Pre boarding Covid test for Celebrity sailing out of Italy

[dukev]

Just wondering if anyone has used Rapid Response test kit from Canada and proctored by Acculab online for preboarding a celebrity cruse ship in Italy.  I'm finding it very difficult to get information on testing requirements from Celebrity or our travel agent for the necessary tests.  We sail out of Ravenna on middle of May.  Thanks for any help....

[Fouremco]

The initial question is whether you are "Fully Vaccinated" or "Up to Date" according to Celebrity's definitions:

 

*European definition of Up to Date: vaccinated within 9 months (270 days) of final dose in primary series OR boosted. The 270 days must extend to the final day of the cruise. The last primary dose must have been administered at least 14 days prior to embarkation.

**Definition of Fully Vaccinated:  vaccinated with a full dose of a primary series vaccine more than 9 months (270 days) prior to sailing, and NOT boosted. The last primary dose must have been administered at least 14 days prior to embarkation.

 

If you are Fully Vaccinated (not boosted), you won't need to test, as Celebrity will test you at the port. If you are Up to Date, you will need an antigen test taken within one day of boarding, which takes us to your question on the acceptability of the BTNX Rapid Response/Acculab combination.

 

Unfortunately, no one as yet can give you first hand experience using this combination for sailings from Italy. Based on the success of Canadians using Switch Health and BTNX kits for US sailings, in spite of them theoretically not meeting Celebrity's requirements, I'd say that you stand a very good chance of acceptance of a negative result from a BTNX/Acculab test. As has been argued on CC repeatedly, they are focussed on looking for the date the test was taken and the negative result. So far, I've yet to read about a single passenger not being allowed to board because of a non-FDA approved test kit.

 

In the worst case scenario and Celebrity rejects your test result at check in, I'm confident that they would simply redirect you to the area where they will be testing Fully Vaccinated passengers.