New Canadian Covid Testing Protocols?

[ADunk]

Morning all! Just saw this news update come across my computer from Ottawa. Sounds like the testing for Canadian cruising (not Alaska) may be tricky. We are booked on the 5 night Oasis of the Seas Canadian cruise in June and starting to wonder if we will be going north... Could Oasis make it down to Coco on a 5 nighter from NJ? 

 

Article: https://globalnews.ca/news/8664010/ottawa-covid-19-rules-cruise-ships/

[xtremegk]

Wonder if this means kids under 5 who are ineligible for vaccination will be allowed off the ship (with a ship-sponsored excursion) or not. We're sailing the 4-night Adventure in May with our 3-year-old. Might be a deal-breaker with my wife if he's not allowed off the ship.

[Biker19]

13 minutes ago, ADunk said:

Could Oasis make it down to Coco on a 5 nighter from NJ?

Not for any meaningful time.

[Joseph2017China]

33 minutes ago, ADunk said:

Morning all! Just saw this news update come across my computer from Ottawa. Sounds like the testing for Canadian cruising (not Alaska) may be tricky. We are booked on the 5 night Oasis of the Seas Canadian cruise in June and starting to wonder if we will be going north... Could Oasis make it down to Coco on a 5 nighter from NJ? 

 

Article: https://globalnews.ca/news/8664010/ottawa-covid-19-rules-cruise-ships/

When I was sailing from the Bahamas last year, a test was required and they did the test on the ship.  Don't speculate yet, see what the cruise line comes up with.  much cheaper to give out a $20 test per person, than to cancel a cruise. 

[erinsmom03]

3 minutes ago, Joseph2017China said:

When I was sailing from the Bahamas last year, a test was required and they did the test on the ship.  Don't speculate yet, see what the cruise line comes up with.  much cheaper to give out a $20 test per person, than to cancel a cruise. 

 

I believe capacity was much lower on those sailings. Not sure how they would be able to handle at current capacities, or higher.

[maryann2]

40 minutes ago, xtremegk said:

Wonder if this means kids under 5 who are ineligible for vaccination will be allowed off the ship (with a ship-sponsored excursion) or not. We're sailing the 4-night Adventure in May with our 3-year-old. Might be a deal-breaker with my wife if he's not allowed off the ship.

This is the official notice.

Children under 12 are exempted. Depends on the cruise line restrictions of course.

 

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

[erinsmom03]

The need to have everyone test before disembarking seems a bit extreme, especially for ships that have short visits to Victoria.

 

[erinsmom03]

31 minutes ago, maryann2 said:

This is the official notice.

Children under 12 are exempted. Depends on the cruise line restrictions of course.

 

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

 

Did I read this correctly? Will they only allow religious exemptions for Canadian citizens? We have friends booked on a cruise with us in July who are trying to get a religious exemption. They are US citizens.

[SeattleAl]

I do wonder how this will be applied to a stop in Canada on an Alaskan cruise.

[erinsmom03]

1 minute ago, SeattleAl said:

I do wonder how this will be applied to a stop in Canada on an Alaskan cruise.

 

Me too. Our cruise this summer is from Vancouver. But we've done a cruise that stopped in Victoria in the past. Either one, they have to test everyone before they're allowed off the ship? Also, I'm trying to figure out which tests they require. Does it coincide with the same ones/timelines as Royal?

[mets123]

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Not for any meaningful time.

They can do an overnight in Bermuda. It;s done every summer and fall.

[reallyitsmema]

1 hour ago, erinsmom03 said:

 

Me too. Our cruise this summer is from Vancouver. But we've done a cruise that stopped in Victoria in the past. Either one, they have to test everyone before they're allowed off the ship? Also, I'm trying to figure out which tests they require. Does it coincide with the same ones/timelines as Royal?

 

We are supposed to sail round trip Seattle with a stop in Victoria on day 7.  The test we need to board the ship day 1 will not meet the testing requirement for Victoria, we will need to be tested on the ship unless they decide to play with our itinerary and go to Victoria first.  I really hope they do not do that as it will mess up my excusions.

[travelhound]

2 hours ago, SeattleAl said:

I do wonder how this will be applied to a stop in Canada on an Alaskan cruise.

Yup, I am hoping we can just skip Canada 🙂

[Sunshine3601]

3 hours ago, erinsmom03 said:

 

Did I read this correctly? Will they only allow religious exemptions for Canadian citizens? We have friends booked on a cruise with us in July who are trying to get a religious exemption. They are US citizens.

I do believe you read it correctly.    Based on these new guidelines they won't be able to get an exemption.   I wouldn't panic just yet as a lot can change from now till summer.

[Sunshine3601]

Am I reading this correctly, these guidelines apply to ships with embarkment and dis-embarkment occurring in Canada or does it also apply to ships that are just going to port for 1 day such as a cruise to Nova Scotia or New Brunswick?

[Sunshine3601]

3 hours ago, maryann2 said:

This is the official notice.

Children under 12 are exempted. Depends on the cruise line restrictions of course.

 

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

Thank you for providing the link to the official notice🤩

[erinsmom03]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I do believe you read it correctly.    Based on these new guidelines they won't be able to get an exemption.   I wouldn't panic just yet as a lot can change from now till summer.

 

I don't know if things will change... seems like Canada is releasing this as the guidelines for the entire cruise season of 2022.

[easyqueasy]

How does did apply if you sail south bound from Alaska to Vancouver and you test positive? Are you then stuck on the ship and head back to Alaska? 

[xtremegk]

2 hours ago, mets123 said:

They can do an overnight in Bermuda. It;s done every summer and fall.

 

Oasis can't do Bermuda --- she's too big for the channel coming in/out.

[RichYak]

6 hours ago, Joseph2017China said:

much cheaper to give out a $20 test per person, than to cancel a cruise. 

It's only cheap ($20) when the passenger tests negative. If a bunch of passengers start testing positive (think Omicron), it starts to get really expensive for the cruise line.

[Canadianmama3]

18 hours ago, erinsmom03 said:

 

Did I read this correctly? Will they only allow religious exemptions for Canadian citizens? We have friends booked on a cruise with us in July who are trying to get a religious exemption. They are US citizens.

Yes it sounds like it.  They can’t really deny entry to Canadian citizens and religious exemptions would be protected under our charter.  
 

They can however deny entry to people who don’t have a “right of entry” (citizens, permanent residents etc).  
 

Canada had also been very strict about what qualifies as a religious exemption.  
 

I know these rules may sound strict to many.  But they basically mirror the rules for entering Canada by land or air.  

[Canadianmama3]

17 hours ago, erinsmom03 said:

 

Me too. Our cruise this summer is from Vancouver. But we've done a cruise that stopped in Victoria in the past. Either one, they have to test everyone before they're allowed off the ship? Also, I'm trying to figure out which tests they require. Does it coincide with the same ones/timelines as Royal?

If you are leaving from Vancouver you would need to follow the rules for entering by land or air in order to get to Vancouver.  Which means if you are over 12 you must be vaccinated and everyone must take either a PCR test no more then 72 hours before or an antigen no more then a day before you arrive (or your flight leaves) in Canada.  
 

The testing requirements could change.  But I wouldn’t expect the vaccination requirement to be dropped anytime soon. 

[secondtime]

It also appears (per Canada's announcement) that everyone must use the ArriveCAN website.   

 

Cruise travellers must use the ArriveCAN website to provide mandatory travel information before embarking on their cruise and after their entry into Canada to report on signs or symptoms of COVID-19.

Cruise travellers will need to submit their information on a web-based version of ArriveCAN before boarding a cruise ship arriving in or returning to Canada.

[erinsmom03]

23 minutes ago, Canadianmama3 said:

If you are leaving from Vancouver you would need to follow the rules for entering by land or air in order to get to Vancouver.  Which means if you are over 12 you must be vaccinated and everyone must take either a PCR test no more then 72 hours before or an antigen no more then a day before you arrive (or your flight leaves) in Canada.  
 

The testing requirements could change.  But I wouldn’t expect the vaccination requirement to be dropped anytime soon. 

 

Everyone in my family is fully vaccinated, as is most of our group (10 out of 12). I am glad that the Canadian cruise rules have been announced, so that the people in our party who are trying to get an exemption will know sooner rather than later that it isn't going to happen. The rest of us will just have to figure out how to handle that one of the girls in a room of 4 will most likely be cancelling.

 

I'm just trying to figure out how to get all the testing taken care. We have been planning to use the proctored exams from eMed that Royal sells. I think that will still work but we will have to plan flights accordingly. I would like the one test to fulfill the requirements for flying and cruising.

 

If we have to take a test before disembarking the ship, it most likely would be an antigen test. We planned to stay a couple nights post cruise. So then would we need to take another test before we could fly?

[Canadianmama3]

1 minute ago, erinsmom03 said:

 

Everyone in my family is fully vaccinated, as is most of our group (10 out of 12). I am glad that the Canadian cruise rules have been announced, so that the people in our party who are trying to get an exemption will know sooner rather than later that it isn't going to happen. The rest of us will just have to figure out how to handle that one of the girls in a room of 4 will most likely be cancelling.

 

I'm just trying to figure out how to get all the testing taken care. We have been planning to use the proctored exams from eMed that Royal sells. I think that will still work but we will have to plan flights accordingly. I would like the one test to fulfill the requirements for flying and cruising.

 

If we have to take a test before disembarking the ship, it most likely would be an antigen test. We planned to stay a couple nights post cruise. So then would we need to take another test before we could fly?

It doesn’t even matter about the rules for cruises.   The people in your party who are not vaccinated would not be allowed on a flight to Canada.  This has been the rule for a while now and is not likely to change.