Will RCCL start doing their own rapid testing at the Port for all passengers?

[bajathree]

6 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Please help, as I'm totally confused with all of the C tests.  My emergency clinic has the following available tests:

 

PCR and Rapid Test Molecular.

 

RT-Molecular results is available within the same day or hours.  Is this test accepted by RCL.

Accepted Types of Tests and Results

• There are two common types of diagnostic COVID-19 tests and we accept either type: 
  • A molecular test, also called a PCR test or NAAT test
  • An antigen test, also called a rapid antigen test
• The test must be supervised by a health professional, such as a doctor, pharmacy technician, public health worker, or telehealth professional.
• You must receive a valid results document from your test provider that includes provider name, your name, the date the test was taken, type of test, and your negative result. This can be a printed document, email, or telehealth app notification. Handwritten doctor’s notes will not be accepted.
• Telehealth testing at home is only accepted when it meets certain guidelines. See below.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/if-need-an-rt-pcr-test-before-i-cruise-where-should-i-go

[ryano]

 

4 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Please help, as I'm totally confused with all of the C tests.  My emergency clinic has the following available tests:

 

PCR and Rapid Test Molecular.

 

RT-Molecular results is available within the same day or hours.  Is this test accepted by RCL.

 

You should be fine.  The RT Molecular is the NAAT test and that is clearly accepted by RCI.  Its basically a PCR type test that results are available same day the way I understand it.    The only test they do not accept is a antibody test or a self administered test not supervised by a proctor.

 

"Molecular tests amplify bits of viral RNA so that viral infection can be detected using a specialized test. These tests are also referred to as nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT). "

[nelblu]

4 minutes ago, ryano said:

 

 

You should be fine.  The RT Molecular is the NAAT test and that is clearly accepted by RCI.  Its basically a PCR type test that results are available same day the way I understand it.    The only test they do not accept is a antibody test or a self administered test not supervised by a proctor.

 

"Molecular tests amplify bits of viral RNA so that viral infection can be detected using a specialized test. These tests are also referred to as nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT). "

Thank you so much for the clarification.  The only thing that the receptionist could tell me, is that the RT-Molecular is more effective  indicator than the Antigen test.  Right or wrong, have no idea.  Feel so helpless as I'm not on top of these topics.

Edited September 1, 2021 by nelblu

[Chauncey Picklepants]

11 hours ago, rj59 said:

The fact that even in this thread people are still unsure about what sort of test to take and reluctant to commit to spending thousands with no fallback if test results aren't back in time/are rejected at the port, shows that RCL has to do something more than 'it's on you, if something goes wrong, tough, take your bags and go home'. Right now people can't Cruise with Confidence, and it's indefensible that the unvaccinated have testing available at the port provided by RCL but the vaccinated can't get those tests under any circumstances. So the company is sailing with much less capacity, people are canceling their cruises because of uncertainty over testing, and every person they turn away at the port costs them lost revenue, lost goodwill, and lost future business, including mine--I'll keep demanding refunds until they offer a backup option at the port. They already have testing facilities there, so why not charge people for a test as a backup for those who didn't understand the rules/didn't get results back in time? Make it $300, make them wait until all the kids have been tested, or whatever it takes, but get people on board, especially since people cruising during Delta and willing to jump through testing hoops are the customers you want to keep.  Instead, now they tell them, after they've waited to get inside, to go find a testing site and hope they get back in time to sail, while the unvaccinated are guaranteed to be tested and to sail. RCL is losing passengers like my mother, who always books suites, is Diamond level, but doesn't read email, doesn't have a webcam to do monitored test, has no idea of what a PCR or antigen test is, would be even more confused when RCL sends out the email asking guests to register for their test at the port, and she would have a heart attack if she was told she had to run around a strange city looking for a last-minute test with the risk of the ship and her luggage leaving without her.  Testing everyone at the port is a bad idea, testing only the unvaccinated at the port is offensive, allowing people to use port testing as a fallback option is the the smart and right thing to do. My next cruise will be with whoever offers that option to show they truly care about passengers and safety, otherwise I'll just fly to pleasant ocean towns that don't require tests. 

You nailed it. And the fact that people comment negatively about others - assuming everyone knows to come join cruise critic to watch and notate the daily testing hoops and challenges is naive and sad.
 

Not everyone is tech savvy or a chemist capable to know the difference between tests with confusing acronym names and varied acceptable uses. Emed just became a thing on here very recently.  And for those of us lucky enough to follow, find out about them and are buying them, hooray.  But for those not as lucky, who aren’t in-the-know yet, let’s not judge. Please let’s have some compassion. If it weren’t for my daughter signing me up on here with our dog’s name, I’d be just as in the dark as the people being judged. I didn’t know Cruise Critic existed and I’ve been cruising for 20 years. 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Chauncey Picklepants

[bajathree]

Bottom line is that cruising right now isn't for everyone. There currently are definite challenges and constantly changing protocols that unfortunately are the passengers responsibility to stay on top of.  Right now unless you want to keep on top of these ever changing protocols right up to point of departure you shouldn't be considering a cruise vacation. It is the unfortunate post COVID cruising world we are living in...it's either accept it for what it is or pause on cruising till things get back to some normalcy you are more comfortable with. 

[ryano]

12 minutes ago, bajathree said:

 Right now unless you want to keep on top of these ever changing protocols right up to point of departure you shouldn't be considering a cruise vacation. 

 

Very true and I personally do not desire to do that.  Im only cruising in 9 days because if I dont, I lose it all.  There was no moving my cruise again. They said no.  I do not qualify for a refund because of a unique FCC situation from a cancelled hurricane Dorian cruise.  This will be my last one until there are absolutely no restrictions whatsoever.  Even if that means I never cruise again.  There are too many places right here in the USA that I want to see, that I dont even have to show a vaccine card for, much less stress over testing.    That is why I will have four of these Binax Now tests for sale soon.  🙂  

Edited September 1, 2021 by ryano

[bajathree]

9 minutes ago, ryano said:

 

Very true and I personally do not desire to do that.  Im only cruising in 9 days because if I dont, I lose it all.  There was no moving my cruise again. They said no.  I do not qualify for a refund because of a unique FCC situation from a cancelled hurricane Dorian cruise.  This will be my last one until there are absolutely no restrictions whatsoever.  Even if that means I never cruise again.  There are too many places right here in the USA that I want to see, that I dont even have to show a vaccine card for, much less stress over testing.    That is why I will have four of these Binax Now tests for sale soon.  🙂  

Totally understood 🙂

[orville99]

46 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

are you not aware of the fact that in some areas it's close to impossible to either 1) schedule a test or 2) schedule a rapid test or 3) get a PCR test result within 3 days?

 

Just because they were available in your area and at the speed of light doesn't mean it's the same in every corner of the US.

 

And yet when I key a zip code dead center (30306) in Metro Atlanta on the CVS Covid testing portal there are at least seven Atlanta locations and a few Decatur locations that have multiple appointment times available for 9/14 (which would be the earliest someone would be able to test for a Friday departure).

[Chauncey Picklepants]

30 minutes ago, bajathree said:

Bottom line is that cruising right now isn't for everyone. There currently are definite challenges and constantly changing protocols that unfortunately are the passengers responsibility to stay on top of.  Right now unless you want to keep on top of these ever changing protocols right up to point of departure you shouldn't be considering a cruise vacation. It is the unfortunate post COVID cruising world we are living in...it's either accept it for what it is or pause on cruising till things get back to some normalcy you are more comfortable with. 

Cruise lines are doing nothing to assist passengers with “keeping up.”  Protocols are changing daily, yet crickets from them and, I assume, most travel agents. 
If they’re selling a product as expensive as this is, and know it’s a moving target, with a changing shelf life, and taking the $$$ money for it, they are to be responsible to keep the communication alerts a priority. Blaming the passengers who aren’t chemists and on their computers 24/7 helps no one. If they can’t do the proper alerts for their customers/passengers, affecting their industry, they should not be selling the product.  That is not cruising with confidence.  It’s “If you didn’t know everything changed (again) yesterday, tough noogies.”
 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Chauncey Picklepants

[bajathree]

7 minutes ago, Chauncey Picklepants said:

Cruise lines are doing nothing to assist passengers with “keeping up.”  Protocols are changing daily, yet crickets from them and, I assume, most travel agents. 
If they’re selling a product as expensive as this is, and know it’s a moving target, with a changing shelf life, and taking the $$$ money for it, they are to be responsible to keep the communication alerts a priority. Blaming the passengers who aren’t chemists and on their computers 24/7 helps no one. 

If you go onto any of the cruise lines sites they will have a link somewhere (mostly at the top of the page) to current protocols and requirements. It is your responsibility to check that and keep up with it. The cruise lines can't contact every person individually of each change although they try. While they do try to keep up and send out notices and e-mails of changes that may effect your reservation a lot of them get missed to non-information such as e-mails and phone numbers. Like I said...it's just the unfortunate post COVID cruise world right now.  

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by bajathree

[ryano]

15 minutes ago, orville99 said:

And yet when I key a zip code dead center (30306) in Metro Atlanta on the CVS Covid testing portal there are at least seven Atlanta locations and a few Decatur locations that have multiple appointment times available for 9/14 (which would be the earliest someone would be able to test for a Friday departure).

 

Atlanta area CVS stores are being overwhelmed right now and are cancelling appointments sometimes as late as 24 hours before your scheduled test.   Thats what they dont tell you.   

Edited September 1, 2021 by ryano

[Chauncey Picklepants]

7 minutes ago, bajathree said:

If you go onto any of the cruise lines sites they will have a link somewhere (mostly at the top of the page) to current protocols and requirements. It is your responsibility to check that and keep up with it. The cruise lines can't contact every person individually of each change although they try. While they do try to keep up and send out notices and e-mails of changes that may effect your reservation a lot of them get missed to non-information such as e-mails and phone numbers. Like I said...it's just the unfortunate post COVID cruise world right now.  

 

Airlines do.  Why can’t cruise lines? A text alert is not a new concept.  Since their average customer age is 46.7 years old, wit a large group who were not raised with social media and internet -  I think they have an obligation to keep their base better informed and with more options for testing than saying Go Fish. 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Chauncey Picklepants

[orville99]

2 minutes ago, ryano said:

 

Atlanta area CVS stores are being overwhelmed and are cancelling appointments sometimes as late as 24 hours before your scheduled test.   Thats what they dont tell you. 

Why we book ours as early in the day as possible.

[bajathree]

1 minute ago, Chauncey Picklepants said:

Airlines do.  Why can’t cruise lines? 

Like I said...they do try to send out e-mails and texts with updates but sometimes they may not have your correct info....this comes direct from Royal. When a reservation is made it sometimes may not have the passengers contact info. It could be that you booked through an agency that used their phone number or email in the contact info. So sometimes it may not all be on the cruise line....someone else may not be doing their job correctly. 

[Fantom333]

Will Royal Caribbean accept the "Rapid Diagnostic Test (ID NOW) Rapid Molecular Test" administered by Walgreens?

[orville99]

Just now, bajathree said:

It could be that you booked through an agency that used their phone number or email in the contact info.

As long as Covid remains an issue, I would be hesitant to trust my cruising future to a TA - one too many hands in the soup.

[orville99]

2 minutes ago, Fantom333 said:

Will Royal Caribbean accept the "Rapid Diagnostic Test (ID NOW) Rapid Molecular Test" administered by Walgreens?

Yes.

[RedIguana]

1 hour ago, ArthurUSCG said:

I think the 1 year thing is related to the CDC emergency approval. They have recently changed what tested they have authorized to ones that test for both COVID and the flu. The previous test was only COVID. So labs had to spend the additional time to also process a flu test.

Please stop repeating this. There is no mandate to choose an assay that also does flu, it is just recommended. And even if an assay that is capable of doing multiple is used does not mean that the lab has to actually process that part of the assay.

[bajathree]

3 minutes ago, orville99 said:

As long as Covid remains an issue, I would be hesitant to trust my cruising future to a TA - one too many hands in the soup.

While I do understand the more layers added the more exposure to something going wrong...there are many good TA's out there also and right now in the world of COVID the wait times when you do need to contact the cruise lines about something can be downright exhausting and frustrating ...this is where you would be happy you had someone else to do that and take care of something for you. 

[cruiselvr04]

So I just ordered the home tests.  I can open the outside box but not the individual test kits right?

 

The only place to put in the names was in the very beginning.  It doesn’t say anywhere that each of us is listed….is that right?

 

Just don’t want to screw up $176.  
 

The DH wanted to wait and see but I’m getting nervous that kits will be hard to find just like testing is now.  We don’t go for a couple months.

[bajathree]

3 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

So I just ordered the home tests.  I can open the outside box but not the individual test kits right?

 

The only place to put in the names was in the very beginning.  It doesn’t say anywhere that each of us is listed….is that right?

 

Just don’t want to screw up $176.  
 

The DH wanted to wait and see but I’m getting nervous that kits will be hard to find just like testing is now.  We don’t go for a couple months.

Yes....just don't open the actual kit or break the seal on it. Don't worry about nothing with names listed...apparently it doesn't matter who uses the test or if they were listed or not when you placed the order.

[outtoseacruise]

12 minutes ago, ryano said:

 

Atlanta area CVS stores are being overwhelmed right now and are cancelling appointments sometimes as late as 24 hours before your scheduled test.   Thats what they dont tell you.   

I just checked your area for City, County, & State sites in your area and the county shows some at https://www.fultoncountyga.gov/covid-19/covid-testing-sites

 

If you rely only on just CVS or Walgreens you are limiting your possible locations. I won't deal with CVS or Walgreens and have 4 City, County, or State sites within 30 minutes of me. They city site is about 3 miles and nearest county/state site is 9 miles. All you have to do is do a search in your area with the health departments in your region.

 

This morning there was no wait at the City site as seen below in the pic. You just pull up and get either your barcode or QR code scanned, pull in the tent, nose is swabbed, your on your way and get results quick. 

 

 

 

[mauraoel]

28 minutes ago, Chauncey Picklepants said:

Airlines do.  Why can’t cruise lines? A text alert is not a new concept.  Since their average customer age is 46.7 years old, wit a large group who were not raised with social media and internet -  I think they have an obligation to keep their base better informed and with more options for testing than saying Go Fish. 

It's not like you are required to provide a phone number (unlike when booking a flight) and when reserving through a TA the email address is the TA's not the passengers

[outtoseacruise]

16 minutes ago, mauraoel said:

It's not like you are required to provide a phone number (unlike when booking a flight) and when reserving through a TA the email address is the TA's not the passengers

The agent must put in an email and phone number to complete the booking now. If they don't it won't complete the booking. If you don't supply a good phone number or valid email you will not receive notifications. If you agent is putting in anything other than the guests phone & email you need to look for another agent. 

I get numerous emails each week on my upcoming sailings on Mariner, Freedom, & Odyssey over the next 2 months. I am also still getting emails on the 2 Adventure cruises I canceled under CWC because it is easier to drive 1 - 3.5 hours for a local cruise than flying to and from the Bahamas. The emails are going out with updates. If your not getting them you may won't to check your SPAM, email server settings, and verify Royal has your correct email and phone number on the booking.

Edited September 1, 2021 by outtoseacruise

[chopper825]

If Norweigan can do it at the port than why can't Royal. It would nice to have the option and would take away this unneeded additional stress.