Another Problem for Canadian Cruisers

[melbrook]

1 hour ago, Graycruise said:

We put US.  The cruiseline letterhead shows a Miami address, so that seemed appropriate.  As far as bridge vs tunnel goes, we always check border wait times - but unfortunately ArriveCan won't let you do either/or options for land crossing (no surprise, would be nice to select "Windsor" vs bridge or tunnel).  We had submitted with the bridge as crossing location, but if we had wanted to switch to tunnel, we would have had to do a new submission.

The bridge comment was just a joke...the ongoing debate of which crossing is more strict.  😋  We will likely cross at the tunnel as it's closer to home.  It will be a Saturday night, close to 11pm so likely not too crazy.  Thank you for the reply - the USA address on the test results does make me feel safe in saying i got tested in the States.  Or at least I think I could please my case in court!  Hopefully more land crossing stories get shared to verify this.

[melbrook]

1 hour ago, nickiford said:

Oh great, another thing to worry about.  This is absolute insanity.  We get a PCR test onboard the ship on Saturday, fly home to Buffalo Sunday, drive across the border and there is a possibility for them not to accept the PCR test because it was done in the wrong location?!?  As long as the test is in the timeframe it should be acceptable. 

 

These people that write these policies really don't think of all of the possible scenarios.  I'm getting on the ship in the US, having the test done when we are literally on our way back to the US,  that's a US test as far as I'm concerned.   I would love to see how these charges ever hold up in court.  Let's not forget the purpose....how does not accepting the Celebrity test increase the risk of Covid...it doesn't!!!! 

 

If this actually becomes a thing, I just won't bother with free PCR on Celebrity and just go to Walgreens in Buffalo when we get back.    I would love for people to continue to post about their experiences returning home for this aspect as well as the random soon to be all arrival covid testing and the quarantining.

I felt the same when I read that.  If I hear stories that they aren't accepting the cruise one we will also just get it done in FLL before we fly home.  Our commute from the airport to home is only 30 minutes so no time to get a full on PCR test.  We sit in Florida all day before our flight so we have the time to get tested there.    I had also heard the cruise wants to see your flight home to Canada which i wont have as we are crossing by land - I assume a map can help explain that one!

[broberts]

5 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Thanks. In reading your original post, I missed the fact that the couple in question had entered Canada by car and thought we were dealing with a flight arrival. And of course, the regulations do require the test to have been taken in the US in this case:

 

 

AC, you beat me to the Send button! 😊

 

 

 

 

If memory serves, before the 72 hour exception was introduced there was a clarification that one could be tested in Canada before going.

 

While we all want testing aboard ship, at port testing removes concern about test acceptance.

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by broberts

[melbrook]

3 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

If memory serves, before the 72 hour exception was introduced there was a clarification that one could be tested in Canada before going.

This question was about a return to Canada after 2 weeks on a cruise and in the States - testing in Canada isn't an option.  Your example was when we could cross for a day or two and get tested at home first.   

[broberts]

3 minutes ago, melbrook said:

This question was about a return to Canada after 2 weeks on a cruise and in the States - testing in Canada isn't an option.  Your example was when we could cross for a day or two and get tested at home first.   

 

I was simply continuing the discussion of what was vs what is.

[melbrook]

3 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

I was simply continuing the discussion of what was vs what is.

 

gotcha!  

[Graycruise]

I know it all sounds very overwhelming, but trust me, it is WORTH IT!  You don't realize until you have been 'away' how much we have been drowning in the over-hype and insanity.  People elsewhere are going about their lives with a healthy respect for the virus, but striking a balance between carefree and cautious.  Despite all of the hoops you need to jump through to get back into Canada, your time away will give you a very healthy perspective that has been lost here.  

 

There is a world out there that is worth venturing out to see ( or SEA, pun intended!)

 

 

[DHLuCruise]

Hey is this test taken in USA thing for drivers always there or was it part of the recent border thing ? This is a big stress if the covid test from royal isn't considered valid and in the USA for this particular purpose. Please talk me back from the cliff here.

 

We have a cancelable flight booked and are deciding whether to fly or drive. This may be the final decision maker unless I can be sure that a royal test taken on ship on the last day is considered to be USA. If we knew whether we were going to be tested at port or not would help here too.

 

(We are on anthem out of new jersey on the 24th)

Edited December 10, 2021 by DHLuCruise

[DMParisHoneymoon]

7 hours ago, peacefrogdog said:

 

The ArriveCAN app asks to indicate what country you received the PCR test. As you got the test on the ship, what did you list as the country? 

Similar to previous post - having just disembarked Anthem this past Sunday, we used Royal's testing service.

 

When we received the PCR result paperwork it showed that it was administered by Eurofins and included a US based address (from MA), so while we were technically in international waters at the time of the test itself, for PCR test purposes we listed as though it was done in the US. CBSA accepted this when we crossed back to Canada late Monday. 

 

Also as another previous post said - for me while it was all a tad overwhelming, since I had all of my ducks in a row and research completed ahead of time, it totally made the experience of finally being on a cruise again and back at sea for the week that much more enjoyable! It was awesome sailing with a reduced capacity, while feeling safe with current restrictions in place. However with that said, this amount of adminstrative red tape may feel too much, and if so then perhaps it's not worth it to you and you may want to wait until restrictions loosen up a bit more. 

 

Hope this helps ! 

[DHLuCruise]

3 minutes ago, DMParisHoneymoon said:

Similar to previous post - having just disembarked Anthem this past Sunday, we used Royal's testing service.

 

When we received the PCR result paperwork it showed that it was administered by Eurofins and included a US based address (from MA), so while we were technically in international waters at the time of the test itself, for PCR test purposes we listed as though it was done in the US. CBSA accepted this when we crossed back to Canada late Monday

Thanks for the reply. Can I confirm that you came back over a land border ?

[Fouremco]

12 minutes ago, DHLuCruise said:

Thanks for the reply. Can I confirm that you came back over a land border ?

Confirmed. See the ArriveCANApp thread.

[DHLuCruise]

4 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Confirmed. See the ArriveCANApp thread.

Thanks very much 

[Fouremco]

Just now, DHLuCruise said:

Thanks very much 

👍

[DHLuCruise]

7 hours ago, Fouremco said:

 

 

Contacting CBSA directly might be your best approach right now if you want an official interpretation. CC members' experiences may well suggest that you'll be ok, but you might be that unlucky guy who hits a cranky CBSA officer when entering. Trying to phone or write might not be very productive, but you could try dropping in at their office at your nearest airport or land crossing.

So I called the cbsa and they referred all questions on covid requirements to the public health agency of canada which I just called. They said it seems fine to them as long as the test had all the required info but I can tell it wasn't a normal question for them.

 

Given the two examples in this thread of other travelers who crossed the land border without issue and the phonecall I am feeling better about this.

[DHLuCruise]

One more thing .. I rolled the Canada covid travel restrictions page back in time via wayback machine and the 'in USA' stipulation has always been there (and I checked the page in its state on 2021 Nov 1st)

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20211101182512/https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/flying-canada-checklist/covid-19-testing-travellers-coming-into-canada

 

Additional: What this would mean is if it was a problem for cruisers in the past we would have for sure heard about it already.

Edited December 11, 2021 by DHLuCruise
Clarification

[Sophie's Mom1]

3 hours ago, Graycruise said:

I know it all sounds very overwhelming, but trust me, it is WORTH IT!  You don't realize until you have been 'away' how much we have been drowning in the over-hype and insanity.  People elsewhere are going about their lives with a healthy respect for the virus, but striking a balance between carefree and cautious.  Despite all of the hoops you need to jump through to get back into Canada, your time away will give you a very healthy perspective that has been lost here.  

 

There is a world out there that is worth venturing out to see ( or SEA, pun intended!)

 

 

Very well said. I agree 100%!

[Chickadees]

23 hours ago, peacefrogdog said:

 

Thanks for sharing.  A few questions based on your experiences on Royal.

 

1.  On the ArriveCAN app, it asks to specify in what country  you received your negative molecular COVID-19 test from (i.e. PCR).  If you got yours on the ship, what did you put down ? USA? Bahamas?

 

2.  If your cruise stopped at CoCoCay - did you list that as part of the Bahamas?

 

3. Did you have one ArriveCan app for every member of the travelling party? or did each person in your travel party have to have it completed separately on their phones?

1. We put US because the test results use Royal’s Miami address.

2. We listed Bahamas. 

3. We had one account/app (my husband’s) and then the 3 of listed as accompanying. I didn’t even download it. 

Edited December 11, 2021 by Chickadees

[xcell]

Love how the CBSA deferred to PH but when you are at the border it's the CBSA that holds your (quarantined) life in the balance.

 

You'd think PH would have thought this through and told everyone some kind of flow chart of what can pass and what cannot.  It's not like they haven't had cruisers come across the borders.

 

 

 

[broberts]

1 hour ago, xcell said:

Love how the CBSA deferred to PH but when you are at the border it's the CBSA that holds your (quarantined) life in the balance.

 

You'd think PH would have thought this through and told everyone some kind of flow chart of what can pass and what cannot.  It's not like they haven't had cruisers come across the borders.

 

 

 

 

A few thousand leisure cruise travellers are probably #999 on the list of top 100 priorities.

 

More than health issues go into entry decisions. Besides, an entry flow chart would need amending so frequently that snafu is all but guaranteed.

[DHLuCruise]

3 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

A few thousand leisure cruise travellers are probably #999 on the list of top 100 priorities.

 

More than health issues go into entry decisions. Besides, an entry flow chart would need amending so frequently that snafu is all but guaranteed.

 

Yeah I'm not surprised some of this isn't 100% clear.. 

 

However, it sounds like we are ok in terms of cruising and crossing on land given its a USA-based lab giving the test on a ship that is nearly at a USA port.  

 

Also, this rule has been in place for a while now so again, we would have heard problems if there were any with cruisers using their on-board PCR test. 

 

My $0.02 at least.

[DMParisHoneymoon]

4 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Confirmed. See the ArriveCANApp thread.

Thanks for following along Fouremco ! Haha

 

But yes crossed by land - also listed Bahamas as additional country visited in the app, and (luckily) wasnt selected for the 'random' testing. 

[K_e_short]

On 12/3/2021 at 10:52 AM, Magicat said:

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/history-search

 

For those that might be thinking about "forgetting" they went on a cruise, in the above website, you can search or entry and exit out of the US.  For cruises it will show an exit and enter only in the US.  I don't know what they see on their screen when they scan your passport, but if this information is freely available on line, they must be able to tell.

 

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

[peanutgirl]

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. 

[DHLuCruise]

@peanutgirl I'm curious about why he said it was invalid. Is this specific for land crossings or is the whole pcr test just not valid ?

 

Sigh another inconsistent handling of this.

Edited December 11, 2021 by DHLuCruise

[DHLuCruise]

One more thing. As a reminder I explicitly called the PHAC and the said a test done on a boat shouldn't matter. Again it's a murky thing so this is why it's happening