Australia/New Zealand Antigen 1 Day Testing Requirement Prior to Boarding

[WeBcruisingMN]

We just disembarked the Eclipse today from the March 26 sailing. We had read (on cruise critic) of agents who looked closely at photos of the tests or the actual tests and other tales of agents who barely glanced.

To report on our experience:

We arrived in Sydney from the USA on March 24. At about 10am (Sydney time) on March 25 we did our antigen tests in our Sydney hotel room, testing negative and taking pictures of each of our tests.

We boarded the Eclipse about 11:30am on March 26, and the agent carefully looked at our pictures, noting the negative result, and enlarging our screens to look specifically at the date/time stamp of our pics.

Not sure if this was everyone’s experience while boarding recently, but that is what our situation was like.

Side note: my husband and I felt like this ship had the LEAST amount of coughing, sneezing etc on the entirety of our 11 day cruise… than the previous seven cruises we have taken since Restart. Seemed like most were healthy!

Good luck to you, @KenTheCruiser

😊 🚢 

[Mark_T]

4 hours ago, WeBcruisingMN said:

We boarded the Eclipse about 11:30am on March 26, and the agent carefully looked at our pictures, noting the negative result, and enlarging our screens to look specifically at the date/time stamp of our pics.

We had the same in Sydney back in January.

 

They checked the photo properties to see the date/time stamp.

[Wineaux007]

4 hours ago, Mark_T said:

We had the same in Sydney back in January.

 

They checked the photo properties to see the date/time stamp.

There are ways to be creative.  You could take a picture of an old picture and you would have the date/time stamp on the new picture.  Or, you could just bring in an old negative test.  No date/time stamp on it. Or, take a picture of an old negative test the day before you embark.  Bottom line, it's all just a bunch of virtue signaling that really doesn't mean anything.

 

We're doing the HNL to SYD this coming October, and I hope they do away with these ridiculous requirements which are probably driven by the Aus gov't. 

[cruisinsusin]

11 hours ago, WeBcruisingMN said:

We just disembarked the Eclipse today from the March 26 sailing. We had read (on cruise critic) of agents who looked closely at photos of the tests or the actual tests and other tales of agents who barely glanced.

To report on our experience:

We arrived in Sydney from the USA on March 24. At about 10am (Sydney time) on March 25 we did our antigen tests in our Sydney hotel room, testing negative and taking pictures of each of our tests.

We boarded the Eclipse about 11:30am on March 26, and the agent carefully looked at our pictures, noting the negative result, and enlarging our screens to look specifically at the date/time stamp of our pics.

Not sure if this was everyone’s experience while boarding recently, but that is what our situation was like.

Side note: my husband and I felt like this ship had the LEAST amount of coughing, sneezing etc on the entirety of our 11 day cruise… than the previous seven cruises we have taken since Restart. Seemed like most were healthy!

Good luck to you, @KenTheCruiser

😊 🚢 

Same check in experience for the Feb 28 Eclipse sailing, but unfortunately  this was the worst cruise we have been on since restart for coughing and sneezing. Multiple room service trays in the hall and cruise director was out sick towards the end and into the next cruise. Glad to hear yours was better!

[Mark_T]

2 hours ago, Wineaux007 said:

Bottom line, it's all just a bunch of virtue signaling that really doesn't mean anything.

You can cheat or choose to be 'virtuous', really no different to the 'health' questions we've been answering before each cruise for many years now...

 

If it prompts a few people to discover they are positive then it was not entirely pointless...

[Ken the cruiser]

18 hours ago, RichYak said:

On this we disagree. I would blame Celebrity for employing nonsense requirements. Either have a testing requirement or don’t. This half a$$ed approach is a waste of time. 

You know, you got me thinking about this. So I went to check out what testing requirements Princess was requiring when embarking on a cruise out of an Australia port in April. Fascinating enough, they have similar requirements, which makes me think it's more of an Australia Port Authority requirement rather than a specific cruise line requirement.

 

 

Booking or Voyage Lookup (princess.com)

 

Princess is also requiring them on their Japan cruises as well.

 

 

Lucky us, we're on the upcoming B3B out of Sydney in April on the Eclipse as well as on a B2B on the Diamond Princess out of Yokohama in July! 🤣

Edited April 6, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Boatharbour]

Testing is required by the NSW government.

 

3 Health Screening
3.1 On the day of boarding, passengers must complete a health screening which includes verification that individuals do not have symptoms of COVID-19 or other respiratory illness, and/or are not required to quarantine or isolate (as per current domestic requirements).
3.2 Passengers who are symptomatic on the day of boarding must be referred for further medical assessment prior to boarding. Symptomatic passengers must have a negative rapid-PCR on the day of boarding. Those who do not return a negative test should be denied boarding.

 

Full details here-

https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/travel/cruising-rules/cruising-reporting

 

[Jim_Iain]

Ken -   Generally the way they instructed those being tested during covid is that you don't count the day the ship departs and count back the number of days required pre-boarding.     So if you have a departure on a Saturday and requirement of 1 day prior to cruise -  anytime after 12:01 AM Friday is acceptable. 

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Ken -   Generally the way they instructed those being tested during covid is that you don't count the day the ship departs and count back the number of days required pre-boarding.     So if you have a departure on a Saturday and requirement of 1 day prior to cruise -  anytime after 12:01 AM Friday is acceptable. 

Thanks Jim! We are finding the trick will be to remember to change our iPhones to Sydney time prior to taking the phones of our tests. 😁

[Wineaux007]

50 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks Jim! We are finding the trick will be to remember to change our iPhones to Sydney time prior to taking the phones of our tests. 😁

We're doing a B2B into Sydney and out of Sydney, so if a test is required for each leg, should be interesting how folks work the system.  I guess if you keep a negative test in your backpack and take a picture of it whenever required, should work? 🤪  Hopefully all this nonsense will stop soon.

[Ken the cruiser]

28 minutes ago, Wineaux007 said:

We're doing a B2B into Sydney and out of Sydney, so if a test is required for each leg, should be interesting how folks work the system.  I guess if you keep a negative test in your backpack and take a picture of it whenever required, should work? 🤪  Hopefully all this nonsense will stop soon.

Agree. I was trying to find where someone posted on the Celebrity CC forum what happened on the transition day on their recent Australia B2B on the Eclipse, but I couldn’t find it. Basically they said the steward left antigen test kits in their cabin on transition day for them to self administer when they got back to the cabin. Based on the “honor system”, if they tested positive, they were to contact the medical staff and go into quarantine for 7 days. However, if they tested negative, they didn’t need to contact anyone. It will be interesting to hear, if you won’t mind sharing, what happens on your transition day.

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks Jim! We are finding the trick will be to remember to change our iPhones to Sydney time prior to taking the phones of our tests. 😁

If you set on automatic it should automatically update the time zone when you arrive.    That is of course if you have an international roaming plan.    I use T-Mobile so get free international browsing in most countries.  

 

From many years of traveling, I have a habit of changing my phone and watch to arrival time before take off and try to begin living destination time before I arrive. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

6 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You know, you got me thinking about this. So I went to check out what testing requirements Princess was requiring when embarking on a cruise out of an Australia port in April. Fascinating enough, they have similar requirements, which makes me think it's more of an Australia Port Authority requirement rather than a specific cruise line requirement.

 

 

Booking or Voyage Lookup (princess.com)

 

Princess is also requiring them on their Japan cruises as well.

 

 

Lucky us, we're on the upcoming B3B out of Sydney in April on the Eclipse as well as on a B2B on the Diamond Princess out of Yokohama in July! 🤣

The requirements in Australia/NZ are country mandates.  Was the same for Bermuda, Colombia and others recently.

The last testing requirement set by Celebrity was for TA/TP cruises

Ken with your military background for following orders would it not be lots simpler to just bring a couple of baggies with your tests to the pier than try to flummox your phone regarding the date.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Arizona Wildcat

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

The requirements in Australia/NZ are country mandates.  Was the same for Bermuda, Colombia and others recently.

The last testing requirement set by Celebrity was for TA/TP cruises

Ken with your military background for following orders would it not be lots simpler to just bring a couple of baggies with your tests to the pier than try to flummox your phone regarding the date.

Actually it’s quite easy to “flummox” our phone to change its time setting to that of anywhere in the world regardless of where we are at. We learned this trick on the various cruises we’ve been on over the years, especially going to those foreign ports where we have to leave our phones in Airplane Mode and/or with Cellular turned off like on our recent 38-day cruise from Athens to Cape Town by way of Dubai! It seemed like we were changing time zones on that cruise every few days! 😁
 

Like I mentioned earlier, Australia is 15 hours ahead of us. So taking a picture of our negative antigen tests shortly after taking them at home will actually be on April 18, Sydney time, which is within the accepted 1-day timeframe. This way if for some remote reason one of us tests positive, we can still cancel the cruise before leaving home.
 

Of course, we will also take the negative tests as well as extra kits with us just in case they also want to see them prior to us boarding the ship.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Jim_Iain]

20 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You know, you got me thinking about this. So I went to check out what testing requirements Princess was requiring when embarking on a cruise out of an Australia port in April. Fascinating enough, they have similar requirements, which makes me think it's more of an Australia Port Authority requirement rather than a specific cruise line requirement.

 

 

Booking or Voyage Lookup (princess.com)

 

Princess is also requiring them on their Japan cruises as well.

 

 

Lucky us, we're on the upcoming B3B out of Sydney in April on the Eclipse as well as on a B2B on the Diamond Princess out of Yokohama in July! 🤣

While I can't confirm as I haven't sailed a B2B out of Australia,  I have read that for B2B's they have been sending self tests to your room and you do a self test.   Some have said they didn't get the self test and were never asked for results either - maybe a break down in their system.

 

Maybe others who have don't it recently can chime in.

[Ken the cruiser]

14 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

While I can't confirm as I haven't sailed a B2B out of Australia,  I have read that for B2B's they have been sending self tests to your room and you do a self test.   Some have said they didn't get the self test and were never asked for results either - maybe a break down in their system.

 

Maybe others who have don't it recently can chime in.

That's what I've also been reading on some of the more recent Australian-affiliated Eclipse Roll Calls. But as with all things COVID lately, requirements can change quite quickly. Like when Celebrity recently added on March 23rd the May 9th Eclipse transpacific cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver to the list but provide no details that I can find as to "who" it actually applies. But I'm sure in due time those applicable forks, to include us, will be told. 

 

Transatlantic Travel Requirements (celebritycruises.com)

[Arizona Wildcat]

58 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That's what I've also been reading on some of the more recent Australian-affiliated Eclipse Roll Calls. But as with all things COVID lately, requirements can change quite quickly. Like when Celebrity recently added on March 23rd the May 9th Eclipse transpacific cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver to the list but provide no details that I can find as to "who" it actually applies. But I'm sure in due time those applicable forks, to include us, will be told. 

 

Transatlantic Travel Requirements (celebritycruises.com)

In the perfectly clear concise language that Celebrity always uses (couldn’t resist) it appears that cruise requires fully vaccinated even though it is not technically a TA or TP cruise.  Have a friend on that cruise who gave me info.

[Ken the cruiser]

15 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

In the perfectly clear concise language that Celebrity always uses (couldn’t resist) it appears that cruise requires fully vaccinated even though it is not technically a TA or TP cruise.  Have a friend on that cruise who gave me info.

We hope you’re right. 🤞

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

In the perfectly clear concise language that Celebrity always uses (couldn’t resist) it appears that cruise requires fully vaccinated even though it is not technically a TA or TP cruise.  Have a friend on that cruise who gave me info.

OK, since I’m just killing time waiting to leave for our cruise in 9 days and a wake up, I reread what was posted on the Celebrity website based on your friend’s insight, and it definitely sounds like we will not have to test on transition day in Honolulu! Thanks for easing our stress level regarding that issue! 😁
 

Testing Requirements

 

As of March 21, 2023, proof of a negative COVID-19 test is no longer required for guests embarking on Transocean sailings, except for those on back-to-back sailings in Australia/New Zealand and those aboard the April 22nd, 2023 Celebrity Eclipse 18 Night Tahiti, New Zealand & Hawaii sailing out of Sydney, Australia.  

 

[Northern Aurora]

Well — I posted this before but will post again.  We boarded the Eclipse in Sydney on March 10 for a series of four cruises.  On the turnaround days, after returning to the ship, Covid tests had been delivered to the stateroom. An instruction letter asked us to test and if folks tested positive to call Guest Relations (or in our case the Retreat Concierge) before 5PM.  The ship sailed at 6:45 PM.  Folks who tested positive could either quarantine for seven days or opt to immediately disembark and receive a full refund.

 

 

[Wineaux007]

6 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

Well — I posted this before but will post again.  We boarded the Eclipse in Sydney on March 10 for a series of four cruises.  On the turnaround days, after returning to the ship, Covid tests had been delivered to the stateroom. An instruction letter asked us to test and if folks tested positive to call Guest Relations (or in our case the Retreat Concierge) before 5PM.  The ship sailed at 6:45 PM.  Folks who tested positive could either quarantine for seven days or opt to immediately disembark and receive a full refund.

 

 

Did they collect all the positive and negative tests from each stateroom, or was this just the honor system?

[Ken the cruiser]

11 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

Well — I posted this before but will post again.  We boarded the Eclipse in Sydney on March 10 for a series of four cruises.  On the turnaround days, after returning to the ship, Covid tests had been delivered to the stateroom. An instruction letter asked us to test and if folks tested positive to call Guest Relations (or in our case the Retreat Concierge) before 5PM.  The ship sailed at 6:45 PM.  Folks who tested positive could either quarantine for seven days or opt to immediately disembark and receive a full refund.

 

Thanks! I knew I read your post in some recent thread, but just couldn’t remember which one. 😁

[Northern Aurora]

18 hours ago, Wineaux007 said:

Did they collect all the positive and negative tests from each stateroom, or was this just the honor system?

Since we boarded it has been the honor system to report positive tests.  I asked our butler if he wanted to see the tests and he didn’t.  Nor did a Retreat Concierge want to see them.
 

Friends boarded in January.  On one of their early turnaround days B2B passengers were swabbed by Celebrity medical folks, and on another turnaround day Celebrity medical watched folks swabbing their own nostrils.  Passengers had to wait for the results.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

12 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

Friends boarded in January.  On one of their early turnaround days B2B passengers were swabbed by Celebrity medical folks, and on another turnaround day Celebrity medical watched folks swabbing their own nostrils.  Passengers had to wait for the results.

 

So many “unwanted” memories come rushing back reading this. We have been on 6 Celebrity B2Bs since cruising started back up and each time we had to take a proctored test by onboard medical staff before being allowed to continue on the next leg. Hopefully, those days are finally in the rearview mirror! 🤞

[JBare]

9 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks! I knew I read your post in some recent thread, but just couldn’t remember which one. 😁

Both Northern Aurora and I responded to your posts in this thread.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2927009-does-anyone-know-what-the-interpretation-of-this-requirement-is-very-confusing/#comment-65102146