Covid tests required for greece

[iloveglee]

I just booked a cruise for September to Greek islands. The cruise consultant told me a pcr test was required no more than 72 hours prior to boarding.  That was it, no further tests. 
 

Just received an email from them, standard one with links to all the covid stuff that says for Greek cruises a further antigen tests was required in the 24 hours prior to embarking and would be provided and administered by NCL. Given that Greece has given up all requirements now, even vaccinations, this seems an odd thing specifically for Greece. 

 

anyone been recently, or currently cruising I’d love to know exactly what is the requirements 
 

 

 

 

 

 

[complawyer]

posted this before, but i hope it helps.. our cruise departed from athens apr 8th. ncl required a negative covid test at least 3 days prior to boarding . we had it done on the 5th.  

when we got to the port, ncl administered another covid test and you had to test negative before being allowed onboard. (this was  free)

 

the 1st port was jerusalem, but the 1st was a sea day. while at sea, the israeli ministry of health, sent its own people to once again administer another covid test.  the next day (in israel) no one was allowed to disembark until all the test results came back.

 

you're booking is 4 months away, and all things may be completely different by then.

 

as an aside, in order to travel back to the u.s, before being allowed on a flight we had to show proof of a  negative covid test at least 24 hrs prior to flying. there is a covid test station at the athens airport, and we were fortunate in that there was a hospital right next door to our hotel (marriott) and we had the test and results within 30 miniutes. 

[iloveglee]

Ah that’s useful. It must be pretty time consuming at the port to have to do all these tests!!  And I just found it odd that they don’t do it at other ports, where the entry to those countries have more stringent rules than greece now has. 

 

but things can change in days not months. It could be better later, or even worse. I wonder what they do with you if they deny you boarding? Inform the authorities and they ship you off to a Greek quarantine hotel. Or leave you to sort yourself out. 
 

it’d be interesting to know if this has happened to anyone and what they did. We live in uk and don’t need tests to go home. Not too worried about getting seriously ill as we are all fully vaccinated and had it already. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[complawyer]

iloveglee: it wasnt all that time consuming, maybe a hour and a half from the time we arrived at the port until we got to our cabin. (being in a haven suite didnt hurt, but didnt really speed up anything until we processed thru the covid test at the pier.

 

besides we've had about 8 cruises cancelled due to covid from march 2020. i made it to athens, always wanted to see jerusalem/istanbul, so i would have jumped thru any hoops necessary to get on this cruise. more of a pain in the a** then time consuming. also, the conccierge tols us the ship ws sailing at only 1/3 rd capacity

[willetstravel]

16 hours ago, complawyer said:

iloveglee: it wasnt all that time consuming, maybe a hour and a half from the time we arrived at the port until we got to our cabin. (being in a haven suite didnt hurt, but didnt really speed up anything until we processed thru the covid test at the pier.

 

besides we've had about 8 cruises cancelled due to covid from march 2020. i made it to athens, always wanted to see jerusalem/istanbul, so i would have jumped thru any hoops necessary to get on this cruise. more of a pain in the a** then time consuming. also, the conccierge tols us the ship ws sailing at only 1/3 rd capacity

I thought the one 72 hours prior to boarding could be PCR OR Antigen?  

[iloveglee]

With ncl, you have to do pcr, antigen not accepable, 72 hours prior to boading, which I believe is europe regulations for cruise lines.  when sailing from greece, for some bizarre reason best known only to the greek authorities, you have to also do an antigen test at the port immediately prior to boarding.  I can only imagine that this may be to protect the greek islands where the cruise is going.

 

I was interested to know what happens to you, at the port, if you do test positive and can't board.  clearly you have no accommodation booked, as you should have been on a cruise ship.  I don't know if they report to the authorities who come and ship you off to a quarantine hotel (greece currently still has 5 days self isolation), or whether ncl leave you to your own devices, request you leave the port, for obvious reasons, and you are then on your own.

 

I have tried live chat for this, but they keep referring me to the cancellation refund/future cruise voucher link on the website.  I know all this, and have travel insurance anyway, but I am just interested in what goes on, at the time, on the ground as it were.  

 

Maybe going forward, people who are now taking cruises on this route, may experience this and will know how it pans out. 

[willetstravel]

14 minutes ago, iloveglee said:

With ncl, you have to do pcr, antigen not accepable, 72 hours prior to boading, which I believe is europe regulations for cruise lines.  when sailing from greece, for some bizarre reason best known only to the greek authorities, you have to also do an antigen test at the port immediately prior to boarding.  I can only imagine that this may be to protect the greek islands where the cruise is going.

 

I was interested to know what happens to you, at the port, if you do test positive and can't board.  clearly you have no accommodation booked, as you should have been on a cruise ship.  I don't know if they report to the authorities who come and ship you off to a quarantine hotel (greece currently still has 5 days self isolation), or whether ncl leave you to your own devices, request you leave the port, for obvious reasons, and you are then on your own.

 

I have tried live chat for this, but they keep referring me to the cancellation refund/future cruise voucher link on the website.  I know all this, and have travel insurance anyway, but I am just interested in what goes on, at the time, on the ground as it were.  

 

Maybe going forward, people who are now taking cruises on this route, may experience this and will know how it pans out. 

This is what it shows on the NCL Sail Safe portion of the website regarding the tests:

 

• All vaccinated guests age 12 and older: must provide proof of negative NAAT test (I.e. PCR) or antigen test taken within 72 hours prior to embarkation. Testing at the terminal will not be facilitated. (Please refer to below for additional requirements for Greece & Israel)
• For sailings departing from Greece: In addition to above testing requirements, all guests must additionally provide proof of negative antigen test within 24 hours prior to embarkation. This test will be paid for and administered by Norwegian Cruise Line.

 

It clearly says "or antigen test....." 

[iloveglee]

It does say or antigen you are correct. Although a huge document from EU  does say pcr 72 hours before. It came out a while ago though so could have been updated. It’s all very confusing 

 

We’re not going until September and things could have changed a dozen times before that 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willetstravel]

21 minutes ago, iloveglee said:

It does say or antigen you are correct. Although a huge document from EU  does say pcr 72 hours before. It came out a while ago though so could have been updated. It’s all very confusing 

 

We’re not going until September and things could have changed a dozen times before that 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree that it is all very confusing and stressful for those of us travelling, especially internationally!

[jennjess]

My experience is that nobody will check to see if you have had a test previous to arriving at the port of Pireaus. 

[kochleffel]

I'm currently aboard the Jade on a cruise from Athens. The only passengers not tested at the port were those with a test administered within 24 hours.

[Oceansaway17]

3 hours ago, willetstravel said:

This is what it shows on the NCL Sail Safe portion of the website regarding the tests:

 

• All vaccinated guests age 12 and older: must provide proof of negative NAAT test (I.e. PCR) or antigen test taken within 72 hours prior to embarkation. Testing at the terminal will not be facilitated. (Please refer to below for additional requirements for Greece & Israel)
• For sailings departing from Greece: In addition to above testing requirements, all guests must additionally provide proof of negative antigen test within 24 hours prior to embarkation. This test will be paid for and administered by Norwegian Cruise Line.

 

It clearly says "or antigen test....." 

glad that is says antigen but when did NCL go back to the 72 hour rule while all other cruise lines are 48 hours?

[Oceansaway17]

2 hours ago, willetstravel said:

I agree that it is all very confusing and stressful for those of us travelling, especially internationally!

yes that is why I had to cancel my Euro vacations as I could not deal with testing negative outside of my country.  Would hate to be stuck overseas for a week or so.  nope will wait until next year.

[julig22]

38 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

glad that is says antigen but when did NCL go back to the 72 hour rule while all other cruise lines are 48 hours?

Rule is within 3 days (not 72 hours) for non-us ports. Still 2 days for US/Canada ports. Been that way since they stopped testing at the port.  Additional rules may apply, based on itinerary.

[iloveglee]

What doesn’t make sense to me is the extra test for greece. Antigen within 24 hours paid for and administered by ncl. So if they’re doing it, has to be at the port.  So anyone testing positive at the port gets denied boarding. And then what?  No one seems to be able to say. Live chat can do nothing except refer you to the cancellation and refund policy. Which isn’t much help on the spot. 

[willetstravel]

And to further complicate things - the Sail Safe page was just updated yesterday and now there is NO testing requirement listed under Europe... sooo I guess that means we just have to abide by NCL's testing requirement which is three days prior?

[marilynbn]

I don't understand where people are getting their info from the NCL site. I just copied pasted this from their FAQ section: It says that Antigen testing at the terminal pre boarding is available.

 

 

Do I need to take a COVID-19 test prior to arrival at the terminal?

 

Unless otherwise stipulated by local regulations (Cruise Travel Requirements by Country) that would supersede our policy, at time of check-in, all guests age 2 and over will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 antigen or NAAT test (I.e. PCR) result administered by a verified third party or via medically supervised home test within two days prior to embarkation date for cruises originating in a U.S. or Canadian port and within three days prior for voyages departing from a non-U.S. port. Guests must bring digital or printed proof of negative test results. If a guest is unable to provide proof of a negative result at the time of embarkation, only antigen testing will be available at the terminal at the guest’s expense. Please note that PCR testing will not be available at the terminal, and if this part of the pre-embarkation requirement you will be unfortunately denied boarding. Laboratory Test results need to be in English and include the following information:

[julig22]

8 hours ago, willetstravel said:

And to further complicate things - the Sail Safe page was just updated yesterday and now there is NO testing requirement listed under Europe... sooo I guess that means we just have to abide by NCL's testing requirement which is three days prior?

It doesn't complicate a thing.  You have to follow the NCL rules, regardless of the country rules, to get on the ship.  But you ALSO have to comply with individual country rules if they are more restrictive.

[Danides]

2 hours ago, julig22 said:

It doesn't complicate a thing.  You have to follow the NCL rules, regardless of the country rules, to get on the ship.  But you ALSO have to comply with individual country rules if they are more restrictive.

It does complicate things the way they are doing it. If a country has more restrictive requirements (ex. Canada and Greece before), they put their own requirements plus the country’s requirements. If a country does not have more restrictive requirements, they do not put their own requirement so you have to get to another web page to see it. Communication 101 is to put all the info at the same place. In this case, put all the requirements (i.e. NCL & country) under the specific country and then you don’t need to access different web pages.
 

This is even more important when the requirements are modified. Previously, listed under Greece, the requirements were 2 tests (within 72 hours and at the port). Now, there is no testing requirement under Greece. You would think that no testing is required but no, now you have to think to go to their general rule. Makes no sense in terms of communication. 

[julig22]

37 minutes ago, Danides said:

It does complicate things the way they are doing it. If a country has more restrictive requirements (ex. Canada and Greece before), they put their own requirements plus the country’s requirements. If a country does not have more restrictive requirements, they do not put their own requirement so you have to get to another web page to see it. Communication 101 is to put all the info at the same place. In this case, put all the requirements (i.e. NCL & country) under the specific country and then you don’t need to access different web pages.
 

This is even more important when the requirements are modified. Previously, listed under Greece, the requirements were 2 tests (within 72 hours and at the port). Now, there is no testing requirement under Greece. You would think that no testing is required but no, now you have to think to go to their general rule. Makes no sense in terms of communication. 

Well, since I read top to bottom and follow the reminders to check back frequently, it makes sense to me and doesn't matter if the requirements changed because all I need to know is what I have to do for my cruise as the date gets closer. No need to go back to the general rule because it's what I read first before jumping ahead to country requirements.

[iloveglee]

I think the issue with greece was that the requirements to enter the country were suspended from early May. This extra requirement for a test at the port didn’t filter through, whether it was to the port authorities or cruise lines not sure. It kind of seemed odd that ncl were showing this on their website, even after may updates.  
 

Cruise lines can have their own requirements so long as they are as good as, or better than a country’s. I don’t see cruise lines dropping testing any time soon. The value of antigen tests is uncertain due to their false negative rate. 
 

As far as Greece is concerned, their rules aren’t scrapped, only suspended. They’re to consider it again in September. When things could be better. Or worse!! Who knows.