Updated FAQ - Covid Test Required eff 8/15

[dave_k58]

15 hours ago, trbarton said:

Princess is wanting a test 72 hrs, 3 days before the cruise. Anyone know if the 72 hrs is based on when you got the results back or when the test was taken?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom😀

I wanted to know that too.  I did, see that they amended there rule slightly - took out 72 hours and kept the 3 days

 

[dave_k58]

8 hours ago, trbarton said:

I see that CVS does a test called  Rapid-result test (NAAT). Do you know if this is acceptable?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom😀

Tom - I saw that it was acceptable for Carnival - and assume it is for Princess.

[Informatics Nurse]

8 hours ago, PointRoberts said:

  We live in a remote area of Washington that requires us to travel through Canada to get to Seattle for our 8/15 cruise. They only test for Covid is 2 days a week and Sunday is the one day a week that does not fall into the 3 day window for Covid test required for our cruise. We decided to take a test on Sunday 8/8 to make sure we were negative before we made the trek thru Canada to get additional testing within the 3 day window. We did this to so if we had been positive we could quarantine at home since Canada would not have allowed our return with a positive result. We made arrangements to be tested again, today at 5pm to be within the 72 hours originally stated that was needed to board our ship. There are only 2 testing sites available and we choose the public testing site since the other was already booked up thru 8/17 after our cruise had left. We showed up at our appointed time and we found the sign below. No email warning or call even though Whatcom county had all that information. I have searched all evening for an alternative test site that could get the results in before sailing and there are none. Princess should really have had a private testing site in Seattle that was up and running for the 3 days before sailing. It is BS to put us through the stress of doing this. I currently don’t know if they are going allow us to board. We have our test from last Sunday and proof that we tried to get a test within the rules they set. How do you deal with trying to get a Covid test when the local health department shuts testing down and you tried to get tested in good faith. 

 

My brother in Seattle says testing resources are widely available. I'd be happy to ask for resources, if that's helpful. 

[Gaynors]

Just wondering... 3 days before our Sunday November 28th cruise is Thanksgiving Day.   I'm not sure what the availability will be to get a test done that day and I don't see any CVS or Walgreens in my area that are doing the antigen testing (now at least).  

 

Not too worried at this point since I'm guessing things will change and the current rules are only for cruises up until October 31st.

 

Any thoughts?

[Jadn13]

2 minutes ago, Gaynors said:

Just wondering... 3 days before our Sunday November 28th cruise is Thanksgiving Day.   I'm not sure what the availability will be to get a test done that day and I don't see any CVS or Walgreens in my area that are doing the antigen testing (now at least).  

 

Not too worried at this point since I'm guessing things will change and the current rules are only for cruises up until October 31st.

 

Any thoughts?

At Home Antigen test with a Tele Health call.

[dog]

1 hour ago, Informatics Nurse said:

My brother in Seattle says testing resources are widely available. I'd be happy to ask for resources, if that's helpful. 

Cruise critic website West Coast Forum has a thread on Seattle test sites that may help. 

[Daniel A]

I think getting a test result (either type) just prior to boarding is a good thing for the individual.  Wouldn't you want to know if you were infected and possibly become ill onboard the ship beforehand?  I appreciate that it is a headache getting the test done and getting the results on time but it's probably a lot less stressful than being quarantined on board, disembarked in a strange country and subsequently being medevaced home.  If I needed to self-isolate, I'd rather do it at my home.

[Jadn13]

@PointRoberts Walgreens has some Availability tomorrow for Rapid Tests in  Seattle,  not all locations so you may want to try to book an Appt ASAP!

 

It's unfortunate that you are having issues but there are still options for you. 

I would check back on this thread and maybe others can share what they find  available in  Seattle as well. 

 

You sound like  you are at a bit of a breaking point so I hope helps.

 

***I went through the entire Appt process and this location has availability for tomorrow

from 3pm-5pm for the quick 1 hr result BINAXNOW test.

I obviously don't know where you are staying so I used the Port location,  this is about 25 mins away.

**Other Walgreens may exist closer to your location

 

Walgreens 

Address: 4412 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118

Phone: (206) 760-7880

 

https://www.walgreens.com/locator/walgreens-4412+rainier+ave+s-seattle-wa-98118/id=5950

 

 

Edited August 13, 2021 by Jadn13

[Turk1]

From Princess Site:

Guests must be tested with a SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) viral test that could be either an antigen test or a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT).

 

• Antigen tests include:
  • Rapid antigen test

  • Viral antigen test

  • Antigen Chromatographic Digital Immunoassay,

  • Antigen Chemiluminescence Immunoassay, or

  • Antigen Lateral Flow Fluorescence

  •  

• NAAT include:
  • PCR - Polymerase chain reaction

  • RT-PCR – reverse transcription real time PCR

  • Quantitative PCR (qPCR)

  • Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) test

  • Transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) test

  • Molecular test or molecular diagnostic test

  • Isothermal amplification

  • Droplet Digital PCR or digital droplet PCR (ddPCR)

  • Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)

[beach_fever_4ever]

I just checked Walgreens in Fort Lauderdale for testing availability and only saw a couple of stores in Hollywood that had a few testing slots. That's not good when many cruise ships start sailing.

[Informatics Nurse]

17 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

Someone in my roll call said Walgreens did a NAAT test. Would that work?

Yes, if they have it. It's the Rapid ID Now. It's NAAT and it will work for the cruise or Hawaii. 😉

Edited August 13, 2021 by Informatics Nurse

[nbsjcruiser]

Received this email this morning from Princess.

 

Here are our new, temporary pre-travel COVID-19 testing requirements:

• Effective with cruises departing on Sunday, August 15, 2021, through Sunday, October 31, 2021, we will require ALL fully vaccinated guests to produce a negative viral COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen) taken within 3 days of their embarkation on all Princess sailings.
• In order to board, fully vaccinated guests will be required to provide proof of this negative COVID-19 test, along with proof of full vaccination (final dose must have been received at least 14 days prior to embarkation), upon arrival in the terminal.
• Please note that testing in the terminal will not be available for fully vaccinated guests, so it’s critical that guests have their negative test results with them at cruise check-in.

There seems to be a deep misunderstanding on how these vaccines are meant to work. They are not meant, nor were they expected to, eliminate Covid. Their first priority is to ensure you dont get seriously ill and wind up in the hospital. The fact that they are also roughly 90% efficacious is, as Sanjay Gupta puts it, the cherry on the top.

 

You cannot eliminate the virus and in any large group of people there will be people with it, even if they are vaccinated. To think that you are accomplishing something by requiring a test of vaccinated people is foolhardy. Harvard Health estimates the accuracy of these PCR tests as follows: 
 

What about accuracy? The rate of false negatives — a test that says you don’t have the virus when you actually do have the virus — varies depending on how long infection has been present: in one study, the false-negative rate was 20% when testing was performed five days after symptoms began, but much higher (up to 100%) earlier in infection.

(source: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/which-test-is-best-for-covid-19-2020081020734)
 

We are now at the management phase of this thing. You get your vaccination, you dont gather in large crowds, wear a mask when necessary - MANAGE the situation. Cruise lines like NCL have the right idea - 100% vaccination. Full stop. That's all that is needed. If people do come down with it, they will not get seriously ill except only in rare situations. So manage it. Quarantine them to their room, off board them as soon as is practical and move on.

 

This is just such a hassle that its not even worth considering. To top it off, its unneeded. This sounds to me like the lawyers are now running the show. God help us all. I never dreamt this would be so poorly handled. After 30 cruises and almost 2 years away, we were so looking forward to stepping back on board. That's not going to happen this year and not likely to happen next year. I'll miss it but I wont be alone in my search for another option. Princess and the rest better realize real quick that attracting new customers to cruising anytime soon is going to be a very hard sell. Chasing away regular loyal customers is something they are going to regret.

[JF - retired RRT]

23 hours ago, trbarton said:

Princess is wanting a test 72 hrs, 3 days before the cruise. Anyone know if the 72 hrs is based on when you got the results back or when the test was taken?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom😀

It's 3 days, not 72 hours. Although 3 days = 72 hours, there is a difference as far as cruising is concerned.

 

[Syracusefan44]

I think this new testing policy will end on 10/31/21.

 

I honestly believe the CDC issued this mandate to the cruise lines. I find it very interesting that this new testing policy ends on the same date as the CDC - Conditional Sailing Order.  

[PRNole47]

1 hour ago, JF - retired RRT said:

It's 3 days, not 72 hours. Although 3 days = 72 hours, there is a difference as far as cruising is concerned.

 

The reason for changing the wording from 72 hrs to 3 days (since both reflect the same time period) is because "3 days" is more flexible for the person being tested than trying to stick within the "72 hrs" time frame.  If the cruise departs at 4pm on a Sat, "3 days" before means you can test anytime on Wed (3 days before) and not worry about what time the test is administered. If embarking at 4pm on a Sat, then testing at 10am on Wed is OK under the "3 day" rule but would be 78 hrs before embarkation, thus violating the "72 hr" rule.

[PRNole47]

4 hours ago, Syracusefan44 said:

I think this new testing policy will end on 10/31/21.

 

I honestly believe the CDC issued this mandate to the cruise lines. I find it very interesting that this new testing policy ends on the same date as the CDC - Conditional Sailing Order.  

Yes, because if the CDC ends guidance on 10/31, and cruise lines follow suit on same date, they can thereafter act on their own and set their own minimum standards.

[Sea Hag]

4 hours ago, Syracusefan44 said:

I think this new testing policy will end on 10/31/21.

 

I honestly believe the CDC issued this mandate to the cruise lines. I find it very interesting that this new testing policy ends on the same date as the CDC - Conditional Sailing Order.  

It might end on 11/1/21, and I have no idea if it will or not. But I've got a cruise sailing on 10/31/21, and I've already got the testing notice for that one.

[wineglass]

16 hours ago, dave_k58 said:

I wanted to know that too.  I did, see that they amended there rule slightly - took out 72 hours and kept the 3 days

 

It’s my understanding that the test must be Three days before boarding, I.e.: board on Saturday, test should be done on Thursday preceding 

[dog]

On 8/4/2021 at 12:53 PM, ebeluga said:

Yes, effective with cruises departing on August 15th, we will require ALL fully vaccinated guests to produce a negative, medically-observed viral COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen) taken within 3 days of their embarkation on all Princess sailings.

Fully vaccinated guests will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test along with proof of full vaccination upon arrival in the terminal and can then proceed onboard. Please note that testing in the terminal will not be available for vaccinated guests, so it’s critical that you have your negative test results with you upon your arrival. We will not be able to accommodate guests without proof of a negative test.

I wonder if Princess will be testing crew and guests currently  on-board who are staying on for the August 15 th cruise. There could be some passengers doing b2b. 

[geoherb]

6 hours ago, wineglass said:

It’s my understanding that the test must be Three days before boarding, I.e.: board on Saturday, test should be done on Thursday preceding 

 

No. The testing for a Saturday cruise could be done no earlier than the Wednesday preceding it. I'm going on a cruise Sunday, August 22. My test will be next Thursday.

[Jadn13]

6 hours ago, wineglass said:

It’s my understanding that the test must be Three days before boarding, I.e.: board on Saturday, test should be done on Thursday preceding 

Wednesday for Saturday

Thursday for Sunday 

[awhcruiser]

8 hours ago, dog said:

I wonder if Princess will be testing crew and guests currently  on-board who are staying on for the August 15 th cruise. There could be some passengers doing b2b. 

No b2bs are permitted at the present time

[Jadn13]

5 minutes ago, awhcruiser said:

No b2bs are permitted at the present time

 

B2B's in the US are allowed and the ship is testing on board for the following week 

[awhcruiser]

1 minute ago, Jadn13 said:

 

B2B's in the US are allowed and the ship is testing on board for the following week 

ok....thanks for the clarification

[mellon1]

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