Onboard testing if recovered from COVID

[Symmes99]

Viking says test guests who have recovered from Covid may cruise with them; per the FAQs: “If you have recovered from a previous COVID-19 infection during the past 10–90 days and you have either a physician certificate of recovery or a positive PCR test result from within the time window, you will be permitted to travel with Viking. We ask that you bring your letter of recovery with you during your travels.” Not clear if that exempts the recovered traveler from embarkation testing or daily testing while on board.
Has anyone been through this? Thanks. 
 

[CurlerRob]

4 hours ago, Symmes99 said:

Has anyone been through this? Thanks. 

The same question is live on a separate thread (below) - you may want to follow it as well in case a more definitive answer shows up.

 

I had suggested on that thread that a question to tellus@viking.com would be a good idea - as there are more ramifications to the question than just the individual ones. 🍺🥌

 

 

[Symmes99]

CurlerRob, thanks for the redirect to the other thread. I had reviewed that thread previously but now see the last 4 posts relate to my question. I ask about this because both  my wife and I will be in the “recovered” category when we cruise with Viking next month. Seems like there may be a silver lining to having had a mild case of Covid. Would certainly reduce the anxiety level! But daily testing seems to be unnecessary. 

[goingplaces1132]

On 4/19/2022 at 11:12 PM, Symmes99 said:

CurlerRob, thanks for the redirect to the other thread. I had reviewed that thread previously but now see the last 4 posts relate to my question. I ask about this because both  my wife and I will be in the “recovered” category when we cruise with Viking next month. Seems like there may be a silver lining to having had a mild case of Covid. Would certainly reduce the anxiety level! But daily testing seems to be unnecessary. 

Have you gone on your cruise yet?  Did you have to do the daily testing even with letter of recovery?

[Symmes99]

Sorry for the late reply, and now that Viking has dropped daily testing it is too late to be helpful. But we did do the daily PCR tests and on day 6 my wife’s test was positive, she was asked to wait in the cabin until she heard from the doctor, after maybe an hour the doctor called and said bring the recovery docs to medical. When she did that, she was told she was cleared to enjoy the rest of the cruise. Happy that we’ll not face this on our September cruise. 

[CurlerRob]

10 minutes ago, Symmes99 said:

Sorry for the late reply, and now that Viking has dropped daily testing it is too late to be helpful. But we did do the daily PCR tests and on day 6 my wife’s test was positive, she was asked to wait in the cabin until she heard from the doctor, after maybe an hour the doctor called and said bring the recovery docs to medical. When she did that, she was told she was cleared to enjoy the rest of the cruise. Happy that we’ll not face this on our September cruise. 

Interesting that she was positive only on day 6 versus earlier, given your recovery status. There's a lot we still don't know about how the virus RNA persists and the variables around how PCR testing detects it.

 

That said, glad the "silver lining" worked out for you both! 🍺🥌

[CDNPolar]

We are about to cruise, and even thought Viking has as of today stopped daily testing, it could resume at any time.

 

We went through extensive emails back and forth to Viking providing in advance our positive PCR and doctor letter of recovery and were told that if we tested positive at anytime on the ship it would be considered a false positive.

 

But now testing - including pre-travel testing - has been stopped.

[CILCIANRQTS]

BUT, Viking reserves the right to test you if display, or report, significant COVID symptoms. Think of your recovery letter as a Get Out Of Jail Free card!! 😷

[CDNPolar]

Yes, we do think that way because we are aware that they can bring back testing at any time.  This is why we filed everything with Viking so that we were assured that we would not be isolated or refused embarkation for any reason.  We will travel with the documentation to ensure that we are covered.

 

My brother lost the opportunity to sail in April because by the time they could get a "symptomatic" test (hard to get in Canada) they were less than 10 days to the cruise, even though their symptom onset was more than 10 days out.