Covid Testing for Re-Entry into the US

[LMaraist]

Has anyone been on a Celebrity cruise from Europe and been tested for re-entry into the US?  if so can you give me an idea of how long it took for you to be tested after disembarkation.  My ship arrives at 6 AM and I fly out of Barcelona at 11 AM so I am a little concerned about that.  I will be self disembarking so that should speed things up.  Any help is appreciated

[nwcruiselover]

I wasn’t on Celebrity, but I recently did a TA that ended in Barcelona.  My flight wasn’t till 2:25 PM, and I had a 10:25 AM appointment at the covid testing center at BCN.  I arrived there at 9:05 AM and they took me early.  I was tested and had results in hand before 9:30 AM.  Be sure to make an appointment ahead of time.  The cost is €30 ahead of time and €50 for people who show up without appointments.  There was a very long line for those without appointments, and people reported waiting as long as two hours in that line.  Good luck!

Edited May 18, 2022 by nwcruiselover

[GenXer85]

Check if there is testing at the airport.  You may also want to consider the proctored testing kit, but reliable internet connection can be an issue when at sea.  Do not assume that test will be negative as you hope.  I'd privately test prior to official test to know what you may be up against. Good luck.  Hopefully soon the US follows other countries and removes this requirement. 

[jelayne]

Celebrity is not doing testing.  You can bring a proctored eMed test with you and possibly take the test before you leave the ship, WiFi. May or may not be reliable,

Celebrity will see you a proctored test which you pick up in the terminal after you are off the ship then you can find a spot with good wi-fi and do the test.  Most airports have testing facilities, or make a appointment with a testing facility in Barcelona 

With a 11 a..m Flight your best bet may be bringing a proctored test with you and taking late the night before you get off when internet usage should be less.

[WestLakeGirl]

Whoa, you are cutting things way too close, imho, without doing a proctored test on board. 
 

what is your plan B?

[Aoife_immortal]

3 minutes ago, WestLakeGirl said:

Whoa, you are cutting things way too close, imho, without doing a proctored test on board. 
 

what is your plan B?

The US requires the test to be done within 1 day of boarding your flight back. So in some respects, you do have to cut it close. But I think choosing an 11AM flight is risky in the era of Covid testing. 

 

I did the eMed testing in Canada after my cruise and it was very fast. But I wasn't able to do it onboard because the basic wifi was not adequate at all. I think if I was locked into this flight, I would opt for airport testing.

[cangelmd]

We have proctored tests and an appointment at Schiopol airport as our backup. It was very easy to make an appointment on the website prior to departure. We can cancel up to one hour before testing time, so if our proctored tests work, we will cancel the airport tests. Not sure if we will try ship upgraded Wi-Fi or get up very early in Amsterdam and use international lte.

[Searanger]

1 hour ago, LMaraist said:

Has anyone been on a Celebrity cruise from Europe and been tested for re-entry into the US?  if so can you give me an idea of how long it took for you to be tested after disembarkation.  My ship arrives at 6 AM and I fly out of Barcelona at 11 AM so I am a little concerned about that.  I will be self disembarking so that should speed things up.  Any help is appreciated

Celebrity will "NOT" test you on the ship.  They will however sell you a voucher for a E-Med test kit that will not be available until you're in the luggage area of the terminal.  Strongly suggest you bring your own E-Test with you and do it the day before departure at a location with a good internet connection.  Or if you have a port day prior to departure, get a test there.  

[Aoife_immortal]

7 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

We have proctored tests and an appointment at Schiopol airport as our backup. It was very easy to make an appointment on the website prior to departure. We can cancel up to one hour before testing time, so if our proctored tests work, we will cancel the airport tests. Not sure if we will try ship upgraded Wi-Fi or get up very early in Amsterdam and use international lte.

Make sure you check your international plan. The one I have only allots 50MB for international streaming per day (??) which isn't enough to do a ~20 minute proctored test. I wish I had looked into that a little more before leaving. But Vancouver has excellent public wifi coverage, so I got it done just fine.

[LMaraist]

Thanks for all the help

 

[nwcruiselover]

As mentioned above, I successfully got my testing done at Barcelona airport, which was well-organized and fast.  That was my backup plan.  I tried doing a proctored test the day prior but the ship’s wifi wasn’t sufficient to do it.  The €30 I paid to BCN airport was only refundable up to 24 hours ahead, but I considered it peace of mind.

[cangelmd]

2 hours ago, Aoife_immortal said:

Make sure you check your international plan. The one I have only allots 50MB for international streaming per day (??) which isn't enough to do a ~20 minute proctored test. I wish I had looked into that a little more before leaving. But Vancouver has excellent public wifi coverage, so I got it done just fine.

Good to know, we will check

[asrubin]

On 5/18/2022 at 10:53 AM, cangelmd said:

We have proctored tests and an appointment at Schiopol airport as our backup. It was very easy to make an appointment on the website prior to departure. We can cancel up to one hour before testing time, so if our proctored tests work, we will cancel the airport tests. Not sure if we will try ship upgraded Wi-Fi or get up very early in Amsterdam and use international lte.

Can you tell me what company at the Amsterdam airport you made your booking?  The one I saw wants you to pay online in advance.