Is Verifly really needed?

[ballarinamom]

Trying to decide if we want to upload everything. It was extremely helpful when flying back to the US out of Cabo recently when exit tests were required. But for cruising. I've read that they still look at the paperwork. Trying to avoid redundancies to make the boarding process less stressful. Leaving out of NOLA if that adds anything to the conversation.

THANKS!

[dallasdan]

I went out of Long Beach and it worked great.  I didn't have to show any hard copies.  You also have the piece of mind that all of your paper work is in order the day before the cruise.  I would use it again.

 

[wemjam]

I haven't used it yet (3 cruises this year), just show them my Passport, Covid Card, and  Booking slip and walk right through.  Check in is maybe 2 minutes slower without.

 

My thing is I just don't want to have another electronic thing I have to deal with and my personal info out their in an app if I don't have to. 

 

I think it just comes down to personal preference and what you like.  Don't think it saves hardly any time to speak of or has any great benefit versus the old fashioned way.

[ninjacat123]

I have used VeriFly on two cruises and our flight to Amsterdam and back.  I felt it expedited the process and that I was "following the rules" which reduced my stress level.  I still had all my paperwork at the ready just in case but it was never needed.  YMMV.

[teknoge3k]

It's not required but it sure does help speed things up. We have used it on several cruises this year and never once had to show any cards. I don't take anything printed unless absolutely needed. 

[Tradestock]

Since the restart, we have taken approximately 5 cruises and have not used it.  We will not use it for our upcoming cruises either.  I could not determine where our passport and health information is transmitted or stored, so will not consider using it.  In my opinion, it takes no longer to look at a sheet of paper than it does a phone screen.  Over and above, we still have to carry the paper copies and have them available, if there is a question at the port.  This is a deal breaker for us, if it becomes a requirement.

[Angua]

We have been on 2 cruises since restart and made the decision to not use it.  My husband said it required some credit card info even if they weren't charging for use and he took a look at the privacy policy and it was terrible.  We had no issues with simply having them check our documents at both ports, Port Canaveral being very quick and efficient and seattle took a little longer but still not too bad.

Since i had heard many reports of people still needing to show their paper documents despite completing verifly, we decided it wasn't worth the effort to use it with our privacy concerns.

[teknoge3k]

1 minute ago, Angua said:

We have been on 2 cruises since restart and made the decision to not use it.  My husband said it required some credit card info even if they weren't charging for use and he took a look at the privacy policy and it was terrible.  We had no issues with simply having them check our documents at both ports, Port Canaveral being very quick and efficient and seattle took a little longer but still not too bad.

Since i had heard many reports of people still needing to show their paper documents despite completing verifly, we decided it wasn't worth the effort to use it with our privacy concerns.

 

It sounds like your husband didn't have the correct app. No credit card information is required nor even asked for, with VeriFly. All it asks you for is a photo, your Covid test results, and your vaccine information.

[Angua]

Just now, teknoge3k said:

 

It sounds like your husband didn't have the correct app. No credit card information is required nor even asked for, with VeriFly. All it asks you for is a photo, your Covid test results, and your vaccine information.

ya i didn't use it myself, just went by what he said.  Thanks for letting me know he was mistaken.

I have still heard that their privacy policy is pretty bad, though.

[hapytobehr]

We used verifly for our Alaskan cruise in May and it was great.  

 

All I had to do was show the screen with the green check mark and was let through.  I had both mine & hubby's on my phone so just needed to swipe to show his after mine.

[Lee Cruiser]

We have been on two cruises this year and did not use it.  We have our passports and vaccine cards together in a holder.  We showed them that and our testing printout.  The whole process took less than a minute for both of us.  We cruise again in September.  We won't be spending time uploading and sharing this information somewhere else, when it really wouldn't have made a time difference for us.  Actually it would have just been spending more time beforehand.

[mz-s]

I prefer not to share any information that I don't have to share, especially with anonymous third parties like Verifly. So I don't use it, and NO it is not required for a Carnival cruise.

[pe4all]

After much thought we used it 2 weeks ago.  Worked well, and breezed through checkin.

[AtSeaWithChris]

No, it is not required.

[klfrodo]

2 hours ago, wemjam said:

.  Check in is maybe 2 minutes slower without.

 

2 minutes times 1000 passengers is not miniscule.

[ballarinamom]

1 hour ago, AtSeaWithChris said:

No, it is not required.

Thanks. I know its not required. Just wanting to make checkin easier. In some international airports you can skip the vaccination lines if you have it. It saved us a ton of time on our last vacation.

[ballarinamom]

21 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

2 minutes times 1000 passengers is not miniscule.

That's my thought. Especially when they are in front of me trying  to find all their paperwork and realize they left something at home. That's always my luck

[nwcruiselover]

I used it for the first time on my recent Splendor cruise out of Seattle.  At the first “check point” upon entering the terminal, they just looked at Verifly and sent me upstairs to check in.  At check in, the agent still wanted to see my negative covid test printout.  It did save time and I will use it again.

Edited July 14, 2022 by nwcruiselover

[ballarinamom]

4 minutes ago, nwcruiselover said:

I used it for the first time on my recent Splendor cruise out of Seattle.  At the first “check point” upon entering the terminal, they just looked at Verifly and sent me upstairs to check in.  At check in, the agent still wanted to see my negative covid test printout.  It did save time and I will use it again.

Thank you! 

[kctwinmommy]

I think you've got enough answers, but we're also in the camp of "not using it." On our last cruise, I had an older phone (we all did) and didn't want to try uploaded another app and info. I've since upgraded my phone, but still don't want another app on it that I don't really need. We had all our paperwork in order, we each showed it, and it took them still less than a minute to look at our stuff. And honestly, there was no line of people waiting, they had plenty of people working, so it didn't slow anything down for our cruise. I know plenty use it and love it, but I really try to avoid having personal information on my phone. I know, there's still things on there, but I try my best to keep things secure. That's just what works for me.

[Grandmaanne7]

Can someone please enlighten me?  Is VeriFly something that is used by US citizens only?  Is it used by Carnival only?  We are Canadian and cruised with another cruise line in December out of Florida with no VeriFly and no issues.  Will be cruising again in a few weeks out of the UK with Carnival and trying to figure out if we need it. Thanks in advance.

[cruisinqt]

4 hours ago, Grandmaanne7 said:

Can someone please enlighten me?  Is VeriFly something that is used by US citizens only?  Is it used by Carnival only?  We are Canadian and cruised with another cruise line in December out of Florida with no VeriFly and no issues.  Will be cruising again in a few weeks out of the UK with Carnival and trying to figure out if we need it. Thanks in advance.

Anyone can use Verifly. It’s most often used for international travel through various airlines. Carnival has been using it to consolidate all of your documents into one app so that the embarkation process moves along quicker. But many cruisers are reporting glitches in the Verifly system. And many of them say they were required to physically show copies of documents regardless of having the Verifly app. And others don’t feel like your personal is safe in the app. So there’s a lot of varying answers as to how useful it is. Carnival recommends it but it’s not a requirement to cruise. I’ve cruised quite a bit recently without it so it’s definitely not needed if you don’t want to mess with it. 

[kctwinmommy]

5 hours ago, Grandmaanne7 said:

Can someone please enlighten me?  Is VeriFly something that is used by US citizens only?  Is it used by Carnival only?  We are Canadian and cruised with another cruise line in December out of Florida with no VeriFly and no issues.  Will be cruising again in a few weeks out of the UK with Carnival and trying to figure out if we need it. Thanks in advance.

 

I don't think it was up and running until maybe February or even March. So you probably didn't have a chance to use it.

[kctwinmommy]

1 minute ago, cruisinqt said:

Anyone can use Verifly. It’s most often used for international travel through various airlines. Carnival has been using it to consolidate all of your documents into one app so that the embarkation process moves along quicker. But many cruisers are reporting glitches in the Verifly system. And many of them say they were required to physically show copies of documents regardless of having the Verifly app. And others don’t feel like your personal is safe in the app. So there’s a lot of varying answers as to how useful it is. Carnival recommends it but it’s not a requirement to cruise. I’ve cruised quite a bit recently without it so it’s definitely not needed if you don’t want to mess with it. 

 

Exactly! With WiFi being sketchy at times, or like some of us, having an older phone where I couldn't even download more apps, we skipped it. Everyone says it's fast going through, although there were a lot of people saying it took a long time to get things to upload and be accepted. We walked through in less than 1 minute for the 3 of us with paper documents, and no we didn't hold up any line as there wasn't one.

[cruisinqt]

7 minutes ago, kctwinmommy said:

 

Exactly! With WiFi being sketchy at times, or like some of us, having an older phone where I couldn't even download more apps, we skipped it. Everyone says it's fast going through, although there were a lot of people saying it took a long time to get things to upload and be accepted. We walked through in less than 1 minute for the 3 of us with paper documents, and no we didn't hold up any line as there wasn't one.

When we went a couple months ago we didn’t use Verifly and it went very fast. They just glanced at our papers to make sure everything was in order then waved us on through. Glancing at a few papers versus opening a phone and going into an app and scrolling through that app can’t be that much of a difference time wise. And like you said, there were tons of agents to look through our documents so no one was being held up or taking too long. It was super fast. I personally think people are over hyping the Verifly thing. And it’s not a requirement either. Some cruisers act like you have to do it. But on their website it says Carnival recommends it, not requires it. They also recommend certain covid tests but not everyone uses those specific tests. It’s just a suggestion, not a hard fast rule.