Testing, the lowdown.

[Avery's Gram]

No options were offered.  This trip was in May-early June, so things may have changed since then.  The only option offered was whether my husband would come with me into isolation.  We were told we’d have to sign a waiver if we chose to isolate together, we’d be choosing to expose him to the virus carrier (me!). They gave us 10 minutes to make our choice before hustling me off to quarantine.

 

It was interesting:  no testing for entering the UK or the US.  Just for staying on the ship.

[ace2542]

1 hour ago, Avery's Gram said:

No options were offered.  This trip was in May-early June, so things may have changed since then.  The only option offered was whether my husband would come with me into isolation.  We were told we’d have to sign a waiver if we chose to isolate together, we’d be choosing to expose him to the virus carrier (me!). They gave us 10 minutes to make our choice before hustling me off to quarantine.

 

It was interesting:  no testing for entering the UK or the US.  Just for staying on the ship.

You are an American citizen not sure what your legal position would be even with no testing required. But i doubt they could detain British Citizen against their will in Southampton. They will certainlly not be detaining me in Southampton on September 4th. They can ban me for life if they want but I am leaving the ship and going home if I am positive. I am not being locked in an inside cabin wih no windows and working TV. I will kill myself if they did that and I will tell them.I couldn't handle being locked up.

Edited July 18, 2022 by ace2542

[Avery's Gram]

It was not an inside cabin:  It was a sheltered balcony, with a better view than the obstructed balcony we had booked.  I spent a lot of time out there, getting fresh air and enjoying the views of the fjords, even if I was not allowed ashore.  

[lissie]

14 hours ago, ace2542 said:

You are an American citizen not sure what your legal position would be even with no testing required. But i doubt they could detain British Citizen against their will in Southampton. They will certainlly not be detaining me in Southampton on September 4th. They can ban me for life if they want but I am leaving the ship and going home if I am positive. I am not being locked in an inside cabin wih no windows and working TV. I will kill myself if they did that and I will tell them.I couldn't handle being locked up.

Every government has some variation of a public health act which allows those who are infectious and a risk to others to be detained and stopped from making others sick!  Typhoid Mary was in NYC and she got detained - and its wasnt a nice balcony cabin on a cruise ship either.  The captian makes the law on the cruise ship (wll probably head office these days - but really its nothing to do with your passport) 

[ace2542]

What is the effect of the new CDC update of yesterday? What does that all mean?

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/cruise-travel-during-covid19.html

[bluemarble]

5 hours ago, ace2542 said:

What is the effect of the new CDC update of yesterday? What does that all mean?

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/cruise-travel-during-covid19.html

 

Until the CDC issues its new guidance and Cunard advises us what changes if any they are going to make to their existing procedures based on that new guidance from the CDC being optional rather than required, I'm afraid it's going to be a matter of wait and see.

[jimdee3636]

13 hours ago, ace2542 said:

What is the effect of the new CDC update of yesterday? What does that all mean?

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/cruise-travel-during-covid19.html

From what I can tell, it's going to depend on the dictates of the countries to be visited on a particular cruise.

 

Case in point: I'm boarding the QE in one week (July 26) for 14 days, disembarking in Fort Lauderdale. However, the ship continues on to Barcelona, with a stop in Bermuda. Bermuda evidently has very strict vaccination and testing requirements for cruise ship passengers, with various forms required for the passengers and strict "dictates" for cruise ships. Because of Bermuda's strict policies, Cunard is still requiring negative covid test results for all those boarding in L.A. and is requiring everyone boarding in L.A. to wear masks in all non-eating or drinking indoor venues for at least the first four days after embarkation (despite the CDC's latest order dropping such mandates). (Those boarding earlier----in Vancouver or San Francisco---have to stay masked even longer). 

 

The frustrating thing for me is I'm not even going to Bermuda! But Cunard evidently feels it's more important to placate Bermuda in this matter, even if it means inconveniencing guests who won't be going there at all or those who may not want to get off the ship that day. My guess is there'll be more of these kinds of things for months to come.

[carlmm]

9 hours ago, jimdee3636 said:

But Cunard evidently feels it's more important to placate Bermuda in this matter, even if it means inconveniencing guests who won't be going there at all or those who may not want to get off the ship that day. My guess is there'll be more of these kinds of things for months to come.

You make it sound like Cunard makes a deliberate move to be nice to some weird person.  It is not, it is the law/ are the rules resp requirements of a country visited.  

Cunard, you, me, everybody needs to follow.

And you are right, we might see more "of these kind of things", i.e. when ever a cruise touches various countries, cruiselines need to manage all kind of potentially different legislation.

[Alslc]

On 7/20/2022 at 12:00 AM, jimdee3636 said:

From what I can tell, it's going to depend on the dictates of the countries to be visited on a particular cruise.

 

Case in point: I'm boarding the QE in one week (July 26) for 14 days, disembarking in Fort Lauderdale. However, the ship continues on to Barcelona, with a stop in Bermuda. Bermuda evidently has very strict vaccination and testing requirements for cruise ship passengers, with various forms required for the passengers and strict "dictates" for cruise ships. Because of Bermuda's strict policies, Cunard is still requiring negative covid test results for all those boarding in L.A. and is requiring everyone boarding in L.A. to wear masks in all non-eating or drinking indoor venues for at least the first four days after embarkation (despite the CDC's latest order dropping such mandates). (Those boarding earlier----in Vancouver or San Francisco---have to stay masked even longer). 

 

The frustrating thing for me is I'm not even going to Bermuda! But Cunard evidently feels it's more important to placate Bermuda in this matter, even if it means inconveniencing guests who won't be going there at all or those who may not want to get off the ship that day. My guess is there'll be more of these kinds of things for months to come.

 

What has all of this got to deal with Bermuda? Cunard is requiring test for ALL cruises, not just for Bermuda ones. In regards to mask, they enforce mask wearing in the event cases are high in the ship. 

[bluemarble]

The CDC has published updated "Guidance for Cruise Ships on the Mitigation and Management of COVID-19". Here's a the link to that guidance.

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/covid-19-cruise-ship-guidance.html

 

In general, I think I'm seeing fewer details in the CDC guidance now. As expected, the biggest change is that policies are now recommended rather than required. For example, here is an excerpt from what that page now says about what the cruise lines should "consider" requiring for pre-embarkation testing.

 

Pre-embarkation COVID-19 Testing

• To reduce likelihood of onboard transmission, cruise ship operators should consider requiring travelers to get tested for current infection with a viral test as close to the time of departure as possible (no more than 3 days before travel) and present their negative test result prior to boarding. Testing within 1 day of embarkation is highly recommended.

[hrhdhd]

Got this in an e-mail today for my Sept. cruise (emphasis added):

 

For your embarkation port, all guests aged five years and over must still take a Covid‑19 antigen test and receive a negative result within two days of departure. You will no longer need to provide a test certificate, however, you will be asked to confirm the test has been taken, with a negative result, for you and each member of your party as part of your pre‑boarding health declaration at the cruise terminal. Adequate tests include over the counter tests, providing they fall within our list of accepted Covid-19 antigen tests. 

[lindylooellalouise]

12 minutes ago, hrhdhd said:

Got this in an e-mail today for my Sept. cruise (emphasis added):

 

For your embarkation port, all guests aged five years and over must still take a Covid‑19 antigen test and receive a negative result within two days of departure. You will no longer need to provide a test certificate, however, you will be asked to confirm the test has been taken, with a negative result, for you and each member of your party as part of your pre‑boarding health declaration at the cruise terminal. Adequate tests include over the counter tests, providing they fall within our list of accepted Covid-19 antigen tests. 

Yes we’ve got the same email for our next 2 Cunard cruise’s and our P &O cruise looks like all other cruise companies will follow.

Edited July 21, 2022 by lindylooellalouise
Add text

[WestonOne]

Ditto for a cruise in early August.

I am a bit ambivalent.  I would prefer if there was evidence everyone had been tested, rather than just people just claiming they had, but it is a fairly reasonable step along the road.

 

[bluemarble]

35 minutes ago, hrhdhd said:

Got this in an e-mail today for my Sept. cruise (emphasis added):

 

For your embarkation port, all guests aged five years and over must still take a Covid‑19 antigen test and receive a negative result within two days of departure. You will no longer need to provide a test certificate, however, you will be asked to confirm the test has been taken, with a negative result, for you and each member of your party as part of your pre‑boarding health declaration at the cruise terminal. Adequate tests include over the counter tests, providing they fall within our list of accepted Covid-19 antigen tests. 

 

Has anyone departing from the US received this email?

 

I note the Cunard website has been updated today with the following guidance. It looks like those departing from the US will still need to take a test that provides a certificate of the negative result. I note "medically observed" has been removed from the wording for the US so I'm wondering if that means the type of at-home test accepted in the UK where you upload a photo of the result might be accepted now in the US.

 

 

Pre-cruise testing for voyages departing from Southampton and European ports.

 

All guests aged five years and over will need to take an antigen test within two days prior to arrival at the embarkation terminal. ...

 

 

Pre-cruise testing for voyages departing from the USA.

 

All fully vaccinated guests will need to organize and purchase an antigen test to be taken two days prior to arrival at the embarkation terminal. This can be at any time two days before or on the day of embarkation. You can order your antigen test kit through any government-approved testing provider. Guests will need to present their negative antigen test certificate at the ship's terminal. ...

[SJS85]

No email yet, leaving early August from NYC. 

 

I'd love them to do away with testing completely. We are already in North America and couldn't get an antigen with just test certificate anyway now (unless anywhere in NYC does them for UK citizens?)

[frankp01]

18 minutes ago, SJS85 said:

anywhere in NYC does them for UK citizens

If you need to get tested, there are NYC locations that will test non-US citizens. Avoid the "free" canopies, as they're only set up to bill US health insurance plans. But there are those that can bill you directly and provide a negative result certificate.

[SJS85]

1 minute ago, frankp01 said:

If you need to get tested, there are NYC locations that will test non-US citizens. Avoid the "free" canopies, as they're only set up to bill US health insurance plans. But there are those that can bill you directly and provide a negative result certificate.

Cheers, i'm actually booked in for an observed test but these are $75 each vs cheaper non observed ones. 

 

Its more the actual getting to the observed location and taking time out my trip to do them. 

[esrs]

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

 

 

Pre-cruise testing for voyages departing from the USA.

 

All fully vaccinated guests will need to organize and purchase an antigen test to be taken two days prior to arrival at the embarkation terminal. This can be at any time two days before or on the day of embarkation. You can order your antigen test kit through any government-approved testing provider. Guests will need to present their negative antigen test certificate at the ship's terminal. ...

However, the US site has this under the accepted tests section: (https://www.cunard.com/en-us/the-cunard-experience/sailing-with-confidence/our-assurance-to-you#vaccine)

 

Definition of a medically observed test.

All guests must use a medically observed self-test that meets the criteria below. Only medically observed self-tests will be accepted.

[frankp01]

4 minutes ago, SJS85 said:

Its more the actual getting to the observed location and taking time out my trip to do them

Understood! But at least you don't have to self-isolate like we had to do in December, in Southampton, while we waited for the lab results!

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, esrs said:

However, the US site has this under the accepted tests section: (https://www.cunard.com/en-us/the-cunard-experience/sailing-with-confidence/our-assurance-to-you#vaccine)

 

Definition of a medically observed test.

All guests must use a medically observed self-test that meets the criteria below. Only medically observed self-tests will be accepted.

 

Elsewhere I'm seeing reports of a communication from Cunard specifically stating:

 

"Testing requirements for guests embarking in USA and Canada remain the same."

 

Therefore I won't attempt to read anything further at this point into the words "medically observed" being removed from the section about "Pre-cruise testing for voyages departing from the USA."

 

Edit to add:

 

This is interesting. Here is different wording found on the Cunard UK website indicating the tests still need to be observed for US departures (emphasis mine).

 

 

Pre-cruise testing for voyages departing from the USA.

 

All fully vaccinated guests will need to organise and purchase a private observed antigen test to be taken two days prior to arrival at the embarkation terminal. This can be at any time two days before or on the day of embarkation. You can order your antigen test kit through any government-approved testing provider. Guests will need to present their negative antigen test certificate at the ship's terminal.

Edited July 21, 2022 by bluemarble

[techteach]

We’re sailing in December from Southampton and I haven’t received an email yet. Perhaps it’s too far out in time.