SisterHavana

This happened to my mom. She was supposed to fly back from Venice to Chicago via Copenhagen in premium economy. That flight was canceled. The good news is that Oceania did manage to get her on another flight tomorrow that comes in less than an hour later than her original flight. The bad news is that she’s now on a United flight to Chicago via Newark, in Basic Economy! (And had to pay $75 to check her bag!) Ugh…that’s probably going to suck…but at least she will get home on time.

Not me, but someone on my cruise told me that one of their traveling companions missed getting on the ship in Barcelona due to flight issues. (I want to say they flew out of Newark but I could be wrong.) Oceania flew them to Valencia, Spain (the next port/first one visited) and arranged for them to embark there.

We just returned from Riviera on Sunday. We disembarked at 8am for an 11:45 flight out of Nice. I believe the ship docked at 7.

And today I got an updated Travel & Entry Reqirements email and now it’s back up to 3 days for the antigen test! I swear the rules are going to change like 3 more times before I get on the plane Thursday afternoon!

Our precruise program is through GoNext. They don't make arrangements for us to get tested in Barcelona - we're on our own if we need to do it there. Hence,we're going Thursday morning before we leave.

It was in the Travel & Entry Requirements email I got from Oceania on May 11 - if you scroll way down, they give the specific embarkation testing requirements for each country. Here’s what it says for Spain: SPAIN: · TESTING FOR EMBARKATION: All guests must present a negative Covid-19 antigen or PCR test that is not more than 1 day old (antigen) or 3 days old (PCR) at time of embarkation. · All travelers must have proof of vaccination when going ashore. · Face masks are currently mandated for all indoor activities and attractions.

I'm glad I decided to fill out the form, then! (I figured better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.) The good news is that they allow you to fill out one form for your family or group - everyone still gets an individual QR code, but the form only has to be filled out once. Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if the rules change another time or two before we leave on Thursday!

We’re boarding in Barcelona on Sunday and have a 2-day precruise program, so our flight leaves on Thursday afternoon. The information I got originally said the test had to be done no sooner than three days prior to embarkation, so I booked appointments a couple weeks ago for mom and me to get rapid tests at CVS on Thursday morning. Then today I rechecked the information and saw that 3 days is only for PCR tests - antigen tests needed to be done no sooner than 1 day before embarkation. ARGH! Luckily, Walgreens does NAAT rapid tests, so I was able to get us appointments there on Thursday morning. Let’s hope that will still be sufficient by the time we leave!

I’m flying into Barcelona next week, so I was wondering the same thing, especially since I’ve seen lots of conflicting information. Am I better off filling out the health form just to be safe?

If you got your flights through Oceania (and didn’t deviate on dates), Oceania will provide free transfers between the airport and the ship.

We're doing a two-day pre-cruise program in Barcelona before our cruise starts on May 29. We're going to have to test on the day we fly out.

We're doing the Oceania Uffizi excursion on our cruise, so I'm glad you had a good experience. I'd love to hear more about it!