Info about Canada's new covid rules for Cruise ships?

[jlynchtx]

We have a cruise booked to Alaska out of Vancouver this July. The US currently requires a negative COVID test taken the day before you fly back. If this rule stays in place, would Holland America provide this test on the last day of the cruise? Or would you have to get off the ship and find a test before you can fly back?

 

Also, how long would Canada require you to quarantine if you tested positive? I heard it was 14 days,  it that didn’t seem right. 
 

I really want to cruise out of Vancouver, but it seems much more stressful and I may end up switching to Seattle. 

[lderochi]

I believe that currently HAL takes care of testing for any passengers who require it at disembarkation. From the FAQ If my home country requires proof of a negative COVID-19 test result for re-entry following my cruise, will Holland America Line administer and cover the cost of the test?

Yes, if a negative COVID-19 test is required for re-entry into your home country, Holland America Line will cover the costs of a COVID-19 test after your cruise outside the terminal. 

 

 

[jlynchtx]

17 minutes ago, lderochi said:

I believe that currently HAL takes care of testing for any passengers who require it at disembarkation. From the FAQ If my home country requires proof of a negative COVID-19 test result for re-entry following my cruise, will Holland America Line administer and cover the cost of the test?

Yes, if a negative COVID-19 test is required for re-entry into your home country, Holland America Line will cover the costs of a COVID-19 test after your cruise outside the terminal. 

 

Good news. Thanks for the info!

 

[Cruise Junky]

1 hour ago, jlynchtx said:

We have a cruise booked to Alaska out of Vancouver this July. The US currently requires a negative COVID test taken the day before you fly back. If this rule stays in place, would Holland America provide this test on the last day of the cruise? Or would you have to get off the ship and find a test before you can fly back?

 

Also, how long would Canada require you to quarantine if you tested positive? I heard it was 14 days,  it that didn’t seem right. 
 

I really want to cruise out of Vancouver, but it seems much more stressful and I may end up switching to Seattle. 

The test is to get back into the US. You need to find out when they let you in with a positive test. 

[XLVIII]

The Canadian Transportation Minister will be making an announcement Monday March 7 about the upcoming Canadian cruise season. Hopefully all testing requirement questions will be addressed then. 🤞🤞🤞

[lderochi]

18 hours ago, XLVIII said:

The Canadian Transportation Minister will be making an announcement Monday March 7 about the upcoming Canadian cruise season. Hopefully all testing requirement questions will be addressed then. 🤞🤞🤞

https://www.canada.ca/en/transport-canada/news/2022/03/federal-minister-of-transport-to-make-an-important-announcement-on-the-return-of-cruise-ships-in-canada-and-on-trade-funding-at-the-port-of-halifax.html

9:30 AST, 8:30 Eastern Time. Doesn’t look like it will be online, just an in person press conference. But I’m sure any news will be posted here a nanosecond after it happens. 

Edited March 5, 2022 by lderochi

[lderochi]

https://www.canada.ca/en/transport-canada/news/2022/03/preventing-or-limiting-the-spread-of-covid-19-on-cruise-ships.html

 

So the 100% vaccination requirement does have exemptions for children under 12 (surprising a bit that it wasn't lowered to 5), medical reasons or religious exemptions (religious exemptions solely for Canadians). Testing requirement before embarking or disembarking in Canada -- 3 day PCR or 1 day rapid antigen. I assume HAL will handle? Logistics for testing everybody on the ship within 3 days or 1 day seems daunting to me, but I think this isn't new to the cruise lines. 

 

The ArriveCAN paragraph is a little confusing, but I think it covers pretty much any non-Canadian who is boarding a cruise ship that will embark, disembark, or call on Canadian ports. 

 

The vaccination rules seems to get over the possible bump that was mentioned last week.

[Navybikermom]

4 minutes ago, lderochi said:

https://www.canada.ca/en/transport-canada/news/2022/03/preventing-or-limiting-the-spread-of-covid-19-on-cruise-ships.html

 

So the 100% vaccination requirement does have exemptions for children under 12 (surprising a bit that it wasn't lowered to 5), medical reasons or religious exemptions (religious exemptions solely for Canadians). Testing requirement before embarking or disembarking in Canada -- 3 day PCR or 1 day rapid antigen. I assume HAL will handle? Logistics for testing everybody on the ship within 3 days or 1 day seems daunting to me, but I think this isn't new to the cruise lines. 

 

The ArriveCAN paragraph is a little confusing, but I think it covers pretty much any non-Canadian who is boarding a cruise ship that will embark, disembark, or call on Canadian ports. 

 

The vaccination rules seems to get over the possible bump that was mentioned last week.

Holy cow that seems like a lot of hoops to go through! Hopefully the nonsense stops before my September cruise 😡

[lderochi]

As a passenger on a one-way from Whittier to Vancouver, it doesn't seem bad unless I'm missing something. Be vaccinated, test to get on and test to get off. I'm vaccinated and I don't mind being tested -- HAL requires a test to embark anyway, and the U.S. currently requires a test to fly home from Vancouver so nothing is really changing for me. I used ArriveCAN for a business trip to Toronto in December. Not the greatest app in the world, but wasn't terrible. I have a stock of emed tests I can use and take with me. 

 

The logistics of testing everybody either one day or three days before disembarking in Vancouver or Victoria seems to me like it would be challenging. 

[broberts]

Worse than I hoped. I suspect it is going to kill another season of Canadian cruising. I don't see how a ship can perform 3500+ antigen tests in 31 hours at a reasonable cost.

 

[cruisewiththekids]

Will this affect roundtrip Seattle cruises because they stop in Victoria?     I was thinking at first that doing Alaska from Seattle would eliminate the testing requirement, but maybe it won't.

[Nghthawke]

2 hours ago, lderochi said:

The ArriveCAN paragraph is a little confusing, but I think it covers pretty much any non-Canadian who is boarding a cruise ship that will embark, disembark, or call on Canadian ports. 

 

Pretty sure ArriveCAN applies to all passengers: Canadians and non-Canadians.

[XLVIII]

35 minutes ago, broberts said:

Worse than I hoped. I suspect it is going to kill another season of Canadian cruising. I don't see how a ship can perform 3500+ antigen tests in 31 hours at a reasonable cost.

 

Holland America to go ahead with Canadian cruises this year:

 

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/new-published-canadian-cruise-procedures-clear-way-for-holland-america-line-full-alaska-and-canada-new-england-cruise-seasons-818346327.html

[lderochi]

9 minutes ago, Nghthawke said:

 

Pretty sure ArriveCAN applies to all passengers: Canadians and non-Canadians.

Yep, not sure what I was thinking. Had non-Canadians on my mind from the vaccine requirements, and the religious exemption for vaccinations. 

[Vict0riann]

I doubt the ships will be full this year.  On Eurodam in October they had it all down pat, the testing went smoothly on a regular basis.  The only problem we had was downloading the test results to our ArriveCan apps.  The ship's internet was soooo slow!  We ended up having to do it in the airport, but they will have to make it easier for Alaska.

[gilboman]

2 hours ago, Navybikermom said:

Holy cow that seems like a lot of hoops to go through! Hopefully the nonsense stops before my September cruise 😡

What hoops? A rapid test and upload results to arrivcan? 

 

 

[lderochi]

Thank you, I was wondering. I’ve heard how bad the ship’s internet connection is on the Alaska sailings. And with a ship full of people all trying to upload stuff at the same time . . . 

[gilboman]

1 hour ago, broberts said:

Worse than I hoped. I suspect it is going to kill another season of Canadian cruising. I don't see how a ship can perform 3500+ antigen tests in 31 hours at a reasonable cost.

 

Rapid tests are like $5-$8 a pop for cruiselines/bulk. .  it's so easy and fast, this isn't PCR and cruiselines have been doing these for a long time for longer cruises and elsewhere in the world as well.  You think they can't test everyone? They can feed everyone and this is even easier 

 

 

[crazytomatoes]

We have a cruise booked for Alaska in July. I understand the testing requirments but what I am uncertain about is what happends if you test positive while on the cruise or at the end of the cruise. I read that Holland America would be responsible to arrange COVID-19 safe accommodations for passanger isolation but are we responsible to pay for that accommodation? 

[billyu]

 

Announced today

 

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/03/07/transport-canada-cruise-ship-rules/

[Nghthawke]

1 hour ago, XLVIII said:

Holland America to go ahead with Canadian cruises this year:

 

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/new-published-canadian-cruise-procedures-clear-way-for-holland-america-line-full-alaska-and-canada-new-england-cruise-seasons-818346327.html

 

I really like it when someone quotes directly from the source. A lot of times I won't read a news article anymore if I know there is a press release -- I will just look up the press release directly. 

[dave34]

Ok I’m a little slow. We have a one way leaving Vancouver may 22, fly in on Saturday 21. With these rules I’m thinking we will need a PCR test due to timing . Three days before is Thursday I assume? This gives us one day for results to put in ArriveCAN as our flight from east coast is 6 am. A 2day rapid test would be so much easier. I guess we could get a rapid test on Friday than another after we arrive in Canada, really don’t want to take a chance of a positive after we arrive in Canada a be stuck there. 

[lderochi]

HAL won't pay once you're off the ship. Purchase the platinum cancellation protection policy. 
 

I don’t believe that’s true. The HAL Covid 19 Protection program says that hotels and meals are covered while in required quarantine if a passenger tests positive. But still a very good idea to purchase trip insurance that covers Covid issues
 

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by lderochi

[hvbaskey]

5 minutes ago, dave34 said:

Ok I’m a little slow. We have a one way leaving Vancouver may 22, fly in on Saturday 21. With these rules I’m thinking we will need a PCR test due to timing . Three days before is Thursday I assume? This gives us one day for results to put in ArriveCAN as our flight from east coast is 6 am. A 2day rapid test would be so much easier. I guess we could get a rapid test on Friday than another after we arrive in Canada, really don’t want to take a chance of a positive after we arrive in Canada a be stuck there. 

 

You are correct:  PCR - within 72 hours of arrival which would also meet the requirements of boarding the cruise?  (how I see it).  One test fits all?

[FlorenceItaly]

6 minutes ago, lderochi said:

HAL won't pay once you're off the ship. Purchase the platinum cancellation protection policy. 
 

I don’t believe that’s true. The HAL Covid 19 Protection program says that hotels and meals are covered while in required quarantine if a passenger tests positive. But still a very good idea to purchase trip insurance that covers Covid issues
 

 

I suspect this will change or be eliminated.  They can not afford to incur these costs.  JMO.