Beginning 9/13 All DCL Cruisers to Bahamas Must Take Covid Test at Port

[johnkerryP]

I don't know DCL's testing guidelines, but I wanted to share in case this helps anyone.

We are sailing on Carnival on 9/14 so basically the first sailing having to do the 48 hrs. testing vs. the previous 72 hrs. DH & I purchased the Abbott's BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag At-Home Test Kit to test with. They are FDA Authorized and telehealth monitored. Results in 15 minutes. I ordered and they shipped overnight. Results are accepted for CCL, RCCL, and international travel back into the USA.

Link: https://www.emed.com/products/covid-at-home-testkit-six-pack?hsLang=en

Again, just wanted to post in case this helps someone out. Obviously, always check with the cruise line as to what is accepted.

I hope they change it, but Disney is requiring PCR currently, and the test in the link is an antigen.

 

[belle032]

I hope they change it, but Disney is requiring PCR currently, and the test in the link is an antigen.

Ah got it. Thank you for the clarification. Honestly I hope they change it as well. PCR tests within 2 days? That's tough.

Did not want to confuse anyone. If anything, these are great options if you want to test at home before showing up to port.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I don't know DCL's testing guidelines, but I wanted to share in case this helps anyone.

We are sailing on Carnival on 9/14 so basically the first sailing having to do the 48 hrs. testing vs. the previous 72 hrs. DH & I purchased the Abbott's BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag At-Home Test Kit to test with. They are FDA Authorized and telehealth monitored. Results in 15 minutes. I ordered and they shipped overnight. Results are accepted for CCL, RCCL, and international travel back into the USA.

Link: https://www.emed.com/products/covid-at-home-testkit-six-pack?hsLang=en

Again, just wanted to post in case this helps someone out. Obviously, always check with the cruise line as to what is accepted.

Last week I asked our SSHE (safety) lady at work if she had any knowledge of which of the home tests are better or if any are decently reliable. Asked for a cousin in Florida with a teenager feeling crappy. ((The company I work for is a global company. VERY big with dozens of entities in many countries.)) Anywhoo, she said there's ONE test they feel is acceptable. They purchase it to send kits with employees who travel international and need to test before returning home. The test she recommended was the BinaxNOW. So, yeah, I've heard that's a solid home test.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I hope they change it, but Disney is requiring PCR currently, and the test in the link is an antigen.

Yup. I think the BinaxNOW is a good option to test before heading off to the port to do their insta-test. Just for your knowledge. Not to take the place of littles who require a PCR.

 

[belle032]

Last week I asked our SSHE (safety) lady at work if she had any knowledge of which of the home tests are better or if any are decently reliable. Asked for a cousin in Florida with a teenager feeling crappy. ((The company I work for is a global company. VERY big with dozens of entities in many countries.)) Anywhoo, she said there's ONE test they feel is acceptable. They purchase it to send kits with employees who travel international and need to test before returning home. The test she recommended was the BinaxNOW. So, yeah, I've heard that's a solid home test.

Very good to hear! We're relying on it next week!

 

[DCLMP]

Wow you are correct!! How will this even be possible to get results back that fast? My last Walgreens test a week ago took 72 hours. I imagine you would need to use the Inspire option going forward to prevent the highly likely risk that other vendor’s test results would not be back in time.

Also, myself and most people who have already sailed under the recent protocols can easily miss this change from 5 to 3 days. Yikes!!!

Inspire says you need to send on the kit 4 days at the latest before your cruise. Not sure how that's going to work.
[/QUOTE]
We paid 150 and had results back in 10 hours. There are places you just have to pay up. Orlando has a place with 3 hour results. I believe it’s 250 though.

 

[DCLMP]

So people with affected bookings from the mandatory testing have an option to reschedule or cancel before the end of today? I hadn't heard that part. Does anyone know if that applies to people who booked restricted VGT rates? I shot an email to my TA but I'm wildly impatient. Thinking I should maybe also contact the travel insurance folks on this. We are fully vaxxed. That's not a problem. But. I don't trust the tests. I think false positives will be a much bigger problem than Disney realizes. It's a problem I don't particularly care to be caught up in even at a discount. I also am not real thrilled that my in-laws are now planning to wait until after the cruise to get their boosters so as not to increase the chances of popping positive.

Vaccinated people are getting Covid so I wouldn’t automatically assume they are false positives. I’m not going to lie it’s a stressful hour or more. Lots of cheering and high fives when test results come in. They tested 800 people for our cruise. Our port arrival time was 1215 we did not get on the ship until 3pm. It’s going to be worse testing the whole ship.

We had a test results back at 145 and it took an hour and 15 minutes to get on the ship with their physical distancing protocols and the unnecessary show in the lobby. None of this will work if they go above 50% capacity. Other than embarkation it was a fun cruise. I loved the lower capacity.

 

[steveyjc81]

Having just done a staycation cruise on the Disney Magic, every single person (> 1600 people) was tested at the port. It was added anxiety, but everyone knew ahead of time what the situation was. Disney covered the cost of this testing (presumably from our cruise fare)

This was on top of all adults needing to be fully vaxxed, and those under 18 needing to have had a PCR 5 days-24 hours beforehand (at our cost).

I was shocked/disgusted to see a team of nurses boarding as we were disembarking to complete crew vaccinations. Seemed odd that they weren't already done.

 

[knewton64]

Having just done a staycation cruise on the Disney Magic, every single person (> 1600 people) was tested at the port. It was added anxiety, but everyone knew ahead of time what the situation was. Disney covered the cost of this testing (presumably from our cruise fare)

This was on top of all adults needing to be fully vaxxed, and those under 18 needing to have had a PCR 5 days-24 hours beforehand (at our cost).

I was shocked/disgusted to see a team of nurses boarding as we were disembarking to complete crew vaccinations. Seemed odd that they weren't already done.

So
I understand if you test positive at the port , DCL will fully refund what’s listed on your Guest confirmation folio (your receipt)
But ….. now you are stuck at the port …..

q- how do you get back home ?
Q- does DCL book ground transfers for yiu from port to airport
and then books you a one way ticket air back to your home airport with you paying them ?

I’m confused and need some kind guidance here -

 

[steveyjc81]

Good question. I did see some getting refused boarding, and they gave the kid a free Minnie plush, however I don't know what happened next. In the UK at least, our government will send you (endless) free antigen tests in the mail, so we tested ourselves daily, to (hopefully) prevent any hiccups at the port. They said if you tested positive, they would do 1 re-test to confirm.

 

[MomOTwins]

Having just done a staycation cruise on the Disney Magic, every single person (> 1600 people) was tested at the port. It was added anxiety, but everyone knew ahead of time what the situation was. Disney covered the cost of this testing (presumably from our cruise fare)

This was on top of all adults needing to be fully vaxxed, and those under 18 needing to have had a PCR 5 days-24 hours beforehand (at our cost).

I was shocked/disgusted to see a team of nurses boarding as we were disembarking to complete crew vaccinations. Seemed odd that they weren't already done.

However, most UK residents were driving distance to port, so they could turn around and go home. Not the case for many US cruisers.

 

[Marrila]

So
I understand if you test positive at the port , DCL will fully refund what’s listed on your Guest confirmation folio (your receipt)
But ….. now you are stuck at the port …..

q- how do you get back home ?
Q- does DCL book ground transfers for yiu from port to airport
and then books you a one way ticket air back to your home airport with you paying them ?

I’m confused and need some kind guidance here -

I hope DCL provides more guidance on this.
It seems highly unlikely they will transport folks with a positive test to the airport.

 

[steveyjc81]

Would anyone knowingly get on an airplane knowing they were positive for Covid? Seems very irresponsible

 

[SingingFlower]

So people with affected bookings from the mandatory testing have an option to reschedule or cancel before the end of today? I hadn't heard that part. Does anyone know if that applies to people who booked restricted VGT rates? I shot an email to my TA but I'm wildly impatient. Thinking I should maybe also contact the travel insurance folks on this. We are fully vaxxed. That's not a problem. But. I don't trust the tests. I think false positives will be a much bigger problem than Disney realizes. It's a problem I don't particularly care to be caught up in even at a discount. I also am not real thrilled that my in-laws are now planning to wait until after the cruise to get their boosters so as not to increase the chances of popping positive.

Have you heard back about canceling a VGT? I’m curious to know that as well.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

Has anyone done the ‘safe passage’ mail in kit? I’m curious on how they dated the test- was it mail date or arrival at their facility dated?

we already ordered the ‘free’ version but with the reduction from 5 to 3 days.. weve Already made cvs appointments but curious if we could use it as a backup..

 

[sethschroeder]

Suggesting that testing should be done doesn't mean much if you are still going to book a cruise to sail in the middle of all this. Actions - not words!

I agree Disney is being utterly reactive. Quite expected - which is why we bailed out early.

When did I say I needed testing at port? I said I suggested this months ago. Additionally policies should have been in place with all write-ups that as soon as a port requires testing Disney releases the press release, updates their site, and emails/texts everyone on the impacted sailings. This is squarely on Disney for not being fully prepared and being slow to react. There will be changes and they should be ready for them not being reactive and slow.

I am perfectly fine with changes its how slow Disney is that annoys me. It took them how long to announce the changes post bahamas requirements. They waited how long to announce anything on the Fantasy/Dream and just as I predicted things changed so there is no reason to hold back the policies to start with since they will change anyways.

Also I actually cancelled this week my CAT V with Disney (Fantasy which became a b2b Dream) and moved to NCL who is 100% vaccinated, tests everyone at port, and highly suggests now testing 72 hours prior to port arrival. First time to Alaska and on NCL but with the limited aspects of DCL right now figured it was a good time to try something different with low crowds not entering any foreign port.

 

[sethschroeder]

Would anyone knowingly get on an airplane knowing they were positive for Covid? Seems very irresponsible

My plan for DCL was renting a car, staying at a hotel over night and leaving my rental there. If DCL ended up requiring testing at port (which they do now) then if I tested positive either get a ride back to the hotel (or if I couldn't walk back to the hotel) grab the car, pick up my wife, and drive the 18 hours home to quarantine.

Luckily for me I have Hertz points so they are not impacted like the $$$ cost of rentals right now.

 

[knewton64]

Q-
If tested positive at port and DCL refunds all of your money , how do you then get home ?


q- do you stay at a DCL designated quarantine site until all cleared ?

-
Does DCL rebook your air and ground transfers back home and you pay them ?

help!
Your help all would be greatly appreciated-

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Have you heard back about canceling a VGT? I’m curious to know that as well.

Not yet. We've discussed further. I'm pretty sure if we get the opportunity to cancel/rebook we will. I'm not a gambler.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

DCL really has two choices: Vax and embark testing, or not sailing.

Most of the Caribbean want vax+test to port. Mexico is looser on that and they could probably shrug it off for the Wonder, but let's be honest here: Having different standards on each coast would be a comms nightmare for a company that is already a clown show for customer communications (and customer compliance).