Negative Covid Test 72 Hours Before Boarding?

[Oak Hill Cruisers]

Anyone hear anything about if the cruise lines will require a negative Covid19 test result not less than 72 hours before boarding?  This will affect how early to arrive at the embarkation port (we plan to drive), finding a testing facility, and how many nights to stay before embarkation.  Our Alaska cruise is set for June 4, 2021.

 

We hope to have had our vaccinations by then.

[neverbeenhere]

No, everything is still in the planning stage. Enjoy your June of 2022 cruise.😃

[CruiserBruce]

The topic has been speculated about many times here. But as final policies and procedures haven't been determined yet, its all just speculation.

[cruisemom42]

I foresee COVID testing as the next cottage industry to spring up around airports and ports. I can easily imagine some of those storefronts in the various open-air strip malls around Port Everglades becoming testing clinics for pre-cruisers....

 

[navybankerteacher]

Hard to see the value — if the test is “not less” than 72 hours as OP wrote,  it could have been taken weeks earlier and be close to meaningless.  If OP meant “not more”, it would leave three days (probably involving travel time with a lot of potential exposure) for contagion to occur.

 

About the only practical purpose would be for the test to be administered immediately prior to boarding and to provide instantaneous results - with denial of boarding if not a certain negative.

Edited January 24, 2021 by navybankerteacher

[clo]

26 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

I foresee COVID testing as the next cottage industry

I was talking to someone yesterday who had just returned Maui. We had discussed prior to their leaving that Hawaii has certain companies that they require to do the tests. There were four people ahead of them had gotten their tests from a company not on the list. They were denied entry.

[mom says]

1 hour ago, Oak Hill Cruisers said:

Our Alaska cruise is set for June 4, 2021.

Don't start packing any time soon. I would bet next months mortgage on it being cancelled.

[navybankerteacher]

12 minutes ago, mom says said:

Don't start packing any time soon. I would bet next months mortgage on it being cancelled.

That’s why an earlier poster said to enjoy the 2022 cruise.

[Oak Hill Cruisers]

I meant "not more" than 72 hours. Not holding our breath for the June 2021 Alaska sailing or even for the October 2021 Eastern Caribbean sailing we have booked.

 

Do feel pretty good about the July 2022 HAL Voyage of the Vikings, however.

 

Will probably plan to arrive at embarkation port (Seattle) and spend 3 nights there.

[Joebucks]

While this isn't written in stone yet, I believe it is what they are doing with international flights. You need to take a test and come back negative. I can't imagine with all of the panic around cruising, that this wouldn't be a requirement. 

 

It's very unattractive for traveling. Which, I know the safety crowd will yell at you for even considering prioritizing travel. Imagine getting ready for your cruise, and you or just someone in your party fails the test. Now what? Even worse if you are overseas. Do you have to wait 10 days now to come home? Count me out of situations where this is required.

[clo]

29 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

Count me out of situations where this is required.

So I guess you're prepared to not travel for at least some goodly part of 2021. We are.

[Essiesmom]

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

While this isn't written in stone yet, I believe it is what they are doing with international flights. You need to take a test and come back negative. I can't imagine with all of the panic around cruising, that this wouldn't be a requirement. 

 

It's very unattractive for traveling. Which, I know the safety crowd will yell at you for even considering prioritizing travel. Imagine getting ready for your cruise, and you or just someone in your party fails the test. Now what? Even worse if you are overseas. Do you have to wait 10 days now to come home? Count me out of situations where this is required.

I have a neighbor who planned to leave Jan 17 to visit a son in Poland.  She was flying SAV - ATL;  Possibly NYC, on to Amsterdam, then to Warsaw.  I wondered at the wisdom of the trip at this time, but she is a senior (but not as old as I) and has traveled a lot.  She visited her daughter in Las Vegas for Christmas.  I saw them off to the airport.  Several days later, I asked the son she lives with if she made it.  Not yet.  She got to the airport, and they told her they could get her as far as Atlanta.  She would have to have a negative Covid test to land in Amsterdam.  And further, she would need a work visa to enter Poland.  No tourists.  Travel is not a given these days.  EM

[clo]

32 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

I have a neighbor who planned to leave Jan 17 to visit a son in Poland.  She was flying SAV - ATL;  Possibly NYC, on to Amsterdam, then to Warsaw.  I wondered at the wisdom of the trip at this time, but she is a senior (but not as old as I) and has traveled a lot.  She visited her daughter in Las Vegas for Christmas.  I saw them off to the airport.  Several days later, I asked the son she lives with if she made it.  Not yet.  She got to the airport, and they told her they could get her as far as Atlanta.  She would have to have a negative Covid test to land in Amsterdam.  And further, she would need a work visa to enter Poland.  No tourists.  Travel is not a given these days.  EM

Thanks. That's the kind of story that's a real attention getter.

[sparks1093]

17 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Hard to see the value — if the test is “not less” than 72 hours as OP wrote,  it could have been taken weeks earlier and be close to meaningless.  If OP meant “not more”, it would leave three days (probably involving travel time with a lot of potential exposure) for contagion to occur.

 

About the only practical purpose would be for the test to be administered immediately prior to boarding and to provide instantaneous results - with denial of boarding if not a certain negative.

This is how I see it also, the cruise lines are going to want to test at the port just prior to boarding. DW and I just had a COVID test and it was taken Friday with the (negative) results back on Saturday, but I wouldn't want to try to coordinate all of that with a cruise on the line. And as has been mentioned (many times by now I would expect) the future is too uncertain to really say what the requirements will be. We scheduled a cruise in November 2021 figuring that was time enough for us to obtain the vaccine, which is our minimum requirement for resuming any sort of travel, but we recognize that cruise might be cancelled anyway for any number of reasons so we shall see. 

[Joebucks]

19 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

I have a neighbor who planned to leave Jan 17 to visit a son in Poland.  She was flying SAV - ATL;  Possibly NYC, on to Amsterdam, then to Warsaw.  I wondered at the wisdom of the trip at this time, but she is a senior (but not as old as I) and has traveled a lot.  She visited her daughter in Las Vegas for Christmas.  I saw them off to the airport.  Several days later, I asked the son she lives with if she made it.  Not yet.  She got to the airport, and they told her they could get her as far as Atlanta.  She would have to have a negative Covid test to land in Amsterdam.  And further, she would need a work visa to enter Poland.  No tourists.  Travel is not a given these days.  EM

 

Pretty crazy scenario. 

 

I don't know that I personally see the difference in risk with the international travel enough to potentially strand people in all types of scenarios. 

 

Looks like I will be booking domestic, land-based, trips for 2021. I wonder how long until those require a negative test. 

[sydbarrett]

On 1/25/2021 at 2:42 PM, Joebucks said:

 

Pretty crazy scenario. 

 

I don't know that I personally see the difference in risk with the international travel enough to potentially strand people in all types of scenarios. 

 

Looks like I will be booking domestic, land-based, trips for 2021. I wonder how long until those require a negative test. 

Most countries are restricting non-essential travel, or at a minimum advising against it. In reality it is hard to police so they are making it more difficult to enter and leave to discourage movement. Most countries cannot handle any tourism at this time, no matter how hard on the economy. They are either already in a healthcare crisis or do not want visitors from countries with high cases entering. Right now, if you leave Canada, it is at your extreme risk. It may be difficult to get back home, and there may be even more tough decisions made by gov't in the near future. This has been made very clear to us - stay home, don't travel domestically, don't travel internationally.

Edited January 27, 2021 by sydbarrett

[cruisemom42]

10 minutes ago, sydbarrett said:

This has been made very clear to us - stay home, don't travel domestically, don't travel internationally.

 

If only everyone would take heed!  (And I don't just mean in Canada.)

[SelectSys]

11 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

If only everyone would take heed!  (And I don't just mean in Canada.)

 

This includes people that have been vaccinated.  Remember, you can still spread the disease and hurt others even if your own risk has been lowered considerably.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55784199

"Even after you have had both doses of the vaccine you may still give Covid-19 to someone else and the chains of transmission will then continue," Prof Van-Tam said.

[clo]

22 minutes ago, SelectSys said:

This includes people that have been vaccinated.

Yep. We're scheduled for our second dose in about 10 days but nothing will change. Except we're likely going to double mask.

[Aquahound]

4 hours ago, SelectSys said:

 

This includes people that have been vaccinated.  Remember, you can still spread the disease and hurt others even if your own risk has been lowered considerably.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55784199

"Even after you have had both doses of the vaccine you may still give Covid-19 to someone else and the chains of transmission will then continue," Prof Van-Tam said.

I now have my second shot. Nothing changes though. I still have to mask up and social distance. I feel very fortunate to be vaccinated, but I’m not ignorant to the world I live in right now. 

[Hlitner]

I think we can get a good idea of the CDC's current thinking by their recently implemented (Jan 26) requirement that anyone on an international flight to the USA must have a negative COVID test within 72 hours of their flight.  The CDC requirements also require a signed "attestation statement" from each traveler that testifies to the validity of that COVID test.   What we found very interesting about the CDC's order is that there is no test exemption for those who have been vaccinated (they also must be tested).

 

Hank

[cruisemom42]

9 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

What we found very interesting about the CDC's order is that there is no test exemption for those who have been vaccinated (they also must be tested).

 

I expect they will modify that over time. As of right now, I don't think anyone (other than trial participants) has had enough time to get the intial shot + get the second shot four weeks later + wait an additional two weeks until full immunity should be established (per protocol).

[ldubs]

I hear that Oalkland International Airport has the first covid test vending machine installed.  

[Roz]

On 1/27/2021 at 7:16 PM, clo said:

Except we're likely going to double mask.

 

Why????

[Philob]

34 minutes ago, Roz said:

 

Why????

The think now is the more layers the better. Unless you can properly wear an N95, you should wear a surgical grade mask under a cloth mask or a multi-layer (at least 3 layers of different material) cloth mask. 

 

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210126/double-masking-makes-common-sense-fauci-says

 

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Time-to-double-mask-or-upgrade-masks-as-15903006.php

Edited January 29, 2021 by Philob