Testing for US Citizens Traveling to Canada to Board Cruise

[Bxianesq]

We are booked on a HAL cruise which departs from Quebec City.  How do we navigate the pre-cruise testing requirement? We are flying to Canada on a Wednesday, and we board the ship on a Saturday. I think we're going to be just outside of the 72 hour testing window when we leave the US. Any suggestions for where we can get tested in Quebec City (or a telehealth option-my employer pays for my cell phone plan, and Canada is included in our plan even though we are US-based)? Or should we change our plans and fly in a day later so that we can test within the 72 hour window?  Our cruise is in October 2022. 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Bxianesq

[CruiserBruce]

Google searching "Covid Test Quebec" would be a good idea. Checking the Canada boards would also be beneficial. Changing your flights would be my third choice, but its an idea that would work.

[rocksteady27]

We had a similar travel itinerary out of Montreal. We took a couple of the at home test kids and booked a video proctored exam with Azova (add the .com)

 

Super easy and only $20 per person - results within 20-30 minutes and accepted by Verifly for boarding HAL.

Got that tip from another poster here and it worked out well for us.

[shadesofblonde]

Be careful with your timing. The 72 hour window applies only to molecular test. Antigen tests a 2 day window.

 

Refer to https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/cruise#pre-embarkation-test

 

But I agree, video testing is so much more convenient 

 

Don’t forget the ArriveCAN app

[shebag]

You can book a test at any Shopper's drug mart, go online and pick a time, cost is about $40.  Some Walmarts offer testing as well at $20.  Just go online and see if they are offered in Quebec.  Hope this helps and have a great trip.

[Bxianesq]

@RockSteady Do you remember which test you purchased?  I have some FlowFlex tests on hand at home. The Canadian government lists that test as one that is authorized for use in Canada, but Azova does not list that test as one that they proctor if that test is purchased in Canada.  We are US citizens, but will have to self-administer the test in Canada. 

[prescottbob]

https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/covid-vaccinated-travellers-entering-canada#determine-fully

[rocksteady27]

9 hours ago, Bxianesq said:

@RockSteady Do you remember which test you purchased?  I have some FlowFlex tests on hand at home. The Canadian government lists that test as one that is authorized for use in Canada, but Azova does not list that test as one that they proctor if that test is purchased in Canada.  We are US citizens, but will have to self-administer the test in Canada. 

We used the iHealth test - it’s an orange and white box and we received it free via US postal service via the federal government request site.  So not purchased but it is one of the accepted tests for Azova.

 

The proctor asked us to open the box during our session but didn’t really do much else to verify which test we were using. 
 

The proctor was only on video with us for 5 minutes to verify ID and see the swab be done. Then proctor started a timer in the app and logged off.  After the timer for 15 minutes was done the app asked us to enter the result of the Covid test but didn’t verify it live.

[rocksteady27]

Also, we had taken PCR tests late Wednesday back home at Walgreens and 2 of 3 of us received the results by email on Friday which we submitted to Verifly. They were both accepted with no problem.

 

The final person’s results from Walgreens never came through so we booked Azova late Friday for an early Saturday morning appointment at 810am.

 

We had results by 8:45am (PDF document from Azova) which I uploaded to Verifly.

 

Verifly accepted the result by 9:30, issued the final pass, and we boarded at 12:30pm with no issue.

[fatcat04]

We have used the proctored "at home" tests (coming back from France last Fall and St Maarten twice in Winter and Spring).. easy peasy. Highly recommend them. We used the Binax with the Navica app. 

[rocksteady27]

One final note - Verifly kept offering a paid service to expedite the review of documents uploaded (vaccine record, test results) claiming they were busy.
 

We always declined and still got everything back as accepted in less than an hour. 

 

Fees were about $20 or so for expedited review but we always declined and did the normal review process.

[fatcat04]

30 minutes ago, rocksteady27 said:

One final note - Verifly kept offering a paid service to expedite the review of documents uploaded (vaccine record, test results) claiming they were busy.
 

We always declined and still got everything back as accepted in less than an hour. 

 

Fees were about $20 or so for expedited review but we always declined and did the normal review process.

We noticed the same thing. It was never a long wait for acceptance. 

[Fouremco]

You'll find several options here:

 

 

[jm485]

On 7/6/2022 at 7:03 PM, rocksteady27 said:

One final note - Verifly kept offering a paid service to expedite the review of documents uploaded (vaccine record, test results) claiming they were busy.
 

We always declined and still got everything back as accepted in less than an hour. 

 

Fees were about $20 or so for expedited review but we always declined and did the normal review process.

The longest we waited was about 90 minutes.  This morning, they didn’t post that notice and our test reports were reviewed & approved in about 10 minutes.