Covid testing in Houston

[stephanie333]

My family and I are flying in a few days early so we’ll have to do our Covid testing in Houston. Any suggestions on places you’ve used? I’m thinking of CVS… 

Carnival’s website suggests going through Quest Diagnostics….anyone use them? Thanks!

[restasured]

We live in La Porte, about 15 miles east of Houston.  We have used the Walgreens on Spencer Hwy and Underwood Rd. for our last 3 cruises.  You can make an appointment either 6 or 7 days before you want to take the test and there are a large number of openings for everyday.  I suggest you locate a CVS or a Walgreens close to where you intend to stay and make an appointment, before you come to Houston, as long as it is within the 6 or 7 day window.  If your cruise is on Saturday, you can test either Thursday or Friday.  We always do the test 2 days before cruise day, in case you get a false positive.  Gives you more time to get a second test.  If you do it at Walgreens the test you want is the Rapid NAAT Test.  It is a drive up test, at least it is at the Walgreens we use.  If you are Ubering to the location you may want to call the store to see what their procedure is.  Even with Uber I imagine they would be happy to take you to the location and pull up to the drive thru and wait (and charge for time) while you do the test.  Only takes about 2 or 3 minutes per person to do the test.  They call and give you the results on your phone.  We get our results within about 30 - 45 minutes.  I don't know what CVS procedure is, but probably the same,  But I would call the store just to verify.  But it is a really simple process. 

[1kaper]

We booked with Walgreen's.  There were three of us though and you can only do one person per appointment at the drive thru.  Appointments are 15 minutes apart.  We had 30 minutes between our first and second appointment because I couldn't get them all back to back.  It ended up taking a long time to get all three done due to the line up in the drive thru.  Also, you need a car. 

 

[1kaper]

17 hours ago, restasured said:

We live in La Porte, about 15 miles east of Houston.  We have used the Walgreens on Spencer Hwy and Underwood Rd. for our last 3 cruises.  You can make an appointment either 6 or 7 days before you want to take the test and there are a large number of openings for everyday.  I suggest you locate a CVS or a Walgreens close to where you intend to stay and make an appointment, before you come to Houston, as long as it is within the 6 or 7 day window.  If your cruise is on Saturday, you can test either Thursday or Friday.  We always do the test 2 days before cruise day, in case you get a false positive.  Gives you more time to get a second test.  If you do it at Walgreens the test you want is the Rapid NAAT Test.  It is a drive up test, at least it is at the Walgreens we use.  If you are Ubering to the location you may want to call the store to see what their procedure is.  Even with Uber I imagine they would be happy to take you to the location and pull up to the drive thru and wait (and charge for time) while you do the test.  Only takes about 2 or 3 minutes per person to do the test.  They call and give you the results on your phone.  We get our results within about 30 - 45 minutes.  I don't know what CVS procedure is, but probably the same,  But I would call the store just to verify.  But it is a really simple process. 

We used the Walgreens near the Gallaria Mall and they would only do one test at a time. And there were long lines in the drive thru we had to wait through. 

[stephanie333]

Thanks for the info. We will have a car so that part is good. We are a family of 5 though so I don't love the possible idea that we might have to wait in between 😞 I can call CVS and see if their procedures are different though.

[Rudyard]

I did mine at CVS in Deer Park (Center St location) and Pearland (518 @ Pearland Pkwy)