B2B Sailings: Covid test between cruises

[WDWisCallingMeHome]

We have B2B2B booked for early October and have been on hold with Disney for 2 hours and 40 minutes so far.
Have any B2Bers already called and learned what the process will be?
For example, will we need to pack all our belongings and take them off the ship, exit to the same area new arrivals are tested, and effectively start the process all over between each cruise?

“Back-to-Back Sailings: All Guests on consecutive, back-to-back sailings will be required to take a COVID-19 test administered by Inspire Diagnostics at the terminal after debarking the ship from their first cruise and before reboarding the next ship for their second cruise.”

 

[seasalt81]

We have B2B2B booked for early October and have been on hold with Disney for 2 hours and 40 minutes so far.
Have any B2Bers already called and learned what the process will be?
For example, will we need to pack all our belongings and take them off the ship, exit to the same area new arrivals are tested, and effectively start the process all over between each cruise?

“Back-to-Back Sailings: All Guests on consecutive, back-to-back sailings will be required to take a COVID-19 test administered by Inspire Diagnostics at the terminal after debarking the ship from their first cruise and before reboarding the next ship for their second cruise.”

Curious about this, as well. Were you able to get through?

 

[sethschroeder]

Regardless you are going to want to pack up each time IMO unless you want people just throwing all your stuff in your suitcase and zipping it up.

 

[WDWisCallingMeHome]

After 3 hours and 10 minutes on the phone, we did not receive answers to all our questions and we don’t know how much confidence we should have in some of the answers we did receive.

• Belongings do not need to be taken off the ship or even packed. If a B2B guest tests positive between cruises, someone will retrieve their things for them. (I agree with previous poster, packing seems like the best plan. I would not want to be the person asked to go pack a guest’s belongings- covid positive or not.)
• All B2B guests will meet in the morning and get off at port as a group. B2B guests will be taken to the testing area used for dropped off guests for the rapid test. (I am glad that we don't have to pack all our belongings, get in our car, and start again with another port arrive time.)
• We do not need to select a Port Arrival Time for the 2nd and 3rd cruises. (Because “you’ll already be there.” Well, obviously, but does the online check-in system know that? Will it allow us to complete the check-in process if we don’t select a PAT?)
• When we asked what would happen to our reservation funds if a test is failed between cruises, the representative wouldn't answer and then held the line for several minutes, not answering our repeated "hello?"- eventually the survey came up.

It may have been there for a while, but today I saw this information on the DCL website:

• "Guests who experience one or more of the qualifying scenarios on the day of Embarkation will be denied boarding. Guests who are denied boarding will receive a Denied Boarding Voucher for the full amount of their sailing or a refund without Disney-imposed cancellation fees."
• "Qualifying scenarios include Guests who:
  • Have symptoms of COVID-19
  • Have a temperature of 100.4°F or greater
  • Have had known exposure to a person with COVID-19 within the previous 14 days
  • Have tested positive for COVID-19"

According to the representative, if we cancel by 9/3 for full refund, we will lose the money paid for Disney Vacation Insurance. However, when reading the details of the insurance paperwork that was emailed to us it appears that we have 10 days from time of purchase to cancel the insurance for any reason. Coincidently 10 days is today (9/3).

We wonder if those people that were required to purchase vacation insurance previously due to vaccination status lost the money they paid for Disney Vacation Insurance when they canceled in time for a “full” refund due to sailing requirements. That would seem very unfair, especially for those that had children around the age of 12.

We are torn between canceling all three so that we can stop worrying about it and keeping all three and doing our best to keep on top of the changes and staying healthy. Luckily we have several more hours to decide.

 

[lanejudy]

Other than the stop for testing before reboarding, that sounds like the typical B2B procedure. There have been folks doing B2B in the past month and reported the procedure hadn't changed. No PAT necessary and yes you will be able to check-in online. Obviously the need to test between cruises is new but it's what I expected. Likely the B2B cruisers will be through testing and in the terminal if not back onboard before new cruisers arrive.

As for insurance... there have been reports of people losing the cost of insurance when cancelling, even due to the newly-turned-12-yr-old issue. DCL doesn't receive/keep the insurance premiums - it goes to a 3rd party. Most likely it's the 3rd party who won't refund. It's unfortunate, but not necessarily DCL's fault. If you push out the cruise instead of cancel you should be able to keep the insurance.

 

[ThinkTink1]

I did a B2B 8/20 and then 8/23 and just like The previous post are posted…yes you do not have to take any of your belongings out of the room, unless I’m sure you obviously test positive for Covid, And if you’re changing rooms the state room host will move your luggage for you to your new room. On my back to back the only people that had to be retested again were the kids and unvaccinated adults. I would say from the group when we got off the ship they might’ve been gone for 30 to 45 minutes before they were back in the terminal with us. We were all escorted off the ship around 9:45 and back on the ship by about 11:30, but the testing was in the middle of all this so the testing didn’t affect anybody’s time getting back on the ship they were already done with that by the time we were able to get back on.