My experience -5 proctored Covid tests in one day

[Ptroxx]

20 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Done about 10 times all free. Well, to me at least 😉

 

So that's around $400 in my pocket😁

How were they free?  

[ZoeyVictoria]

4 hours ago, Ptroxx said:

So you had to drive to Walmart.  Drive home.  And wait,  rather than just sitting in the kitchen and taking the proctored test and get your results right away Lol.   
I had tests set up at CVS. But decided to just do it home and use the Emed tests and sit home and be done rather than drive around town and get tested and drive home and sit and wait for results.   
 

To each their own I guess. 

 

still have a few tests left that are good till nov 22.    

We are retired and sometimes welcome the opportunity to get out of the house.  Walgreens is less than two miles away and we can afford four miles worth of gas.  Usually we take the car to the car wash after the tests, and to get gas for the trip to the port (four of them within four hours of home).  Every time (yesterday was the eighth for us), we have received the results before we get home.

[John&LaLa]

26 minutes ago, Ptroxx said:

How were they free?  

 

I didn't pay. 

 

I'm not even sure my insurance got billed as I did not provide that information. Guess it's a government program. 

 

That's why I said 'free to me'

 

Have you had to pay for covid testing🤔

[John&LaLa]

17 minutes ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

We are retired and sometimes welcome the opportunity to get out of the house.  Walgreens is less than two miles away and we can afford four miles worth of gas.  Usually we take the car to the car wash after the tests, and to get gas for the trip to the port (four of them within four hours of home).  Every time (yesterday was the eighth for us), we have received the results before we get home.

 

I often go to bank to get our tip money on the way home. Maybe fill up the car for the drive to the beach

[wayne_trisha]

We bought emed tests for $27 after shipping. For me, I work on Cape Canaveral and my schedule is incredibly dynamic as I work around rocket launches which include all the pre-launch activities (which are way more than the actual launch). Much easier for me to pay the small price of the emed test and do the test at home at my convience instead of getting a last minute change to my schedule and now I' paying $105 at the port for a test. Did our tests today for our Sunday cruise. So easy and even today when we expected to test by 9 AM it was nearly 4 by the time our schedules allowed us to sit and devote the 20 minutes to testing.

 

Our proctors were easy enough to understand and results were in our emails within about 5 minutes. Only glitch was my wife's kit had two swabs. Proctor put her on hold about 90 seconds then came back and told her she only needed one swab.

[Ptroxx]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I didn't pay. 

 

I'm not even sure my insurance got billed as I did not provide that information. Guess it's a government program. 

 

That's why I said 'free to me'

 

Have you had to pay for covid testing🤔

I  paid for my emed tests.  I did have my insurance pay for them.   Or my government.  Sounds like I paid for yours through the government program.  Your welcome.  

Edited May 28, 2022 by Ptroxx

[Ptroxx]

2 hours ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

We are retired and sometimes welcome the opportunity to get out of the house.  Walgreens is less than two miles away and we can afford four miles worth of gas.  Usually we take the car to the car wash after the tests, and to get gas for the trip to the port (four of them within four hours of home).  Every time (yesterday was the eighth for us), we have received the results before we get home.

I’m retired too. And the less I have to be out in traffic the better especially for a covid test. Lol.   Very well aware of all the ports you have close by.  Lived in Florida many years.   Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out.  I love  it. Enjoy your cruise.  

[John&LaLa]

20 minutes ago, Ptroxx said:

I  paid for my emed tests.  I did have my insurance pay for them.   Or my government.  Sounds like I paid for yours through the government program.  Your welcome.  

 

You're funny, keep it up. 😁

 

We need humor on this site😉

[Ptroxx]

Just now, John&LaLa said:

 

You're funny, keep it up. 😁

 

We need humor on this site😉

It should have said I didn’t pay for mine Lolol 

And I’ll be here all week.  😂🤣🥲😅

[John&LaLa]

19 minutes ago, Ptroxx said:

I’m retired too. And the less I have to be out in traffic the better especially for a covid test. Lol.   Very well aware of all the ports you have close by.  Lived in Florida many years.   Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out.  I love  it. Enjoy your cruise.  

 

Please stay safe. Driving gets hard as we get older. My dad doesn't drive anymore.

[Ptroxx]

40 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Please stay safe. Driving gets hard as we get older. My dad doesn't drive anymore.

Retired UPS.  I’ve done enough drive delivering peoples crap. 
But really I do love to drive on trips. Lol.  
Was about to do a National parks tour for a month but put a hold on the as gas prices went through the roof.   
And now that’s it hot time of the year.  I’ll do that next spring🤞🤞🤞

love that life time national parks pass. Lol.  Used it for the first time on my Puerto Rico cruise in Feb.      

 

[sandy toes]

8 hours ago, Ptroxx said:

Test needs to be proctored.    The ones the government sent arent.  They are home personal tests.  

There are several test sites that are for the proctored tests. Some even will sell you a test if you need it. Some just use a list of approved FDA test(they have lists) and some only use tests from the Fed Gov't USPS . Royal accepts the AZOVA company. I can't recall other companies because I went with this one. It is a 24/7 company. Some are 7a-10p. Do a google search and tons will come up. The are about $20 each, some a bit more and some a bit less. Results within 20-45 min. Good luck with your test results. 

Don't just depend on the wifi working at the port. Take screenshot and save to your phone, so you can show the letter even if wifi is bad at the port. 

[ONECRUISER]

11 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

Inconvenience, just the opposite, we always are in town before cruises so we just stopped by got the test and drove back home with our groceries, no worries, by the time we got home they had already emailed us with result.  Not a problem at all for us.  And it was Walgreens.  You do you.  Oh, did I mention that was free!  Our Emed tests were not! So they sit in the drawer a waste of $$.  We done 2 cruises after Covid, no problem at all.

Same here. Went to an Urgent Care twice scheduled the minute they opened, FREE! First time thought I'd have to pay, nope! So went again, saves having to pay for multiple Emed Tests and Backups. Though my Daughter had couple extra boxes if I did need them

Edited May 28, 2022 by ONECRUISER

[molly361]

7 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Please stay safe. Driving gets hard as we get older. My dad doesn't drive anymore.

Neither does my mom. She's 92

 

Did you ever get a PCR at Walgreens?  Wondering if it's as invasive since you do it yourself 

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, molly361 said:

Neither does my mom. She's 92

 

Did you ever get a PCR at Walgreens?  Wondering if it's as invasive since you do it yourself 

 

I've had pretty much all the covid tests, shallow nostril, mouth swab, and the slightly deeper brain tickle. None really bothered me

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, molly361 said:

Neither does my mom. She's 92

 

Did you ever get a PCR at Walgreens?  Wondering if it's as invasive since you do it yourself 

 

Mine is 87. He keeps asking me where's my car

[Sunshine3601]

2 hours ago, molly361 said:

Neither does my mom. She's 92

 

Did you ever get a PCR at Walgreens?  Wondering if it's as invasive since you do it yourself 

I have done the Pcr and rapid Naat test at walgreens, same procedure each time..   I find it easier to do yourself.

My Nose always tickles afterwards but I was never in pain for any covid test done anywhere.  

[PiperHolliday]

17 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

Inconvenience, just the opposite, we always are in town before cruises so we just stopped by got the test and drove back home with our groceries, no worries, by the time we got home they had already emailed us with result.  Not a problem at all for us.  And it was Walgreens.  You do you.  Oh, did I mention that was free!  Our Emed tests were not! So they sit in the drawer a waste of $$.  We done 2 cruises after Covid, no problem at all.

 

13 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Done about 10 times all free. Well, to me at least 😉

 

So that's around $400 in my pocket😁

 

Everyone has their own preferences and I'm not trying to say you're wrong at all, but just would like to share a viewpoint I do not see here very often. I do not do free testing for travel, as I realize I'm choosing to travel and I'm spending thousands already, what is the extra $35 (or $400 over a span of a year or two) for a proctored test? I just expect it at this time. In many areas during the pandemic, free testing has been hard to come by. Appointments fill up fast. Not to mention, it's just not ethically responsible for me to take one of those slots from someone that actually needs it because they're sick and can't afford to pay for a test. This has been a reality in a lot of places, although may be better now that things have calmed down. If you don't have to think or worry about there not being enough free tests in your area, then of course this is not a problem. Just try to remember, even if you don't think there is, there's someone in your community that cannot afford to pay for a test. Whether anyone chooses to take that into consideration is their own prerogative. 

 

 

19 hours ago, kateg said:

…so from that point forward we made sure to wiggle mouse around every few minutes and we had no further issues with the video feed.  

That is a simple setting on your son's computer that he could have changed instead of requiring babysitting and wriggling the mouse. Next time! 

[Kellie in Texas]

22 hours ago, gfkcruiser said:

I used my email address for my DH and added him as another person or however they phrased.  He had left his phone at home and would not have been able to retrieve results so this worked fine. 

I have somewhat answered my own question this morning.  I set up a Navica account for me using our home computer.  I also downloaded the Navica app on my phone and was able to log in both on the computer and on the phone with the same credentials.

 

Next thing I tried was creating a new account for DH -- and then two DS -- but when I entered our home email for DH, it said there was already an account using that email address.  @gfkcruiserthat's when I went back and saw your reply here, so I logged back in and saw where I could add additional people under my log-in.  It looks like I should be able to do that with DH and two DS.  The first thing it asks for is your name as it appears on your government ID and I don't remember if DH is "William" or "Will" (that's just an example).  But it seems like I'll be able to use our home email for all four of us, as long as I add the three of them under my original profile.

 

@GTO-Girlthis also answer the question that I had asked you as well. 

 

Thanks to everyone who's done all this already and is willing to help us newbies out.  🙂

[John&LaLa]

7 hours ago, PiperHolliday said:

 

 

Everyone has their own preferences and I'm not trying to say you're wrong at all, but just would like to share a viewpoint I do not see here very often. I do not do free testing for travel, as I realize I'm choosing to travel and I'm spending thousands already, what is the extra $35 (or $400 over a span of a year or two) for a proctored test? I just expect it at this time. In many areas during the pandemic, free testing has been hard to come by. Appointments fill up fast. Not to mention, it's just not ethically responsible for me to take one of those slots from someone that actually needs it because they're sick and can't afford to pay for a test. This has been a reality in a lot of places, although may be better now that things have calmed down. If you don't have to think or worry about there not being enough free tests in your area, then of course this is not a problem. Just try to remember, even if you don't think there is, there's someone in your community that cannot afford to pay for a test. Whether anyone chooses to take that into consideration is their own prerogative. 

 

 

That is a simple setting on your son's computer that he could have changed instead of requiring babysitting and wriggling the mouse. Next time! 

 

Now we have test shaming. Who knew.

[TexasRon]

3 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Now we have test shaming. Who knew.

The last time we shamefully took the free tests, spots were open even within an hour of testing so no people unable to pay were kept from testing due to our selfishness.

 

Tests are easy to come by in many forms.  Not nearly as many people hurrying to test these days.

[J0Y0US]

On 5/27/2022 at 1:03 PM, Italy52 said:

Thank you for your help, I appreciate it.  Since we will be testing at a hotel, we will be using our phone -- great tip, thanks for sharing.

 

*** Unfortunately, the longest time on my "screen timeout" is 10 minutes --- ugh.

 

What type of phone do you have? Also do you have a company based email on your phone? 

 

If android you can get a longer time out but if there is a company based email on the phone they may be limiting the screen timeout length. 

[PiperHolliday]

I posted to genuinely offer another viewpoint but all I got was childish attitude. I even stated that it's not an issue if testing is widely available where you are located. Thank you for reminding me why I take long breaks from CC. 

[mauimary]

On 5/27/2022 at 12:14 PM, BecciBoo said:

Inconvenience, just the opposite, we always are in town before cruises so we just stopped by got the test and drove back home with our groceries, no worries, by the time we got home they had already emailed us with result.  Not a problem at all for us.  And it was Walgreens.  You do you.  Oh, did I mention that was free!  Our Emed tests were not! So they sit in the drawer a waste of $$.  We done 2 cruises after Covid, no problem at all.

We have done tests at Walgreen with a Covid exposure and they were not free.  They billed our insurance.  Where we live in a major city on the west coast we cannot get them for travel unless we lie and say we have had a direct exposure or symptoms!  We refuse to do that 

[John&LaLa]

17 minutes ago, PiperHolliday said:

I posted to genuinely offer another viewpoint but all I got was childish attitude. I even stated that it's not an issue if testing is widely available where you are located. Thank you for reminding me why I take long breaks from CC. 

 

Sorry, your post was childish as well.

 

IMHO