So when does the 72 hour testing clock start ticking?

[AryMay]

Going on the first Alaska cruise of the season and wondering how careful I need to be about our testing time. HAL has changed their Health and Safety Guidelines for Alaska and Canada/New England cruises document four times in the last couple of weeks. 

 

I was glad to see the updates made yesterday (April 21) because the testing guidelines are reflecting what I had been reading on the Canadian government website for some time. After scheduling our testing appointments based on the older rules (3 days in advance for fully vaccinated & boosted) and then RESCHEDULING yesterday I am second guessing myself and wondering if my appointments are still too early. I am getting hung up on the wording of the guidelines (see red type.) 

 

This is from the HAL FAQ's:

Guests embarking in a Canadian port OR a U.S. port that includes Canada in the itinerary:

• All guests aged 2 and older are required to take either an antigen COVID-19 test within 2 days of embarkation or PCR COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to embarkation.  

 

And this is copied from the PDF guidelines file:

• Guests who are up to date with their vaccines or fully vaccinated may take their COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours prior to sailing or a medically observed antigen test within 2 days before sailing.

 

And this is from the Canadian government website:

• Proof of a valid negative molecular test taken within 72 hours of your scheduled boarding time
  • for example, if you’re scheduled to board at 11:00 am on Friday, your test must have been taken any time after 10:59 am on Tuesday

 

So when exactly does the 72 hours begin?

 

Ship is scheduled to sail at 3:00 pm. Itinerary says all aboard is 2:30 pm. Navigator App says passengers must be onboard 1 hour prior to sailing (2:00). Our check-in time on our boarding pass is 12:40 pm.

 

If we sail on Saturday, what is the earliest I can schedule a PCR test? 

[CruiserBruce]

This was resolved quite a while ago. If you are sailing on Sunday, you can test any time after midnight on Thursday. Its NOT 72 hours from all aboard or actual sailing time.

[AryMay]

3 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

This was resolved quite a while ago. If you are sailing on Sunday, you can test any time after midnight on Thursday. Its NOT 72 hours from all aboard or actual sailing time.

 

True...unless you are embarking in or stopping in a Canadian port. The rules changed yesterday...

[PSR]

38 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

This was resolved quite a while ago. If you are sailing on Sunday, you can test any time after midnight on Thursday. Its NOT 72 hours from all aboard or actual sailing time.

 

But that's less than 72 hrs...shouldn't your statement say "midnight on Wednesday"? Of course, I am disregarding the statement of post #3 which  sounds like we're back to counting the hours. I'm on another cruise line which states ""48 hrs", so now MY scheduled PCR test is also too soon and I have to figure out what to do.

[CruiserBruce]

8 minutes ago, PSR said:

 

But that's less than 72 hrs...shouldn't your statement say "midnight on Wednesday"? Of course, I am disregarding the statement of post #3 which  sounds like we're back to counting the hours. I'm on another cruise line which states ""48 hrs", so now MY scheduled PCR test is also too soon and I have to figure out what to do.

No, from 12:01am Thursday to say, noon on Sunday is over 72 hours...its actually 84 hours. But yes, it appears we are back to counting hours.

[PSR]

1 minute ago, CruiserBruce said:

No, from 12:01am Thursday to say, noon on Sunday is over 72 hours...its actually 84 hours. But yes, it appears we are back to counting hours.

 

I don't want to argue, but yes, from 12:01am Thursday, it is more than 72 hours to Sunday noon, but you originally wrote "midnight on Thursday", which would be nearer 11:59pm on Thursday in my figuring, rather than 11:59pm on Wednesday, which is what I think you originally meant. Anyway, it appears to be moot.🤔

[AryMay]

My question still remains…is the 72 hours measured from scheduled boarding time, all aboard time, or sailing time? How picky do you think they will be? 
 

This will all get sorted out eventually but I feel like those of us sailing next week are the guinea pigs. 
 

This is all being driven by Canada’s rules and the crazy part is that we are sailing from Seattle and won’t hit a Canadian port until NINE days after my test. By then the whole ship could be infected with Covid! 

Edited April 23, 2022 by AryMay

[twodjs]

We were boading a ship in Venice and had a 72 hour window - thank goodness someone reminded us of the 9 hour time zone difference. That added 9 hours to our window for a test in Seattle before flying east. So confusing...

Alaska is worth the effort. Safe travels everyone!

[Homosassa]

The 72 hours for tests for cruises embarking in Canada was tightly define with examples on the Canadian government website.

 

It did say the 72 hours was from time of scheduled departure (not boarding time). If your ship departed at 4 PM on Friday, then you could test anytime after 4 PM on Tuesday.  

 

There was no information on time zones.

 

However I see that information is being revised and schedules for release on 4/25. No idea what  the revisions may be.

[lderochi]

The Arrivecan website now says 72 hours before boarding. 

[Fouremco]

19 hours ago, AryMay said:

Going on the first Alaska cruise of the season and wondering how careful I need to be about our testing time. HAL has changed their Health and Safety Guidelines for Alaska and Canada/New England cruises document four times in the last couple of weeks. 

 

I was glad to see the updates made yesterday (April 21) because the testing guidelines are reflecting what I had been reading on the Canadian government website for some time. After scheduling our testing appointments based on the older rules (3 days in advance for fully vaccinated & boosted) and then RESCHEDULING yesterday I am second guessing myself and wondering if my appointments are still too early. I am getting hung up on the wording of the guidelines (see red type.) 

 

This is from the HAL FAQ's:

Guests embarking in a Canadian port OR a U.S. port that includes Canada in the itinerary:

• All guests aged 2 and older are required to take either an antigen COVID-19 test within 2 days of embarkation or PCR COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to embarkation.  

 

And this is copied from the PDF guidelines file:

• Guests who are up to date with their vaccines or fully vaccinated may take their COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours prior to sailing or a medically observed antigen test within 2 days before sailing.

 

And this is from the Canadian government website:

• Proof of a valid negative molecular test taken within 72 hours of your scheduled boarding time
  • for example, if you’re scheduled to board at 11:00 am on Friday, your test must have been taken any time after 10:59 am on Tuesday

 

So when exactly does the 72 hours begin?

 

Ship is scheduled to sail at 3:00 pm. Itinerary says all aboard is 2:30 pm. Navigator App says passengers must be onboard 1 hour prior to sailing (2:00). Our check-in time on our boarding pass is 12:40 pm.

 

If we sail on Saturday, what is the earliest I can schedule a PCR test? 

It begins 72 hours prior to your scheduled boarding time, in accordance with Government of Canada regulations. If HAL is now using sailing time as the measuring point, the 72 hours would fall within the time frame set out by the GOC. Consequently, you can use either boarding or sailing time to meet the Canadian regulations, but to meet HAL's you will need to go with the sailing time measure.

[AryMay]

6 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

It begins 72 hours prior to your scheduled boarding time, in accordance with Government of Canada regulations. If HAL is now using sailing time as the measuring point, the 72 hours would fall within the time frame set out by the GOC. Consequently, you can use either boarding or sailing time to meet the Canadian regulations, but to meet HAL's you will need to go with the sailing time measure.

 

Based on the HAL references that I've stated below, I think HAL's regulations can be interpreted either way...72 hours prior to boarding or 72 hours prior to sailing.

 

The HAL webpage has two different references to this testing timeline and the two guidelines are worded differently.

 

The PDF File for Health Guidelines for Alaska & Canada/New England:

Guests who are up to date with their vaccines or fully vaccinated may take their COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours prior to sailing or a medically observed antigen test within 2 days before sailing.

 

The FAQ's:

Guests embarking in a Canadian port OR a U.S. port that includes Canada in the itinerary:

All guests aged 2 and older are required to take either an antigen COVID-19 test within 2 days of embarkation or PCR COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to embarkation.  

Edited April 23, 2022 by AryMay

[Fouremco]

18 minutes ago, AryMay said:

 

Based on the HAL references that I've stated below, I think HAL's regulations can be interpreted either way...72 hours prior to boarding or 72 hours prior to sailing.

 

The HAL webpage has two different references to this testing timeline and the two guidelines are worded differently.

 

The PDF File for Health Guidelines for Alaska & Canada/New England:

Guests who are up to date with their vaccines or fully vaccinated may take their COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours prior to sailing or a medically observed antigen test within 2 days before sailing.

 

The FAQ's:

Guests embarking in a Canadian port OR a U.S. port that includes Canada in the itinerary:

All guests aged 2 and older are required to take either an antigen COVID-19 test within 2 days of embarkation or PCR COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to embarkation.  

Yes, HAL has conflicting information, but using the scheduled departure time as your measuring point is always safe as it is the tighter time frame. Quite honestly, I doubt very much that HAL or any other cruiseline is going to refuse you boarding if you took your test at the very beginning of the 72 hour period measured from embarkation time if they decided to go by sailing time.

[cowmilker]

On 4/23/2022 at 2:18 PM, Fouremco said:

Quite honestly, I doubt very much that HAL or any other cruiseline is going to refuse you boarding if you took your test at the very beginning of the 72 hour period measured from embarkation time if they decided to go by sailing time.

The guy from HAL on the Facebook live video done the other day said specifically, and more than once, that IF you in good faith get tested, and for some reason, you screw it up, or you don't get your results back in time, or anything else happens, HAL will test you at the pier for free.  All that matters is that you do your best to get tested within the guidelines and that you can present proof that you did try.

He kept saying that they do not want for this stuff to become so horrible and difficult to deal with that nobody can enjoy their trip.