Covid Test requirements

[Heathway]

This may be a rhetorical question, but why are Silverseas still asking for a PCR or Allergen test 48 or 36 hours before embarkation.  For those of us travelling east from the UK its making the cruise of a lifetime  a curse of a life time!

Edited March 1, 2023 by Heathway
grammar correction

[Randyk47]

It can be a bit confusing, and apparently or maybe is driven by different countries, but we weren’t required to take any test when we boarded in Ft Lauderdale a few weeks ago.  Yes we did have to show our vaccination record, take a touch-less temperature check, and fill out a health questionnaire. 

[Lois R]

51 minutes ago, Randyk47 said:

It can be a bit confusing, and apparently or maybe is driven by different countries, but we weren’t required to take any test when we boarded in Ft Lauderdale a few weeks ago.  Yes we did have to show our vaccination record, take a touch-less temperature check, and fill out a health questionnaire. 

Hi Randy, that has to be a country thing because we no longer have to be tested when cruising out of here. I didn't get a test in January either.

[bayonejoe]

If vaxed and show proof of vax a Covid testis not required.

however, if not vaxed a Covid test Is required.

[sea bright]

The requirements are different based on the area you are cruising and the country you embark in. All are set forth on Silversea's website, which implies they are based  on local requirements. The fact that sailing in many regions does not require testing indicates that SS is not the source of the requirement.

To board the Muse 2/12/23 in Cairns vaxed passengers had to show an antigen test done w/in 24 hours. However, at least for Australia, the tests did not need to be proctored or done by a lab. A date stamped picture of a negative test result shown at boarding was sufficient. Made the process much easier than many of our cruises in the past 2 years which required a proctored/lab test. However, it was still very stressful as we were coming from NJ (and traveling in Australia before the cruise) thus obviously could not test before leaving home.

I agree that  the testing requirement, especially when such  easily manipulated results are accepted, is ridiculous!

[les37b]

On 3/1/2023 at 11:31 AM, Heathway said:

This may be a rhetorical question, but why are Silverseas still asking for a PCR or Allergen test 48 or 36 hours before embarkation.  For those of us travelling east from the UK its making the cruise of a lifetime  a curse of a life time!

 

Where is it you will be embarking and visiting and have you have 3 jabs? Without the specifics you may be given wrong information.

 

I can see you are travelling "east". That in itself rings alarm bells. For voyages out of Japan for instance, you will need a PCR or Antigen test to board. Indeed if you are unvaccinated, you will need a test just to enter the country. If your flight touches China or Hong Kong, you will need a test to enter even if vaccinated.

 

Just one example - so without the specifics you cant get an accurate reply - and to be honest, as helpful the replies can be here, you may accidently get the wrong answer because something has changed! Always best to ask SS and look on the UK gov website (as you are from the UK) to check what they have to say about Covid requirements.

 

You are certainly right though to find out in advance of what you need.

[Heathway]

22 hours ago, bayonejoe said:

If vaxed and show proof of vax a Covid testis not required.

however, if not vaxed a Covid test Is required.

Not according to Silverseas!  All the sites I looked at did not require either a PCR or Antigen test.  It seems its a Silverseas thing!  

[Heathway]

1 hour ago, les37b said:

 

Where is it you will be embarking and visiting and have you have 3 jabs? Without the specifics you may be given wrong information.

 

I can see you are travelling "east". That in itself rings alarm bells. For voyages out of Japan for instance, you will need a PCR or Antigen test to board. Indeed if you are unvaccinated, you will need a test just to enter the country. If your flight touches China or Hong Kong, you will need a test to enter even if vaccinated.

 

Just one example - so without the specifics you cant get an accurate reply - and to be honest, as helpful the replies can be here, you may accidently get the wrong answer because something has changed! Always best to ask SS and look on the UK gov website (as you are from the UK) to check what they have to say about Covid requirements.

 

You are certainly right though to find out in advance of what you need.

Thanks.  We are both four times vaccinated and have all the necessary Covid Certificates.  SS are being singularly unhelpful with the time frame given the 9 hours time difference between the UK and Japan.  And as Sea Bright says, its so easy to manipulate anything these days.

[les37b]

30 minutes ago, Heathway said:

Thanks.  We are both four times vaccinated and have all the necessary Covid Certificates.  SS are being singularly unhelpful with the time frame given the 9 hours time difference between the UK and Japan.  And as Sea Bright says, its so easy to manipulate anything these days.

 

OK, so is it Japan you are sailing from?

 

I may be wrong here, but it does make sense if true.

 

You asked why they are still asking for tests to board. I've not seen anything anywhere that states you must be tested to board, but SS are not the only line sailing Japan that are requiring a test pre boarding.

 

So why you ask? OK, Japan are still very strict having just opened up and as you are probably aware are stipplers for following rules. One of the things that Japan has said, is that any cruise ship that has 10% or more passengers infected with covid, then the cruise effectively is cancelled and wont be allowed to dock. With such low passenger numbers, that 10% could be reached quite easily! You can probably appreciate, cancelling a cruise mid voyage will cost the cruise line a fortune in returned fares and getting passengers home, to they are making an effort as best they can by insisting on this test. Its probably more to protect themselves than guests, but its true guests will benefit also.  We bought our kits from a third party supplier (medicspot) and need to scan and photograph 30 mins later the test that we just registered and we then get a certificate back with the result. I did see it mentioned someone produced a photo of themselves and a test strip which was accepted. That seems crazy, Even our test can be manipulated, but certainly would be much harder than that nonsense!

 

Its no fun getting covid on the ship and locked away for 10 days - but worse still spending in in a hotel quarantine watching your ship sail away!

[Heathway]

Thanks all for your comments.

[dougburns]

This morning I received an extensive e-mail from SS giving an update on the entire COVID test requirements and boarding process and procedures, as well as the updated emergency drill procedures and suite housecleaning rules for my cruise beginning 23 Mar on the Dawn. I assume that the same e-mail will be sent to folks on other cruises @ 2 weeks prior to the cruise. There should be no confusion relative to requirements after reading the e-mail. 

[bayonejoe]

Where is your port of embarkation 

we sail from port Everglades in a week. And we were lucky to receive our boarding ticket several days ago

[dougburns]

I board in Barbados. Just as an aside, I received my final ticketing; hotel, etc. today. It came from our TA and not directly from SS.

[les37b]

11 hours ago, dougburns said:

This morning I received an extensive e-mail from SS giving an update on the entire COVID test requirements and boarding process and procedures, as well as the updated emergency drill procedures and suite housecleaning rules for my cruise beginning 23 Mar on the Dawn. I assume that the same e-mail will be sent to folks on other cruises @ 2 weeks prior to the cruise. There should be no confusion relative to requirements after reading the e-mail. 

Yes, I received that email a couple of weeks ago for the 13 March sailing.

 

What it didn’t mention was the need to fill in this application form to enter Barbados up to 4 days before arrival.

 

https://travelform.gov.bb/create

 

I’ve no idea if it would cause problems if not completed, but suspect it would facilitate a speedier entry if you have.

 

I certainly had no knowledge of this requirement until a couple of hours ago when another guest posted about it in the roll call

 

Now it’s good that that email was sent out and have to say, there wasn’t anything unexpected in it. For Japan sailings, Silversea demand a pre boarding test. Ive not had any official notification of this and only know thanks to CC. Receiving notice of this news that SS have decided, is a bit short notice to be sending out 2 weeks prior to sailing (assuming they will do so.) Home kits are fine to use…. But still have to be ordered and delivered. Info like that should be sent to guests on all Japan sailings at the time they introduced it so people can get organised in advance.

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by les37b

[dougburns]

Les; If you're flying into Barbados the airline will most likely have the proper entry form for you to fill out prior to landing. If you're concerned about that you can also go to Google and search Barbados entry requirements. There is a link there to fill out the form online. 

[ggo85]

We sail in a week out of FLL to Lisbon.  Our check-in requirements only asked for last vaccination and to upload our vaccine cards.  No email related to COVID testing and nothing I've seen that says we need to be tested if vaccinated.  I'm going to double check but it sounds like requirements are a combination of SS requirements and embarkation / destination requirements.  

[Bucephalus53]

Good info. I imagine it will be changed again by the time I leave for my June/2024 Cruise around the UK. 

[5waldos]

They seem to require a preboarding test if you are sailing to a country that demands the testing no more than 72 hours prior to arriving. However- check out the official websites of the countries you are visiting- Silversea is NOT up to date on some of them. For example the Solomon Islands no longer (since October) requires testing although as of yesterday SS still claimed that it did. And it was because of this testing SS was requiring that we be tested before boarding. They would then provide additional tests on board (free) within the 72 ours of arriving in the Solomons.  I am certain of this information since I have spoken to the embassy and received an official email about the testing. Since we don't sail til very end of September I am sure that SS has ample time to update their forms. 

[les37b]

55 minutes ago, 5waldos said:

They seem to require a preboarding test if you are sailing to a country that demands the testing no more than 72 hours prior to arriving. However- check out the official websites of the countries you are visiting- Silversea is NOT up to date on some of them. For example the Solomon Islands no longer (since October) requires testing although as of yesterday SS still claimed that it did. And it was because of this testing SS was requiring that we be tested before boarding. They would then provide additional tests on board (free) within the 72 ours of arriving in the Solomons.  I am certain of this information since I have spoken to the embassy and received an official email about the testing. Since we don't sail til very end of September I am sure that SS has ample time to update their forms. 

You are assuming that it is a country requirement and not a SS preference. As mentioned earlier in this thread, Japan doesn’t need a Covid test to enter for fully vaccinated visitors, but to board, we need to take a test. This is a SS not a country requirement. Ironically from 8 May Japan are downgrading Covid to flu levels. This test (I believe) to to protect itself financially as cruises in Japanese waters with higher than 10% infections means immediate cancellation.

[5waldos]

32 minutes ago, les37b said:

You are assuming that it is a country requirement and not a SS preference. As mentioned earlier in this thread, Japan doesn’t need a Covid test to enter for fully vaccinated visitors, but to board, we need to take a test. This is a SS not a country requirement. Ironically from 8 May Japan are downgrading Covid to flu levels. This test (I believe) to to protect itself financially as cruises in Japanese waters with higher than 10% infections means immediate cancellation.

1. I am not assuming- the instructions included on the SS website for the health form states that the Solomons require a CoVid test. And that in order to comply with their requirements, SS would provide a test during the 72 hour  window. 

[les37b]

48 minutes ago, 5waldos said:

1. I am not assuming- the instructions included on the SS website for the health form states that the Solomons require a CoVid test. And that in order to comply with their requirements, SS would provide a test during the 72 hour  window. 

So they are going to test you despite not needing one……. Just like Japan? Or just saying the website is wrong and will be updated?

 

I was specifically referring to Japan as it is Silversea insisting you need a test to board and it’s them calling the shots and not actually following Japanese mandates. I’m just saying it’s possible they’ve made a similar decision.

 

 

[5waldos]

1 hour ago, les37b said:

So they are going to test you despite not needing one……. Just like Japan? Or just saying the website is wrong and will be updated?

 

I was specifically referring to Japan as it is Silversea insisting you need a test to board and it’s them calling the shots and not actually following Japanese mandates. I’m just saying it’s possible they’ve made a similar decision.

 

 

I am assuming that they will update the website, at least as it relates to the Solomons. I have no idea WHY they are requiring tests for countries that no longer require them. Virtually no countries do any more- why would SS require tests for only a few countries? Perhaps it is because of the significant penalties if the ship turns up with CoVid. It seems very odd to me that they would but who knows. Will let you know what their response is to me. 

 

Would it surprise me to discover that the website was wrong? Sorry but no. 

[zqtchas]

Got my cruise ticket yesterday for boarding in Tokyo 5/3. It says on the ticket that we need a test to board. SS ship, not to Japan.

[les37b]

8 hours ago, 5waldos said:

I am assuming that they will update the website, at least as it relates to the Solomons. I have no idea WHY they are requiring tests for countries that no longer require them. Virtually no countries do any more- why would SS require tests for only a few countries? Perhaps it is because of the significant penalties if the ship turns up with CoVid. It seems very odd to me that they would but who knows. Will let you know what their response is to me. 

 

Would it surprise me to discover that the website was wrong? Sorry but no. 

SS website states you need to test to board in Japan as stated above (by zqtchas and can personally confirm is the same on my ticket). 
 

It’s not a mistake and you do not need to test to enter Japan if vaccinated. Yours maybe is and hopefully the case. I’m just saying that SS can and do require tests even though the country doesn’t. I have explained why I think it’s the case on cruises out of Japan and that is down to the cruise potentially being cancelled if infection rates rose to 10%. That is a rule by Japan which would be costly, so logically SS are doing their best to ensure no one at the start has Covid and is to primarily protect SS.

[5waldos]

I do understand the potential usefulness of testing prior to boarding. In my case, SS claims that the reason for testing is to comply with the requirements of the Solomon Islands. Requirements which do not exist. If they are doing it because they think it is good idea, fine. Their ship, their rules. But if they are testing because of out of date regulations, they need to update things.