European testing requirements released - 1 day before embarkation (not for sailings out of UK)

[nini]

On 3/18/2022 at 12:24 PM, markgray said:

Sailing out of Athens April 9th.  We are planning on getting tested at embarkation, which seems easier than getting it done the day before flying (more rushed).  Hopefully less than $100 each.

 

2nd part is very interesting "If a negative COVID-19 test is required for re-entry into your home country, subject to availability, Princess will cover the costs of any COVID-19 test administered on board within the timeframe required prior to travel. Please note that if your travel plans go beyond the validity of the onboard test, you are responsible for securing and paying for your own test"

We are reading this as "You can test on the ship the day before you disembark, with a test administered by Princess".  We are headed directly off ship back to USA (Barcelona).  Does anyone else read it differently?

 

I also questioned the "subject to availability" phrase and chuckled to myself. So, I called Princess and spoke with a fairly snotty AND snooty customer service rep. She said that the phrase is their loophole in case may run out of tests. To her knowledge, they have never run out.

 

FYI-

Yes, past UK passengers had their tests for free! Now, it is $60.00 (US dollars) for cruises from the UK.

 

The free IHealth tests can be proctored but will require a desk top or laptop computer. It may be a possibility onboard but what if the connections are not very good that day?

 

Finally, we are hoping that Princess will drop the testing to board as we do not even need to test anymore to fly to the UK or after arriving anymore! And I wish that USA would drop it as well like UK and Canada.

[Coral]

3 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

I asked, and was told between 2000-2100 passengers for the 4/2 and 4/9 7-day cruises.  Current TA cruise (3/12-3/26), about 2000 passengers.  900 will be staying for the next cruise, and about 1,100 will be getting on at Barcelona.

If you have time - can you ask the shore excursion people one thing for me? I have a turnaround day in Barcelona on April 16th. The only shore excursions that are offered are for those going to the airport that day (2 of them) - can you ask if they are going to offer any tours for those staying on until the 23rd? If they are not going to - I will book privately. Thank you so much! If you don't have time, that is fine.

[maggie777]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

If you have time - can you ask the shore excursion people one thing for me? I have a turnaround day in Barcelona on April 16th. The only shore excursions that are offered are for those going to the airport that day (2 of them) - can you ask if they are going to offer any tours for those staying on until the 23rd? If they are not going to - I will book privately. Thank you so much! If you don't have time, that is fine.

Check out website for Runner Bean Tours Barcelona

[Esprit]

On 3/19/2022 at 12:39 PM, Coral said:

For those flying in and out of Rome - their airport is doing testing:

 

https://www.adr.it/web/aeroporti-di-roma-en/test-areas-at-the-airport 

 

20 Euros.

Nice, but if you are booked on a Princess transfer to Civitavecchia I doubt there will be enough time to get tested before the coach leaves!

[Coral]

1 hour ago, Esprit said:

Nice, but if you are booked on a Princess transfer to Civitavecchia I doubt there will be enough time to get tested before the coach leaves!

I arrive at 8 am. I am guessing I will have time to catch the coach.

 

This service is being used for those who catch flights (who are arriving at the airport to fly back to their home country). I am guessing the rapid tests come back in 15 minutes.

Edited March 23, 2022 by Coral

[JillK]

I'm disappointed to read of this policy and hope that it changes ahead of our planned cruise date of July 2nd as one day is unreasonable for those of us travelling overseas.

 

We are currently planning on flying into Barcelona on an overnight flight that leaves June 30th and arrives late morning on July 1st. I can't imagine spending my one afternoon in Barcelona trying to arrange for more reasonably priced tests than the kind offer of $100 pp USD at the port. For my family of four that's about $508 Canadian. I just paid $180 for six of them two weeks ago to board our NCL cruise out of NYC and had two days to get it done ahead of boarding.

 

FWIW, for the person who asked, NCL described two days as: if embarking on Sunday, test on Friday as opposed to 72 hours ahead. Since Princess is also using the terminology of days rather than hours, I would assume same. 

[Alanr204]

There seems to be conflicting information from Princess about the timing of the test. Further down on the health protocols page it says:

• A specimen collection date 2 days or less before cruise departure

This is in the FAQ under the question “What is acceptable proof of my negative COVID-19 test result?”  Would be nice to know which is correct; one day or two?

We are departing from Barcelona but flying in three days in advance so we will have to arrange for a test there.  There are clinics in the city that will do it for €29. 

Edited March 24, 2022 by Alanr204

[Coral]

27 minutes ago, Alanr204 said:

There seems to be conflicting information from Princess about the timing of the test. Further down on the health protocols page it says:

• A specimen collection date 2 days or less before cruise departure

This is in the FAQ under the question “What is acceptable proof of my negative COVID-19 test result?”  Would be nice to know which is correct; one day or two?

We are departing from Barcelona but flying in three days in advance so we will have to arrange for a test there.  There are clinics in the city that will do it for €29. 

Interesting - I just saw that.

[Steelers36]

On 3/22/2022 at 2:09 PM, chubbypiggy said:

a

There will not be any free testing by Princess for those not flying back to U.S. on disembarkation day.  A few days before disembarkation, Princess will provide a website in which passengers can schedule their testing for 4/9 or later dates.  Princess will not cover the cost of that test.

So a Canadian would have to book a return flight with a connection in the USA?  I don't think so.  Princess treats US and CAN the same, so I am sure they will continue to provide the test if Canada requires it.  Canada has dropped test for fully-vaccinated and so far that is all who can cruise, but things can change.  

[Steelers36]

If testing is still required in Europe for October, we will take rapid tests with us and contact a proctoring provider to monitor and certify.  Seems like the easiest since we always have our phones and laptops when traveling and whatever hotel we are at will have internet.

 

[caribill]

On 3/22/2022 at 6:11 PM, Coral said:

If you have time - can you ask the shore excursion people one thing for me? I have a turnaround day in Barcelona on April 16th. The only shore excursions that are offered are for those going to the airport that day (2 of them) - can you ask if they are going to offer any tours for those staying on until the 23rd? If they are not going to - I will book privately. Thank you so much! If you don't have time, that is fine.

 

If you booked this B2B as a single booking, then any tours available for B2B passengers would be shown on the Princess web site.

 

If you booked this B2b as two bookings, you will not see any B2B passenger tours on the Princess web site. If this is how you booked the cruise, call Princess and ask what is offered for B2B passengers.

[caribill]

On 3/22/2022 at 3:24 PM, nini said:

 

Yes, past UK passengers had their tests for free! Now, it is $60.00 (US dollars) for cruises from the UK.

 

 

It was free when the UK government required the testing.

 

It is now not free since the UK no longer requires it.

[wowzz]

33 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

It was free when the UK government required the testing.

 

It is now not free since the UK no longer requires it.

That is just wrong. The UK government never required cruise lines to test.

The likes  of Saga and P&O continue to give free tests. It is a Princess decision to charge for testing.

[Coral]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

If you booked this B2B as a single booking, then any tours available for B2B passengers would be shown on the Princess web site.

 

If you booked this B2b as two bookings, you will not see any B2B passenger tours on the Princess web site. If this is how you booked the cruise, call Princess and ask what is offered for B2B passengers.

I have booked a B2B2B as one booking. There are no regular tours - just disembarkment tours for one port (Barcelona). During the other turnaround day (Athens) - there are approximately 25 tours for those staying on, in Barcelona, there are 0 regular tours - just 2 tours that go to the airport. This cruise can be sold as (3) 7 night cruises, (2) 14 night tours or (1) 21 night cruise.

 

Calling Princess is worthless right now. I spent probably 10-12 hours on the phone trying to get a larger issue resolved - it took 5 days to get through to someone who would help and then another 2 business days to get it fixed. I did try calling Princess on this issue a few times (probably spent 2 hours on the phone on this) and eventually got someone who did want to help and acknowledged the issue but she couldn't get a hold of anyone herself. She said she would call me back but never did. My guess is she had far more pressing issues to deal with.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Coral

[caribill]

6 hours ago, wowzz said:

That is just wrong. The UK government never required cruise lines to test.

The likes  of Saga and P&O continue to give free tests. It is a Princess decision to charge for testing.

Thanks for the correction.

[nini]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

That is just wrong. The UK government never required cruise lines to test.

The likes  of Saga and P&O continue to give free tests. It is a Princess decision to charge for testing.

Thus, the frustration of many.

[insidecabin]

On 3/23/2022 at 9:55 AM, Esprit said:

Nice, but if you are booked on a Princess transfer to Civitavecchia I doubt there will be enough time to get tested before the coach leaves!

We use that facility when leaving Italy Dec.

From arriving at airport to check-in via test area took over an hour, test result was 15mins.

 

Long walk and not well organized should be better now.

 

[Coral]

1 hour ago, insidecabin said:

We use that facility when leaving Italy Dec.

From arriving at airport to check-in via test area took over an hour, test result was 15mins.

 

Long walk and not well organized should be better now.

 

Will it be obvious where it is at? Do you collect your luggage first?

[insidecabin]

6 minutes ago, Coral said:

Will it be obvious where it is at? Do you collect your luggage first?

there were signs from departures guess there will be the same for Arrivals 

[Coral]

6 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

there were signs from departures guess there will be the same for Arrivals 

Thank you.

[Coral]

2 hours ago, insidecabin said:

We use that facility when leaving Italy Dec.

From arriving at airport to check-in via test area took over an hour, test result was 15mins.

 

Long walk and not well organized should be better now.

 

I may use it when I fly back to the US. Can you tell me how the process went for departures. Do you arrive at airport, test, then check in with luggage and go through security?

[insidecabin]

4 hours ago, Coral said:

I may use it when I fly back to the US. Can you tell me how the process went for departures. Do you arrive at airport, test, then check in with luggage and go through security?

We had to test before as the airline wanted it for check-in.

 

We came by train and it was a long walk to the other end of the terminal (3) to the test place, fill in the form before you get there.

 

Part of our timing issue was no one seemed to know what was going on.

 

We had  rail disruption from Civitavecchia meant we put loads of extra time in our schedule.

Still had time for dinner at the airport.

 

 

 

[mcc]

There is an update on Princess website where they are offering free antigen tests at the terminal updated 5th April.

“When possible we recommend guests take a medically observed viral COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen) prior to leaving home to avoid queues and travel disruptions associated with a possible positive result on the day of embarkation. We understand that this may not be possible based on your travel plans, so for your convenience we are currently offering complimentary antigen testing at the terminal.”

 

It’s nerve wracking. Should have joined a cruise at Southampton today but hubby’s test was positive on Thursday so that was that. He tested negative yesterday! Dreading my next cruise in 6 weeks from Barcelona. Don’t know whether to try to book a test day before or just go and have them on embarkation.

Didnt want to pack prior to test result then stressful when results came trying to contact travel agent and our coach transport to Southampton.

 

[insidecabin]

Interesting they have abandoned charges for EU but still want $60 for UK.

 

Those(some all?) that complained got it refunded.

[mcc]

On 3/18/2022 at 2:06 AM, karabear15 said:

Unless it’s $25 or less USD, we will stick to one of their testing sites which cap out at 22 euros. 
 

I thought I had read somewhere on the website that it was $100pp…which seems wildly inappropriate. 

It’s $100 for sailings out of US.