2 from our party just tested positive for Covid - sailing early April, still need pre-embarkation tests?

[mikkelhansen]

Hello everyone,

Sorry if this has been covered in other threads, but I couldn't find any recent threads covering it.

 

We are a party of four, all from Denmark (EU), all fully vaccinated AND have received our booster shot. We are set to travel on Apex from Fort Lauderdale on April 2, 2022. The situation below is taking into account the current "Health and Safety" requirements/restrictions, which may very well be extended beyond February 28.

 

My sister-in-law and her girlfriend tested positive for Covid this Tuesday, January 11, initially from an antigen test, but confirmed with a PCR test. They are currently in self-isolation and awaiting recovery, but are both doing fine.

Regarding general travel to the US (we will arrive by plane on March 31), I have found that their positive test, attached with a medical attestation that they're "cleared for travel" will suffice, in place of a negative test taken the day before departure from Denmark. This also seems to be CDC's general requirements for cruise travel.

However, on Celebrity's website, they clearly state: "All vaccinated guests must present a negative COVID-19 test result taken as either as an Antigen or PCR test conducted within two days of embarkation and complete a health questionnaire prior to sailing." No exceptions seem to be given anywhere, including persons who have recovered from Covid within the prior 90 days (as per CDC), which is the case for the two ladies in our party.

Now, here's our case: It is said that "old" covid infection may show up as positive on new tests up to 6 months after full recovery. And as such, I could certainly agree with the ladies that they may have problem embarking, if the pre-embarkation test should turn out positive from their current infection.

I reckon others have had this same issue, and I'm very interested in any recent experiences on this matter. Understandably, the ladies would rather cancel their cruise, if they would risk being denied boarding under the aforementioned circumstances.

 

Thanks in advance, and a nice weekend to all of you,

Mikkel from Denmark

[CHEZMARYLOU]

As of now, Celebrity requires the negative covid test. Does not matter if you had and recovered from Covid.

[Guindalf]

It’s impossible to predict what the rules will be in early April!

 

But as it stands, you are required the provide proof of a negative test within two days of sailing as well as being Covid-free for 14 days prior.

 

It could be different tomorrow, let alone in 2.5 months!

[Wrunkles]

I haven't had a recent experience.  As pp said things could be different in March with preboard testing.  They might want to wait before cancelling and see if they fall into that category where they test positive for 6 months.   They can always do a test at home a week before travel and see what the results would be before they make the trip over.  It's nice they can cancel up to 48 hours before so they have time to decide.  I'm glad they are feeling fine.  

[TeeRick]

@mikkelhansen - your situation is quite common right now.  Most people in the USA, EU, Canada, etc have been exposed to Omicron and many currently test positive no matter the vaccine status.  So IMO you don't need to worry about boarding in April.  Not sure how many days in advance of your departure you are coming to the USA.  Just take the 48 hour Antigen-type test before your cruise.  You should avoid the RT-PCR test as it might give a positive result months later even if you fully recovered from your COVID infection.  Everything will be fine.  Enjoy your cruise.

[mikkelhansen]

Thanks everyone - that's pretty much how I expected the situation to be with the current guidelines.

For now, they are keeping their booking, and when we get closer to February 28, when the current guidelines "expire", we'll take a look at any new/revised/extended guidelines, and they will make their decision by then.

 

21 hours ago, TeeRick said:

@mikkelhansen - your situation is quite common right now.  Most people in the USA, EU, Canada, etc have been exposed to Omicron and many currently test positive no matter the vaccine status.  So IMO you don't need to worry about boarding in April.  Not sure how many days in advance of your departure you are coming to the USA.  Just take the 48 hour Antigen-type test before your cruise.  You should avoid the RT-PCR test as it might give a positive result months later even if you fully recovered from your COVID infection.  Everything will be fine.  Enjoy your cruise.

We will arrive in the US on March 31, so two days before embarkation. If still applicable, we all plan to take an antigen test somewhere in Fort Lauderdale on April 1, ie. 1 day before departure. From the other testing sites thread, there seems to be plenty of available testing sites, even for foreign citizens with no US health insurance coverage, ie. testing with full cash/card payment.

I also read the same about the PCR tests as you mentioned; in the ladies' case an antigen test would definitely be more "safe" in terms of "false positive". They both plan on taking an antigen test here in Denmark a couple of times during March, and if they all come up negative, as highly expected, it would be quite a safe bet that the antigen test in the US on April 1 would come up negative as well.

[Nancycat]

Do not count on getting a test from someplace in Florida, there are hours long lines, I suggest you purchase the test via Celebrity 

[Jim_Iain]

10 minutes ago, Nancycat said:

Do not count on getting a test from someplace in Florida, there are hours long lines, I suggest you purchase the test via Celebrity 

Great suggestion for U.S. travelers but the Tests are only certified for U.S. Residents and are not permitted to be sent out of the country.   We have friends in Canada who also can not order them.  There may be a similar home kit available in Denmark.

 

I used one prior to may official test on a B2B and it gave me quite a bit of peace of mind.

 

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

39 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Great suggestion for U.S. travelers but the Tests are only certified for U.S. Residents and are not permitted to be sent out of the country.   We have friends in Canada who also can not order them.  There may be a similar home kit available in Denmark.

 

I used one prior to may official test on a B2B and it gave me quite a bit of peace of mind.

 

 

If needed you can make a reservation to have a test done in Florida closer to your sail date.  Lots of places to test listed on the internet. Jim and Rick have excellent points.

[TeeRick]

1 hour ago, Nancycat said:

Do not count on getting a test from someplace in Florida, there are hours long lines, I suggest you purchase the test via Celebrity 

That is true right now.  But by end of March, there might be a lot of testing capacity in FLL with appointments.  Omicron will be a distant memory by then.

[Homosassa]

Make sure you are aware of the conditions in your cruise departure city and area and take appropriate action to prevent being infected before boarding. 

Edited January 16, 2022 by Homosassa

[Denny01]

In order to give you more peace of mind, if that’s possible during this pandemic!, you might consider the whole party doing a test a week or so prior to departing Denmark to give you a good feel of your status, and what the tests show. 

 

We did that 3 weeks prior to our Nov ‘21 cruise and then did the 48hr test for the actual cruise requirements, it took a bit of stress off. 

 

enjoy! Funny isn’t it. We here in the US spend good money to fly to Europe and stay in Denmark and you spend good money to fly to the US! Fun for all of us! Got to see what’s on the other side of the mountain! 

 

den

[mikkelhansen]

On 1/16/2022 at 9:02 PM, Denny01 said:

In order to give you more peace of mind, if that’s possible during this pandemic!, you might consider the whole party doing a test a week or so prior to departing Denmark to give you a good feel of your status, and what the tests show. 

That is exactly what we are planning.

 

On 1/16/2022 at 4:40 PM, Nancycat said:

Do not count on getting a test from someplace in Florida, there are hours long lines, I suggest you purchase the test via Celebrity 

As @Jim_Iainmentioned, this is not a possibility for us. We are hoping for shorter queues when we are all the way out in April, and we hope to be able to pre-book testing times before departure from Denmark. A few testing locations seem to be offering this via an online booking system.

 

On 1/16/2022 at 4:53 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Great suggestion for U.S. travelers but the Tests are only certified for U.S. Residents and are not permitted to be sent out of the country.   We have friends in Canada who also can not order them.  There may be a similar home kit available in Denmark.

 

I used one prior to may official test on a B2B and it gave me quite a bit of peace of mind.

 

 

To my knowledge, there are no supervised home tests available in Denmark. Perhaps on enterprise level for huge companies who needs 100s or 1000s of tests done everyday.

We have un-supervised home tests (antigen nose swab tests), but these also don't qualify for the European corona passport, only PCR tests and medically-performed antigen tests are eligible.

[PTC DAWG]

On 1/16/2022 at 12:22 PM, TeeRick said:

That is true right now.  But by end of March, there might be a lot of testing capacity in FLL with appointments.  Omicron will be a distant memory by then.

Fingers crossed…