Questions related to all things Covid testing relating to Princess Cruises

[PacnGoNow]

27 minutes ago, Louby-Lou said:

My point is that you do not know who you are mixing with - in a cinema, restaurant, sporting events with no choice but you do have a choice whether you cruise or not.  

A lot of us choose not to go to those events, because of that exact thing….

unvaccinated people and crowds. We go to restaurants where we can sit outside.

 

Cruise lines boast about being the safest vacations because of the vaccination rates on their ships and their covid protocols!  A lot different than going into unvaccinated crowds.

 

[fishnchips]

18 minutes ago, memoak said:

Not crammed into an elevator. My county is highly vaccinated and boosted. If kids need a vaccine for measles to go to school we should require a covid vaccine to cruise

so I am Vaxed, boosted,tested $$ wore masks,full protocols on Sky Princess ....

STILL walked off next day tested positive ! ( cold symptoms for the next week),

No 4th shot for me as it's NOT the same as 2 years ago....

Other vacation destinations have dropped their requirements so should cruising as there has been NO serious cases on ships and if you don't feel safe then don't go ....

Just off Enchanted ...no masks ,well maybe a 2% optional of 2318 guests (except crew), no signs,hardly any protocols and it was a joy to be sailing again ....and yes I did cruising last year and this with full on protocols ....and it was so nice to walk the ship without a mask this time !!! 

Oh and that test is worthless when you get to the first port because we disembark and mix with the rest of the WORLD and if it gets on board anyway there is no point ,been there seen it done it....testing  needs to GO !!

 

[kml246]

Having all vaccinated passengers on board MAY help reduce the spread of COVID, but it doesn't prevent it. Vaccinations help you, primarily. Perfect example: We were up in NJ for our grandson's First Communion last weekend, arriving Friday evening. On Saturday morning, our son, a doctor who is vaxed and boosted, called to us downstairs and said he just tested positive. We kept our distance the rest of the weekend, wore masks, and washed regularly. On Monday, Nan had a scratchy throat, I was fine. Wednesday evening we did home tests - Nan positive, me negative. We slept in separate rooms since then and I'm wearing a mask around her. Yesterday, we had PCR tests done with the same results - Nan positive, me negative. She started Paxlovid yesterday and is doing well. She is 70, I'm 68, but in good health. Nan says it's like a cold - sneezing, slight cough, runny nose, no fever. 

 

Bottom line, it's getting more and more contagious with each variant, but less serious, especially for those in good health. It's time we accept COVID is here for the foreseeable future and live our lives as normally as possible. The requirements, especially in the US, are lagging behind the virus. It's ridiculous we need to test before flying back to the US but we can arrive by ship, car, train, or even walking, and no test required. Does not make sense. Princess' constant revisions to their rules do not make sense either and add undue stress to what should be an enjoyable experience. 

 

On the plus side to Nan's COVID, she won't need to test for our Iceland/Norway cruise in July!

 

Kevin

[Tedferg]

15 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Just disembarked Royal Princess a few days ago. The Internet connectivity was pretty bad for the entire cruise. The bar staff often had to stand around waiting for their units to connect in order to take an order. They would apologize and say they were waiting for the units to connect.

Wouldn't that be the Intranet for bar staff? Point being Intermet needs satellite connection and is difficult in higher latitudes. I thought Intranet was a signal generated onboard. Maybe I am wrong about this.

[bobby3334]

11 minutes ago, kml246 said:

Having all vaccinated passengers on board MAY help reduce the spread of COVID, but it doesn't prevent it. Vaccinations help you, primarily. Perfect example: We were up in NJ for our grandson's First Communion last weekend, arriving Friday evening. On Saturday morning, our son, a doctor who is vaxed and boosted, called to us downstairs and said he just tested positive. We kept our distance the rest of the weekend, wore masks, and washed regularly. On Monday, Nan had a scratchy throat, I was fine. Wednesday evening we did home tests - Nan positive, me negative. We slept in separate rooms since then and I'm wearing a mask around her. Yesterday, we had PCR tests done with the same results - Nan positive, me negative. She started Paxlovid yesterday and is doing well. She is 70, I'm 68, but in good health. Nan says it's like a cold - sneezing, slight cough, runny nose, no fever. 

 

Bottom line, it's getting more and more contagious with each variant, but less serious, especially for those in good health. It's time we accept COVID is here for the foreseeable future and live our lives as normally as possible. The requirements, especially in the US, are lagging behind the virus. It's ridiculous we need to test before flying back to the US but we can arrive by ship, car, train, or even walking, and no test required. Does not make sense. Princess' constant revisions to their rules do not make sense either and add undue stress to what should be an enjoyable experience. 

 

On the plus side to Nan's COVID, she won't need to test for our Iceland/Norway cruise in July!

 

Kevin

All changing quickly.  Covid doing it.  Impossible to predict future, I think 

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Wouldn't that be the Intranet for bar staff? Point being Intermet needs satellite connection and is difficult in higher latitudes. I thought Intranet was a signal generated onboard. Maybe I am wrong about this.

 

Yes, I'm fully aware of the difference between intranet and Internet. Part of my point was that the entire system is working poorly. If they can't even get the internal functions (intranet) to work it's not likely that the external functions (Internet) will work. The IT setup seems to be poorly implemented all around.

[Ombud]

On 4/28/2022 at 8:38 AM, nini said:

 

I am not sure of your meaning. We did not get boosted as we had the J&J. When we received the letter from Princess on Saturday that we NOW had to get boosted, then we felt between a rock and a hard place.... cancel the trip or find a booster on a Saturday or Sunday.

 

True, we are not truly forced; we can decide to travel or not.

Bolded what I'm saying. I also chose the J&J. I can do land trips within USA without a booster but got boosted bc I want to cruise

[Tedferg]

21 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Yes, I'm fully aware of the difference between intranet and Internet. Part of my point was that the entire system is working poorly. If they can't even get the internal functions (intranet) to work it's not likely that the external functions (Internet) will work. The IT setup seems to be poorly implemented all around.

Got it, amazing that intranet would not work well.

[Thrak]

11 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Got it, amazing that intranet would not work well.

 

The poor servers were embarrassed. They would ask for your order and then have to stand there staring at their hand held device waiting. Eventually they would have to ask for the order again as it had been so long they had forgotten what was originally said. They apologized for the delay and said they were just waiting for their device to connect. Some servers simply gave up and asked for the cabin number as it was so agonizingly slow to try to submit orders on their device.

[bobby3334]

Similar to all 3 major cruise lines that choose this and leave or arrive at US ports.   Read other lines like RCL or NCL.  

[Yehootu]

I've read so much I've confused myself. We sail on Saturday. A PCR test done on Wednesday will be good for Saturday? 72hrs? I'm confused, we also have Binax to do at home Thursday or in hotel in Vancouver on Friday.

   Mahalo

[travelhound]

On 5/19/2022 at 4:43 PM, memoak said:

You really want unvaccinated people all over your cruise ?  I don’t 

I am vaccinated and have no problem with requiring most people to be vaccinated to cruise.  I also do think that requiring vaccinated people to be tested is excessive and unsustainable.  

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, Yehootu said:

I've read so much I've confused myself. We sail on Saturday. A PCR test done on Wednesday will be good for Saturday? 72hrs? I'm confused, we also have Binax to do at home Thursday or in hotel in Vancouver on Friday.

   Mahalo

According to PCL website:

quote

Voyages that embark in Canada:
Based on current Canadian requirements for cruising, all guests ages five and above will require a medically observed negative viral COVID-19 test result taken before boarding:

• Within 2 days for Antigen
• Within 72 hours for PCR

Children aged two to four (who are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccines) will require a medically observed negative viral PCR COVID-19 test within 3 days before boarding, plus an antigen test taken at the terminal (complimentary).

Guests who travel internationally should ensure they understand all entry and airline requirements to travel from their home country and the destinations they plan to visit, including where health authorities may require pre-travel COVID-19 testing.

unquote 

 

So PCR do within 72 hours of sailing on Weds.

If you sail at 4pm on Sat. then get the pcr after 4 pm on Weds.  

Or, if you do an proctored antigen or at a clinic, then anytime on Thurs or Friday is okay if sailing on Saturday, as it’s 2 days before not hours.

 

Good luck!

[Sparks02]

Where is a good place to get the Covid test in Southampton before our Sept. 2nd cruise?

[PacnGoNow]

13 minutes ago, Sparks02 said:

Where is a good place to get the Covid test in Southampton before our Sept. 2nd cruise?

You might look at the Forum UK cruisers for suggestions.

 

Heres a link to that forum:  Testing In Southampton…

Hope this helps.  Remember things are changing constantly,

so recheck…

[ElmaLee]

Some guidance, please. 

We are flying from UK in September for 4 nights in New York before embarking on a New England and Canada cruise.  We are all fully vaccinated.  I understand that we will all need an antigen or PCR test before boarding ship, so we will need these in NYC.  The requirements are different from UK so I would appreciate if I could discover how easy it is to arrange suitable, observed and certificated tests for visitors to NY?

 

Thanks.

[insidecabin]

3 hours ago, ElmaLee said:

Some guidance, please. 

We are flying from UK in September for 4 nights in New York before embarking on a New England and Canada cruise.  We are all fully vaccinated.  I understand that we will all need an antigen or PCR test before boarding ship, so we will need these in NYC.  The requirements are different from UK so I would appreciate if I could discover how easy it is to arrange suitable, observed and certificated tests for visitors to NY?

 

Thanks.

Take one with you.

Dochq have video tests for £19.25

Make sure you have a hotel with WiFi and pick a UK time that fits for the 5hr difference.

If your US flight still requires testing in sept you get a practice run.

[travelhound]

1 hour ago, insidecabin said:

Take one with you.

Dochq have video tests for £19.25

Make sure you have a hotel with WiFi and pick a UK time that fits for the 5hr difference.

If your US flight still requires testing in sept you get a practice run.

We had problems with inconsistent bandwidth in our hotel room when taking an emed test.

[PacnGoNow]

13 minutes ago, travelhound said:

We had problems with inconsistent bandwidth in our hotel room when taking an emed test.

Was this a Southampton hotel?  

[Buckeye10640]

On 5/17/2022 at 11:59 AM, erber said:

Thanks for the update. Let us know if you can successfully do the emed testing on Friday. Fingers crossed. I wonder if you could do it at the port with the port's wifi when you disembark if it won't work on board? Keep us posted. Hope you are having a great trip! 

 

How is the wifi so far?

Erber,  we were successful completing the tests on our final sea day but it took hours and many attempts across 4 individuals to complete. We either couldn't  connect or there was a delay and the testing proctor could not clearly view our test box, license, etc. or we would get dropped. We were all finally successful but it really kind of spoiled our last day. Disembarkation and luggage collection apparently was a mess causing some to miss testing appts at CVM airport and flights. We were very thankful we chose walk-off. With your early flight (if I recall correctly) I would highly recommend walkoff.  Our 140pm flight which showed nearly full the day before had alot of empty seats - people who missed flights or test results perhaps?  I also recommend a backup testing appt at CVM at the port, make it now and then cancel if not needed. We did this but all of the appts at the Port were full and we had to book at CVM airport. Those morning appts were filled by mid-week. Finally if there is any way to fly home from SEA (or any US airport) instead of YVR you can avoid all this stress!

[memoak]

26 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Erber,  we were successful completing the tests on our final sea day but it took hours and many attempts across 4 individuals to complete. We either couldn't  connect or there was a delay and the testing proctor could not clearly view our test box, license, etc. or we would get dropped. We were all finally successful but it really kind of spoiled our last day. Disembarkation and luggage collection apparently was a mess causing some to miss testing appts at CVM airport and flights. We were very thankful we chose walk-off. With your early flight (if I recall correctly) I would highly recommend walkoff.  Our 140pm flight which showed nearly full the day before had alot of empty seats - people who missed flights or test results perhaps?  I also recommend a backup testing appt at CVM at the port, make it now and then cancel if not needed. We did this but all of the appts at the Port were full and we had to book at CVM airport. Those morning appts were filled by mid-week. Finally if there is any way to fly home from SEA (or any US airport) instead of YVR you can avoid all this stress!

You can chose to take a Princess transfer by bus from Canada Place to SeaTac. There is no testing requirement for crossing the border by car or bus 

[erber]

1 hour ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Erber,  we were successful completing the tests on our final sea day but it took hours and many attempts across 4 individuals to complete. We either couldn't  connect or there was a delay and the testing proctor could not clearly view our test box, license, etc. or we would get dropped. We were all finally successful but it really kind of spoiled our last day. Disembarkation and luggage collection apparently was a mess causing some to miss testing appts at CVM airport and flights. We were very thankful we chose walk-off. With your early flight (if I recall correctly) I would highly recommend walkoff.  Our 140pm flight which showed nearly full the day before had alot of empty seats - people who missed flights or test results perhaps?  I also recommend a backup testing appt at CVM at the port, make it now and then cancel if not needed. We did this but all of the appts at the Port were full and we had to book at CVM airport. Those morning appts were filled by mid-week. Finally if there is any way to fly home from SEA (or any US airport) instead of YVR you can avoid all this stress!

 

 

Buckeye, 

Yikes! What time was walk off? What is a reasonable time to book a back up test at the port through CVM? Did you have to do multiple tests show to dropped calls etc. We are bringing 2 tests per person. We are also investigating leaving from Seattle instead. On hold with Alaska air right now. 

 

I'm sorry for the stress at the end of your cruise. I hope the balance is the cruise was good. By the way, was wifi ever usable or reliable? 

[travelhound]

11 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Was this a Southampton hotel?  

No, it was in Florida.

[tfox1018]

On 5/20/2022 at 2:11 PM, Ombud said:

Bolded what I'm saying. I also chose the J&J. I can do land trips within USA without a booster but got boosted bc I want to cruise

Wait Princess requires a booster??

[Buckeye10640]

9 hours ago, memoak said:

You can chose to take a Princess transfer by bus from Canada Place to SeaTac. There is no testing requirement for crossing the border by car or bus 

I would have recommended this as well. But....there is a thread on a Princess FB page I follow where its reported that there were not enough transport busses for passengers who booked Princess transfers to SEA Saturday and some passengers were left to find a last minute alternate option. I think I would rent a car or maybe use the Amtrack bus option.