Out of St. Martin and worried about the test.

[caymancouple]

Don't know how soon "the coming weeks" is, but looks like St. Maarten is going to drop the testing requirements for those fully vaccinated.  See the linked video at the 43:50 time point.  He is the St. Maarten Minister of Health.  Minster Press Conference on Wednesday May 26th.

[cruisestitch]

So what is your worry?

[caymancouple]

1 minute ago, cruisestitch said:

So what is your worry?

Get the test in a timely manner.  We are traveling prior to going and have concerns about getting the test and getting it back and getting it submitted, and being near a printer to print the St. Martin form, and the possibility of a false positive....... and.... and... and...

[TreeCity]

Yea! I was hoping this would happen before my sail date in August.

[broker1217]

2 hours ago, caymancouple said:

Get the test in a timely manner.  We are traveling prior to going and have concerns about getting the test and getting it back and getting it submitted, and being near a printer to print the St. Martin form, and the possibility of a false positive....... and.... and... and...

Where are you traveling from and when do you arrive in St. Martin? And when do you board?

Understand the rules and absolutely do not count on them dropping testing requirements.

Build in to your travel plans the possibility of a false positive test and understand how to handle that. Will you have the opportunity to do a second test? What will you do if you test positive--do you have insurance to help you pay for any quarantine period?

 

[George C]

Yes this is definitely a hassle almost didn’t book our early July cruise because of it , but it’s my wife’s birthday.

[Bill Miller]

Try studying. It always helps when I have to take a test.

[pixiedust777]

I would not count on them dropping the test.

The French side just implemented an 8pm-6am curfew effective Sunday May 30th- Wednesday June 9th due to a spike in COVID cases.

 

[pixiedust777]

[CroozFanatic]

That's not good

[BoundForSea]

They have a spike in cases. They disclosed in that video that if this spike doesnt get mitigated, and it continues to grow, they believe they as an island are at risk of losing the revenue of home porting w/ RCG. So for those of us booking in June, this is worthy of watching closely. Thanks for the video. 

 

Seems they are more concerend for us the traveling public coming into the island with a spike underway than they are of vaccinated guests bringing it into the state. 
 

Watching the video for me as a Celeb Mill client was very valuable. 

[gmjc2]

The curfew report is for St. Martin not ST. Maarten. The Dutch side has the airport and cruise port so announcements from that country is what counts for us to travel there. Of course there is no border so Covid can move around freely!  Not expecting the test requirements to change and the cruises starting on the 5th June may well be cancelled.

[sofietucker]

As of Friday: https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/ottley-fully-vaccinated-visitors-may-be-exempted-from-testing

Edited May 30, 2021 by sofietucker

[gmjc2]

Followed your link but find it a little ambiguous as to when this will happen. Hopefully before  the 12 th when we fly in!

[gmjc2]

Anyone seen an update on vax for St. Maarten or the ship?

[rsail203]

I took the pcr test Saturday and tested positive. If they had stopped the testing for fully vaccinated, I would have gone on the 6/5 cruise while I was positive, giving others proximity to a positive person. Then what happens vwhen you take the antigen test on board to fly back to the US?

I was vaccinated with the pfizer vaccine and still wear a mask any time I go out. How I became positive is a mystery to me and my wife is negative.

[DallasGuy75219]

25 minutes ago, gmjc2 said:

Anyone seen an update on vax for St. Maarten or the ship?

Celebrity updated their website yesterday to require PCR tests for all St. Maarten passengers within 72 hours of boarding.

[ngaspar]

We just received step-by-step check-in information via email for June 19...there is no mention of any testing requirements to board the ship unless you are under 16/unvaccinated.

[TeeRick]

43 minutes ago, rsail203 said:

I took the pcr test Saturday and tested positive. If they had stopped the testing for fully vaccinated, I would have gone on the 6/5 cruise while I was positive, giving others proximity to a positive person. Then what happens vwhen you take the antigen test on board to fly back to the US?

I was vaccinated with the pfizer vaccine and still wear a mask any time I go out. How I became positive is a mystery to me and my wife is negative.

Are you feeling ill at all?  Even if you came up PCR+ you might still not be highly infectious to others.  You are likely controlling your infection.  The PCR test is very sensitive.  Or possibly a false+ result?  That happened to somebody I know a couple of weeks ago.

[cangelmd]

53 minutes ago, rsail203 said:

I took the pcr test Saturday and tested positive. If they had stopped the testing for fully vaccinated, I would have gone on the 6/5 cruise while I was positive, giving others proximity to a positive person. Then what happens vwhen you take the antigen test on board to fly back to the US?

I was vaccinated with the pfizer vaccine and still wear a mask any time I go out. How I became positive is a mystery to me and my wife is negative.

There are a number of ways, with the two most likely being you had Covid, possibly unknowingly, some time in the past and you are a persistent positive (this is not the same as long haul Covid, people can have gotten sick, feel perfectly well, but still have enough viral RNA onboard to test positive for weeks). The other possibility is that it is a false positive, that is becoming more and more uncommon, because unlike the antibody test, false positive PCRs are a cross-contamination issue which goes down with less virus circulating. Finally, you could have just happened to have picked it up right before getting tested.

None of those scenarios in a person two weeks past second vaccine is at all likely to lead to spreading the virus, which is why they are stopping the testing - doesn't efficiently pick up people who can truly transmit the virus.

Two questions - did you have a reaction to either shot that you received, and which was worse, the first or the second? The antigen test is possibly the best test for active disease in symptomatic and low symptomatic people - it may come closest to measure who is able to transmit, but it wont' pick up every single case of possibly infected people.

[rsail203]

I did not have any reaction to either shot, Minor pain on one and less pain on two back in February.

[cangelmd]

8 minutes ago, rsail203 said:

I did not have any reaction to either shot, Minor pain on one and less pain on two back in February.

Thank you for responding to my slightly rude question - what we have seen is that many people who have had Covid, even asymptomatic or very mild cases, have the most reaction to the first shot (their second exposure to virus), while people who likely never had Covid tend to react more strongly to their second shot. I have not seen any true peer reviewed data, but seems anecdotally strong.

Happy cruising soon!

[gmjc2]

Slight dizziness and nausea for 20 mins with the first and no reaction to the second shot--Moderna

Interesting info===Hubby tested positive for the anti-bodies 1 month after second shot but I tested negative after 3 weeks. A little troubling but have not had the chance to test again since. 

[DallasGuy75219]

4 hours ago, ngaspar said:

We just received step-by-step check-in information via email for June 19...there is no mention of any testing requirements to board the ship unless you are under 16/unvaccinated.

There's a separate thread about the apeshow Celebrity has created with constantly changing and conflicting testing requirements. 

[cangelmd]

2 hours ago, gmjc2 said:

Slight dizziness and nausea for 20 mins with the first and no reaction to the second shot--Moderna

Interesting info===Hubby tested positive for the anti-bodies 1 month after second shot but I tested negative after 3 weeks. A little troubling but have not had the chance to test again since. 

Don't bother with an antibody test, some do not test for the antibodies most likely to be induced by the vaccine and you may have good protection against Covid through immune mechanisms that don't involve antibodies - in other words a negative antibody test doesn't tell you much.