detect very small amounts of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in a specimen, making these tests highly sensitive for diagnosing COVID-19. In other words, NAATs can reliably detect small amounts of SARS-CoV-2 and are unlikely to return a false-negative result of SARS-CoV-2.

NAATs can use many different methods to amplify nucleic acids and detect the virus, including but not limited to:

• Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)
• Isothermal amplification including:
  • Nicking endonuclease amplification reaction (NEAR)
  • Transcription mediated amplification (TMA)
  • Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)
  • Helicase-dependent amplification (HDA)
  • Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)
  • Strand displacement amplification (SDA)

 

Why do most places call it out specifically like this?

 

Accepted types of molecular tests

PCR - Polymerase chain reaction

Nucleic acid test (NAT) or Nucleic acid amplification test (NAATs)

Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP)

 

If NAAT's are a superset that contain PCR and LAMP, why not just say all NAAT tests?

 

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, WindyCs said:

 

Why do most places call it out specifically like this?

 

Accepted types of molecular tests

PCR - Polymerase chain reaction

Nucleic acid test (NAT) or Nucleic acid amplification test (NAATs)

Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP)

 

If NAAT's are a superset that contain PCR and LAMP, why not just say all NAAT tests?

 

I don't know what you're defining as "most places" but cruise lines and airlines don't have scientists on their payroll and they're trying to explain it as best they can. In particular PCR, being probably the most common way to do the NAAT has incorrectly been used as if it's synonymous with NAAT.

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, njhorseman said:

I don't know what you're defining as "most places" but cruise lines and airlines don't have scientists on their payroll and they're trying to explain it as best they can. In particular PCR, being probably the most common way to do the NAAT has incorrectly been used as if it's synonymous with NAAT.

Hmmm.... NCL and Royal have members that may know what a PCR test is including: Michael Leavitt, Former Secretary of Heal and Human Services; Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Former Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Dr. Helene Gayle, 20 years with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC); Dr. Julie Gerberding, former Director of the CDC; Dr. Stephen Ostroff, former Commissioner of the FDA (after serving as the FDA Chief Scientist); Dr. Steven Hinrichs, Professor and Chair of the Dept of Pathology and Microbiology at the University of Nebraska; Dr. Michael Osterholm, Director of Center for Infectious Disease Research for the University of Minnesota; Dr. William Rutala, Epidemiology and Virology. 

 

 

[njhorseman]

5 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Hmmm.... NCL and Royal have members that may know what a PCR test is including: Michael Leavitt, Former Secretary of Heal and Human Services; Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Former Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Dr. Helene Gayle, 20 years with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC); Dr. Julie Gerberding, former Director of the CDC; Dr. Stephen Ostroff, former Commissioner of the FDA (after serving as the FDA Chief Scientist); Dr. Steven Hinrichs, Professor and Chair of the Dept of Pathology and Microbiology at the University of Nebraska; Dr. Michael Osterholm, Director of Center for Infectious Disease Research for the University of Minnesota; Dr. William Rutala, Epidemiology and Virology. 

 

 

Thanks for naming the Healthy Sail Panel, which I'm very well aware of. Since those people worked as a consulting group to develop protocols, aren't on the ongoing regular employee payroll, don't write the material on the website and certainly don't write the scripts that are used by the telephone customer service reps I'll stand by my statement.

Further, the poster to whom I was responding spoke about "most places" and "most places", whatever that means, presumably includes a heck of a lot more than NCLH and  RCCL. 

[njhorseman]

25 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Thanks for naming the Healthy Sail Panel, which I'm very well aware of. Since those people worked as a consulting group to develop protocols, aren't on the ongoing regular employee payroll, don't write the material on the website and certainly don't write the scripts that are used by the telephone customer service reps I'll stand by my statement.

Further, the poster to whom I was responding spoke about "most places" and "most places", whatever that means, presumably includes a heck of a lot more than NCLH and  RCCL. 

To add to what I said above, the CDC clearly refers to antigen tests or NAAT tests as being acceptable for required testing to enter the US by air or recommended testing for cruise passengers. RT-PCR, LAMP and other methodologies are identified as examples of acceptable NAATs.  Any cruise line, airline or other organization specifically requiring RT-PCR is just flat out wrong. Unfortunately RT-PCR has been commonly misunderstood to be required, when in fact it just one of many acceptable NAATs. See the statement below that I have put in bold and red type.

 

You must be tested with a viral test to look for current infection – these include an antigen test or a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT).

Phrases indicating a test is an antigen test could include, but not are not limited to:

• Rapid antigen test
• Viral antigen test
• Also, could be noted as Antigen Chromatographic Digital Immunoassay, Antigen Chemiluminescence Immunoassay, or Antigen Lateral Flow Fluorescence

Examples of available NAATs for SARS-CoV-2 include but are not restricted to:

• Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)
• Isothermal amplification including:
  • Nicking endonuclease amplification reaction (NEAR)
  • Transcription mediated amplification (TMA)
  • Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)
  • Helicase-dependent amplification (HDA)
  • Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)
  • Strand displacement amplification (SDA)

 

[BirdTravels]

5 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Thanks for naming the Healthy Sail Panel, which I'm very well aware of. Since those people worked as a consulting group to develop protocols, aren't on the ongoing regular employee payroll, don't write the material on the website and certainly don't write the scripts that are used by the telephone customer service reps I'll stand by my statement.

Further, the poster to whom I was responding spoke about "most places" and "most places", whatever that means, presumably includes a heck of a lot more than NCLH and  RCCL. 

And the panel is the group making recommendations for testing protocols to minimize the risk of COVID. And they kunda know what a PCR test is. 

Edited January 29, 2022 by BirdTravels

[WindyCs]

Canadian government "accepted tests"

https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/flying-canada-checklist/covid-19-testing-travellers-coming-into-canada

Accepted types of molecular tests

• PCR - Polymerase chain reaction
• Nucleic acid test (NAT) or Nucleic acid amplification test (NAATs)
• Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP)

Why not just say Nucleic acid test (NAT) or Nucleic acid amplification test (NAATs) and leave it at that?

 

 

UK "Accepted tests"

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-testing-for-people-travelling-to-england

 

This could include tests such as:

• a nucleic acid test, including a PCR test
• a LAMP test
• an antigen test, such as an LFD (lateral flow device) test

Why not a nucleic acid test, including PCR and LAMP tests?

 

 

Bahamas "Accepted tests"

• either a Rapid Antigen Test or RT-PCR Test —including PCR, NAA, NAAT, TMA, or RNA

This one seems completely backwards. They're saying that NAAT is a subset of RT-PCR.

 

I'm not arguing that you may in fact be correct, but surely these governments have experts in this area how could they all be so wrong?

 

[hoklun]

On 1/25/2022 at 2:47 PM, marktwothousand said:

I think this story of it not being accepted was a case of someone doing it in Canada for a short 72 hour border trip. According to a news story, the rule is “the pre-arrival test must be taken in a country other than Canada”. 
 

im looking at bliss LA with a WestJet flight after 1 PM home. 
 

I don’t think the last country prior to entry would apply in this case because the ship is essentially “connecting transportation” to your plane, so it’s acceptable to take it before you get to the port because the port is just a transit point for you to continue getting home 

What is your full itinerary? Possibly get a e-sim and do the switch health lamp test while you're in port on your cell phone or tethered? Look at knowroaming or airalo, u can get a Mexico sim for less than $10.  

Edited February 1, 2022 by hoklun

[macfam5]

On 1/25/2022 at 9:27 AM, Slk1z said:

 

I have been following this thread....  I have taken the leap and ordered the Switch Health PCR test for return to Canada.   I will be on the Encore for the week of Jan 30-Feb6.    However I will be upgrading the internet to unlimited streaming ( I like streaming music).

I will update once I complete the test .

 

I will be looking forward to your update. I spoke with Switch health and asked if this could be completed while we were on our cruise or if it had to be completed in the US before we fly back to Canada , here is the reply 

 

“you can complete it anywhere
doesn't matter as long as its done
before entry into Canada these
are meant to take anywhere”

[WindyCs]

9 hours ago, macfam5 said:

I will be looking forward to your update. I spoke with Switch health and asked if this could be completed while we were on our cruise or if it had to be completed in the US before we fly back to Canada , here is the reply 

 

“you can complete it anywhere
doesn't matter as long as its done
before entry into Canada these
are meant to take anywhere”

Yes that was actually a rule that was changed fairly recently. It used to have to have been taken in the country you were entering Canada FROM. So if you had a Australia->US->Canada flight, you needed a test in the US. But now they have changed the rule that the test can be anywhere (Except in Canada) within the timeframe.

 

[Sobro]

Regarding the actual topic we did EMed tests aboard Epic last Saturday in order to board RCI Explorer on Sunday.

 

I upgraded "Free" internet to unlimited and had no problems completing the tests. We did lose connection at the scan your test card step for the first one but reconnected quickly and continued on.

 

NCL gives a $125 credit towards upgrade purchase on 7 night sailings if you don't login and use your free plan.