Required COVID test before departure from United States

[Rrehfe4969@aol.com]

Just noticed under frequently asked questions under Oceania’s

safe sail a sentence that states that if you cannot produce documentation showing a negative COVID test before departing USA , Oceania will not pay for quarantine or return flight or reimbursement for cruise if you test positive at embarkation. That is a big deal so we will definitely get a test before we leave for Amsterdam on the 16th of September. 
richard and Kim Rehfeldt 

madison, Mississippi 

[pinotlover]

Oceania is starting back up in Europe. I believe all those nations require a Covid test for entry. In fact, United wouldn’t let you on the plane without showing it.

 

Therefore, this stipulation is obviously for later cruises not originating in Europe.

[LHT28]

Does the airline  require a test as well ?

Will they do one at the airport before boarding your flight ?

 

[pinotlover]

The airlines don’t actually require the test. The country they’re flying into requires it. Part of their agreement to have landing privileges is to ensure everyone getting on the plane has it.

 

For those “ bright” people buying a fake COVID-19 vaccination card, you’ll find it near impossible to get by with a fake test document.

 

The Airlines do not arrange for the tests. Our paperwork and passport were inspected at checkin and again at boarding. Boarding times were extended.

Edited August 20, 2021 by pinotlover

[Flatbush Flyer]

17 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Does the airline  require a test as well ?

Will they do one at the airport before boarding your flight ?

 

United has a section on their website and app called “Travel Ready” which, based on what approved test/vaccination documentation you have uploaded to your Mileage Plus account, alerts you to what else you may need to fly and/or gain entry to your destination airport. Tests missing? Our home airport (SFO) has a (Hawaii approved [perhaps the most stringent lab requirements]) lab in the United terminal that can do whatever test you need preflight (worst case scenario - for early AM flights, you’ll need to get a hotel the night before).

[lorimay]

I just filled out the EU - PLF (Passenger locator form) this week for our flight into Rome in late October. At this time - and it probably will change - the form says you can either present a negative test OR proof of vaccination to get into Italy. You don't need both. Just to be on the safe side we will probably have test results anyway.

[Rrehfe4969@aol.com]

No test required into Netherlands if you have been vaccinated however Oceania requires test before you depart USA if you want reimbursement if you test positive day of embarkation 

richard

[PhD-iva]

I just returned Stateside yesterday, flying from Bucharest. Uniworld provided PCR and antigen tests two days before we flew home (at our own cost). In Amsterdam when boarding for the flight to Atlanta on KLM, we had to sign a piece of paper attesting that we had a negative Covid test or we had recovered from Covid. No one looked at that paperwork.
Prior to going through immigration in Atlanta, passengers were randomly checked and had to show their documentation. I’m not sure how you show documentation of having recovered from Covid, anyway I had a negative Covid test to show. I say passengers were randomly checked, but it looked like most passengers were being “randomly” checked.

[GeorgesGal]

On 8/20/2021 at 12:12 PM, Rrehfe4969@aol.com said:

Just noticed under frequently asked questions under Oceania’s

safe sail a sentence that states that if you cannot produce documentation showing a negative COVID test before departing USA , Oceania will not pay for quarantine or return flight or reimbursement for cruise if you test positive at embarkation. That is a big deal so we will definitely get a test before we leave for Amsterdam on the 16th of September. 
richard and Kim Rehfeldt 

madison, Mississippi 

Just a word of caution:  You are identifying your home city and last name on open posts.  Not a good idea in my mind.  Please take this advice in the spirit in which it is given.

[SophieM]

Richard & Kim,

 

Could you please post the link to the SailSafe FAQs that you referenced above? I asked our TA if O would cover expenses if we test negative prior to departing the US but then test positive at embarkation. He said no. 
 

Thanks!

[Flatbush Flyer]

7 minutes ago, SophieM said:

Richard & Kim,

 

Could you please post the link to the SailSafe FAQs that you referenced above? I asked our TA if O would cover expenses if we test negative prior to departing the US but then test positive at embarkation. He said no. 
 

Thanks!

At the top of the O website homepage is the SailSafe link. Click it and you’ll find the FAQs link right under the section heading.

 

FWIW:

n the FAQs section of the SailSafe link on the O website it says:

Am I required to test for Covid prior to traveling?
Oceania Cruise strongly encourages all guests to take a COVID-19 PCR test 3 to 4 days prior to traveling to the ship, as an added precaution. If a PCR test is not readily available, then we encourage guests to at a minimum take a laboratory administered COVID-19 Antigen test prior to travel. Further, as the entry requirements by country are evolving, we recommend that all guests consult with local government websites to determine any additional requirements, including additional pre-cruise testing that may be required to travel. Guests that fail to test prior to departure or cannot provide proof of a negative laboratory supplied test result and subsequently test positive for COVID-19 upon embarkation will not be reimbursed for quarantine or return travel arrangements.

 

The SailSafe FAQs also say:

If a guest tests positive for COVID-19 while on board, what costs are covered?
Complimentary onboard medical consultations and treatments are provided for respiratory illnesses as well as dedicated isolation accommodations should the need arise. If a guest follows health and safety protocols and tests positive during their cruise, the Cruise Line will coordinate and cover the costs related to necessary onboard COVID-19 related medical treatment, required land-based quarantine, and travel arrangements to get the guest safely back home. We will also cover the same costs for identified close contacts if they are required to quarantine on board or are removed or denied re-boarding due to being in close contact to a guest who tests positive.

 

IMO: All O info taken together (including the Ticket Contract), the key to O covering you for quarantine costs/transport depends on you providing proof (via your own negative Covid test 3-4 days prior to embarkation day) that Covid was not a PEC during that prior 3-4 days “look back” period.

 

Reasonable? 
 

BTW: I seem to remember that the T&Cs and/or Ticket Contract say that, if O docs do not agree with O website, website prevails. (But, don’t quote me). Of course, even this is complicated by what both the docs and website said when you made your cruise purchase deposit.

[njhorseman]

8 minutes ago, SophieM said:

Richard & Kim,

 

Could you please post the link to the SailSafe FAQs that you referenced above? I asked our TA if O would cover expenses if we test negative prior to departing the US but then test positive at embarkation. He said no. 
 

Thanks!

Not Richard and Kim, but here's what you want:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/sites/default/files/2021-08/sailf-safe-health-program-v12.pdf

"

Am I required to test for Covid prior to traveling?

Oceania Cruise strongly encourages all guests to take a COVID-19 PCR test 3 to 4 days prior to traveling to the ship, as an added precaution. If a PCR test is not readily available, then we encourage guests to at a minimum take a laboratory administered COVID-19 Antigen test prior to travel. Further, as the entry requirements by country are evolving, we recommend that all guests consult with local government websites to determine any additional requirements, including additional pre-cruise testing that may be required to travel. Guests that fail to test prior to departure or cannot provide proof of a negative laboratory supplied test result and subsequently test positive for COVID-19 upon embarkation will not be reimbursed for quarantine or return travel arrangements."

[SophieM]

Thanks, folks! It seems pretty clear. I do wonder if someone contracts Covid while on board how they will determine if that person has followed health and safety protocols, especially if someone has gone ashore on his or her own. Hmmmmm. I guess we’ll find out. I am eager to hear the experiences of those who are on the first cruises. 

[nikless]

They say 3-4 days prior to traveling to the ship.  If you have an overnite flight to the port city and arrive 2 days prior to embarkation, does that mean 3-4 days prior to getting onto the plane, or 3-4 days form actually getting on the ship?

[SophieM]

Nikless, I’m a bit confused about that, too. We will leave the US 4 days prior to our cruise. I’m currently thinking we’ll test here and then perhaps again in Barcelona. 

[PaulMCO]

Very odd when they are loose with the 3 to 4 days.  Using those words generally means leaving your home and boarding your flight, or driving to the ship if ship leaves from a US port.  There might be country test requirements for entry like the UK (even for vaccinated).

 

From the web site that has the latest guidance (see footnote on the pdf) -- words added AT HOME

 

"All guests will undergo pre-embarkation health screening including an enhanced health questionnaire and touchless temperature check. Oceania Cruise strongly encourages all guests to take a COVID-19 PCR test at home, 3 to 4 days prior to traveling to the ship, as an added precaution."

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, nikless said:

They say 3-4 days prior to traveling to the ship.  If you have an overnite flight to the port city and arrive 2 days prior to embarkation, does that mean 3-4 days prior to getting onto the plane, or 3-4 days form actually getting on the ship?

Nice try😉 (just kidding). Most gov’t websites with Covid info specify X days prior to actually stepping foot on their soil.

In that vain (and because O’s own arranged flights arrive at the port city on embarkation day), I assume O means 3-4 days prior to you arriving at the embarkation check-in (aka “traveling” to the ship from your immediately prior location.

To see it any other way would make no common sense since so many O regulars do pre-Cruise land travel. Thus (for example), a week old Covid test would mean anything several days later. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

10 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

Very odd when they are loose with the 3 to 4 days.  Using those words generally means leaving your home and boarding your flight, or driving to the ship if ship leaves from a US port.  There might be country test requirements for entry like the UK (even for vaccinated).

 

From the web site that has the latest guidance (see footnote on the pdf) -- words added AT HOME

 

"All guests will undergo pre-embarkation health screening including an enhanced health questionnaire and touchless temperature check. Oceania Cruise strongly encourages all guests to take a COVID-19 PCR test at home, 3 to 4 days prior to traveling to the ship, as an added precaution."

As sometimes happens two different O website locations say somewhat different things. In the SailSafe section on prescreening it says (“at home”). But in the FAQs it doesn’t.

Regardless of what O says, we will do a test (wherever) within three days of our first restart embarkation, if fir no other reason than to establish “no Covid PEC” which than guarantees O will cover any quarantine/Evac costs should you test positive while on the cruise. 

[nikless]

Also confusing is the "prior to traveling to the ship".  Why not say prior to embarkation?

If we call O, we will get an agent who verbally responds, but I would like to see it in writing. We; leave home on Saturday, embark on Tuesday; if we want results before we fly, would have to get tested Friday...thats 4 days (with a time change in between).   So we will need to get tested again in the port city?  And then on embarkation?

Having dealt in my job with lab errors and false failures in lab testing, I am concerned about the validity of any results, Postive or negative.

So much for the vaccine - and we just got boosters yesterday

[libert1]

I am spending thousands of dollars on a cruise / vacation.  I am flying on Monday, arriving on Tuesday, boarding the ship on Friday.  I am fully vaccinated.  I will get a booster as soon as I am able to, before I travel.  I will do a test two or three days before I fly and I will probably do one a couple of days prior to boarding the ship.  Plus the test at boarding, if O requires it.  

 

The cost and inconvenience of testing is minor when compared to the cost of the trip.  It is really cheap insurance.  Plus, I would rather know, and hope everyone else knew, that they are negative.  It will make for a much more relaxing vacation where I can forget that Covid exists for a few days while I cross the Atlantic.  

 

Just my opinion.  Please do as you feel right.  

[nikless]

16 minutes ago, libert1 said:

I am spending thousands of dollars on a cruise / vacation.  I am flying on Monday, arriving on Tuesday, boarding the ship on Friday.  I am fully vaccinated.  I will get a booster as soon as I am able to, before I travel.  I will do a test two or three days before I fly and I will probably do one a couple of days prior to boarding the ship.  Plus the test at boarding, if O requires it.  

 

The cost and inconvenience of testing is minor when compared to the cost of the trip.  It is really cheap insurance.  Plus, I would rather know, and hope everyone else knew, that they are negative.  It will make for a much more relaxing vacation where I can forget that Covid exists for a few days while I cross the Atlantic.  

 

Just my opinion.  Please do as you feel right.  

Cost isn't the issue.  Multiple tests = multiple opportunities for a false positive.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, libert1 said:

I am spending thousands of dollars on a cruise / vacation.  I am flying on Monday, arriving on Tuesday, boarding the ship on Friday.  I am fully vaccinated.  I will get a booster as soon as I am able to, before I travel.  I will do a test two or three days before I fly and I will probably do one a couple of days prior to boarding the ship.  Plus the test at boarding, if O requires it.  

 

The cost and inconvenience of testing is minor when compared to the cost of the trip.  It is really cheap insurance.  Plus, I would rather know, and hope everyone else knew, that they are negative.  It will make for a much more relaxing vacation where I can forget that Covid exists for a few days while I cross the Atlantic.  

 

Just my opinion.  Please do as you feel right.  

Absolutely! 
BTW, In requiring a pre-Cruise Covid test, all O is asking us for is what amounts to a medical record of no Covid PEC during a 3-4 day “look back” period (just as travel insurers do with their months long “look back” periods) prior to assuming “responsibility” for us at embarkation where they will perform an additional Covid test before we are allowed to board. 
If we produce negative pre-Cruise AND embarkation day tests, O accepts that there is no Covid PEC and then is willing to assume the financial  risk of covering the costs of land side quarantine and even Medevac should we contract Covid while under their care and protection.

 

[PaulMCO]

12 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

As sometimes happens two different O website locations say somewhat different things. In the SailSafe section on prescreening it says (“at home”). But in the FAQs it doesn’t.

Regardless of what O says, we will do a test (wherever) within three days of our first restart embarkation, if fir no other reason than to establish “no Covid PEC” which than guarantees O will cover any quarantine/Evac costs should you test positive while on the cruise. 

as the FAQ says consult the web site because it has the latest...  So at home is the requirement..