PCR vs Rapid antigen to board ship

[VMax1700]

Ok, as mentioned above, the HAL PDF does state "within 3 days of embarkation" and I, too, had my doubts about what exactly is within 3 days of Monday.  Is it Friday or is it Saturday??

However, in the same paragraph, HAL states  that for Greece you must bring a negative test result "taken within 1 day of embarkation".  Now it doesn't say "taken the day of embarkation"  and it does not make sense to take it one day after embarkation, so the logical meaning of "within 1 day" is the day previous to embarkation.  Therefore, logically within 3 days of embarkation is embarkation minus 3 full days (ie the day before, the day before the day before) or in the case of sailing on a Monday, taken at any time on a Friday.

 

Legal backup to this argument is found here:  https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/days-prior

 

Days Prior means the specified number of calendar days before the occurrence of the event specified, not counting the calendar date on which the specified event is scheduled to occur.

 

[*Miss G*]

I took a test on a Wednesday, flew to the port on the Thursday, boarded the ship on the Saturday.  I used the same test taken on the Wednesday; within 3 days of embarkation.

 

On 5/24/2022 at 4:25 PM, saltshell said:

Confused and a bit angry. Cruising out of Amsterdam on a Sunday. Plan 4 nights in London pre cruise. Looking for a test site, very confusing. Emailed my hotel and the directed me to 2 pharmacies. One charges over $200 and the other over $300; boy are they making money. Found a couple of others that charge around $40 and am anxious about their validity. Amsterdam Airport is also outrageous. My understanding is that I don't have to test to fly to Amsterdam but test is needed to board Ship. I would gratefully pay HAL to test me pre disembarking; looks like that's not happening.  Anyone have good testing sources?

 

Assuming you are flying out of LHR, I would use the ExpressTest at the airport for £35.00. 

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by *Miss G*

[madera1]

1 hour ago, *Miss G* said:

I took a test on a Wednesday, flew to the port on the Thursday, boarded the ship on the Saturday.  I used the same test taken on the Wednesday; within 3 days of embarkation.

 

 

Assuming you are flying out of LHR, I would use the ExpressTest at the airport for £35.00. 

 

We plan to do the same for next week. I have ordered the tests from Optum and will do the proctored tests before our flights.

Edited May 26, 2022 by madera1

[Cattyp]

So my navigator app says my voyage starts on 2 days and 7 hours (I board on Sunday) so I took ly test today because In navigator math I’m within three days. 

[DC0743]

On 5/25/2022 at 12:54 PM, Slush said:

I called and spoke with my PCC. I sail out of Barcelona on Wed June 1. 3 days prior is Monday NOT Sunday.  Wed, Tue, Mon. 3 days. I had to reschedule my test to be in Barcelona on Monday over the internet, Instead of on Sunday before we leave PHX. She was very insistent that a test on Sunday within 72 actual hours of boarding would not work.  So we will test before we go at home to verify we are clean and not waste a 20 hour flight, and then again when we get to Barcelona for Holland to be happy.

That is the same answer I received. They count the day of boarding as one of the days. Also flying out Sunday and now have to take the test in Barcelona on Monday or Tuesday. See you onboard.

[Cattyp]

54 minutes ago, DC0743 said:

That is the same answer I received. They count the day of boarding as one of the days. Also flying out Sunday and now have to take the test in Barcelona on Monday or Tuesday. See you onboard.

That’s dumb. Guess I took my test to early. I leave tomorrow so can’t take one tomorrow. Guess I’ll be running around Barcelona when I get there. Even counting the days from the trip…I board Sunday so Sunday to Saturday is one day, Saturday to Friday is 2 days and Friday to Thursday is 3 days.  So I think I’m ok. Unless HAL does common core math. LMAO

[LJProk]

On 5/23/2022 at 7:27 PM, CruiserBruce said:

The other thing that is important is that PCR tests may show positive up to 90 days after you were infected, as the PCR tests may see residue of Covid. Antigen tests, on the other hand, only show active, current infection.

I have seen that Carnival for example will accept a positive test from 10 days prior to your cruise, assuming you are now symptom free, and a with a Dr's note. Is HAL doing the same? Since you can test positive for so long after having covid, but no longer be contagious.

[CruiserBruce]

27 minutes ago, LJProk said:

I have seen that Carnival for example will accept a positive test from 10 days prior to your cruise, assuming you are now symptom free, and a with a Dr's note. Is HAL doing the same? Since you can test positive for so long after having covid, but no longer be contagious.

Yes.

[saltshell]

Are the free US government tests accepted?

[CruiserBruce]

53 minutes ago, saltshell said:

Are the free US government tests accepted?

As discussed here frequently, yes, IF THEY ARE MEDICALLY SUPERVISED.

[RuthC]

46 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

As discussed here frequently, yes, IF THEY ARE MEDICALLY SUPERVISED.

How does one arrange that? 

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, RuthC said:

How does one arrange that? 

Some of the brands provided have the option to do an online monitoring session.

[Cattyp]

Just wanted to say that I took my test Thursday. I board Sunday. When I entered the info into verifly it accepted it and said ready to sail.

[RuthC]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Some of the brands provided have the option to do an online monitoring session.

That's not very helpful. 

The question is still 'How' does one arrange that? 
Do you have a brand name? Or a URL to make the arrangements? 

[seaoma]

1 hour ago, RuthC said:

That's not very helpful. 

The question is still 'How' does one arrange that? 
Do you have a brand name? Or a URL to make the arrangements? 

 

I was interested to know about this, so I did find this article. Hopefully, you received one of these tests. I did not. 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/free-tests-biden-international-travel/

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, RuthC said:

That's not very helpful. 

The question is still 'How' does one arrange that? 
Do you have a brand name? Or a URL to make the arrangements? 

Try onpoint-testing.com. They claim to provide proctered testing for ANY over the counter Covid test. Found them by going to the website for the brand test we got.

 

Others here have reported they have used the government issued OTC tests to meet their travel and cruising test needs.

[oakridger]

Certified Teleservice COVID Testing - OnPoint Testing (onpoint-testing.com)

 

Check this website @RuthC.  Thanks @CruiserBruce and @seaoma.    I'll keep this info for myself because I have received some of the US Government supplied tests.  iHealth brand.

 

~Nancy

Edited May 28, 2022 by oakridger

[laurelholly]

https://onpoint-testing.com/product/certified-teleservice-covid-testing/?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=Labor Day&utm_medium=email

[Cruising Is Bliss]

On 5/26/2022 at 4:16 AM, d9704011 said:

When they launch space craft, the thing leaves at '0', not '1'.  So, I'd go with 3, 2, 1, embark/depart.  In this case.... Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.  

 

Would you board the ship at 11am and call it anything except the first day of your cruise?  I wouldn't. Also, in your example, space craft launch day is always counted as mission day #1. The count down to zero is a count of hours/minutes/seconds of time left BEFORE the scheduled launch. 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Cruising Is Bliss

[d9704011]

5 hours ago, Cruising Is Bliss said:

 

Would you board the ship at 11am and call it anything except the first day of your cruise?  I wouldn't. Also, in your example, space craft launch day is always counted as mission day #1. The count down to zero is a count of hours/minutes/seconds of time left BEFORE the scheduled launch. 

We're not talking about counting cruise (mission) days, the discussion is about timing of pre-embarkation tests.  For Greece, the rule is one day before embarkation.  So, for a cruise with embarkation on Wednesday, it's pretty clear (at least to me) that the test needs to be taken on Tuesday at the earliest.  Extrapolating that line of thinking, three days would logically lead to Tuesday, Monday, Sunday for testing elsewhere in Europe.

 

@VMax1700 you seem to be hopping back and forth over the fence.

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, d9704011 said:

you seem to be hopping back and forth over the fence.

Initially yes, but since finding the legal definition of 'days prior'   I am definitely on this side of the fence. 🤐

 

 

[RuthC]

11 hours ago, seaoma said:

 

I was interested to know about this, so I did find this article. Hopefully, you received one of these tests. I did not. 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/free-tests-biden-international-travel/

 

 

 

11 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Try onpoint-testing.com. They claim to provide proctered testing for ANY over the counter Covid test. Found them by going to the website for the brand test we got. 

 

11 hours ago, oakridger said:

Certified Teleservice COVID Testing - OnPoint Testing (onpoint-testing.com)

 

Check this website @RuthC.  Thanks @CruiserBruce and @seaoma.   

Thank you all for the various links. I should be able to find some thing with all of them. 

[willoL]

On 5/27/2022 at 4:56 PM, RuthC said:

How does one arrange that? 

I discussed this with my regular doctor, and he is willing to write an approval letter for each member of my family if we schedule a tele-medicine appointment (which could be via Zoom or FaceTime or any video "call" system) and he observes my family self-administering any of the approved at-home COVID tests.

 

Anyone can ask if their usual doctor would do this.

 

I suspect it's easier to get a yes from small, physician owned practices, however. (My doctor uses the direct primary care model, so we pay him directly for a membership, never using our insurance for office visits with him.)

[Laminator]

On 5/28/2022 at 6:11 AM, d9704011 said:

We're not talking about counting cruise (mission) days, the discussion is about timing of pre-embarkation tests.  For Greece, the rule is one day before embarkation.  So, for a cruise with embarkation on Wednesday, it's pretty clear (at least to me) that the test needs to be taken on Tuesday at the earliest.  Extrapolating that line of thinking, three days would logically lead to Tuesday, Monday, Sunday for testing elsewhere in Europe.

 

@VMax1700 you seem to be hopping back and forth over the fence.

We are departing on the Rotterdam on Sunday out of Europe. We are taking our tests Thursday. 

[tuolumne couple]

41 minutes ago, Laminator said:

We are departing on the Rotterdam on Sunday out of Europe. We are taking our tests Thursday. 

have fun

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by tuolumne couple