Pre Boarding Covid testing for Canadians?

[condomom]

We are sailing on the Dream in July, and flying in from Ontario. Are rapid tests ok to use that we were given from gov't?
If I were to book a virtual appt but use those tests. What have other Canadians done?

 

[bcwife76]

We are from Vancouver, boarding the Wonder at the end of July and using the free gov't tests. We have booked telehealth appts with Life Centers, the cheapest option I have found. $20 for the first person and $5 for each additional person!

 

[lilsonicfan]

We are from Vancouver, boarding the Wonder at the end of July and using the free gov't tests. We have booked telehealth appts with Life Centers, the cheapest option I have found. $20 for the first person and $5 for each additional person!

Exactly the same for us (we are boarding a HAL ship) - we also pre-booked with Life Centers. There's 5 of us, so it is an extra $20 for the 5th person but still that comes out to $55 for 5 of us.

 

[lorenni]

We're planning to order observed RATs from Switch Health. I had great success with them using PCR tests when those were still required, so I will pay a bit more to stick with a service I know and can vouch for.

 

[tvguy]

As good as Canadian Healthcare is, I am constantly amazed that Canadians have to pay for a covid test. Many drug stores here in the U.S. and drive through clinics do the tests for free.....well.....the U.S. Government pays for them and they don't ask if they are for travel.

 

[jeffporfirio]

As good as Canadian Healthcare is, I am constantly amazed that Canadians have to pay for a covid test. Many drug stores here in the U.S. and drive through clinics do the tests for free.....well.....the U.S. Government pays for them and they don't ask if they are for travel.

Take home tests are free, so is PCR if required. Tests for travel are paid for

 

[Love2Cruise2015]

My family and I (from Ontario) are cruising in July and we are testing at Shoppers Drug Mart ($40 per person and we are trying to get into our Walmart as they are $20 per person but they offer less appointments) as our free government tests are not eligible for telehealth testing.

 

[bcwife76]

My family and I (from Ontario) are cruising in July and we are testing at Shoppers Drug Mart ($40 per person and we are trying to get into our Walmart as they are $20 per person but they offer less appointments) as our free government tests are not eligible for telehealth testing.

Are they the ones in the green box? If so then yes, they are eligible for telehealth testing.

 

[condomom]

Take home tests are free, so is PCR if required. Tests for travel are paid

Are they the ones in the green box? If so then yes, they are eligible for telehealth testing.

yes green box, 5 tests per. Perfect, I’ll do telehealth then. Is there one service you’d recommend?

 

[bcwife76]

@condomom We are using Life Centers, but Accublab, Rapid Test and Trace and Azova all accept the green box tests Life Centers is the cheapest option. I've had friends who used Acculab last week and someone else used RT&T in April and both said they worked well

 

[Love2Cruise2015]

Are they the ones in the green box? If so then yes, they are eligible for telehealth testing.

Good to know because I was under the impression they didnt qualify- thank you for letting me know.

 

[lilsonicfan]

As good as Canadian Healthcare is, I am constantly amazed that Canadians have to pay for a covid test. Many drug stores here in the U.S. and drive through clinics do the tests for free.....well.....the U.S. Government pays for them and they don't ask if they are for travel.

For many, many months it was extremely difficult to get tests here in Canada - they were not nearly as readily available as in the US, especially PCR type testing. In BC in particular, it was nearly impossible to get a test unless you were symptomatic, or on front lines of healthcare, etc. It was so insanely easy to get a test in Anaheim in March 2022, for example, but when my co-worker who spent time with me in early March tested positive, I could not get a free test anywhere even though he was fully symptomatic. There were no rapid antigen tests for free then; they were only starting to be passed out by the gov't in that month. the option then was to pay $200+ for a PCR test or $80+ for rapid antigen.

 

[gilsan]

As good as Canadian Healthcare is, I am constantly amazed that Canadians have to pay for a covid test. Many drug stores here in the U.S. and drive through clinics do the tests for free.....well.....the U.S. Government pays for them and they don't ask if they are for travel.

We don't have to pay for the covid tests unless we are using them for travel. My daughter has brought home 5/6 tests every week from school. We also could pick them up at libraries here is Nova Scotia. PCR tests have been free as as well.

We are planning at getting our test at Shoppers Drug Mart right before we fly out, but with the recent change to flights to the USA we may take our free tests and get a telehealth appointment instead.

 

[lanejudy]

Many drug stores here in the U.S. and drive through clinics do the tests for free.....well.....the U.S. Government pays for them and they don't ask if they are for travel.

That really depends on where you live. Free testing clinics closed down in my state several months ago now. Most pharmacies, urgent care location and physician's offices ask about symptoms and submit through insurance. My insurance as well as many others will only cover symptomatic testing at this point.

 

[tvguy]

That really depends on where you live. Free testing clinics closed down in my state several months ago now. Most pharmacies, urgent care location and physician's offices ask about symptoms and submit through insurance. My insurance as well as many others will only cover symptomatic testing at this point.

Every CVS is the U.S. still offers free covid testing, paid for by the U.S. Department of Health. https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing

 

[StarSeven7]

We’ve used the RT-LAMP (pcr) tests from Switch Health several times and the rapid antigen tests from them once and they are very easy to use. We are taking a cruise with Royal Caribbean at the end of August and will probably use our free test kits with one of the telehealth companies listed above. We have 5 or 6 boxes of the free kits of 5 rapid tests (green box) at this point - and we used up 2 boxes last month when Covid went through our household! Our kids’ school has tons of them and our principal gave me a handful when I asked for a few more so we might as well use them. My only issue is we hate the swabs in those free kits - for some reason they irritate all of our nostrils much more than any other swabs (and we’ve been tested a lot!) so I can’t make it through without sneezing in the middle of swabbing myself!

 

[lanejudy]

Every CVS is the U.S. still offers free covid testing, paid for by the U.S. Department of Health. https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing

I said "most" not "all" but since there isn't a CVS near me it doesn't matter.

Where does it indicate free testing for all? Looks like you have to meetcertain criteria (probably symptoms) and/or have insurance or qualify as uninsured. From the website:

*FOR COVID-19 TESTING: Testing requires preregistration, is only available based on specified screening criteria, and is conducted by MinuteClinic®. COVID-19 testing at select CVS Pharmacy® locations is no cost with most insurance plans or through a federal program for the uninsured.

 

[lanejudy]

Dup

 

[tvguy]

I said "most" not "all" but since there isn't a CVS near me it doesn't matter.

Where does it indicate free testing for all? Looks like you have to meetcertain criteria (probably symptoms) and/or have insurance or qualify as uninsured. From the website:

*FOR COVID-19 TESTING: Testing requires preregistration, is only available based on specified screening criteria, and is conducted by MinuteClinic®. COVID-19 testing at select CVS Pharmacy® locations is no cost with most insurance plans or through a federal program for the uninsured.

Wow, where do you live where there isn't a CVS? There are no exclusions listed on the website and in the CVS's here they have big signs advertising the free testing.