Switchealth - Pearson Airport Covid Testing

[Porkpi]

Oh, I just noticed your upcoming cruises- duh!

 

[bubbadogmom]

12 hours ago, K_e_short said:

 

You need an antigen test for air travel to the U.S. within 3 days and an antigen test for a cruise within 2 days.

So you need to decide if you want to try to find a place to test in the U.S. before you board your cruise OR get a test in Canada before you leave.

 

Here's a link to an article that explains the rules

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/us-canada-border-november-8-1.6212093 

 

 

Air travellers will need to show proof of vaccination on arrival in the U.S. but will still need to show a pre-departure negative COVID-19 test taken within three days of boarding their flight.

 

Non-essential travellers crossing at a land border will be required to show proof of vaccination or attest to their vaccination status upon request by a border agent — but unlike air travellers they will face no requirement to show a negative COVID-19 test."

My head is starting to spin with all the testing requirements. We are going on a cruise from Fort Lauderdale (test to board must be done no earlier than 2 days prior to cruise), but our flight is 2 days before the cruise - so it looks like we need 3 tests total. One to fly to the USA (which must be within 3 days apparently), so the test to fly will not be valid to board the cruise. You have to have a negative result to board the plane - so doing it the same day as our flight is out as it takes “approximately” 48 hours for results. 
 

Then another test to be able to fly home after the cruise. 
 

I want to be able to cruise again but this is overwhelming. 

[K_e_short]

53 minutes ago, bubbadogmom said:

My head is starting to spin with all the testing requirements. We are going on a cruise from Fort Lauderdale (test to board must be done no earlier than 2 days prior to cruise), but our flight is 2 days before the cruise - so it looks like we need 3 tests total. One to fly to the USA (which must be within 3 days apparently), so the test to fly will not be valid to board the cruise. You have to have a negative result to board the plane - so doing it the same day as our flight is out as it takes “approximately” 48 hours for results. 
 

Then another test to be able to fly home after the cruise. 
 

I want to be able to cruise again but this is overwhelming. 

 If your flight is two days before the cruise can you do the test the day you fly out? Someone else on another thread is in that situation.

The test to enter the U.S. has to be WITHIN 3 days so you could do your antigen test the day you leave?

 

There is a place near the Fort Lauderdale airport that does same day PCR testing. Why not check it out? It is expensive though.

 

https://www.covidfll.com/appointments

 

You could also see if you could get a test at the Miami airport? I think it says that you dont' need a boarding pass?

 

https://news.miami-airport.com/covid-19-testing-available-daily-at-mia-starting-may-21/

 

i was at one point cruising out of Miami but the flight out of Fort Lauderdale was cheaper and a direct flight. I decided it was easier to fly out of Miami since they do same day PCR tests.

[bubbadogmom]

1 hour ago, K_e_short said:

 If your flight is two days before the cruise can you do the test the day you fly out? Someone else on another thread is in that situation.

The test to enter the U.S. has to be WITHIN 3 days so you could do your antigen test the day you leave?

 

There is a place near the Fort Lauderdale airport that does same day PCR testing. Why not check it out? It is expensive though.

 

https://www.covidfll.com/appointments

 

You could also see if you could get a test at the Miami airport? I think it says that you dont' need a boarding pass?

 

https://news.miami-airport.com/covid-19-testing-available-daily-at-mia-starting-may-21/

 

i was at one point cruising out of Miami but the flight out of Fort Lauderdale was cheaper and a direct flight. I decided it was easier to fly out of Miami since they do same day PCR tests.

I don’t see how we could do it the day we fly out - even the “expedited tests say 3-6 hours” for results. We’d never make our flight. Unless there’s a testing place nearby that can give results in less than an hour 😔. 
 

At this point I’m not worried about returning to Canada as Royal is giving us free tests on the ship that I think qualify. If that’s not true I don’t know what we will do. I booked our flight after noon as I always do, but I don’t think that’s enough time - plus we can’t afford. $300 tests each. We are maxed on our budget as the hotels are 3x what they usually are - no idea why. Ugh! 

[mikenbon]

3 hours ago, bubbadogmom said:

My head is starting to spin with all the testing requirements. We are going on a cruise from Fort Lauderdale (test to board must be done no earlier than 2 days prior to cruise), but our flight is 2 days before the cruise - so it looks like we need 3 tests total. One to fly to the USA (which must be within 3 days apparently), so the test to fly will not be valid to board the cruise. You have to have a negative result to board the plane - so doing it the same day as our flight is out as it takes “approximately” 48 hours for results. 
 

Then another test to be able to fly home after the cruise. 
 

I want to be able to cruise again but this is overwhelming. 

I will be getting 3 tests, too. One to fly to Orlando, one for boarding the ship and the PCR test to fly home. My flight out of Kelowna is too early to have the test done that day, and I fly out 2 days prior to cruising. Experience has shown that our airport could be closed or have  flights delayed due to weather in the winter, so flying out an extra day early is worth the cost. I've booked the pre flight test at YLW and will get the others at MCO.

[Sue from Canada]

23 hours ago, xcell said:

if your are flying after Nov 8th, no more test for travel to US, only the PCR on return.

Is that the rapid PCR upon return or the other one that takes a couple of days to get the results?

[xcell]

5 hours ago, bubbadogmom said:

. We are maxed on our budget as the hotels are 3x what they usually are - no idea why. Ugh! 

Yeah I noticed that as well. I guess they are trying to make up for loss revenue. Sucks you pay $300 USD just to sleep one night.

[AlbertaCruisers]

On 10/17/2021 at 12:08 AM, xcell said:

if your are flying after Nov 8th, no more test for travel to US, only the PCR on return.

 

I don't know if that is true about flying into the US.  Everything I have read has suggested you will still need the test to fly into the US (with Antigen test likely still being sufficient), but you don't need a test if you drive across the border into the US.   

[bookbabe]

The Shoppers antigen test results take less than 15 min if you can find one with testing times that’ll work for you.

[ALD18]

Check with your cruise line and see their protocols.  We are working with Norwegian and Royal C and they both have different protocols.  Norwegian does an actual test at the dock before you can board the ship.  Royal states you must have a test within 2 days of boarding, antigen is ok.  Both provide free PCR testing before you get off, but not on the day you arrive.  So if you disembark on Saturday, you get tested on Friday at the latest.  Both had PCR tests to appease Canadian requirements.  However, with Friday test it would put you on the 72 hour departure clock which screws up if you would like to stay an extra day in disembark location.  It also sounded like it PCR test actually went down to the wire, so if you got the test at 6:00 pm on Friday your flight had to depart by 6:00 Monday.  Anything after 6:00 invalidated test.  Timing on your arrival at Canadian airport did not matter, just the departure time.  If I understood them correctly and they have not changed already:)

[Tomchick1970]

Just wanted to share this bit of information:

 

I just came back from Florida on Oct 9th.  We needed a PCR test to fly home.  I booked tests for myself, husband and parents online through the CVS website.  I used the resort address as MY address, uploaded pics of our travel insurance (parents) and health benefits (myself and spouse), selected a day and time.

 

On the day of the test we figured we might have to pay but held our breath hoping for a free test.  We used the drive-thu at CVS, gave the girl our confirmation codes that we received on the booking.  She gave us the test to do ourselves and then we dropped them into the box beside the window.  24 hrs letter we had our results.  We payed NOTHING - tests were FREE.  We were super happy as it saved us $800 US for the 4 of us.

[Fouremco]

9 hours ago, bubbadogmom said:

I don’t see how we could do it the day we fly out - even the “expedited tests say 3-6 hours” for results. We’d never make our flight. Unless there’s a testing place nearby that can give results in less than an hour 😔. 
 

At this point I’m not worried about returning to Canada as Royal is giving us free tests on the ship that I think qualify. If that’s not true I don’t know what we will do. I booked our flight after noon as I always do, but I don’t think that’s enough time - plus we can’t afford. $300 tests each. We are maxed on our budget as the hotels are 3x what they usually are - no idea why. Ugh! 

What airport will you be flying out of and at what time is your flight? Getting tested and flying out on the same day is possible in most cases.

[K_e_short]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

What airport will you be flying out of and at what time is your flight? Getting tested and flying out on the same day is possible in most cases.

 

It's not in Fort Launderdale as they only have 48 hours. There is a place nearby that does 4-6 hours.

 

Thats why flying out of Miami is better as they have 1 hour pcr testing.

 

[mikenbon]

5 hours ago, xcell said:

Yeah I noticed that as well. I guess they are trying to make up for loss revenue. Sucks you pay $300 USD just to sleep one night.

I've noticed a jump in price for flights and hotel both. Add on the testing and my budget has really changed since my last cruise on Leap Day 2019. 

[Fouremco]

56 minutes ago, K_e_short said:

 

It's not in Fort Launderdale as they only have 48 hours. There is a place nearby that does 4-6 hours.

 

Thats why flying out of Miami is better as they have 1 hour pcr testing.

 

I meant which Canadian airport is she flying out of, and at what time. As she is cruising with Royal and will get a free PCR test on board (assuming they don't stop providing them) the return testing isn't an issue.

[loman]

12 hours ago, bubbadogmom said:

I don’t see how we could do it the day we fly out - even the “expedited tests say 3-6 hours” for results. We’d never make our flight. Unless there’s a testing place nearby that can give results in less than an hour 😔. 
 

At this point I’m not worried about returning to Canada as Royal is giving us free tests on the ship that I think qualify. If that’s not true I don’t know what we will do. I booked our flight after noon as I always do, but I don’t think that’s enough time - plus we can’t afford. $300 tests each. We are maxed on our budget as the hotels are 3x what they usually are - no idea why. Ugh! 

Royal does testing on the ship the day before departure for free and that will get you on an airplane back to Canada. Provided you test negative 🙂.

[xcell]

10 hours ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

 

I don't know if that is true about flying into the US.  Everything I have read has suggested you will still need the test to fly into the US (with Antigen test likely still being sufficient), but you don't need a test if you drive across the border into the US.   

Read a few posts down or up, I apologized that I got it wrong... fly you need the test, drive you do not --- going out that is...