covid testing on return to US on Emerald Cruises

[nursemom]

I am getting different responses regarding if Emerald provides COVID testing to return back to the US at the end of the river cruise. I have heard that the new yacht does but the older river cruises do not. Does anyone know for certain. I will be on the Emerald Sun in May.

 

[Chris_Texas]

I was on the Emerald Dawn that cruised the Rhine between April 10 and 17.  They tested everyone around lunchtime on Apr 16 and results were available after dinner.

[ebseckar]

On 4/20/2022 at 7:45 AM, Chris_Texas said:

I was on the Emerald Dawn that cruised the Rhine between April 10 and 17.  They tested everyone around lunchtime on Apr 16 and results were available after dinner.

Thanks for the information from a recent Emerald Dawn cruiser. I hope you had a wonderful cruise.

It's been so hard to find out information about Emerald with all of the website/customer service issues the last few months. May I ask if you would provide any more information about Covid-related policies on the cruise? For instance, when and where were masks required? Did you need to show a physical vaccination card or was a digital photo of the card accepted? Were you permitted to sit with different people at dinner? 

Other random questions -- Due to the website issues, we've been unable to sign-up for excursions. Do most people sign-up in advance? Is the indoor pool completely indoors and heated? Do you recall approximate laundry pricing on board and turn-around time?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer!

[Chris_Texas]

2 hours ago, ebseckar said:

Thanks for the information from a recent Emerald Dawn cruiser. I hope you had a wonderful cruise.

It's been so hard to find out information about Emerald with all of the website/customer service issues the last few months. May I ask if you would provide any more information about Covid-related policies on the cruise? For instance, when and where were masks required? Did you need to show a physical vaccination card or was a digital photo of the card accepted? Were you permitted to sit with different people at dinner? 

Other random questions -- Due to the website issues, we've been unable to sign-up for excursions. Do most people sign-up in advance? Is the indoor pool completely indoors and heated? Do you recall approximate laundry pricing on board and turn-around time?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer!

Happy to help.  We were VERY put off by the difficulty contacting Emerald ahead of time, but once we got there the cruise was fantastic.  Great cruise, beautiful ship, and the weather turned out fantastic.  

 

Masks were required anytime you were moving around, including when up at the buffet line. Once seated at dinner or in the lounge, you were allowed to remove your mask. It was a minor annoyance at worst - it really was no big deal. Compliance was probably 95% (the other 5% likely falling in the "I forgot my mask and am just going out to fill my water bottle" types of scenarios). I don't think there was anybody on board who just flat-out refused to wear one. We also had to mask up on bus rides and when entering castles/museums/cathedrals.

 

You can sit with whomever you like.  There was a lot of intermingling (too much, perhaps, since 3 of the 4 of our group tested positive for covid upon our return to the states - thankfully we were negative for the return-flight test). 

 

I don't know what form of documentation they accept. I had hardcopies, as did my wife - those were fine. I can't say beyond that because we were the first to board the ship.

 

We signed up for excursions in advance by calling Emerald (painful, I know). I don't know if anybody was blocked out of ExploreMORE excursions due to them being full, but I'd suggest taking the time to call them.  I had to call them after I returned home and I think the wait was only about 20 minutes.

 

The pool is heated (I never saw anybody in it) and enclosed. It gets quite warm in the pool room (comfortably warm, not stifling).  We had 2 pieces of laundry included so I didn't get prices on them - but the turnaround was same-day - leave it in the morning when you leave, it shows up sometime in the afternoon.

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise.

[ebseckar]

4 hours ago, Chris_Texas said:

Happy to help.  We were VERY put off by the difficulty contacting Emerald ahead of time, but once we got there the cruise was fantastic.  Great cruise, beautiful ship, and the weather turned out fantastic.  

 

Masks were required anytime you were moving around, including when up at the buffet line. Once seated at dinner or in the lounge, you were allowed to remove your mask. It was a minor annoyance at worst - it really was no big deal. Compliance was probably 95% (the other 5% likely falling in the "I forgot my mask and am just going out to fill my water bottle" types of scenarios). I don't think there was anybody on board who just flat-out refused to wear one. We also had to mask up on bus rides and when entering castles/museums/cathedrals.

 

You can sit with whomever you like.  There was a lot of intermingling (too much, perhaps, since 3 of the 4 of our group tested positive for covid upon our return to the states - thankfully we were negative for the return-flight test). 

 

I don't know what form of documentation they accept. I had hardcopies, as did my wife - those were fine. I can't say beyond that because we were the first to board the ship.

 

We signed up for excursions in advance by calling Emerald (painful, I know). I don't know if anybody was blocked out of ExploreMORE excursions due to them being full, but I'd suggest taking the time to call them.  I had to call them after I returned home and I think the wait was only about 20 minutes.

 

The pool is heated (I never saw anybody in it) and enclosed. It gets quite warm in the pool room (comfortably warm, not stifling).  We had 2 pieces of laundry included so I didn't get prices on them - but the turnaround was same-day - leave it in the morning when you leave, it shows up sometime in the afternoon.

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise.

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such detailed and helpful information. We will take your advice and try (again) to get in touch with Emerald. Thank you!