Another Problem for Canadian Cruisers

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, peanutgirl said:

We crossed last night into NB at Calais. The agent told us that our pcr test done on our NCL cruise 24 hours ago was not valid since it was done on a marine craft   He said the people before us had the same problem and he pulled them over and that they were inside now but they had not done ArriveCAN and we had so he would let us go this time but he would put a note on our file that he had informed us of this issue. 

Well, isn't that cheery news? Out of curiosity, how did he know that you were tested aboard a cruise ship?

[DHLuCruise]

2 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Well, isn't that cheery news? Out of curiosity, how did he know that you were tested aboard a cruise ship?

I thought one of the posts above showed that it lists the ship name on the test.

[edrussell]

A CBSA officer with a chip on their shoulder maybe..  Trying to be as objective here as possible and see all angles but clearly something is amiss.  As a former VERY frequent crosser of the border for years and many, many, many times with my fifth wheel we have had our fair share of CBSA in both directions that seemed to just want to be difficult.  I KNOW they have a a very hard job to do (I have a close friend that worked as one up until 2 years ago) and I never ever talk back or try and add fuel to the fire but sometimes it is hard to bite your tongue.  

 

Playing devils advocate I can only imagine adding the pandemic to what they have to face can be a tough deal.  Our of pure curiosity does anyone have any references anywhere to their assertion?

 

[DHLuCruise]

15 minutes ago, edrussell said:

 

 

Playing devils advocate I can only imagine adding the pandemic to what they have to face can be a tough deal.  Our of pure curiosity does anyone have any references anywhere to their assertion?

 

 

I think we need to hear from the person crossing the border on more details on what the CBSA officer actually said.  They may be keying off the fact that it is not 'officially' on land in the USA yet? 

 

This is truly the first time I've heard someone being warned (with the potential of being denied) for this reason. This actually was my exact question to the PHAC saying 'does a test on a boat done by an american lab on the way back to the USA count?'. The person looked up some stuff and didnt see anything in the criteria that would make that a problem. Again, we are talking about odd interpretation here. 

 

I am strongly considering turning down the Royal test and just book one at a local Walgreens when I get off. Its an added expense for a family of 4 but the last thing i need is full on quarantine. 

 

I may call the PHAC again this week and confirm but I definitely would love more details on what the CBSA guard was thinking.

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by DHLuCruise

[Fouremco]

5 minutes ago, edrussell said:

Our of pure curiosity does anyone have any references anywhere to their assertion?

 

The entry requirements state that if you enter by land, as @peanutgirl indicated was the case, you have to be tested in the US. We can make arguments about perhaps having been in territorial waters or whatever other hope we might want to cling to, but from a CBSA officer's perspective, they left the US when the cruise departed and had not reentered at the time they were tested. I've no argument with the logic. Fortunately for the vast majority of us who fly back, there is no stipulation as to where the test is taken, only when.

 

That said, the CBSA officer explained it poorly. While he's right, it wasn't valid because they were on a marine craft, but because they were still on a marine craft, they hadn't reentered the US as required for the test.

 

Time to go watch a grandson's hockey game and leave these problems behind for a while!

[peanutgirl]

The officer at the border said our test was not taken in the USA. Our test clearly said it was taken on an NCL ship. He knew we had been on a cruise and wear  we had been, I think from swiping our passports-and asked if we planned on doing any more cruises and if we did  we had to get tested on land before we came across again

 

 

[Froufie]

1 hour ago, peanutgirl said:

The officer at the border said our test was not taken in the USA. Our test clearly said it was taken on an NCL ship. He knew we had been on a cruise and wear  we had been, I think from swiping our passports-and asked if we planned on doing any more cruises and if we did  we had to get tested on land before we came across again

 

 

So for example if you got tested in the terminal (as they are doing for Princess) would your results then say test was taken 'in' the US - or would it still say 'on the ship?'  - what exactly did your document say?

 

 

[#55worktoplay]

31 minutes ago, Froufie said:

So for example if you got tested in the terminal (as they are doing for Princess) would your results then say test was taken 'in' the US - or would it still say 'on the ship?'  - what exactly did your document say?

 

 

You are on land in the US at the terminal not on the sea sailing. 

[DHLuCruise]

1 hour ago, peanutgirl said:

The officer at the border said our test was not taken in the USA. Our test clearly said it was taken on an NCL ship. He knew we had been on a cruise and wear  we had been, I think from swiping our passports-and asked if we planned on doing any more cruises and if we did  we had to get tested on land before we came across again

 

I appreciate you giving your experience. We do have the time (since we are driving) to grab a NAAT test at a pharmacy on the way back and we will do that just to be sure. 

[lx200gps]

10 hours ago, Froufie said:

So for example if you got tested in the terminal (as they are doing for Princess) would your results then say test was taken 'in' the US - or would it still say 'on the ship?'  - what exactly did your document say?

 

 

We did the Princess test at Terminal 2 at PE on the 27th of November. The document we received had our results,  the lab address on 35th st in New York, the lab director's name and listed OUR address as 1850 Eller Drive, which is Port Everglades. There is no mention of Princess or cruising, though the PE address is obviously a dead giveaway.

[DHLuCruise]

53 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

We did the Princess test at Terminal 2 at PE on the 27th of November. The document we received had our results,  the lab address on 35th st in New York, the lab director's name and listed OUR address as 1850 Eller Drive, which is Port Everglades. There is no mention of Princess or cruising, though the PE address is obviously a dead giveaway.

 

So we've pretty much decided to forego the royal provided test and go to CVS or Walgreens for it given we are driving across the border. 

 

If royal decides to test at the port for that sailing then we will just do that instead since that is 'in the USA'.

 

I'm just spooked now with rumblings of cruise ship tests not being good enough for land crossings.

[vana]

Hello, 

 

we got back on Nov 27th from FLL, by air. Azamara tested us on the ship prior to disembarkation. 
 

our certificate (eurofins) says:

stateroom #

name of ship

but gives an adress in MA, USA.

 

we had no trouble at the airport with air Canada nor at our arrival in Montreal.

 

we are planning to drive to NY to take a cruise for Xmas and back in Jan. The same day of disembarkation. Don't really want to pay 500$ cdn to get a rapid result for a PCR test since we are not staying in NY. So we will give whatever test kind result we will receive from the cruise ship and we will see. Canada might want to test us upon arrival and quarantine us at home until we get the result… we will be prepare for that. Important thing is to complete our arrivecan form. 

and it might change again and again before we come back 🥴

 

have a great day all, 
 

[bookbabe]

We had absolutely no trouble using the NCL-provided test done on the last sea day of our November cruise, but we were flying back so maybe that’s the difference?  

[Magicat]

21 hours ago, K_e_short said:

 

I played around this site this morning and noticed two things

 

1 - my son who is 14 doesn't show up on the system, is it possible it's only for those 18 and over?

 

2 - I've been on one cruise to the Caribbean and my records show:

 

The Unavailable is us bording the Carnival Sunshine for our cruise to the Bahamas.

 

So do they have a record of us going to the Bahamas or is this just a glitch?

 

15	2018-03-17	Departure	ORL
16	2018-03-11	Departure	Unavailable
17	2018-03-10	Arrival	OTT

I have many of these "Unavailable" indicators on my file too.  I guess they are just happy to record you left.

[Fouremco]

11 minutes ago, Magicat said:

I have many of these "Unavailable" indicators on my file too.  I guess they are just happy to record you left.

I get a chuckle over the initial "arrival" entry. Rather than showing the city where you actually arrived in the US, they show the Canadian city where you went through pre-clearance. 

[Magicat]

18 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I get a chuckle over the initial "arrival" entry. Rather than showing the city where you actually arrived in the US, they show the Canadian city where you went through pre-clearance. 

I suppose that is you "entered" the US at pre clearance in the Canadian city.  I'm sure it makes sense to someone somewhere.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Magicat

[CamCan4]

Off topic here, but someone close to me who works with health and safety for a major company (Ontario) has just been notified our Government (assuming Premier) is going to be making an announcement tomorrow stating that if you are exposed to COVID you are now required to quarantine, vaxxed or not and low risk or high risk. Basically you have an exposure you’re in quarantine no matter who you are. Reasoning behind it is Omicron is accounting for 35% of cases now. I’ll be paying very close attention to this. 

[xcell]

27 minutes ago, CamCan4 said:

Off topic here, but someone close to me who works with health and safety for a major company (Ontario) has just been notified our Government (assuming Premier) is going to be making an announcement tomorrow stating that if you are exposed to COVID you are now required to quarantine, vaxxed or not and low risk or high risk. Basically you have an exposure you’re in quarantine no matter who you are. Reasoning behind it is Omicron is accounting for 35% of cases now. I’ll be paying very close attention to this. 

It was 10% just this past week -- I guess it's an exponential rise?

 

Are they going to throw the kitchen sink at it again, just like when Covd started.

 

Have we not learned anything from this?  I mean, what's the point of the vaccine? the boosters? if we are going into a semi- soon to be another lock down?

 

I know I'm jumping the gun on this but seeing how we have reacted in the past (meaning Ontario), I learned that we are overly paranoid ...

 

 

[broberts]

4 minutes ago, xcell said:

It was 10% just this past week -- I guess it's an exponential rise?

 

Are they going to throw the kitchen sink at it again, just like when Covd started.

 

Have we not learned anything from this?  I mean, what's the point of the vaccine? the boosters? if we are going into a semi- soon to be another lock down?

 

I know I'm jumping the gun on this but seeing how we have reacted in the past (meaning Ontario), I learned that we are overly paranoid ...

 

 

 

We will continue this pattern so long as we keep pulling back too soon and too much. And, I believe so long as we don't insist on vaccinations for anyone that works in the company of others.

 

Living with the virus does not mean throwing out all the mitigation measures we know work.

[Welly9]

as I mentioned in another thread, week back now, from our RC cruise, we got a PCR test aboard the Odyssey OTS, day before disembarkation, flew from FLL to DTW, drove thru PortHuron/Sarnia, filled out the app, and had a paper copy of our test, no problem, our agent actually said all good, hope you had a good cruise! 

 

[Welly9]

1 minute ago, Welly9 said:

as I mentioned in another thread, week back now, from our RC cruise, we got a PCR test aboard the Odyssey OTS, day before disembarkation, flew from FLL to DTW, drove thru PortHuron/Sarnia, filled out the app, and had a paper copy of our test, no problem, our agent actually said all good, hope you had a good cruise! 

 

FYI if it means anything, tested on the ship, and I believe analysis is based in Miami, our form said that anyway! 

[CamCan4]

1 hour ago, xcell said:

It was 10% just this past week -- I guess it's an exponential rise?

 

Are they going to throw the kitchen sink at it again, just like when Covd started.

 

Have we not learned anything from this?  I mean, what's the point of the vaccine? the boosters? if we are going into a semi- soon to be another lock down?

 

I know I'm jumping the gun on this but seeing how we have reacted in the past (meaning Ontario), I learned that we are overly paranoid ...

 

 

 

1 hour ago, broberts said:

 

We will continue this pattern so long as we keep pulling back too soon and too much. And, I believe so long as we don't insist on vaccinations for anyone that works in the company of others.

 

Living with the virus does not mean throwing out all the mitigation measures we know work.

 

44 minutes ago, Welly9 said:

as I mentioned in another thread, week back now, from our RC cruise, we got a PCR test aboard the Odyssey OTS, day before disembarkation, flew from FLL to DTW, drove thru PortHuron/Sarnia, filled out the app, and had a paper copy of our test, no problem, our agent actually said all good, hope you had a good cruise! 

 

Honestly I’m supposed to leave a week today. I don’t even know if I want to pack. We were going on this cruise come he!! or high water. I will quarantine when I get home if I have to. I just want the option to do this. 
 

Who knows what will happen at this point. I wouldn’t be surprised if we were mid cruise and heard the Government of Canada is calling all Canadians back. Nothing they do now would surprise me. Just frustrating after so many years of this bs. 

[Welly9]

2 minutes ago, CamCan4 said:

 

 

Honestly I’m supposed to leave a week today. I don’t even know if I want to pack. We were going on this cruise come he!! or high water. I will quarantine when I get home if I have to. I just want the option to do this. 
 

Who knows what will happen at this point. I wouldn’t be surprised if we were mid cruise and heard the Government of Canada is calling all Canadians back. Nothing they do now would surprise me. Just frustrating after so many years of this bs. 

Go on your cruise and enjoy, dont let "them' rule your life, it is BS, Both US and Cdn Govt's have politized this Pandemic to the nth degree.

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, CamCan4 said:

Off topic here, but someone close to me who works with health and safety for a major company (Ontario) has just been notified our Government (assuming Premier) is going to be making an announcement tomorrow stating that if you are exposed to COVID you are now required to quarantine, vaxxed or not and low risk or high risk. Basically you have an exposure you’re in quarantine no matter who you are. Reasoning behind it is Omicron is accounting for 35% of cases now. I’ll be paying very close attention to this. 

I've no problem with the concept, but I'll withhold judgement until I see the details. For starters, what does "exposed to COVID" mean? For example, if another child in one of my grandkids' schools has COVID, does every kid in the school and all the teachers have to quarantine? If I go to a Sens game and another attendee has COVID, am I considered to be exposed, even though we were sitting at opposite end of the rink? So many questions...

 

1 hour ago, broberts said:

 

We will continue this pattern so long as we keep pulling back too soon and too much. And, I believe so long as we don't insist on vaccinations for anyone that works in the company of others.

 

Living with the virus does not mean throwing out all the mitigation measures we know work.

Well said, I couldn't agree more. 

[xcell]

5 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I've no problem with the concept, but I'll withhold judgement until I see the details. For starters, what does "exposed to COVID" mean? For example, if another child in one of my grandkids' schools has COVID, does every kid in the school and all the teachers have to quarantine? If I go to a Sens game and another attendee has COVID, am I considered to be exposed, even though we were sitting at opposite end of the rink? So many questions...

 

Well said, I couldn't agree more. 

It would be like at the start, where a grocery store employee tested postive for covid and they shut down the store for 2 weeks for "deep cleaning" -- that made so much sense (this was in Ontario, I think Markham)

 

Or shut down small businesses but keep Costco open...

 

What is more annoying than Covid is the inconsistency in how they are dealing with it...  

 

Between business, provinces (Ontario was locked down the hardest and longest)...

Edited December 12, 2021 by xcell