Covid testing for Rome cruise

[Garyjames220]

Hi

 

I haven’t been following the news to much but does there sound much hope of pre Covid tests going by the end of September?
 

if not is it one day before you can take the test for Rome?
 

Finally do I need to go into a centre to do it he test or can I do it with one of the approved sites that run the test by video in my hotel room? If I can do that I wouldn’t be able to print the document out would that be ok?
 

thanjs for any help 

[Garyjames220]

🤷‍♂️

[Trixie21]

At the moment you must take either a PCR or an antigen test no more than 2 days before the cruise. The test must be performed by or supervised via video link by a registered health professional / clinic etc and you must get a certificate at the end of it to prove you are negative and it must have your name and date of birth on it. The certificate  an be a digital or printed version.

We also have a cruise from Rome in September on Odyssey - also hoping testing goes away by then , but much depends on the requirements of the individual ports the cruise is calling at , so there are no guarantees.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Trixie21

[rockmom]

When I sailed out of Rome last month, it was 2 days prior (updated from just 1 day prior, thankfully).  We did the test via video--we brought our tests with us when we flew from the U.S. and used the hotel internet to do our testing.  Very easy. I think @Trixie21meant to say NO more than 2 days before the cruise.  So if you cruise on a Sunday, you could test on Friday or Saturday.  

[Trixie21]

1 minute ago, rockmom said:

When I sailed out of Rome last month, it was 2 days prior (updated from just 1 day prior, thankfully).  We did the test via video--we brought our tests with us when we flew from the U.S. and used the hotel internet to do our testing.  Very easy. I think @Trixie21meant to say NO more than 2 days before the cruise.  So if you cruise on a Sunday, you could test on Friday or Saturday.  

Woops you are quite right , I should have checked over the post.

Thanks for correcting that , I will edit the post.

[Garyjames220]

That’s good I’ll do a video link

 

hopefully it will be gone by then 

[rockmom]

5 minutes ago, Garyjames220 said:

That’s good I’ll do a video link

 

hopefully it will be gone by then 

Make sure to put the tests (bring one per person and a backup per person) in your carry on. With all the luggage issues on various airlines, better to be safe than sorry.  

 

[d9704011]

7 minutes ago, Garyjames220 said:

That’s good I’ll do a video link

 

hopefully it will be gone by then 

I'd like that too for my cruise leaving 16 September but not planning on it.  I have an appointment at a local drug store to be tested on the morning of 14 September and if the results come back negative will fly on the afternoon of the 14th.  That's two days prior to embarkation and satisfies the rule.  I am not planning on trying to do this on the 15th in Rome or Civitavecchia.

[little britain]

1 hour ago, Garyjames220 said:

Hi

 

I haven’t been following the news to much but does there sound much hope of pre Covid tests going by the end of September?
 

if not is it one day before you can take the test for Rome?
 

Finally do I need to go into a centre to do it he test or can I do it with one of the approved sites that run the test by video in my hotel room? If I can do that I wouldn’t be able to print the document out would that be ok?
 

thanjs for any help 

Just go to any pharmacy in Rome. About €15pp

[mapleleaves]

Requirements for Italy departures are listed on the RCI website:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center/getting-ready-to-cruise

[shorehaven]

If you are leaving the UK within two days of joining the ship I would suggest you book tests at your local Lloyd’s Pharmacy.  They can only be booked online and you can cancel free of charge should you need to.  At least this way if you test positive you are still in the UK !

 

If this is not possible and you have to go down the road of video testing we have also used Medicspot.  They are a UK based company and operate through a zoom  meeting. You pre book an appointment and then join at the appropriate time where they talk you through the process and email a certificate almost immediately.  I had never used zoom before but had no problems.

 

RCI accepted both these companies certificates from us.

 

 

Hope this helps.

[Garyjames220]

54 minutes ago, shorehaven said:

If you are leaving the UK within two days of joining the ship I would suggest you book tests at your local Lloyd’s Pharmacy.  They can only be booked online and you can cancel free of charge should you need to.  At least this way if you test positive you are still in the UK !

 

If this is not possible and you have to go down the road of video testing we have also used Medicspot.  They are a UK based company and operate through a zoom  meeting. You pre book an appointment and then join at the appropriate time where they talk you through the process and email a certificate almost immediately.  I had never used zoom before but had no problems.

 

RCI accepted both these companies certificates from us.

 

 

Hope this helps.

The flight goes at 7-30am two days before so don’t think I’ll be able to before I fly unfortunately 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

3 hours ago, rockmom said:

Make sure to put the tests (bring one per person and a backup per person) in your carry on. With all the luggage issues on various airlines, better to be safe than sorry.  

 

Not just luggage issues but temperature can affect the test. Putting them in your checked luggage means they're in the "cold" cargo hold. The test says to store in temps between 35F - 86F. 

[karl_nj]

7 minutes ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

Not just luggage issues but temperature can affect the test. Putting them in your checked luggage means they're in the "cold" cargo hold. The test says to store in temps between 35F - 86F. 

True, but didn’t they get shipped from emed via fedex overnight. In a cargo plane?  I didn’t see any special temperature stickers on the package. 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

3 hours ago, karl_nj said:

True, but didn’t they get shipped from emed via fedex overnight. In a cargo plane?  I didn’t see any special temperature stickers on the package. 

 

[karl_nj]

10 hours ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

 

Sorry, I met on the fedex package. How does fedex know to have special handing and not store it in a part of the plane that would have the same environmental temperature issues as a passenger plane?  It’s more of a theoretical question. Somehow they managed to get this test to me on a plane. But how?

[erin78]

We spent a couple days post-cruise in Rome in May, and needed to get tests to fly home. We weren't able to use our virtually-proctored tests with the hotel internet; we tried several times and the calls kept dropping. 

Fortunately, we were able to locate a pharmacy that was open until 7pm and could do rapid tests with printed results. 

[time4u2go]

2 hours ago, karl_nj said:

Sorry, I met on the fedex package. How does fedex know to have special handing and not store it in a part of the plane that would have the same environmental temperature issues as a passenger plane?  It’s more of a theoretical question. Somehow they managed to get this test to me on a plane. But how?

From FedEx:

 

On board FedEx Express® aircraft, temperatures vary
depending on the type of aircraft, the location of each
cargo compartment and the package location within
each compartment, the length of flight and the cruising
altitude. For general reference, temperatures aboard
most wide-body aircraft main cargo compartments vary
between 40º F (5º C) and 85º F (30º C).

[karl_nj]

2 hours ago, time4u2go said:

From FedEx:

 

On board FedEx Express® aircraft, temperatures vary
depending on the type of aircraft, the location of each
cargo compartment and the package location within
each compartment, the length of flight and the cruising
altitude. For general reference, temperatures aboard
most wide-body aircraft main cargo compartments vary
between 40º F (5º C) and 85º F (30º C).

 

Yeah, I saw that.  But then it goes on to say:

 

Packages positioned in the bulk department, next to the aircraft’s outer structure, might be exposed to temperatures as low as 35º F (2º C) during flight, but could be subjected to temperatures as low as 20º F (-7º C) during international flights

 

Which is basically the reason why people are warning against putting the tests in checked luggage.  However, there isn't any indication on the outer package/fed ex label that says this can only be shipped in the main cargo compartment.

 

I also wonder how hot the back of the FedEx truck gets.  Bet it goes over 85F with the weather much of the northern hemisphere has been having over the past few weeks.

 

In any case, I would agree it's best to carry these in carry on baggage.  Especially for a long international flight.  Even if the test was already exposed to temperatures outside of the range, trying to minimize that going forward seems like a prudent measure.

 

[shorehaven]

21 hours ago, Garyjames220 said:

The flight goes at 7-30am two days before so don’t think I’ll be able to before I fly unfortunately 

If you are flying into Rome Fumicino airport (FCO) terminal 3 there is (or at least there was three weeks ago) a test facility in the terminal for around 20 euros.  

We did not use it but were aware it was there in case we had to use plan ‘b’.

There were some helpful comments on the European Ports - Italy pages about it and getting tests in Italy in general if you want to check it out.