Puerto Rico changes airport arrivals Covid entry rules

[Aviator of the Seas]

Where before you could fill out your travelsafe.pr.gov travel declaration with proof of vaccination status OR negative Covid test, effective December 27, the Puerto Rico Health department will require BOTH in order to avoid quarantine. Those who arrive with proof of vaccination but no test will have 48 hours to procure an on-island test. Those who arrive with negative test but no proof of vaccination, will have to quarantine.

 

Sorry about these changes. This stupidity seems to never go away. 

[zpdw484]

We are due to fly down Christmas night to board explorer on the 26th. We already filled out the travel safe form, uploaded our vax cards and got our QR codes. This change shouldn't effect us correct? How about after the cruise? We are spending two days in old San Juan prior to flying home.  Any talk of changing the protocols to insist on testing at the end of the cruise? This is our biggest fear.  Thanks in advance

[zpdw484]

5 hours ago, Aviator of the Seas said:

Where before you could fill out your travelsafe.pr.gov travel declaration with proof of vaccination status OR negative Covid test, effective December 27, the Puerto Rico Health department will require BOTH in order to avoid quarantine. Those who arrive with proof of vaccination but no test will have 48 hours to procure an on-island test. Those who arrive with negative test but no proof of vaccination, will have to quarantine.

 

Sorry about these changes. This stupidity seems to never go away. 

 

[Ashland]

11 hours ago, Aviator of the Seas said:

Where before you could fill out your travelsafe.pr.gov travel declaration with proof of vaccination status OR negative Covid test, effective December 27, the Puerto Rico Health department will require BOTH in order to avoid quarantine. Those who arrive with proof of vaccination but no test will have 48 hours to procure an on-island test. Those who arrive with negative test but no proof of vaccination, will have to quarantine.

 

Sorry about these changes. This stupidity seems to never go away. 

And besides SJU (we have a late arrival time) where can we get the test done.? Arriving on a Friday and sailing on a Sunday....but not until mid March.

[Aviator of the Seas]

7 hours ago, zpdw484 said:

We are due to fly down Christmas night to board explorer on the 26th. We already filled out the travel safe form, uploaded our vax cards and got our QR codes. This change shouldn't effect us correct? How about after the cruise? We are spending two days in old San Juan prior to flying home.  Any talk of changing the protocols to insist on testing at the end of the cruise? This is our biggest fear.  Thanks in advance

The additional requirements are for air arrivals only.

[Aviator of the Seas]

1 hour ago, Ashland said:

And besides SJU (we have a late arrival time) where can we get the test done.? Arriving on a Friday and sailing on a Sunday....but not until mid March.

Oh, I'm sure that requirements will change many times by March.

[cuterlmt]

is this really true? We sail in two and a half weeks, are fully vaccinated, and had no plans to test before the cruise. Will they test us at the airport? We arrive the night before the cruise. 

[Ashland]

29 minutes ago, Aviator of the Seas said:

Oh, I'm sure that requirements will change many times by March.

More than likely we'll still need a covid test...so....where are they available?

I'm certainly not the only one looking for this info.

[Aviator of the Seas]

10 hours ago, Ashland said:

More than likely we'll still need a covid test...so....where are they available?

I'm certainly not the only one looking for this info.

They're normally available at any medical lab (Laboratorios Borinquen is the largest chain lab here), or at Walgreens or CVS. Right now all testing sites are overwhelmed because of the Omicron panic.

[Aviator of the Seas]

10 hours ago, cuterlmt said:

is this really true? We sail in two and a half weeks, are fully vaccinated, and had no plans to test before the cruise. Will they test us at the airport? We arrive the night before the cruise. 

 

Executive Order OE-2021-81 Summary- 21DEC21.pdf

[cuterlmt]

Thank you very much Aviator of the Seas. I looked at the Puerto Rico travel safe page a lot last night and had researched it, and thought we'd be fine.

Do you know if the 48 hours is 48 hours? Or two days? We fly to PR on Saturday and get there at 530pm. Do we need to test after 530pm on Thursday? That may be impossible. And we may have to test Friday early morning and hope for results before we get to PR. 

Any thoughts about the timing?

Thank you again.

[davela2]

The 48 hour before cruise is "days", not specifically 48 hours.  We are sailing on a Sunday afternoon.  A test anytime on Friday is fine.  We are bringing home tests with us and doing it in San Juan.  the tests need to be video-proctored.  I don't trust hoping to find a rapid test location in san juan.  You might be able to get one done, by appointment, at the pier prior to boarding, but those are $100/person.  Also available at the airport upon arrival

[Aviator of the Seas]

2 hours ago, cuterlmt said:

Thank you very much Aviator of the Seas. I looked at the Puerto Rico travel safe page a lot last night and had researched it, and thought we'd be fine.

Do you know if the 48 hours is 48 hours? Or two days? We fly to PR on Saturday and get there at 530pm. Do we need to test after 530pm on Thursday? That may be impossible. And we may have to test Friday early morning and hope for results before we get to PR. 

Any thoughts about the timing?

Thank you again.

What Davela2 said. This is a fluid situation, so info might be outdated quickly.

[Ashland]

10 hours ago, Aviator of the Seas said:

They're normally available at any medical lab (Laboratorios Borinquen is the largest chain lab here), or at Walgreens or CVS. Right now all testing sites are overwhelmed because of the Omicron panic.

From what I understand Walgreens & CVS are drive up only.

Thanks for your info ... I'm hoping things might be easier come mid March for us.

[njhorseman]

14 minutes ago, Ashland said:

From what I understand Walgreens & CVS are drive up only.

Thanks for your info ... I'm hoping things might be easier come mid March for us.

Based on what I've seen posted here and elsewhere on Cruise Critic a solution to the testing issue for many cruisers has been the BinaxNow COVID-19 Ag card, which is the proctored version of that antigen test and meets the requirements for boarding a cruise. 

[cuterlmt]

So the issue isn't boarding a cruise - we are sailing NCL, so they test at the port. The issue is being allowed to get out of the airport - so will a Binax Now COVID 19 proctored test work? if we can't get a test at home before we leave?

[Aviator of the Seas]

On 12/22/2021 at 9:45 PM, cuterlmt said:

So the issue isn't boarding a cruise - we are sailing NCL, so they test at the port. The issue is being allowed to get out of the airport - so will a Binax Now COVID 19 proctored test work? if we can't get a test at home before we leave?

Nobody will actually, physically prevent you from leaving the airport. They could tell you that you need to get tested within 48 hours of arrival if you didn't before our face a fine. But no one is in authority to deny entry to any U.S. Citizen to Puerto Rico. In fact, or depends who is in charge that day, if you tell the PR Health Department officials that you're just here to get on a cruise ship on the day of arrival, they will wave you right through. 

[hermialam]

We are going end of January and will have a almost 4 year old with us. Does that mean we cannot board the ship due to the 7 day quarantined now 😞 we are only flying in the day before but have plans for pcr tests

[Ptroxx]

On 12/26/2021 at 3:41 PM, Aviator of the Seas said:

Nobody will actually, physically prevent you from leaving the airport. They could tell you that you need to get tested within 48 hours of arrival if you didn't before our face a fine. But no one is in authority to deny entry to any U.S. Citizen to Puerto Rico. In fact, or depends who is in charge that day, if you tell the PR Health Department officials that you're just here to get on a cruise ship on the day of arrival, they will wave you right through. 

is there any update to this.  ?    We have to have a test to get on the ship. So the same test should be ok for PR entry too.   
 

arriving the night before the cruise.   

[Goldconnection]

We recently completed a b2b2b embarkation in NY with final disembarkation San Juan where we completed a 3 day post cruise stay. We just made it home before all of the changes. No testing required for our post stay or flight home. We are however being monitored daily by Sara Alert. I understand this will last for 14 days. You are automatically enrolled when you disembark the ship.

 

[Aviator of the Seas]

On 1/4/2022 at 5:35 PM, Ptroxx said:

is there any update to this.  ?    We have to have a test to get on the ship. So the same test should be ok for PR entry too.   
 

arriving the night before the cruise.   

At the airport last Sunday, they were no longer waving cruisers through without checking. Rules change fast.

[cruisegus]

On 1/6/2022 at 8:20 AM, Aviator of the Seas said:

At the airport last Sunday, they were no longer waving cruisers through without checking. Rules change fast.

Thank You @Aviator of the Seasfor the update - We plan to test the day before we arrive, 2days early and then again the next day through eMed for our boarding test.

Will be interested in how debarkation is this Sunday Jan 9th. and if those leaving that day back to the States can go directly to the airport and board when your flight time is.

Edited January 8, 2022 by cruisegus

[Ashland]

Any new update on the hours that a covid test can be done at SJU upon arrival? Arriving in March on a Friday night (8pm) for a cruise sailing on a Sunday.

[sseknichols]

It looks like they are changing the entry rules beginning Feb. 2.  If you are flying in for a cruise (we are on March 12) then it would seem like we just have to upload vaccine cards.  There are other statements for non-vaccinated, coming into port on a cruise, etc...  https://www.discoverpuertorico.com/info/travel-guidelines

 

[Ashland]

How far in advance do you fill out the travel declaration form before arriving into San Juan for a cruise? Also do you print out a hard copy and bring with you?