Rome - Antigen COVID Test

[HBDave]

HI, I'll be going on a Transatlantic Sailing leaving from Rome at the end of October. The Cruise Line requires a Supervised Antigen COVID Test be done 48 hours before boarding. I'll be in Rome for 5 days prior to the cruise. Can I get the test completed at a local Pharmacy and will the results be printed in both English and Italian? Since l only speak English, will that be an issue at the Pharmacy? Thank You for any first-hand information you can provide. 

[CruiserBruce]

English is very widely spoken in Italy and particularly in Rome.

[Sundiego]

23 hours ago, HBDave said:

HI, I'll be going on a Transatlantic Sailing leaving from Rome at the end of October. The Cruise Line requires a Supervised Antigen COVID Test be done 48 hours before boarding. I'll be in Rome for 5 days prior to the cruise. Can I get the test completed at a local Pharmacy and will the results be printed in both English and Italian? Since l only speak English, will that be an issue at the Pharmacy? Thank You for any first-hand information you can provide. 

We are also on a transatlantic (NCL not Celebrity) November 1st with 5 days pre-cruise in Rome.  I am curious if Celebrity still has the antigen test rule in place for all cruises? I noticed that you are not going to Greece, so I am curious what about your particular cruise requires the test. Many thanks!

 

Denise

Edited October 3, 2022 by Sundiego

[steamboats]

55 minutes ago, Sundiego said:

We are also on a transatlantic (NCL not Celebrity) November 1st with 5 days pre-cruise in Rome.  I am curious if Celebrity still has the antigen test rule in place for all cruises? I noticed that you are not going to Greece, so I am curious what about your particular cruise requires the test. Many thanks!

 

Denise

 

Denise,

 

Greece has dropped the tests for cruise ship passenger on September 24th, 2022. Therefore Celebrity does not require tests anymore for cruises having a Greek port. But Celebrity still requires a test for cruises longer than 9 nights (which a TA is).

 

NCL is dropping this requirement by tomorrow. But NCL still has a testing requirement for Greece.

 

steamboats

[Tbird58]

On 10/2/2022 at 8:47 AM, HBDave said:

HI, I'll be going on a Transatlantic Sailing leaving from Rome at the end of October. The Cruise Line requires a Supervised Antigen COVID Test be done 48 hours before boarding. I'll be in Rome for 5 days prior to the cruise. Can I get the test completed at a local Pharmacy and will the results be printed in both English and Italian? Since l only speak English, will that be an issue at the Pharmacy? Thank You for any first-hand information you can provide. 

Prior to our trip, I contacted our hotel in Rome and they gave me names of 2 pharmacies close to the hotel.  Only 1 did the supervised Antigen test.  It was 22. EUR.  We had to wait about an hour to get the printed out copy, but that wasn't a big deal.  

[Sundiego]

7 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

Denise,

 

Greece has dropped the tests for cruise ship passenger on September 24th, 2022. Therefore Celebrity does not require tests anymore for cruises having a Greek port. But Celebrity still requires a test for cruises longer than 9 nights (which a TA is).

 

NCL is dropping this requirement by tomorrow. But NCL still has a testing requirement for Greece.

 

steamboats

Thank you! Makes sense.

 

Denise

[HBDave]

22 hours ago, Tbird58 said:

Prior to our trip, I contacted our hotel in Rome and they gave me names of 2 pharmacies close to the hotel.  Only 1 did the supervised Antigen test.  It was 22. EUR.  We had to wait about an hour to get the printed out copy, but that wasn't a big deal.  

Thanks @Tbird58 for the information. Did you have any communication issues with the Pharmacy Staff or did one of them speak English?

 

[CruiserBruce]

25 minutes ago, HBDave said:

Thanks @Tbird58 for the information. Did you have any communication issues with the Pharmacy Staff or did one of them speak English?

 

English is the official language of the EU. You are over thinking this by a mile. We have been to Rome 4 times, never once had any language problems. We were just in Copenhagen, stayed 3 nights, got tested, ate in restaurants, etc. Never encountered anyone who spoke even below average English.

[HBDave]

48 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

English is the official language of the EU. You are over thinking this by a mile. We have been to Rome 4 times, never once had any language problems. We were just in Copenhagen, stayed 3 nights, got tested, ate in restaurants, etc. Never encountered anyone who spoke even below average English.

Thanks @CruiserBruce

 

First time to Europe, so I'm just a little nervous. Thanks for putting my mind at ease.

[steamboats]

16 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

English is the official language of the EU. 

 

No, English is one language spoken in the EU - currently only by one little island, Malta. The EU has 24 different official languages. Working languages are English, French and German.

 

steamboats

[steamboats]

BTW, Royal Caribbean has dropped the tests for Greece yesterday. I haven´t seen anything for NCL yet.

 

steamboats

[Maria63]

On 10/4/2022 at 6:10 PM, HBDave said:

Thanks @Tbird58 for the information. Did you have any communication issues with the Pharmacy Staff or did one of them speak English?

 

I'd say you cannot count on people not working in hospitality to speak English in Italy. Same with at least Spain and also France. In the Nordic countries English has long been a mandatory subject in school, and popular Hollywood-movies & TV-series etc are shown in the original English language with subtitles. This means that people are all the time hearing English, even if they don't use it for instance in their profession. Italy and Spain has a different situation, and English-language entertainment is dubbed over in the national language so people are not as exposed to English as in the Nordics.

 

Before booking an in-person test at a local pharmacy in Rome, I would try to make sure that there's someone who understands at least basic English. A friend of mine recently needed to visit a local doctor's office in a mid-size town in France. Nobody at the office understood English and she didn't speak French - but the situation was solved by a fellow patient in the waiting-room kindly coming to the rescue as a voluntary translator.

[Host Bonjour]

On 10/7/2022 at 4:40 AM, Maria63 said:

in hospitality

 

Yes you can, at at the front desk. Otherwise, tourism would go into sharp decline. Servers will speak english in citie

 

It's true there will be less English spoken outside of cities, but with professional workers, and definitely the younger generations, there will almost certainly be English speakers because everything is inter-connected these days, and it's incorporated into education at an early age.

 

Don't overlook using Google translate, which includes a speaking component that will "speak" words. I believe that similar to maps, a fair amount of it works offline. (I'm into speaking languages so I've not experimented, it didn't exist when I needed it in Hong Kong, China and Japan!) And it's available in a staggering amount of languages. 

 

It's important to be prepared in the event of any encounter that might require language facility. In no instance should one expect everyone to be fluent in our own language, even if more of the global population are capable of speaking it (and mastering), these days. Keep the phone charged and ready with a language translator at the ready, hopefully not for use in any emergency, just finding an amazing winery or castle 😉

[MaisonRose]

Check pharmacies in Termini Station. The are three and  at least one does testing. Sorry I didn’t get the name but it’s onTermini’s web site. €15. Of course I wouldn’t make a special trip but if you are using Termini it’s available there.