Covid testing in Boston for Bermuda cruise on NCL pearl

[styles27]

On 3/22/2022 at 10:16 PM, jethrojam said:

Bermuda requires a supervised at home test.  This is done online - and one of the things they check is expiration dates.  Im sure you will get a correct reading; just not sure it will be accepted. 

When we cruised in November our tests were expired however the FDA has extended the shelf life on the at home tele monitored tests and the technician we connected with on the tele health call must have been aware of that.
The tests we plan to use for our Pearl cruise in a few weeks are also past the expiration date on the box but they’re still good under the FDA extension. 
I had printed out the FDA letter with our test lot # on it just in case the tech told us they weren’t usable but she never even mentioned the expiration date. 

Edited March 25, 2022 by styles27

[Artcricket]

Wonder why so many people are receiving expired test kits. 

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, Artcricket said:

Wonder why so many people are receiving expired test kits. 

Originally the FDA severely limited the amount of time after manufacture that the test would be considered valid. Eventually they concluded that the tests would still be valid for a substantially longer time and extended the validity dates. The test kits being received that are past their expiration date were manufactured before the FDA changed its standards.  

[baflagg]

On 3/22/2022 at 2:03 PM, styles27 said:

We have used the at home proctored tests for our last cruise and plan on using them again for our Boston to Bermuda cruise next month.
 

Even though we only live an hour from Boston I like having control over the test and the very fast results that they send via email. 
 

You had asked about logging in just once and having 8 people take the test. 
No you can’t do that. Each person in your party needs to create a profile with a login and then each person needs to login individually and follow the prompts from the tech. 
 

We used our IPhones when we did ours. For some reason my IPad didn’t work. 

How exactly do these home proctored tests work?   We sail out of Miami in June and flying down on Friday to spend a couple of days before sailing.  Initially my plan was to go to the walk-in medical centers to all get tested before we leave but my mother-in-law booked early flights so that is not going to work.  I know there are places in Miami to get tested but we won't have a car and not being familiar with the area I have no idea if there will be some place within walking distance of our hotel (which I still need to book),  So, thinking the home testing is probably the best way to go when we get to Miami on Friday but just wasn't 100% sure how it works.   Thanks.

[styles27]

42 minutes ago, baflagg said:

How exactly do these home proctored tests work?   We sail out of Miami in June and flying down on Friday to spend a couple of days before sailing.  Initially my plan was to go to the walk-in medical centers to all get tested before we leave but my mother-in-law booked early flights so that is not going to work.  I know there are places in Miami to get tested but we won't have a car and not being familiar with the area I have no idea if there will be some place within walking distance of our hotel (which I still need to book),  So, thinking the home testing is probably the best way to go when we get to Miami on Friday but just wasn't 100% sure how it works.   Thanks.

They’re very easy. For our November cruise we purchased our Binaxnow ag card test from emed.com. 
For our upcoming cruise I purchased them through the Optum website. 

So you download the NAVICA app and create an account. 
Then two days before our cruise we signed in to our account and requested to take a test and within a couple of minutes a technician came on and walked us through the process. It was really quick. 
The tech instructs you to open the test, place 6 drops of reagent inside the card then you swab your nose and place the swab inside the card, twirl it around a few times and seal the card up. Then a 15 min timer will come on your screen. That tech leaves and at the end of the 15 min another tech comes on to read the results.
You have to keep the test card in the vision of your phone or tablet screen the entire 15 min but you don’t have to sit there if you don’t want to. 
After the new tech reads your results, which you can clearly see as well, you disconnect and you’ll receive an email with all of the details. 
There’s a great YouTube video of the process I’ll try to find it for you. 
 

Found it

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by styles27
To add link to video

[BiancaV]

On 3/22/2022 at 10:19 PM, jethrojam said:

For all those sweating the tests.  Make a free appointment on Wednesday for a PCR test through project beacon.   Notable locations are New Bedford revere Framingham and a few others.  You will have to wait until a week before cruise but it will still be available.  If not, there are plenty of payfortests available instantly. 

I was just going to ask if anyone used Beacon. I’ve used them in the past and it has always been pretty easy and free. Just worried how long the results would take but I think it was within 24 hrs?

[Betsynh]

We’re sailing May 27th and I’m planning to order the proctored self-test as described above. We’re flying to a wedding in Nassau next week and bought two kits ($70 for both) through Quest Diagnostics (NAVICA app) and will test using my cell phone camera. Apparently iPads work as well. With 8 different people, you’ll likely have 8 different accounts so fire up everyone’s cell phones and try to get them done efficiently, one proctor per phone “call”. Good luck! I think that’s much easier than trying to find a pharmacy and wait with everyone for results.