Caribbean Ports Testing Requirements - How many and what cost?

[Megabear2]

We are now 3 weeks from final payment date for our long ago booked Caribbean cruise.  Regular checks on the island destinations show varying entry requirements for PCR tests which are not carried out at home (presumably "at home" are the video type offered by some UK Government recommended providers). Some islands require within 72 hours, some accept within 5 days and one even states within 7 days.  P&O have told me the offered complimentary test is one carried out at the port.  This indicates that the PCR test at Birmingham will need to be arranged by us, together with the returning flight and 2 day UK arrival tests.  This total of 3 tests will cost around £150 for each person. Looking at the  requirements of the islands to be visited we could be looking at a minimum further 5 tests being required, all PCR so of the more expensive variety.  Only the BVI gives a cost for these which is $50 plus a registration form cost of $35.  Curacao and Bonaire have UK on very high risk list with even stricter requirements.  Although our booking does not include Martinique and Guadeloupe those on the Azura 10/11 December sailings do and today these two islands re-entered emergency status with curfews.  

 

Aside from the cost of these PCR tests which add up to around £600 per person at a reasonable guess does anyone have an idea how P&O might actually be planning to handle these required PCR tests logistically? Despite asking for a number of months they have provided no idea or comment save to say there will be a complimentary port test.

 

I am loathe to part with our somewhat hefty balance  without knowing what we are actually getting into both financially and logistically for testing. Does anyone else have any information or a view on this or am I being over cautious.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[bee-ess]

Excellent Post, I have no more information than you have so well documented and this is more than I knew. I agree with everything you say, many of us on here will soon be paying final balances and we need to know what our rules will be for the Caribbean season such as cost of tests required and what the rules will be regarding leaving the ship independently. Otherwise we will just be buying blind. Maybe we will have our balances reduced to 30 day terms until things are clearer.

We have to pay on Oct 3rd and I am hoping that the Summer 2023 cruises are on sale by then as it will at least give us another option to move to as we have no slots left in 2022 to move to.

[kevboy]

I am on the Brittania transatlantic cruise 22nd October and balance was requested 12 weeks prior. There will be no reduction to 30 days terms. With regard to testing, My grandchild aged 11 needs a PCR before embarkation and P&O say this will be complimentary. However, they will not say where or when this will be done since they are still sorting out arrangements. Disembarking at ports of call will only be allowed if on an official P&O excursion. Again however, they are in the process of arranging for passengers to be able to get off the ship for some kind of Port visit under their own volition but dont give any more details. I think P&O are hoping to be able to do LFT`s at each port rather than PCR`s. So far, with regard to needing PCR testing before entering any Island port - P&O have remained silent. I am concerned that passengers may find themselves having to remain on the ship due to the cost of umpteen PCR tests plus possible hours spent in testing queues. Port excursions are available to book now but there is still no mention of any required testing beforehand. Come on P&O lets have some clarification of the situation.

[Guest]

I’ve been wondering about this as well.

 

I wonder what the US ships are doing, or whether their itineraries don’t visit places with strict testing rules. 
 

I am on Azura 24/12 and Britannia 25/2, so am very curious. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are itinerary changes! 
 

I’m sure P&O are working hard with the authorities to come to a solution. 

[Zombatar]

This is exactly why we pushed our Feb 22 Azura cruise back 12 months. Hopefully the cruising world we be a little more normal by then!!

 

Peter and Jenny

[yorkshirephil]

We are in a similar situation, our final payment is due in 6 weeks for our 35 night Caribbean cruise. It is hard to imagine that much will have changed by then. We are going for the warm weather and have been many times so won't be too disappointed if we cannot get off at every stop however if it looks as if we will still have to take P&O trips to get off we will move the cruise or even lose the 5% deposit. Similarly if we have to pay for overpriced PCR tests just to walk around. It is a difficult situation and I can see that P&O cannot make policy for something that is changing so often, however moving final payment date to 30 days would likely be the deciding factor as to whether we go or not.

[Megabear2]

Clearly we are not going to get much joy from P&O on the situation.  I also have a 28 day Caribbean with Cunard and on asking them the same type of question received even more complex gobbledegook.  It seems that the Carnival companies are being instructed to bluff and keep their passengers in the dark.  Looks like we have to budget for the worse case scenario if we travel and decide if we can afford the tests.  I have no problem with taking P&O excursions but if I have to pay over £1,000 for testing for the two of us there will by necessity be a lot less money going into P&O's coffers over the bar, in shops and on the excursions.

[Son of Anarchy]

3 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

We are in a similar situation, our final payment is due in 6 weeks for our 35 night Caribbean cruise. It is hard to imagine that much will have changed by then. We are going for the warm weather and have been many times so won't be too disappointed if we cannot get off at every stop however if it looks as if we will still have to take P&O trips to get off we will move the cruise or even lose the 5% deposit. Similarly if we have to pay for overpriced PCR tests just to walk around. It is a difficult situation and I can see that P&O cannot make policy for something that is changing so often, however moving final payment date to 30 days would likely be the deciding factor as to whether we go or not.

About 13 weeks to go to pay final balance for our 35 roundtrip TA.  Unlike our view of generally being content to stay on board on most W Med cruises in the event of only going ashore on ship's excursions, this one is very different.  The only ship's tour that currently holds any interest for us is the Kennedy Space Centre.  Most of the other stops are new to us, so we would prefer to DIY wherever possible.  We did think of changing our booking to the 2023 equivalent, but the price was a bit more than what we paid for 2022 (booked on board, at launch).  So, hey ho, if by November the going ashore aspect doesn't suit us will have to either lift & shift, or cancel and forego the deposit, which luckily is only £100 for the two of us.  Interestingly though, the price of our cabin has now risen by over £1000pp.

 

At least we've got 13ish weeks to go before we arrive at that point.  I hope you get sufficient information in time to help you make your decision.

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, Son of Anarchy said:

The only ship's tour that currently holds any interest for us is the Kennedy Space Centre. 

And, unless the US changes its current policy, you won't be able to step ashore in the US,  P&O tour or not !

[Son of Anarchy]

12 minutes ago, wowzz said:

And, unless the US changes its current policy, you won't be able to step ashore in the US,  P&O tour or not !

Indeed, unfortunately.  Got 3 months for the US to review that, so 🤞.

 

Makes you wonder whether with the various caribbean restrictions, P&O may have to revisit both of Ventura's round trip TAs and do something closer to home. 🤔

[zap99]

23 minutes ago, wowzz said:

And, unless the US changes its current policy, you won't be able to step ashore in the US,  P&O tour or not !

Apparently 20% of USA Covid cases are in Florida.

[Son of Anarchy]

30 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Apparently 20% of USA Covid cases are in Florida.

Three of our port calls are in Florida!!!😨😷😱

[Megabear2]

Following on from my original worries on this topic we took the decision to move our booking to the 30 December 2022 Britannia sailing. 

 

However I remain booked on the Queen Mary 2 sailing departing on 14 January 2022, this time on my own as a solo traveller.  Prompted by suggestions on the Cunard board I emailed the Executive office with my queries regarding testing requirements and logistics.  I have received the reply as follows on 7 August

 

"Thank you for your recent email to Paul Ludlow, President here at P&O Cruises.

Mr Ludlow has taken note of your comments and asked that we investigate and come back to you once this has been completed.

I am sincerely sorry that you have had the need to contact us with the below issues and we shall be in contact in due course."

 

Very surprised that an email on a Cunard cruise query is apparently being dealt with by P&O, but any reply will hopefully cover both companies.

 

Reading on the next traffic light review coming next week, it appears that Barbados, Dominica and the BVI are being seen as candidates to move to the amber list.  If this happens the impact on any of us planning Caribbean cruises will be big.

[cruisenewbie1976]

20 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Following on from my original worries on this topic we took the decision to move our booking to the 30 December 2022 Britannia sailing. 

 

However I remain booked on the Queen Mary 2 sailing departing on 14 January 2022, this time on my own as a solo traveller.  Prompted by suggestions on the Cunard board I emailed the Executive office with my queries regarding testing requirements and logistics.  I have received the reply as follows on 7 August

 

"Thank you for your recent email to Paul Ludlow, President here at P&O Cruises.

Mr Ludlow has taken note of your comments and asked that we investigate and come back to you once this has been completed.

I am sincerely sorry that you have had the need to contact us with the below issues and we shall be in contact in due course."

 

Very surprised that an email on a Cunard cruise query is apparently being dealt with by P&O, but any reply will hopefully cover both companies.

 

Reading on the next traffic light review coming next week, it appears that Barbados, Dominica and the BVI are being seen as candidates to move to the amber list.  If this happens the impact on any of us planning Caribbean cruises will be big.

Surely with almost 90% of adults having had a vaccine, visiting an Amber list country will have very little impact? I still wouldn't be surprised if P&O decide that all passengers need to be vaccinated for these later cruises too, with maybe an exception for those that can't have it for medical reasons and children. 

[Megabear2]

Unfortunately it is the destinations that have the UK as high risk due to the fear of British guests spreading the Delta variant. There is not one destination on the Caribbean itineraries which do not require Pcr tests, electronic submission of forms etc. One island St Kitts is closed to all UK travellers until at least 31 August. The colour of the traffic light the UK government gives is of no relevance whatsoever if the destinations have strict requirements for PCR tests.  Barbados for instance quotes $250 for a US citizen to have the necessary test.  The USA remains under a travel ban by the UK government so any cruises visiting ports there are uninsurable even at this point.  

 

My TA has advised for the 28 day Cunard voyage I have remaining sailing in January I should budget around £500 per person for testing and documents required by the ports.  It is this advice which has caused us to cancel our November cruise.  If P&O and the other Carnival companies plan to sail these voyages surely they must be some way down the route of sharing the logistics for these PCR tests or what the alternative is intended to be.

[tring]

43 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Unfortunately it is the destinations that have the UK as high risk due to the fear of British guests spreading the Delta variant. There is not one destination on the Caribbean itineraries which do not require Pcr tests, electronic submission of forms etc. One island St Kitts is closed to all UK travellers until at least 31 August. The colour of the traffic light the UK government gives is of no relevance whatsoever if the destinations have strict requirements for PCR tests.  Barbados for instance quotes $250 for a US citizen to have the necessary test.  The USA remains under a travel ban by the UK government so any cruises visiting ports there are uninsurable even at this point.  

 

My TA has advised for the 28 day Cunard voyage I have remaining sailing in January I should budget around £500 per person for testing and documents required by the ports.  It is this advice which has caused us to cancel our November cruise.  If P&O and the other Carnival companies plan to sail these voyages surely they must be some way down the route of sharing the logistics for these PCR tests or what the alternative is intended to be.

 

If theses sort of requirements remain in place I would very much doubt if the Caribbean sailings will take place, unless they can arrange different requirements for cruise passengers if they are both fully vaccinated and only allowed ashore on covid secure excursions.  Covid secure excursions would protect the local community from infection by cruise passengers as well as protect the ship from any outside source of infection, provided they are operated correctly.

 

Hence my main concerned is whether we will be able to leave the ship independently (if not we will still have some good weather that we would not get at home and can take a few excursions).  My other concern is that the cruise will be cancelled, in which case we would get a refund (eventually) and can hopefully arrange another holiday in it's place.  

 

Somewhat easier for us though as we are not due on Aurora until next February, so will be able to see how things are progressing by then.  Also, it is a good priced cruise, so having to pay for a few excursions does not seem a big issue to us, especially since we had spent sweet nothing on holidays for the duration of the pandemic.  Not being able to access some warm weather for yet another winter is something we would be very annoyed about though.  I can see others may have other feelings about that though.

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by tring

[Megabear2]

As I travel alone a lot of the time I normally take ship excursions anyway so have no problem with this. However this time I am travelling with my sister and I have been led to believe even if you do not leave the ship the tests will be required so £500 is a lot to sit at sea for the entire time.

 

I believe the Aurora sailing you refer to had a low deposit, mine is the full 15% under normal cancellation policy where I lose it and have to pay my balance 12 weeks before departure, hence my concern at a leap in the dark. My agent requires payment mid September for my January cruise.

[wowzz]

Let's be realistic here. If there are numerous tests to pass before passengers can disembark at various islands,  P&O will just cancel the entire cruise programme. 

The time, effort and expense will just not make the Caribbean programme economical to P&O.  Expect to see Britannia cruising to Tenerife and back in January if the current Caribbean regulations are still in force.

[tring]

12 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

As I travel alone a lot of the time I normally take ship excursions anyway so have no problem with this. However this time I am travelling with my sister and I have been led to believe even if you do not leave the ship the tests will be required so £500 is a lot to sit at sea for the entire time.

 

I believe the Aurora sailing you refer to had a low deposit, mine is the full 15% under normal cancellation policy where I lose it and have to pay my balance 12 weeks before departure, hence my concern at a leap in the dark. My agent requires payment mid September for my January cruise.

 

I see your point, but there is always the option of moving your booking to a later date without penalty under current P&O transfer policy, which I think is still in place.  It does get tiring just kicking holidays further into the long grass though, as we still do not know what the world will look like in the future.  It does depend how much the cash means to you though, if it has taken a while for you to get the cash together for a special cruise, then it does seem a big risk indeed.

[Megabear2]

9 hours ago, wowzz said:

Let's be realistic here. If there are numerous tests to pass before passengers can disembark at various islands,  P&O will just cancel the entire cruise programme. 

The time, effort and expense will just not make the Caribbean programme economical to P&O.  Expect to see Britannia cruising to Tenerife and back in January if the current Caribbean regulations are still in force.

This is very much the point of my asking the questions. If my payment terms were moved to 30 days I would be much happier. As it stands I understand all  cruises up to 31 December are on these shorter payment terms but into 2022 we revert to standard terms.

 

My sister and I have now bitten the bullet and moved our November cruise to early December next year.  The cost of 2021 November cruise was £2500 each, the new one is £3,100 each. The original 2020 cruise was £1950 each. Moving the cruises is fine but as these figures show we are creeping up considerably in cost!

 

I have kept my relatively new Cunard QM2 booking for January as the price was very good. The 28 day single cabin cost was £4,100. However the same problem of tests will be there.

 

I am early retired on mental health grounds and have limited income as a result. I save long and hard for my cruises which are a relatively easy way to have stress free travel.  The cruise with my sister was intended for last year and moved to this and now onward to next year.  We have not had a holiday together for very many years but since her retirement in 2019 thought this would be a good opportunity to do so.

 

The Cunard one was an impulse based on the positive statements from the Executive Office of both companies.

 

My only complaint if you can call it that, is the vague "we are monitoring the situation" updates. It would be helpful to have some clue as to what machinations are actually going on and an acknowledgement that guests do need some information albeit not in concrete or confirmed. If we are cancelled all well and good, it is the feeling of being the mouse on the cruise companies' piece of string that is making me uncomfortable.

[yorkshirephil]

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

This is very much the point of my asking the questions. If my payment terms were moved to 30 days I would be much happier. As it stands I understand all  cruises up to 31 December are on these shorter payment terms but into 2022 we revert to standard terms.

 

My only complaint if you can call it that, is the vague "we are monitoring the situation" updates. It would be helpful to have some clue as to what machinations are actually going on and an acknowledgement that guests do need some information albeit not in concrete or confirmed. If we are cancelled all well and good, it is the feeling of being the mouse on the cruise companies' piece of string that is making me uncomfortable.

I agree with your sentiment, most of us get that these are difficult times and things are changing, we are due to pay our balance on 20th Sept for our Jan cruise. As Wowzz says if things are the same in the Caribbean this winter then there is a fair chance those cruises would be cancelled. However we do not want to commit several thousand pounds and then find that we can only take P&O tours. Or some of the islands still demand some form of testing to go ashore. We are going to hang fire in case they reduce the final payment terms, if not we will move our deposit to something else, quite a few people on the facecloth event for our cruise have already moved with lots more considering moving. We are putting in a contingency plan for getting an apartment for a 4/5 weeks in the Canaries to replace the cruise.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

We are putting in a contingency plan for getting an apartment for a 4/5 weeks in the Canaries to replace the cruise.

Sounds like a plan!!

[downsmead]

We were part of a large family group on a Caribbean cruise on Britannia. Most of us have now cancelled. Whatever happens the cruise is not the one we booked over 18 months ago. Faced with final payment before the end of the month we decided to lose our deposit rather than move it to a cruise we were ‘lukewarm’ on, or pay up for our suite and then be left waiting for a refund for the money.

Edited August 18, 2021 by downsmead

[Dermotsgirl]

1 hour ago, downsmead said:

We were part of a large family group on a Caribbean cruise on Britannia. Most of us have now cancelled. Whatever happens the cruise is not the one we booked over 18 months ago. Faced with final payment before the end of the month we decided to lose our deposit rather than move it to a cruise we were ‘lukewarm’ on, or pay up for our suite and then be left waiting for a refund for the money.

I totally understand what you are saying.

 

At this point, I wouldn’t want to pay out several thousand pounds on a cruise experience which hasn’t yet been defined, and highly questionable whether it will sail, or if it sails will the itinerary be anything like the one originally booked. 
 

I’ve already moved my two outstanding cruises forward to 2022. I think my next due date for balance payment is February., so 6 months away. I have a feeling things won’t be much different in February. I know there’s the option to move the cruise again, but.wondering if I’ll. end up indefinitely moving cruises forward. I paid the original deposits back in October 2019, so the money has been gone from my account for a long time. Depending on the situation next February, there’s part of me that wants to just forget about the cruise and forfeit the deposit. However, both the original cruises were ‘big’ cruises, so the deposits are relatively big.  At least I don’t have to make a decision just yet 

[yorkshirephil]

I have bit the bullet and swapped our Jan 22 Caribbean cruise and booked a nice seafront suite in a hotel in Fuerteventura for a month. I wasn't willing to commit to paying our balance for something that may or may not take place and certainly won't resemble cruising as we know it.