How does Verifly update now that testing not required?

[PC 462]

My Verifly app today still shows I need to submit a negative test, even though a test is not needed for the cruise I am going on later this month. I would have thought the app would update and be taking the new requirements into account. It didn't. I can't find an update function and the App Store does not show an update.

I could go the paper route (and will certainly have that as a back-up), but I wanted to try the new way this time. 

Does anyone know how to update the app?

Thanks!

[CruiserBruce]

Where are you sailing to?

[PC 462]

16 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Where are you sailing to?

We are going to the ABC Islands.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, PC 462 said:

We are going to the ABC Islands.

But not a partial transit of the Panama Canal?

[PC 462]

41 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

But not a partial transit of the Panama Canal?

My question stems from the change in testing requirements.  Holland America has this on their website effective September 1:

Vaccinations are not required on most voyages. Vaccinated guests will no longer have to test before boarding and only need to show proof of vaccination. Unvaccinated guests are welcome aboard with a self-administered COVID-19 test taken within 3 days of embarkation.

 

 

But Verifly won't give me the "all clear" without a negative test result.  If I need to update the app, I'd like to know how to do that. I have not cruised on HAL since the pandemic began, but I'm looking!.  I know there are many well informed and reasonable travelers on this forum.

[ShipWalker]

As a well informed and reasonable traveler on this forum I would suggest contacting VeriFLY directly.
 

Support.MyVeriFLY.com

[CruiserBruce]

48 minutes ago, PC 462 said:

My question stems from the change in testing requirements.  Holland America has this on their website effective September 1:

Vaccinations are not required on most voyages. Vaccinated guests will no longer have to test before boarding and only need to show proof of vaccination. Unvaccinated guests are welcome aboard with a self-administered COVID-19 test taken within 3 days of embarkation.

 

 

But Verifly won't give me the "all clear" without a negative test result.  If I need to update the app, I'd like to know how to do that. I have not cruised on HAL since the pandemic began, but I'm looking!.  I know there are many well informed and reasonable travelers on this forum.

The reason I asked is a cruise involving Panama DOES require a negative medically supervised test.

[PC 462]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

The reason I asked is a cruise involving Panama DOES require a negative medically supervised test.

I understand where you were coming from and appreciate your helpful response!  Although things are getting somewhat simpler, there are still changes and complications to overcome! I didn't see any of our ports that required a test for vaccinated travelers, currently.  I also found this on the US Embassy in Panama website:

Effective August 31, 2021, travelers arriving in Panama who present a digital or physical full COVID Vaccination Certificate, showing that they received all required doses of a COVID vaccine approved by the WHO, FDA or EMA at least 14 days prior to their entry, are exempt from all testing and quarantine requirements to enter Panama.

 

I just want to get aboard as quickly and easily as I can.

[DaveOKC]

1 minute ago, PC 462 said:

I understand where you were coming from and appreciate your helpful response!  Although things are getting somewhat simpler, there are still changes and complications to overcome! I didn't see any of our ports that required a test for vaccinated travelers, currently.  I also found this on the US Embassy in Panama website:

Effective August 31, 2021, travelers arriving in Panama who present a digital or physical full COVID Vaccination Certificate, showing that they received all required doses of a COVID vaccine approved by the WHO, FDA or EMA at least 14 days prior to their entry, are exempt from all testing and quarantine requirements to enter Panama.

 

I just want to get aboard as quickly and easily as I can.

Lets hope that the cruise lines adjust to this quickly!

 

[PC 462]

17 hours ago, ShipWalker said:

As a well informed and reasonable traveler on this forum I would suggest contacting VeriFLY directly.
 

Support.MyVeriFLY.com

I contacted them and they were also of no help.  That is why I posted the question here.  I thought maybe someone else was experiencing the same concern and would have a workaround.  No luck yet.

 

I think it may become a widespread issue when more people try to use Veifly to board, and the app still requires a negative test when the cruise line does not.

[PROCRUISE]

On 9/6/2022 at 3:42 PM, ShipWalker said:

As a well informed and reasonable traveler on this forum I would suggest contacting VeriFLY directly.
 

Support.MyVeriFLY.com

Support.MyVeriFLY.com is an invalid address when attempted!!

[senoragilbert]

 

9 hours ago, PROCRUISE said:

Support.MyVeriFLY.com is an invalid address when attempted!!

Just did a quick search of "verifly support" and came up with contact information. I say this because I don't know if this link will work in the boards! 🙂

 

https://support.myverifly.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020649220-Contacting-VeriFLY-Support

[PROCRUISE]

2 hours ago, senoragilbert said:

 

Just did a quick search of "verifly support" and came up with contact information. I say this because I don't know if this link will work in the boards! 🙂

 

https://support.myverifly.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020649220-Contacting-VeriFLY-Support

Thanks. Tried again to contact Verifly, as I've previously done, with no response. After the weekend we'll see if I hear anything.

[PROCRUISE]

7 hours ago, PROCRUISE said:

Thanks. Tried again to contact Verifly, as I've previously done, with no response. After the weekend we'll see if I hear anything.

In all fairness to VeriFly, I actually got an E-mail return answer today to my inquiry. 

I was told that one cannot actually enter the required information, even booking number and name to get started, until 1-2 weeks out from the actual sailing date. Being a super organizer, I was trying to get ahead, with our HAL cruise in December 2022.  Guess I'll need to practice more patience especially since we're also booked with HAL in February and December 2023!

[FLLgo]

I have had the same experience with Verifly on Holland America.  Our June 26 cruise on Rotterdam only required a test within 72 hours of sailing according to HAL. Verifly insisted all tests had to done within 48 hours.  So our test was not allowed with Verifly but HAL had no issues with our check in.  It just took a very long time as we did not have the Verifly QR code. 
 

For our next cruise this Saturday on Vollendam out of Trieste, Verifly  says full vaccines and negative tests are mandatory for all passengers.  HAL says this it not the case. They have a list of all cruises where enhanced protocols are still required but our cruise is not among them. Our cruise falls under the new simplified rules.  HAL says to ignore Verifly and just bring our vaccine cards to the port.   So if we want to get expedited check in with Verifly we will have to play by Verifly rules.  

[12cruise2]

Instead of all this worry about Verifly, simply take all the docs in paper form that Holland America says are required, present them at check in and you are good to go.  We have not encountered any long lines or any of this.  Quit fooling with all this extra stuff that is not required in advance of the cruise--all these apps that don't work, contain misinformation, etc.  Go by what the HAL web site says, bring the docs in paper form, and you're through check-in in a few minutes.  The hassle/problems with apps in advance of the trip is just not necessary.

[*Miss G*]

57 minutes ago, FLLgo said:

I have had the same experience with Verifly on Holland America.  Our June 26 cruise on Rotterdam only required a test within 72 hours of sailing according to HAL. Verifly insisted all tests had to done within 48 hours.  So our test was not allowed with Verifly but HAL had no issues with our check in.  It just took a very long time as we did not have the Verifly QR code. 
 

For our next cruise this Saturday on Vollendam out of Trieste, Verifly  says full vaccines and negative tests are mandatory for all passengers.  HAL says this it not the case. They have a list of all cruises where enhanced protocols are still required but our cruise is not among them. Our cruise falls under the new simplified rules.  HAL says to ignore Verifly and just bring our vaccine cards to the port.   So if we want to get expedited check in with Verifly we will have to play by Verifly rules.  

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!  Would you mind reporting back on your embarkation and test/not test experience?  Our itinerary is also not listed under enhanced protocols and I am curious as to whether it is an omission or really does fall under “simplified”.  Thank you, in advance, if you do!

[FLLgo]

I intend to do just what 12Cruise2 advises despite the email I just received from HAL encouraging travelers to download and use VeriFly to expedite their boarding.  It’s clear it is a marketing email.  Just doesn’t make the cruise company look good, in my opinion.  
 

[NattilyAttired]

VeriFly is a way for a cruise company (or airline) to aggregate several travel requirements in one place, verify the legitimacy of same, and then speed the onboarding process. We boarded Eurodam in Seattle on September 3rd at noon and, by using Verifly and being in a Neptune Suite we were onboard within 7 minutes of dropping our bags. Of course we carried hard copies of everything just in case, but they were not needed, save for our passports. HAL also has new facial recognition software they used throughout the cruise to verify identities when re-embarking. All of these technologies actually do make things much faster, if you follow the directions.

 

In my opinion, VeriFly made HAL look very efficient and organized due to how the app streamlined boarding. Boarding started at non and the ship sailed at 3pm.... and the app helped HAL board all those people in a very short amount of time. Quite an improvement over prior boarding issues I have experienced.

 

I am not commenting on whether or not negative tests are required, since we all know that is cruise-specific. (We needed them on September 3). When a traveler gets within the final 72 hour window for a particular cruise, I am betting that the VeriFly app will only ask for the required credentials, whereas it may not beforehand.

[FLLgo]

I’m happy to hear when Verifly works.  I would love it to work, but it failed me the last time as it was programmed for our June 26 sailing on Rotterdam to Norway that all testing had to be completed 48 hours in advance for all travelers whether or not vaccinated.  HAL said it was 72 hours in advance for vaccinated.  I reported this to DAON ( the company that runs Verifly ) weeks in advance as well as to HAL.  DAON  replied it had been escalated to the highest level for review. No reply from HAL.    End result:  we took our test 72 hours in advance according to HAL requirements and Verifly would not accept any test other than a test taken within 48 hours.  They said that was their policy.   So the moral is if you do what Verifly says, fine. If they differ from what HAL says then you carry your paperwork when checking in and just wait for the Verifly people to go ahead of you first.  We were in a Neptune suite on that sailing and HAL would not give us any priority.   We know other passengers on that sailing  experienced the same issue as we discussed this with them.  None of our three emails to HAL guest relations or the concierge in the Neptune lounge produced any regret, apology or any reply as to why they did not synch better with DAON.  
 

 

[FLLgo]

Update to my Verifly experience with Volendam departing today from Trieste. 
 

Verifly was not used at all at Trieste.  No signs or mention of it at check in.  Not sure what that means.  Check in was a breeze and that’s all that really matters.  

[sp00n]

I ran into this bug with the app as well. I had my vaccine records approved before they added option for uploading negative covid test. Because of this, my checklist wouldn't show as completed when I submitted my heath questionnaire.

 

I was able to resolve this by creating a new trip in Verifly using same booking ID and resubmitted my vaccine records. A couple hours later, it was reappeared and checklist was completed.

[IPB4IGO]

3 hours ago, sp00n said:

I ran into this bug with the app as well. I had my vaccine records approved before they added option for uploading negative covid test. Because of this, my checklist wouldn't show as completed when I submitted my heath questionnaire.

 

I was able to resolve this by creating a new trip in Verifly using same booking ID and resubmitted my vaccine records. A couple hours later, it was reappeared and checklist was completed.

Thanks for posting that. It hadn't occurred to me to add a duplicate trip to Verifly. Now my checklist is complete.

[dfish]

I deleted the app and reinstalled it and it worked for me.  I'm all set to go to board on Saturday.

[FlaMariner]

On 9/10/2022 at 6:53 PM, PROCRUISE said:

I was told that one cannot actually enter the required information, even booking number and name to get started, until 1-2 weeks out from the actual sailing date.

 

Interesting....

 

My cruise is 11/19 and Verifly accepted my booking number but looks like when I try to upload my vaccine card it is under step #1 and says that has to wait until 30 days before embarkation.