Testing questions

[khuselid]

Hi all,

 

New to Azamara although cruised last Fall and in March so have some testing for travel experience. I notice Azamara requires antigen testing to be 1 day before embarkation. How do you accomplish this when traveling? Other lines give you 48 hours which is easier to figure out if you are traveling far, I prefer to test before I leave home just in case. I don't want to do a PCR which has a longer lead time because I am just recovering from covid now and would worry about a false positive.

 

Second. Those who have been on Azamara recently. We will be leaving Pursuit and getting on an Oceania cruise that afternoon. Are antigen tests still available for those who need them before disembarking? I will ask Azamara as well, but just wonder what your experiences have been.

 

Thanks so much! Kim

[DaveA]

There's been quite a bit of discussion of these  topics in other threads, e.g. Pre cruise testing

If you are leaving home 2 or more days before boarding then you could get a proctored antigen test to complete in your hotel the day before boarding or you can pay $59 each for a test at the pier.

You can of course also do a self test before setting off to give confidence you are not traveling in vain.

 

My cruise tickets say that tests before disembarkation are also available for $59 (antigen) or $89 (PCR) on the ship.

[fowlisbabe]

5 hours ago, khuselid said:

Hi all,

 

New to Azamara although cruised last Fall and in March so have some testing for travel experience. I notice Azamara requires antigen testing to be 1 day before embarkation. How do you accomplish this when traveling? Other lines give you 48 hours which is easier to figure out if you are traveling far, I prefer to test before I leave home just in case. I don't want to do a PCR which has a longer lead time because I am just recovering from covid now and would worry about a false positive.

 

Second. Those who have been on Azamara recently. We will be leaving Pursuit and getting on an Oceania cruise that afternoon. Are antigen tests still available for those who need them before disembarking? I will ask Azamara as well, but just wonder what your experiences have been.

 

Thanks so much! Kim

Hi Kim

We had  tests done at the dock in Istanbul which were $59 as offered by Azamara. Just decided to do it there to save any stress. (We also did our own self tests at hotel day before we left which were negative and gave us some reassurance beforehand). 
 

Have a great cruise. 

[Baynanno1]

17 hours ago, khuselid said:

Hi all,

 

New to Azamara although cruised last Fall and in March so have some testing for travel experience. I notice Azamara requires antigen testing to be 1 day before embarkation. How do you accomplish this when traveling? Other lines give you 48 hours which is easier to figure out if you are traveling far, I prefer to test before I leave home just in case. I don't want to do a PCR which has a longer lead time because I am just recovering from covid now and would worry about a false positive.

 

Second. Those who have been on Azamara recently. We will be leaving Pursuit and getting on an Oceania cruise that afternoon. Are antigen tests still available for those who need them before disembarking? I will ask Azamara as well, but just wonder what your experiences have been.

 

Thanks so much! Kim

 

Azamara requires a PCR  test within 3 days of cruising or an antigen test within 1 day of cruising.

 

Piraeus (port of embarkation for Athens) has required testing to be done within one day of embarkation. If boarding there, there are numerous Pharmacies offering testing for €5 or €7.

 

Many cruisers (and Azamara) were caught out by that "out of the blue" requirement and as has been said by @DaveA above, there has already been much discussion on the subject in other recent threads.