COVID Testing in Ontario

[Livabeth]

Hi everyone,

 

We will be embarking on our first cruise since the pandemic in a couple of weeks and wondered where everyone in the Toronto area have been going to take their pre-cruise COVID antigen tests?  We are sailing on NCL and just want to make sure that if we go to Shoppers Drug Mart that it will be accepted.

 

Thank you.

[*Miss G*]

We had a good experience at Shoppers Drug Mart.  You won’t have a problem with the cruiseline accepting that.  I filled everything in online, beforehand, so there would be no room for a transcription error if they have to enter it manually when you get to your appointment.

[bookbabe]

14 minutes ago, Livabeth said:

Hi everyone,

 

We will be embarking on our first cruise since the pandemic in a couple of weeks and wondered where everyone in the Toronto area have been going to take their pre-cruise COVID antigen tests?  We are sailing on NCL and just want to make sure that if we go to Shoppers Drug Mart that it will be accepted.

 

Thank you.

We’ve used the SDM tests numerous times for travel to the States, including two NCL cruises.  Last week, due to timing, we used Azova supervision for the Ont gov’t freebie tests in the green box, again for an NCL cruise.  That worked just fine too.

 

https://www.azova.com/travelvideo/
 

[CaptainBazz]

Used SDM for our last three cruises and no issues. They are accepted by all cruise lines that I am aware of...and airlines.

[trtog7]

Used Costco for our cruise in March Very good experience

[Livabeth]

Thank you for the feedback.  

 

Do you get an email with the results from Shoppers Drug Mart?  Or do you wait in store for the results?  

[*Miss G*]

1 hour ago, Livabeth said:

Thank you for the feedback.  

 

Do you get an email with the results from Shoppers Drug Mart?  Or do you wait in store for the results?  

 

They don’t send an email.  You wait for the results in the store and they hand you a hard copy.  Check it over to make sure everything matches.  (Date, time, name, passport information, etc.)

[CaptainBazz]

What @*Miss G* said...it only takes 15 mins.

[waiting2retire]

We used Walmart.  No email, but they provide you with a paper copy which we took a photo of.  We carried the paper copies as well, but the photo was sufficient.

 

 

[RCmommy]

Hello,

 

We are in Ontario and are driving to Charelston for a cruise (and a visit with local family)  I am wondering about timing.  We can do the test in ON before we leave and that gives us 72 hours before boarding, however, from what I am seeing online, our stop in Nassau requires a negative test as well.  So our test would be out of date.  I'm thinking a test down there is the better way to go.  Thoughts?

[d9704011]

7 minutes ago, RCmommy said:

Hello,

 

We are in Ontario and are driving to Charelston for a cruise (and a visit with local family)  I am wondering about timing.  We can do the test in ON before we leave and that gives us 72 hours before boarding, however, from what I am seeing online, our stop in Nassau requires a negative test as well.  So our test would be out of date.  I'm thinking a test down there is the better way to go.  Thoughts?

Why would your test be outdated if it's current enough to board the ship?  Does the Bahamas have their own requirement for cruise ship passengers?

[broberts]

22 minutes ago, RCmommy said:

Hello,

 

We are in Ontario and are driving to Charelston for a cruise (and a visit with local family)  I am wondering about timing.  We can do the test in ON before we leave and that gives us 72 hours before boarding, however, from what I am seeing online, our stop in Nassau requires a negative test as well.  So our test would be out of date.  I'm thinking a test down there is the better way to go.  Thoughts?

 

The Carnival requirement is within 3 days prior to departure for boosted passengers, 2 days for fully vaccinated. See https://www.carnival.com.au/legal/covid-19-legal-notices/covid-19-faqs. Real difference between days and hours.

 

[RCmommy]

40 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

Why would your test be outdated if it's current enough to board the ship?  Does the Bahamas have their own requirement for cruise ship passengers?

From what I read on bahamastravel dot com, yes:

 

"Effective 27 December 2021, fully vaccinated persons travelling to The Bahamas from other countries will be required to obtain a negative COVID-19 test (either a Rapid Antigen Test or RT-PCR Test —including PCR, NAA, NAAT, TMA, or RNA), taken no more than three days (72 hours) prior to the date of arrival to The Bahamas."

[d9704011]

35 minutes ago, RCmommy said:

From what I read on bahamastravel dot com, yes:

 

"Effective 27 December 2021, fully vaccinated persons travelling to The Bahamas from other countries will be required to obtain a negative COVID-19 test (either a Rapid Antigen Test or RT-PCR Test —including PCR, NAA, NAAT, TMA, or RNA), taken no more than three days (72 hours) prior to the date of arrival to The Bahamas."

Ahhh... I'd plan on getting a rapid antigen test in Charleston the day before boarding the ship.

[bookbabe]

@RCmommy if you have some of the govt freebie antigen tests in the green boxes, Azova will teleproctor those for $20 US, take them with you and do them at whatever time and in whatever location is convenient and meets your cruise line’s timing as well as the Bahamas timing.

 

https://www.azova.com/travelvideo/

Edited May 31, 2022 by bookbabe

[RCmommy]

4 hours ago, bookbabe said:

@RCmommy if you have some of the govt freebie antigen tests in the green boxes, Azova will teleproctor those for $20 US, take them with you and do them at whatever time and in whatever location is convenient and meets your cruise line’s timing as well as the Bahamas timing.

 

https://www.azova.com/travelvideo/

'I had no idea companies were actually doing this type of testing and I think it is a great idea.  We do have some of those green boxes of covid tests in the house.  Thanks for the information!

[Djb4CC]

For all our cruises we have used Rexall and had no issues.  They are cheaper then SDM but not as cheap as Walmart/Costco… but living downtown, the Rexall/SDM are way easier to access.

 

am very glad to see the Azova link, we have a Hawaii cruise out of Vancouver in the fall (with a pre-cruise visit) and we’re worried about finding a BC location for a test that was not $100+.

[RCmommy]

On 5/30/2022 at 8:09 PM, bookbabe said:

@RCmommy if you have some of the govt freebie antigen tests in the green boxes, Azova will teleproctor those for $20 US, take them with you and do them at whatever time and in whatever location is convenient and meets your cruise line’s timing as well as the Bahamas timing.

 

https://www.azova.com/travelvideo/

EDIT:  I found the information on their website on how you receive your results.

 

Hi.  Do you get an email or test with the confirmed negative result?  We need something to be able to show the officials in The Bahamas, or any destination requiring the test actually.

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by RCmommy

[bookbabe]

13 minutes ago, RCmommy said:

EDIT:  I found the information on their website on how you receive your results.

 

Hi.  Do you get an email or test with the confirmed negative result?  We need something to be able to show the officials in The Bahamas, or any destination requiring the test actually.

 

Yes, they email you a result.  We used Azova with our free green box antigen tests to board our NCL Alaska cruise in early May, and also to fly to WDW in late May.  No problems at all.

[RCmommy]

On 6/2/2022 at 12:18 PM, bookbabe said:

Yes, they email you a result.  We used Azova with our free green box antigen tests to board our NCL Alaska cruise in early May, and also to fly to WDW in late May.  No problems at all.

Did you have any issue uploading the result from Azova on to Verifly?

[bookbabe]

4 minutes ago, RCmommy said:

Did you have any issue uploading the result from Azova on to Verifly?

NCL doesn’t use Verifly, but I’ve seen posts from people sailing on Viking that say they’ve used it with Verifly without any issues.

[RCmommy]

That is great.  Thank you.