Pre-cruise COVID Testing Coming to an End

[shof515]

29 minutes ago, ByThePond said:

Canada still requires pre-departure testing for cruise ships that start from, visit, or terminate in a Canadian port. https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/cruise

that is old news. I recently did a canada/new england cruise back in May on Royal out of NJ. Canada did not require any testing. At the terminal, they did not check my covid test results

 

additional, on this page:
https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/covid-vaccinated-travellers-entering-canada

it says this:

Pre-entry tests are not required for fully vaccinated travellers entering Canada by land, air or water. You must still use ArriveCAN within 72 hours before your arrival to Canada.

Edited July 7, 2022 by shof515

[ruff]

Another change I noticed. Norwegian is now allowing PCR tests 3 days prior to travel. Prior to this, I believe all testing to board US home ports was 48 hours. There are two types of PCR tests. I am assuming we could get the rapid PCR to fulfill this requirement. This information will help us as we travel to Hawaii to cruise on The Pride of America. We were going in a few days early. Now we won’t have to worry about virtual testing or finding testing in Honolulu.  

[ByThePond]

1 hour ago, shof515 said:

that is old news. I recently did a canada/new england cruise back in May on Royal out of NJ. Canada did not require any testing. At the terminal, they did not check my covid test results

 

additional, on this page:
https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/covid-vaccinated-travellers-entering-canada

it says this:

Pre-entry tests are not required for fully vaccinated travellers entering Canada by land, air or water. You must still use ArriveCAN within 72 hours before your arrival to Canada.

You had to show your test results (and ArriveCAN receipt) to get on the ship in NJ.  That satisfies the Canadian cruise requirements. The “or water” in your quote above applies to personal boat or ferry - not to cruise ships. 

[dcipjr]

I'm OK with dropping the test requirement as long as they keep the vaccine requirement.

 

Other forms of travel no longer require pre-testing, and with proctored tests getting more expensive or harder to find (due to lack of funding), it's going to get harder and harder to keep those tests in place. 

 

Yes, testing does catch some cases before they become onboard cases, but accepting a rapid-test that was administered two days before departure doesn't really make all that much sense. Only pre-cruise tests that are positive have any real meaning.

 

If NCL was rapid-testing at the pier, that would be better in terms of catching cases, but logistically I don't think they can do that. And even pier-side testing wouldn't be a slam dunk.

 

The vaccination requirement should stay indefinitely. And now that vaccines are available for those 6 months and older (in the US, and hopefully elsewhere soon), I'd eventually like see them extend the vaccine requirement to children under 12 as well, once the vaccines have been out long enough for people to get them.

I'd also like them to continue to honor 100% FCC if you test positive before your cruise—after all, it's still prudent to test yourselves before you depart, if only to avoid being quarantined during your vacation.
 

And yes, I realize this is only for the EU for now, but let's face it: NCL won't be testing in perpetuity in the US. It's only a matter of time before the testing requirement is dropped here as well.

 

I'm not minimizing the risks of getting COVID and developing complications or Long COVID...but people that are concerned about it are just going to have to find another way to take a vacation. 

[njkate]

23 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Too bad that they are ending testing. No sense of security, but it is stopping people with active COVID from boarding ships. 

Not really, many were negative but actually positive just not enough of a viral load. How as in one post I read does one test negative go on a trans Atlantic with 5 sea days, no ports and before ship reached first port people were testing positive, someone had tested neg to get on ship when they were positive

[ChiefMateJRK]

4 hours ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

Apples and Oranges.  In Canada, there are 11 people per square mile of land.  On a cruise ship , space between people is much much much much less 

There isn't a single square mile of land in Canada with more than 11 people?  Those cities must be REALLY spread out. 🤣

[spanishguy1970]

so that means a ship could be a petrid dish and not know it until we get on board. Yikes😏😬

[graphicguy]

2 hours ago, dcipjr said:

 

I'm OK with dropping the test requirement as long as they keep the vaccine requirement.

 

Other forms of travel no longer require pre-testing, and with proctored tests getting more expensive or harder to find (due to lack of funding), it's going to get harder and harder to keep those tests in place. 

 

Yes, testing does catch some cases before they become onboard cases, but accepting a rapid-test that was administered two days before departure doesn't really make all that much sense. Only pre-cruise tests that are positive have any real meaning.

 

If NCL was rapid-testing at the pier, that would be better in terms of catching cases, but logistically I don't think they can do that. And even pier-side testing wouldn't be a slam dunk.

 

The vaccination requirement should stay indefinitely. And now that vaccines are available for those 6 months and older (in the US, and hopefully elsewhere soon), I'd eventually like see them extend the vaccine requirement to children under 12 as well, once the vaccines have been out long enough for people to get them.

I'd also like them to continue to honor 100% FCC if you test positive before your cruise—after all, it's still prudent to test yourselves before you depart, if only to avoid being quarantined during your vacation.
 

And yes, I realize this is only for the EU for now, but let's face it: NCL won't be testing in perpetuity in the US. It's only a matter of time before the testing requirement is dropped here as well.

 

I'm not minimizing the risks of getting COVID and developing complications or Long COVID...but people that are concerned about it are just going to have to find another way to take a vacation. 

All good points.  

 

I believe any adult wanting to cruise should have by now realized they'll need a COVID Vaccine (full) to do so.  I don't see that going away until/unless the general world population gets to that magic 80% vaccine rate.  It's approaching that in the U.S., now.  The more and more children who can be vaccinated will help reach that number.

 

I think it will be 50-50 that the COVID vaccine proof will just become a part of regular check in routine, as it is already.

 

As it stands, the cruise lines continue to require 12 and up to be vaccinated.....2 and up to be tested, at least in North America and some other countries around the world.  It's an abundance of caution, but worthwhile as it has several stemmed the kind of outbreaks that were seen on that Princess ship 2+ years ago.