If you test positive at the dock, DEMAND another test

[mightycruisequeen]

Wow!  Unbelievable!  And this is "science"?

We've got a b2b booked for the end of 2022 that we're still hoping we can take.

(cancelled all earlier sailings before final payment)

That said, if HAL is still doing all this stupid stuff, we'll also cancel this one too.

In the meantime, we'll be heading down to the keys to enjoy our rental house for the month of Feb.

So glad we're not at the mercy of the CDC's and the cruise line's idea of vacation screening!

 

[Riversedge]

21 minutes ago, riverrat said:

 

absolutely..... Drop the test for fully vaccinated guests

But then what happens?  The Koningsdam has a LOT of people in quarantine from testing positive onboard.  Would you rather everyone just ran around infecting others?   Of course I also feel there are still a lot of people onboard running around with Covid.  No way this didn’t spread.  

[SUESEABE]

Starting February 11, vaccinated individuals no longer need a negative Covid test to enter Scotland and England.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/travel-to-uk-no-covid-test-required

 

Will the cruise industry follow suit??

[Mary229]

15 minutes ago, SUESEABE said:

Starting February 11, vaccinated individuals no longer need a negative Covid test to enter Scotland and England.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/travel-to-uk-no-covid-test-required

 

Will the cruise industry follow suit??

Will the US follow?  That is my hope.  We still need a one day test to fly home. That can be very difficult.

[hobo1937]

This whole thing is almost unbelievable. So sorry you are having to go through this. I agree with Zelker, go after HAL to give your a refund instead of a FCC that expires at the end of this year. It was their error and they need to step up. You need to make sure you go up the "food chain" at HAL to make sure they know about what happened. If need be, contact the President of HAL. They should have a vested interest in this. Someone got on that ship that was positive, probably infecting who know how many people. Those people are probably now in quarantine and maybe they would not have been if not for this error. 

 

It sounds like the testing was done by an outside company and who knows how many other errors are being made. They must have the name of the person who was in fact positive. Did they communicate this to HAL and was that person put in quarantine on board?

 

Don't know how far you want to go with this but if it was me I would contact the CDC and the local health district  in San Diego to let them know what happened. 

 

 

[MISTER 67]

12 hours ago, PSR said:

For those who didn't read the January 16th Koningsdam thread, I am here to report on a followup to my (supposedly) POSITIVE  test I received as part of the boarding procedure on 1/16. I had tested NEGATIVE on a 1/14/22 pre-cruise test PCR as required by HAL. At the dock I tested POSITIVE and my husband was negative, and we were sent to the COVID "corral" and denied boarding without any chance to retest. There were about 12 of us in the confined area, only 1/2 of whom tested positive, so it shouldn't have been too hard to retest the few of us. Some may remember we decided to fly home that day, without quarantining, because I didn't think I was positive, due to the previous negative test.  Today we received an official email from the company that provided the testing on the dock. My official antigen result was NEGATIVE, not positive, and we should have been allowed to cruise. There was obviously an error between my test and my name getting mixed up with someone who was POSITIVE  instead of me (and who proceded onboard to infect others). This is a very serious error by the HAL team at the dock and resulted in us not getting to cruise. I am quite disappointed with HAL and the whole situation that ensued as my decision to fly was derided by some on this board.

I would be highly pissed off, HAL should do something to make things right.

Edited January 26, 2022 by MISTER 67

[OlsSalt]

Cruise contracts are pretty complete when it comes to protecting the company from any or all liabilities,  passenger restrictions virtually at 100% discretion of the cruise company. Read all the fine print first - then  claim this was a contract of adhesion, and see if that flies.

 

Jurisdiction I believe is Seattle? Or Florida, for all claims.

[PSR]

10 hours ago, syesmar said:

Oh my!

Was the purpose of the official email to send a copy of your test results, or to notify you of the error? Were you provided a copy of the results at the port? Have you notified HAL?

Thanks for the heads up!

 

Not to notify..my husband was neg at the pier and on the result they also sent him.

No results on paper at pier. Just a letter explaining why we were denied boarding.

Yes, I've notified HAL via Guest Services.

[DAllenTCY]

It seems to me that if the testing company admitted fault, they should be held responsible for any compensation.

 

David

[PSR]

8 hours ago, zelker said:

f it were me, I would be telling HAL that you are extremely disappointed in how this whole thing was handled and that you want a 100% refund rather than FCCs. 

 

That is exactly what I asked for...will it happen???

[PSR]

8 hours ago, Andi Land said:

I have a coworker who tested positive with the rapid test and then had the PCR test done. The PCR came back negative. So, he got on his flight to Florida in December to go on his cruise. Well, his trip got really interesting from there. The local Public Health department reached out to see how he was feeling. He told them he was great and sitting on a cruise to the Caribbean. The Public Health department then reported him to the CDC. CDC then called Holland America. Holland America hunted him down, retested him and he came back with another negative test result. At the CDCs insistence, he was quarantined until the end of the cruise and that was that. 
 

They (HAL and CDC) all stated that since he had one positive result none of the negatives mattered. 

That story is worse than mine! How can one positive outweigh a newer PCR negative?

Edited January 26, 2022 by PSR

[PSR]

5 hours ago, DAllenTCY said:

Covid testing was not done by Holland America. 

 

DocGo is the contracted medical company.

 

Interesting to me is that 20+ who tested negative at the pier, are now in isolation onboard due to positive results a few days later.

 

It makes one wonder just how accurate these rapid tests are? 

 

David

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I know about DocGo; in fact I was registered with them and was going to book a paid test at the pier on 1/16 until I found out HAL was testing everyone that day. Because I had an account with DocGo, I was quickly able to get the printout of my result at home yesterday. Boy, was I surprised!

 

Since 20+ people are in isolation, their negative tests were evidently wrong, OR they were possibly infected by the person who got my negative result but was actually positive...or the tests are inaccurate.

[PSR]

23 minutes ago, DAllenTCY said:

It seems to me that if the testing company admitted fault, they should be held responsible for any compensation.

 

David

 

I'm not sure the testing company knew what happened with the result after they ran the test. I'm not sure how my negative test got into the hands of someone at the HAL pier as a positive. To follow that "trail" would be interesting. The RRT testing company did not send me my results to admit fault; my husband also got the results and was negative at the pier and on his report.

[Schooner-ca]

We came off the Zuiderdam in Fort Lauderdale 10 days ago. Needed a PCR test to get back into 🇨🇦  They did not send out our test results. After many calls from the HAL rep at the airport we got our results with 10 minutes to spare before the gate closed. The testing at Fort Lauderdale and San Diego are completely unprofessional. Our plan in Fort Lauderdale was to use a 3 rd party if we got a positive test.

[idiebabe]

7 hours ago, msmayor said:

I get your disappointment - but outrage?  Not so sure about that...

 

They are doing the best they can.  It really IS possible to test negative one day, then two days later test positive.  It's also possible for a false reading instead of them 'mixing up test results'.  They are not going to just keep testing until the results come up the way people want them to come up.  They are going to err on the side of caution so they can keep sailing.

 

It's the chance anyone cruising right now takes.  

Correct!  One can test Negative and the next day or two test Positive.  This is one reason why Covid is Onboard.  If someone tests Negative and Boards then two days later tests Positive, they were going around the Ship while in a very contagious Stage passing on the Virus to others.  People are bringing it on (unknowingly) and spreading it.  

[msmayor]

7 hours ago, zelker said:

Did you read OP's first post?  They told her she tested positive at the pier, she and her husband were denied boarding, and yesterday they sent her a letter that said there was a mistake and in fact she tested negative.  Nobody is saying they should keep testing until it comes up negative.  She was negative to begin with based on the letter she received yesterday.  This was not erring on the side of caution - this was an avoidable mistake.  

 

I didn't see anywhere that the OP said the letter stated "there was a mistake"...it was a copy of the results.  

 

I'm just going to step away from this.  My opinion won't provide the OP with any help getting her concerns addressed.

[DAllenTCY]

The OP stated  "Today we received an official email from the company that provided the testing on the dock. My official antigen result was NEGATIVE, not positive, and we should have been allowed to cruise."  

 

I presume that "Today" was January 25th....9 days later than the test?  

 

Did they reply due to a request from you?

 

 

David

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by DAllenTCY

[Heartgrove]

Did the testing company admit that they had switched results with another passenger's result for the OP's results? Or was it just that they misread the OP's results?

[GeezerCouple]

3 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

Did the testing company admit that they had switched results with another passenger's result for the OP's results? Or was it just that they misread the OP's results?

 

"How" it happened isn't all that important here, although it certainly would be in terms of them trying to fix their problems and "not do it again", etc.

 

Bottom line is that apparently OP was told at the Dock that she was POSITIVE, and thus they were not permitted to board.  Spouse was Negative, so no problem with that.

 

So they left, and flew home.  Several days later, she receives some official notification (apparently sent out pro forma, as spouse got one, too) of the result... but this time she was told that her result had been NEGATIVE.  That is, she should have been allowed to sail.

The important question is... where/how did the mistake happen?  Did someone switch her result with another passenger at the lab?  At the Dock where they receive the reports before telling prospective passenger - and cruise line, etc. - of the result?  Or ??

 

It seems that she was not given any official "paper with the result", but was told she was positive and thus, "Buh bye!"

 

I'm sort of surprised this hasn't happened more often, given how chaotic the process must be, with large numbers being tested in one place, etc.

 

But there absolutely should be some appropriate compensation!

 

GC

[DAllenTCY]

I agree that it shouldn't have happened.....but it did.

 

Trying to get to the bottom of it is important.

 

Are these rapid tests unreliable?

 

There is no option to provide PCR tests, because of the length of time to obtain the results.

 

The boarding window for a cruise ship is only so many hours.

 

David

 

 

 

 

 

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, DAllenTCY said:

I agree that it shouldn't have happened.....but it did.

 

Trying to get to the bottom of it is important.

 

Are these rapid tests unreliable?

 

There is no option to provide PCR tests, because of the length of time to obtain the results.

 

The boarding window for a cruise ship is only so many hours.

 

David

 

 

 

As I understand OP's description of the situation, it wasn't a matter of the reliability (or lack thereof) of the test.

It seems that after they went home, she got written notification of what she had been told verbally just before boarding - or not boarding, in this case - and the written notification was different than what the previous verbal report had been.

That is a totally different type of problem!  And that type of problem should NOT happen! Full stop!

 

As for test reliability, these tests are almost never exactly 100% accurate, and I'm sure there are ongoing studies to develop tests that are more reliable, etc.  (There is sometimes a trade-off between the accuracy of a "negative" finding and the accuracy of a "positive" finding, etc.)

 

But to make a mistake and give the *wrong* test result to someone...!?

And especially if there is no opportunity to double check that?

 

Not okay.

 

GC

[Heartgrove]

So - was it a mistake in the report or were the positive results assumed to be for another passenger?

I would prefer to hear from the OP.

[Coyote Chris]

A few more flies in the ointment. My HAL rep is checking on a discrepancy in their FAQ.

Do you need to purchase the Optum tests within two weeks of sailing or not?  Look at these two statements. From the same FAQ.

I see nothing wrong or immoral in gaming the system at this point. It is clear that testing tells us very little.  It can not say you have covid (false positive)and it can not say you dont.  

So here is what you do.  Make an appt with a testing facility at home and take the test within 48 hours of the sail day.  If possible.  Get some Optum tests and take them at home if possible or at somewhere with real internet 48 hours out.  Get tested at the port or near the port.  Last ditch, do the DocGo test.  

I am not trying to cheat anyone or infect anyone.  I dont want to be a victum of bogus testing. You dont have to get tested to fly in super spreader airplane. Why do we have to get tested to board a ship that is much safer than Walmart cause everyone is vaxed and boosted?

 

[zgscl]

1 hour ago, Coyote Chris said:

A few more flies in the ointment. My HAL rep is checking on a discrepancy in their FAQ.

Do you need to purchase the Optum tests within two weeks of sailing or not?  Look at these two statements. From the same FAQ.

I see nothing wrong or immoral in gaming the system at this point. It is clear that testing tells us very little.  It can not say you have covid (false positive)and it can not say you dont.  

So here is what you do.  Make an appt with a testing facility at home and take the test within 48 hours of the sail day.  If possible.  Get some Optum tests and take them at home if possible or at somewhere with real internet 48 hours out.  Get tested at the port or near the port.  Last ditch, do the DocGo test.  

I am not trying to cheat anyone or infect anyone.  I dont want to be a victum of bogus testing. You dont have to get tested to fly in super spreader airplane. Why do we have to get tested to board a ship that is much safer than Walmart cause everyone is vaxed and boosted?

 

 

So I guess this means the e-med tests are no longer any good for cruising (even though the test itself is identical)? And it says the guides are from eMed? And why would you need to purchase within 2 weeks? How will they even know where you buy the test or what date you bought it, do we need to bring a receipt? If they are trying to make it more confusing they have succeeded. 

Edited January 27, 2022 by zgscl

[zgscl]

20 hours ago, PSR said:

There was obviously an error between my test and my name getting mixed up with someone who was POSITIVE  instead of me (and who proceded onboard to infect others).

This is what really concerns me. If they did indeed let someone positive through that could explain why there are so many positive cases onboard during the retest (though it is impossible to stop 100% of cases given the incubation period).