NCL COVID test vendor in LA?

[Shellbelle28]

In Seattle NCL used Eurofins to administer the pre-boarding COVID tests, and I think that I read that in Miami they used CVS? What's your guess on who they'll use in LA for the Bliss Mexican Riviera sailings? 

I'm on the first sailing of the Bliss and dreading the thought of it being a disorganized disaster if it's a new provider!

[shof515]

it could also be Eurofins again. They are also doing the test for the new york cruises

[nslatin]

I'm thinking that this boarding will be a disaster, but worth it.  Too many firsts.  Since Covid this is the first out of San Pedro, first Bliss since, first testing at San Pedro.  I'm planning on being the last shuttle over to the port from the Crowne Plaza, assuming they restart the shuttle.

 

I'm also hoping somebody will be reporting the situation live that day.

 

Neal

[Shellbelle28]

32 minutes ago, nslatin said:

I'm thinking that this boarding will be a disaster, but worth it.  Too many firsts.  Since Covid this is the first out of San Pedro, first Bliss since, first testing at San Pedro.  I'm planning on being the last shuttle over to the port from the Crowne Plaza, assuming they restart the shuttle.

 

I'm also hoping somebody will be reporting the situation live that day.

 

Neal

We have our fingers crossed because we took the plunge and used the NCL BOGO air to fly in the day of the cruise with NCL's transfer from the airport to the ship. Flight arrives 11:30am, so we should show up in the thick of it. I am hoping lots of lessons have been passed along!

Roll call members should swap celll numbers and relay information!

Edited September 21, 2021 by Shellbelle28

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, shof515 said:

it could also be Eurofins again. They are also doing the test for the new york cruises

Eurofins also does testing for Royal Caribbean and that is why I was so surprised that they failed so badly on the first cruise from Seattle. 

[zoidal177]

Does NCL offer these tests for free or are you charged at the boarding?

[Shellbelle28]

12 minutes ago, zoidal177 said:

Does NCL offer these tests for free or are you charged at the boarding?

It's mandatory and included as part of the cruise fare. 

Edited September 22, 2021 by Shellbelle28

[victory2020]

CVS does free rapid tests here in LA at numerous sites where you get the results in about an hour. You can make appointments 2 weeks ahead of time.

[Shellbelle28]

38 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

CVS does free rapid tests here in LA at numerous sites where you get the results in about an hour. You can make appointments 2 weeks ahead of time.

I'm talking about the testing NCL administers to all passengers as they board. 

[aubreyc1988]

11 hours ago, nslatin said:

I'm thinking that this boarding will be a disaster, but worth it.  Too many firsts.  Since Covid this is the first out of San Pedro, first Bliss since, first testing at San Pedro.  I'm planning on being the last shuttle over to the port from the Crowne Plaza, assuming they restart the shuttle.

 

I'm also hoping somebody will be reporting the situation live that day.

 

Neal

I plan on doing a live review, to the best of my ability anyhow lol

 

I am just happy to be going, I will wait in any long lines, test me many times, ready to go 😄 

[aubreyc1988]

7 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Eurofins also does testing for Royal Caribbean and that is why I was so surprised that they failed so badly on the first cruise from Seattle. 

9/4 was pretty smooth, so hopefully that was just an off day for Eurofins. 

[kpjb]

18 hours ago, Shellbelle28 said:

I'm on the first sailing of the Bliss and dreading the thought of it being a disorganized disaster if it's a new provider!

When is your cruise?  I'm booked on this itinerary for 1/9/22.

Hopefully after you guinea pigs get through they have it worked out for the rest of us. :)

[Shellbelle28]

1 hour ago, kpjb said:

When is your cruise?  I'm booked on this itinerary for 1/9/22.

Hopefully after you guinea pigs get through they have it worked out for the rest of us. 🙂

It's 10/24-10/31/21

[Shellbelle28]

8 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I plan on doing a live review, to the best of my ability anyhow lol

I'm going to PM you or @coastcatmy cell number and you can text me updates about the airport shuttle, the testing and the boarding because our flight doesn't arrive at LAX until 11:30 the day of sailing. If the testing gets hairy, we'll probably arrive in the worst of it...

[coastcat]

1 hour ago, Shellbelle28 said:

I'm going to PM you or @coastcatmy cell number and you can text me updates about the airport shuttle, the testing and the boarding because our flight doesn't arrive at LAX until 11:30 the day of sailing. If the testing gets hairy, we'll probably arrive in the worst of it...

We’ll give you fair warning!

 

Luckily I was in the first boarding group for the first Encore cruise, before the Eurofins server went into full meltdown. That seems to have been resolved along with other rough spots.
 

My concern in LA is location. At the San Pedro port, they’ll need to arrange for a testing/waiting area to process passengers. Bliss will be the only ship in port that day so perhaps they’ll use the 91 terminal building?

[aubreyc1988]

1 hour ago, Shellbelle28 said:

I'm going to PM you or @coastcatmy cell number and you can text me updates about the airport shuttle, the testing and the boarding because our flight doesn't arrive at LAX until 11:30 the day of sailing. If the testing gets hairy, we'll probably arrive in the worst of it...

k no problem, would love to keep you posted! *crossing fingers* I hope it will be fine tho! 

[G-DawgMN]

4 minutes ago, coastcat said:

We’ll give you fair warning!

 

Luckily I was in the first boarding group for the first Encore cruise, before the Eurofins server went into full meltdown. That seems to have been resolved along with other rough spots.
 

My concern in LA is location. At the San Pedro port, they’ll need to arrange for a testing/waiting area to process passengers. Bliss will be the only ship in port that day so perhaps they’ll use the 91 terminal building?

 

 

  That's what I was wondering also. There's no convenient offsite location there and I can't see them shuttling people to/from a testing location.

   We're hoping to be there early to avoid any messes if it goes wrong. We'll see what check-in/testing time we can snag here soon.

 

[coastcat]

4 minutes ago, KSSS2013 said:

 

 

  That's what I was wondering also. There's no convenient offsite location there and I can't see them shuttling people to/from a testing location.

   We're hoping to be there early to avoid any messes if it goes wrong. We'll see what check-in/testing time we can snag here soon.

 

I had been thinking they might set up a big tent in the parking lot. Then I remembered that there are two cruise terminal buildings, 91 and 92, each with a big pre-boarding waiting area. Herd us over to 91 for testing, tag tested people with the magical wristband, and send us back over to 92 for embarkation processing. 

[eroller]

I'm also on the first BLISS sailing out of LA.  I'm fully vaccinated and about 10 days ago I got Covid.  Go figure.  I'm at the tail end of my isolation.  Anyway per CDC recommendations and my employers recommendation, they don't want you to get retested for 90 days as I'm prone to a false positive test result.  Of course for the cruise I'll have to get retested (and I'll do my own home antigen beforehand as well).  I'm just a little concerned I may get a false positive even though I no longer have Covid.  Has anyone been in this predicament?  It has me a little concerned.  I don't want to be denied boarding.  I have saved my positive PCR test result and I'll bring it with me to prove that I did already have Covid.  Not sure it will make any difference and maybe I won't even test with a false positive ... but I like to be prepared for the "what if's".  

[Shellbelle28]

11 minutes ago, eroller said:

I'm also on the first BLISS sailing out of LA.  I'm fully vaccinated and about 10 days ago I got Covid.  Go figure.  I'm at the tail end of my isolation.  Anyway per CDC recommendations and my employers recommendation, they don't want you to get retested for 90 days as I'm prone to a false positive test result.  Of course for the cruise I'll have to get retested (and I'll do my own home antigen beforehand as well).  I'm just a little concerned I may get a false positive even though I no longer have Covid.  Has anyone been in this predicament?  It has me a little concerned.  I don't want to be denied boarding.  I have saved my positive PCR test result and I'll bring it with me to prove that I did already have Covid.  Not sure it will make any difference and maybe I won't even test with a false positive ... but I like to be prepared for the "what if's".  

@erollerI imagine they won't have any flexibility regarding positive tests so I'm crossing my fingers you are clear by then! And I hope you're feeling ok! I just got a contact tracing notification that my office has a confirmed COVID case last Friday, but I'm not considered a close contact. I'm sweating it a bit. 

 

Our sailing has a roll call set up if you'd like to come chat with us there! We're going to meet for sailaway drinks and have a meet & mingle.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2792640-norwegian-bliss-october-24-2021-new-7-day-mexican-riviera/

 

[Shellbelle28]

1 hour ago, coastcat said:

Then I remembered that there are two cruise terminal buildings, 91 and 92, each with a big pre-boarding waiting area. Herd us over to 91 for testing, tag tested people with the magical wristband, and send us back over to 92 for embarkation processing. 

That seems the most logical, I hope they can do that.

[BirdTravels]

15 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

9/4 was pretty smooth, so hopefully that was just an off day for Eurofins. 

Good that they learned from their failure. For our cruise, they had 12 regular test stations and 2 “special” test stations for 2700 passengers. The math doesn’t work for that and the fact that they had server crashes from the load of hundreds of people hitting “refresh” constantly to get their test results didn’t help.