Will Carnival Follow RCI and End Testing for Under 6 Days?

[bguppies]

Looks like I'll be switchimg to RCI after my next two cruises.

Kudos to them for taking a smart leadership role.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

2 minutes ago, bguppies said:

Looks like I'll be switchimg to RCI after my next two cruises.

Kudos to them for taking a smart leadership role.

TYhings overnight as they just did now. You never know. 

[bguppies]

Carnival has until New Years to wise up if they want to keep my business.

[Purvis1231]

3 hours ago, Lee Cruiser said:

Just saw that Royal Caribbean is ending testing for vaccinated guest for cruise under six days.  Hopefully this is just the first phase out.  Hopefully Carnival will follow.

Yes, they will have to. Finally, being vaccinated means something. 

[Qchell]

The other cruise lines may also sit back and let RC give it a try for a little bit to see how things are working out.  The biggest question I have wondered about is how many people over the past 6 months have had to cancel their cruise because of a positive test.  If very few have had to, maybe the testing requirement doesn't really matter much.  If a decent amount have, maybe the cruise lines due need to keep it around for a little while.  

 

Personally I did not find the testing to be all that disruptive to my vacation.  The test came to my mailbox.  I was able to log in at my leisure, no appointment needed, took the test, waited the 15 min, got back in front of the computer, the proctor confirmed my results and emailed them to me, I uploaded the results to Verifly, and a green box lit up around my picture.  My DH and I then spent about a minute at the station to verify testing and vaccination status.   It was also nice to know that we did not have Covid.  🙂 

[csm5986142]

I'm okay with Carnival dragging their feet on an announcement.  New sales and/or casino offers should come out the beginning of August and I'd prefer to book a cruise before a they get a huge influx of bookings. 😄

[PA Dutchman]

RCI must have said the hell with science on Covid, dosen't make any sense up to 6 days. Let the political games start

[BlerkOne]

9 minutes ago, PA Dutchman said:

RCI must have said the hell with science on Covid, dosen't make any sense up to 6 days. Let the political games start

Royal is betting they can get most passengers on and off the ships before they develop full blown covid.

[Lee Cruiser]

28 minutes ago, Qchell said:

Personally I did not find the testing to be all that disruptive to my vacation.  The test came to my mailbox.  I was able to log in at my leisure, no appointment needed, took the test, waited the 15 min, got back in front of the computer, the proctor confirmed my results and emailed them to me, I uploaded the results to Verifly, and a green box lit up around my picture.  My DH and I then spent about a minute at the station to verify testing and vaccination status.   It was also nice to know that we did not have Covid.

We've done that on our last two cruises as well, but I'd rather not have to pay another $60.  With the other places (like CVS and Walgreens) now charging $100+, this option is going to get more popular, which could mean longer waits and higher prices as well.

[topaz123]

6 hours ago, pe4all said:

Great news! Don't quite understand the testing for cruises more than 6 nights or longer if vaccinated- people could still test negative upon embark and be "brewing" covid and develop it during the cruise, whether it be 6 days or less, or 6 days or more.  Time to get rid of testing completely for vaccinated.

Right on Point.....the Pre Cruise test does nothing ...except to catch a bare minimum of Covid active. With the abundance of false positives, and those who contract Covid On board..it's make 0 sense.

[RW20]

The banner with COVID requirements on the top of Carnival.com is gone. Looks like they are going to announce something soon. To find the COVID protocols I now have to search for them.

[Lee Cruiser]

1 minute ago, RW20 said:

The banner with COVID requirements on the top of Carnival.com is gone. Looks like they are going to announce something soon. To find the COVID protocols I now have to search for them.

Haven't noticed that, but I also expect it to come in a matter of days.  Looking forward to hearing that announcement!

[BlerkOne]

10 minutes ago, topaz123 said:

Right on Point.....the Pre Cruise test does nothing ...except to catch a bare minimum of Covid active. With the abundance of false positives, and those who contract Covid On board..it's make 0 sense.

Pretty sure there are more false negatives which is one reason there is covid on the ships. Another is those who had a positive test within 90 days and have recovered don't need to test. Not that they couldn't be infected a second time.

[BlerkOne]

4 minutes ago, RW20 said:

The banner with COVID requirements on the top of Carnival.com is gone. Looks like they are going to announce something soon. To find the COVID protocols I now have to search for them.

It's always been easier for me to google carnival covid policy anyway.

[RW20]

2 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Pretty sure there are more false negatives which is one reason there is covid on the ships. Another is those who had a positive test within 90 days and have recovered don't need to test. Not that they couldn't be infected a second time.

It does happen. One of my staff has COVID for the second time in 6 weeks.

[Purvis1231]

Even after two years there are still a lot of questions about testing. In May of this year. Several family members had symptoms-coughing, sore throat, weakness, etc. I had only a running nose. We took some home test. They were negative but I was positive on two home tests. We went to get medical tests. Again, everyone tested negative but me although they still had worse symptoms. 

[topaz123]

2 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Pretty sure there are more false negatives which is one reason there is covid on the ships. Another is those who had a positive test within 90 days and have recovered don't need to test. Not that they couldn't be infected a second time.

Don't know if there are more false negatives than positives....in any case...Covid exists regardless of pre board, it also exists on board, hard to see how Covid on board can exist with the pre cruise in force. We have  2 Initial vaccinations, Both Boosters and still open to Covid., it's the endless wheel which no amount of vaccinations can cure.

[Mr305]

With cruises under 5 days, there’s a smaller risk folks onboard will experience COVID symptoms before they get off the ship.  They will find out a day or two after getting home.  If you start with these cruises and the theory holds, no super spreaders on board, then you can slowly open it up.  Longer cruises open up the possibility of folks experiencing symptoms and ending up in isolation, turning it into a super spreader event.  It also puts the crew at greater risk, meaning, they too become sick and can’t look after passengers.  Remember, they get tested often.

[rrraydon]

3 hours ago, RW20 said:

The banner with COVID requirements on the top of Carnival.com is gone. Looks like they are going to announce something soon. To find the COVID protocols I now have to search for them.

I just checked again for the 6th time today…still at the top of the page “get the latest information on our health protocols and requirements for sailing”. 

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, topaz123 said:

Don't know if there are more false negatives than positives....in any case...Covid exists regardless of pre board, it also exists on board, hard to see how Covid on board can exist with the pre cruise in force. We have  2 Initial vaccinations, Both Boosters and still open to Covid., it's the endless wheel which no amount of vaccinations can cure.

Vaccinations don't cure - they help prevent. And a new booster should be available in September that I hope will quickly be adopted by cruise lines.

[Lane Hog]

11 hours ago, KendallGator said:

It's obvious who is the leader and who is the follower.

 

It was the luck of the draw on who announced first.  RCL was lucky that the CDC's change was close enough to a planned earnings call.  Having this announcement in conjunction with earnings pretty much guaranteed that the press would be talking about Covid testing instead of their financial performance...

 

11 hours ago, Lee Cruiser said:

Agreed.  I think that within a matter of days Carnival and NCL will follow.

Yup.  I half expect Carnival will one-up RCL and go to under eight nights, which would then be matched by RCL.

Edited July 29, 2022 by Lane Hog

[Lee Cruiser]

1 hour ago, Lane Hog said:

Yup.  I half expect Carnival will one-up RCL and go to under eight nights, which would then be matched by RCL.

The only issue I see with that is that some destinations still require a test. Not sure how the cruise lines will handle that.  Of course they could start changing ports again. As those destinations start losing money again, they may change their testing requirements.

[cdubmom]

Our tests are booked for Aug 6 for our Aug 8 cruise!! Hopefully we can cancel! $40/each at Shoppers Drug Mart - just a money grab since we could technically contract Covid during our flight or hotel stay on Aug 7… but we’ll do anything to get back onboard!!

[topaz123]

10 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Vaccinations don't cure - they help prevent. And a new booster should be available in September that I hope will quickly be adopted by cruise lines.

You are correct Vaccinations dont cure.....why not require everyone to have up to date vaccinations, and drop the Pre Cruise Barrier.....what would be the point of the pre cruise test if everyone is up to date on vaccinations?

[rrraydon]

26 minutes ago, topaz123 said:

You are correct Vaccinations dont cure.....why not require everyone to have up to date vaccinations, and drop the Pre Cruise Barrier.....what would be the point of the pre cruise test if everyone is up to date on vaccinations?

I guess because being vaccinated doesn’t prevent Covid. Why not get rid of the testing AND the vaccination requirements and just move on.