NEW CDC guidelines for COVID mitigation on cruise ships

[hallux]

I didn't see it posted here, found it on the Royal board as new information posted last night and figured I'd share here.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/covid-19-cruise-ship-guidance.html

 

Skimming it, this seems largely similar to the previous requirements/program.

Edited July 21, 2022 by hallux

[ChiefMateJRK]

Yikes!!  Now they seem to be wanting a test within one day of sailing.  Isn't that when most of us are on airplanes?

 

"To reduce likelihood of onboard transmission, cruise ship operators should consider requiring travelers to get tested for current infection with a viral test as close to the time of departure as possible (no more than 3 days before travel) and present their negative test result prior to boarding. Testing within 1 day of embarkation is highly recommended."

 

 

[Epic_Bear]

I read on another thread on CC that a passenger talked with the hotel director and they said pre-test cruising was going 8/1/22....

[Maeshel]

Get rid of it all. I have to fly out Thurs. for a Sat. cruise. I will test Before I leave, but probably won't get the results until I am in Seattle. 

[IMNOFUN]

16 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Yikes!!  Now they seem to be wanting a test within one day of sailing.  Isn't that when most of us are on airplanes?

 

"To reduce likelihood of onboard transmission, cruise ship operators should consider requiring travelers to get tested for current infection with a viral test as close to the time of departure as possible (no more than 3 days before travel) and present their negative test result prior to boarding. Testing within 1 day of embarkation is highly recommended."

 

 

The cruise lines MUST have dockside 15-minute testing. This tightened requirement will become so onerous that people will just stop cruising again. I'm seriously ticked off about the whole thing. People can FLY into the US without a test, but we can't put foot on a ship without a test? 

 

I have no problem with testing. It's the barriers set up to getting tested within such a narrow timeframe prior to cruising. People are expected to find a testing facility in a city they don't know after a many-hours plane flight? And the cruise lines (looking at your NCL) doesn't even tell you where you can get a test at the last minute. I thought we were all set with a test on the 29th for a 31st cruise. We know our insurance won't pay since it's not medically necessary, but how much do we have to pay at the place we have an appointment? They don't say. Lovely.

 

I'm seriously thinking of throwing away the thousands I've paid for the cruise because I can't reliably find a test site, don't know exactly when a test result will be returned, or how much it costs. Other sites have prices ($79 to $129), but I can't even find the facility on Google maps. The street address doesn't exist!

[knitdiva]

Virgin cruise lines dropping all testing https://porthole.com/virgin-voyages-removes-pre-cruise-covid-testing/

[Karaboudjan]

4 minutes ago, IMNOFUN said:

The cruise lines MUST have dockside 15-minute testing. This tightened requirement will become so onerous that people will just stop cruising again. I'm seriously ticked off about the whole thing. People can FLY into the US without a test, but we can't put foot on a ship without a test? 

 

I have no problem with testing. It's the barriers set up to getting tested within such a narrow timeframe prior to cruising. People are expected to find a testing facility in a city they don't know after a many-hours plane flight? And the cruise lines (looking at your NCL) doesn't even tell you where you can get a test at the last minute. I thought we were all set with a test on the 29th for a 31st cruise. We know our insurance won't pay since it's not medically necessary, but how much do we have to pay at the place we have an appointment? They don't say. Lovely.

 

I'm seriously thinking of throwing away the thousands I've paid for the cruise because I can't reliably find a test site, don't know exactly when a test result will be returned, or how much it costs. Other sites have prices ($79 to $129), but I can't even find the facility on Google maps. The street address doesn't exist!

 

This is just a recommendation within a guideline.  I would be shocked if any cruise line adopted this as a policy.

[Bob121]

I don’t understand why people want to cruise while infected with COVID. It doesn’t seem like a fun time. Testing before hand reduces the chance of being sick on the cruise, which seems like a good thing. 

[Sand and Seas]

I wouldn't want to cruise with Covid or the Flu or a bad cold.  I'll continue to take a home test before getting on that plane.  However, that doesn't mean we can fly to a cruise-port 3 or 4 days early to relax pre-cruise.  

 

As my mom would have said....'This is clear as mud....'

The CDC doesn't want to regulate but wants to give tons of 'guidance'.

 

I love to plan cruises, but all of this pre-planning is causing too many sleepless nights😟

[gatorchinsky]

15 minutes ago, IMNOFUN said:

The cruise lines MUST have dockside 15-minute testing. This tightened requirement will become so onerous that people will just stop cruising again. I'm seriously ticked off about the whole thing. People can FLY into the US without a test, but we can't put foot on a ship without a test? 

 

 

We cruised in December when NCL was still doing at pier testing and it was so simple and very convenient.  We did do our own test a couple days before just to be safe but no running around looking for a place to get a verified test.

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 minute ago, Sand and Seas said:

I wouldn't want to cruise with Covid or the Flu or a bad cold. 

What if you are traveling with family and you'll only be "down" for a day or two.  Do you still want to spoil the fun for everybody (including yourself)?

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 minute ago, gatorchinsky said:

We did do our own test a couple days before just to be safe but no running around looking for a place to get a verified test.

If you had tested positive, would you have expected NCL to refund your cruise?  If it was a verified test, they would have.  If not, you're SOL.  This is the EXACT reason so many of us did proctored testing before getting on an airplane despite the fact that NCL was going to again test us at the port.

[Sand and Seas]

7 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

What if you are traveling with family and you'll only be "down" for a day or two.  Do you still want to spoil the fun for everybody (including yourself)?

Yes....rather re-book the trip.  That's why you get insurance.  If I have Covid, odds are DH will get it too.

You think we should board when we know we have covid???

Edited July 21, 2022 by Sand and Seas

[Sand and Seas]

3 minutes ago, Sand and Seas said:

 

Duplicate.  sorry

Edited July 21, 2022 by Sand and Seas

[ChiefMateJRK]

10 minutes ago, Sand and Seas said:

Yes....rather re-book the trip.  That's why you get insurance.  If I have Covid, odds are DH will get it too.

You think we should board when we know we have covid???

That poster mentioned Flu and bad cold.  I wouldn't change everybody's plans because I had a sniffle.  Does your travel insurance reimburse you for a nasty cold?  🤣  That must be great insurance.

[Babr]

1 minute ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

That poster mentioned Flu and bad cold.  I wouldn't change everybody's plans because I had a sniffle.  Does your travel insurance reimburse you for a nasty cold?  🤣  That must be great insurance.

It would if your doctor advised you not to travel. Include the documentation with the claim.

[Sand and Seas]

3 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

That poster mentioned Flu and bad cold.  I wouldn't change everybody's plans because I had a sniffle.  Does your travel insurance reimburse you for a nasty cold?  🤣  That must be great insurance.

It was Covid, Flu and bad cold

The flu has made me feel worse than Covid did. 

I wouldn't get on a plane and travel that far feeling that sick and I'm sure the others on the plane or ship would be glad if I stayed home.  

Edited July 21, 2022 by Sand and Seas

[ChiefMateJRK]

17 minutes ago, Sand and Seas said:

It was Covid, Flu and bad cold

Yes, and I qualified my response with "being down for one or two days."  Did you have that rare "two day Covid." 🤣

[ChiefMateJRK]

21 minutes ago, Babr said:

It would if your doctor advised you not to travel. Include the documentation with the claim.

Well, I suppose I could bother my Doctor if I had a bad cold, but I doubt she would send me a "do not travel" document.  I could be wrong.  Who knows? 👀

 

Back to my point, if I just have a cold I'm not going to spoil the travel plans of others just because I'm feeling a bit under the weather for a day or two.  That would seem quite greedy and selfish.

[hallux]

1 hour ago, IMNOFUN said:

People are expected to find a testing facility in a city they don't know after a many-hours plane flight?

Nope.  They have at-home test kits that can be self-administered and monitored by a proctor using a computer, smart phone or tablet (as long as the device has a camera).  The proctor confirms the results and you get an email with the result within minutes of completion (addressing your other concern of when you get the result).  Oh, it doesn't HAVE to be taken at home, it can be done anywhere with an internet connection.  Those at-home tests are also CHEAPER than going someplace for a test - the free government kits can be proctored for a fee of $20 each (I think) or the Binax kits can be purchased for $70 for a pack of 2 with the proctor fee included.

[Sand and Seas]

50 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Yes, and I qualified my response with "being down for one or two days."  Did you have that rare "two day Covid." 🤣

 

I actually had an extremely mild case of Covid a couple of months ago.  Still missed my cruise and turned in for insurance reimbursement.   Spent my home isolation planning for another cruise.

 

48 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Well, I suppose I could bother my Doctor if I had a bad cold, but I doubt she would send me a "do not travel" document.  I could be wrong.  Who knows? 👀

 

Back to my point, if I just have a cold I'm not going to spoil the travel plans of others just because I'm feeling a bit under the weather for a day or two.  That would seem quite greedy and selfish.

 

You and I look at this differently.  If I was sick with Covid, Flu or something else contagious, I feel it would be selfish of me to get on a plane and then on a ship.

[Crazy planning mom]

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Yikes!!  Now they seem to be wanting a test within one day of sailing.  Isn't that when most of us are on airplanes?

 

"To reduce likelihood of onboard transmission, cruise ship operators should consider requiring travelers to get tested for current infection with a viral test as close to the time of departure as possible (no more than 3 days before travel) and present their negative test result prior to boarding. Testing within 1 day of embarkation is highly recommended."

 

 

While, I agree with youtuber- CruiseHabit that if they are going to do testing, it should be done at the port rather than 2-3 days in advance.

[ChiefMateJRK]

2 minutes ago, Crazy planning mom said:

While, I agree with youtuber- CruiseHabit that if they are going to do testing, it should be done at the port rather than 2-3 days in advance.

After I've flown across the country and paid for a hotel room and other transportation?  Even testing at the port doesn't guarantee that I wasn't just exposed and won't test positive until I'm on the ship.  That's the silly part of all this testing.  It simply doesn't achieve Covid free ships.

[drb116]

2 hours ago, gatorchinsky said:

We did do our own test a couple days before just to be safe but no running around looking for a place to get a verified test.

 

The problem is that the at home tests are not the same as the cruise port test. We did this only to find that our son tested positive at the cruise port where they used a NAAT test. He was fine, but likely just tested positive from having covid 45 days earlier, which was not picked up on our at home test.

 

Fortunately, we live 30 minutes from the port, but for most people, it is not reasonable to make them cancel their vacation once they arrive at the port. It is bad enough to have to cancel a vacation 2 days before you go.

[oteixeira]

Still waiting to hear from NCL.  We know they said any country that does not REQUIRE testing they would not do testing as of August 1st, but when they made that announcement the US still required it.  I am waiting to see/hear the change to no longer include the US in that list, which I suspect is coming.  Virgin Voyages is no longer doing pre-cruise testing as of next week.