Our saga of testing positive at the port

[mmouse37]

I wonder if samples were messed up....but not sure how as they have you write your name and DOB on the label and I watched them adhere it to the tube. But, sounds like something was messed up along the way. So sorry you had to go through this.

MJ

 

[Sleepyluke]

It all comes down to $$. My guess is even if she showed Disney proof of her 2 negative PCRs taken a half hour later showing them that a false positive is possible they still would not change their policy. Way too costly to run a second sample on every positive test.

Really it is not that much money. It is the person testing positive, not the whole travel party, so a very small %. I think it boils down to where do you stop. Do you let them on with 1 negative test, so now you have one negative and one positive, so then a tiebreaker sample? I think they are sticking to it because they feel like they have to more than anything. They can't tell if you are in the very early stages of contagion, had it 2 months ago, or somewhere in the height of it. I think until they get to the pre-port testing false positives and false negatives are going to happen, we just don't hear about the false negatives that get to board!

Sorry for missing your cruise!

 

[diablodancer]

Really it is not that much money. It is the person testing positive, not the whole travel party, so a very small %. I think it boils down to where do you stop. Do you let them on with 1 negative test, so now you have one negative and one positive, so then a tiebreaker sample? I think they are sticking to it because they feel like they have to more than anything. They can't tell if you are in the very early stages of contagion, had it 2 months ago, or somewhere in the height of it. I think until they get to the pre-port testing false positives and false negatives are going to happen, we just don't hear about the false negatives that get to board!

Sorry for missing your cruise!

Agree. Plus false negatives are far more common than false positives so you can’t necessarily use negative tests taken elsewhere to say the one at port was a false positive (not saying this is the case with OP but from Disney’s stand point). It sucks but it’s a risk of cruising atm.

 

[RedHead0186]

Really it is not that much money. It is the person testing positive, not the whole travel party, so a very small %. I think it boils down to where do you stop. Do you let them on with 1 negative test, so now you have one negative and one positive, so then a tiebreaker sample? I think they are sticking to it because they feel like they have to more than anything. They can't tell if you are in the very early stages of contagion, had it 2 months ago, or somewhere in the height of it. I think until they get to the pre-port testing false positives and false negatives are going to happen, we just don't hear about the false negatives that get to board!

Sorry for missing your cruise!

Agreed. Seems like the "better safe that sorry" route. If there's even a hint of COVID-19, they're going to play it safe and not let you board. Plus, like you said, if they take a second sample and it's negative, then what? Now you have one positive and one negative, which one is "correct?" It's really unfortunate and in the OP's case it does sound like a false negative, but I can see why they have to stick to the policy otherwise like you said, where does it stop?

 

[RedHead0186]

So you think the test at the port was a false positive? Scary to think that's even a possibility!

No test is always going to be 100% effective. False positive do happen, but they are rare (much rarer than false negatives).

 

[braysmommy]

J

See if you can ask them to open an investigation into possible sample contamination or another error on part of Inspire. That is, using your two negative PCR tests.

This sort of pushback is needed to get DCL to own up for Inspire's port operations. Your cruise fare isn't the only cost you incurred.

I emailed DCL today after arriving home last night and receiving another negative PCR test today.

 

[Princess Merida]

Since I have been PCR testing for about 1.5 years with the last one this past Wednesday and 2 negative PCR tests with 2 hours of testing positive at the port I’d say yes there was an error in my test at the port. The other 2 in my travel party were negative.

Wow… I am so sorry this happened to you. Can’t wait until the world is normal again and all of this is over. I hope you are compensated for all of your losses. We will not be traveling anywhere that requires testing. It’s way too stressful.

 

[ironz]

I'm sorry this happened to OP if they have had immediately subsequent negative PCRs.
But I think that testing right before boarding is still a good idea to try to catch any active cases before a passenger spread it to the crew and other passengers. It DOES matter. Omicron is quite contagious and can still affect vaccinated people. I know first hand. If the crew starts getting it, who do you think is going to clean the cabin and make your food and entertain you on board? The goal is to prevent an outbreak on the ship.

 

[braysmommy]

Wow… I am so sorry this happened to you. Can’t wait until the world is normal again and all of this is over. I hope you are compensated for all of your losses. We will not be traveling anywhere that requires testing. It’s way too stressful.

DCL offers either a full refund or FCC and we went with a refund and I also purchased trip insurance so will begin the paperwork to see if we can get our lodging/food reimbursed.