How long before a cruise do you buy the testing kit?

[Caps_Shield]

We sail December 27th on the Independence OTS and was wondering how far in advance I should be ordering my test kits for my family?  I hear that they come fast but I don't want to miss out.  I'm a bit of a planner/ worrier.  Also, besides just my family of 4, we have a much larger group going who will all need this on their own too. 

[thjeepster]

11 minutes ago, Caps_Shield said:

We sail December 27th on the Independence OTS and was wondering how far in advance I should be ordering my test kits for my family?  I hear that they come fast but I don't want to miss out.  I'm a bit of a planner/ worrier.  Also, besides just my family of 4, we have a much larger group going who will all need this on their own too. 

I would wait a little bit.  They are sending out kits currently that luckily have the extended shelf life of 3 months added to them because if not mine would have expired today for my cruise on Oct 17th.

 

I ordered mine about a month before my sailing.

[mizLORInj]

The email I just got from RC says "we recommend ordering a week before you need it."    You'll get an email with subject "Your Pre-Cruise Testing Options."  

[Sunshine3601]

I would wait till beginning of December or end of November to order your test kits.    Everything is constantly changing so no point in ordering now to find out they made a change to testing requirements for your holiday sailing.    

[ScubaCat3]

The ordering process seems to be going smoothly for everyone else but I've had issues both times that I ordered.

 

My first order in August was accepted with no problem but then I received an email saying they were currently out of stock and didn't know when they would be able to fill my order. I cancelled the order and made an appointment at CVS.

 

I tried to order again on Monday. The order appeared to be going well until I clicked the final "pay now" button. I got the message "Oops something went wrong. Go to Optum Store home page". I went to the home page and my order was still in the cart. I never received an email acknowledging my order so I contacted Optum support by email. They responded 24 hours later to let me know the order was complete and they gave me a tracking number. The shipment which was supposed to be delivered today is stuck in a FedEx office. Who knows when it will arrive (not Optum's fault). 

 

So my suggestion is don't order too far in advance but don't wait until the last minute.

[tserface]

The online kits are very popular right now so I'd probably order around 3 weeks in advance instead of the recommended 1 week.  There's no reason to take any chances of them running out or the kits becoming unavailable.  We ordered ours from eMed (6 kits for 2 people was $150).  It was an additional expense, but the convenience was amazing.  Using the telemed zoom interface it took less than 1/2 hour to do our test, including getting the results.  So we feel the $75 each cost was pretty worth it.

 

Also, we had 4 kits left over so we've done a couple of random tests ourselves (didn't need to go online since we don't have to prove anything) when we did a couple of road trips. We just wanted to make sure before interacting with our local family again.

 

So, as others have said, don't wait too long, but don't order too far in advance.  I think 3 weeks is safe so that if it is delayed, you still have plenty of time before your cruise.  The actual testing time is insignificant.  It's just the shipping that is the issue.

[Tree_skier]

Emed is sold out of 6 packs.  Only 2 or 3 packs available