Royal Dropping Testing for Vaxxed on Cruises 5 nights or shorter

[mousefan73]

My question is who will follow suit. I’m guessing NCL most definitely. I’m curious though if Disney will see impact on their five nights or less. Wish Right now has its USP but if one were planning a sailing out of Miami for five nights I can see this change Swinging some families in One Direction or the other. For a family of four or five looking its a $400 + additional cost to get tested on your own in some cases and additional stress. And the argument OK I’d rather go on a tested Cruise because I feel safer doesn’t really work seeing how Covid is still spreading with it antigen two days plus sailing policy

 

[Kwami]

And the argument OK I’d rather go on a tested Cruise because I feel safer doesn’t really work seeing how Covid is still spreading with it antigen two days plus sailing policy

How about "I'd rather go on a cruise that required PCR tests at the terminal before boarding"? That seemed to work a whole lot better!

But if the choice is antigen tests two days before sailing and no tests, then I'm fine with no tests. The antigen tests are basically useless two days in advance.

 

[EddieK76]

My question is who will follow suit. I’m guessing NCL most definitely. I’m curious though if Disney will see impact on their five nights or less. Wish Right now has its USP but if one were planning a sailing out of Miami for five nights I can see this change Swinging some families in One Direction or the other. For a family of four or five looking its a $400 + additional cost to get tested on your own in some cases and additional stress. And the argument OK I’d rather go on a tested Cruise because I feel safer doesn’t really work seeing how Covid is still spreading with it antigen two days plus sailing policy

NCL will definitely be soon to follow. They already laid the ground work with their wording when they removed testing for some of their sailings. I would venture to say Disney will follow and if I'm a betting man I'd say 9/1 will be their date but that's bias reporting because I said on 9/5

 

[Henlady]

I’m glad to see this change. It will now be up to the individual to take measures they feel necessary, ie…masking, hand gel, social distancing when possible. You are free to self test as often as you like to monitor yourself. If you test positive after a 3 or 4 day cruise chances are you contracted the virus days before you boarded. It can take 10 - 4 days to test positive.
I believe you will see Carnival follow closely as well as Holland etc. I expect DCL to be a little later in the game. Maybe by October, beginning of November.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

NCL will definitely be soon to follow. They already laid the ground work with their wording when they removed testing for some of their sailings. I would venture to say Disney will follow and if I'm a betting man I'd say 9/1 will be their date but that's bias reporting because I said on 9/5

I am on the 9/5 sailing out of Miami-I too am hoping for 9/1. I doubt it-but I can only hope

 

[nancipants]

It takes 10 - 4 days to test positive.

Not with recent variants. People have been testing positive 2 days after exposure. We are pretty sure we got it from eating lunch at Disney. My husband tested positive two days later, and I did two days after him.

 

[EddieK76]

Carnival has now followed suit with no testing for cruises shorter than 6 nights. I suspect the rest of the industry will be making announcements within a week.

 

[dreamer17555]

Carnival has now followed suit with no testing for cruises shorter than 6 nights. I suspect the rest of the industry will be making announcements within a week.

For some reason I bet disney holds on to testing through the summer season and drops it when the fall bookings are lower… They are much slower to adjust.

 

[nancipants]

They really should just drop it for everyone. Even considering a 5-day incubation period, someone could be exposed 1-2 days before testing, show up at the port 2 days later, and start showing symptoms on Day 2-3 of their 3-night cruise. Sure, they’ll get off the ship sooner, but they’ve still spread it.

 

[AquaDame]

For transparency I have gone through and removed the mask bickering and stastic dumps. Please keep in mind the ongoing policy around covid discussion, thanks!

I also dislike this half-hearted antiviral two days prior policy, namely because we both caught covid onboard along with 100-400 other folks on the maiden (depending on who you ask, I'm not sure what the real # is of course). Yes, we had well fitted KN95 masks and only removed them when actively eating. That was more than enough for our break through cases... if it comes onboard its gonna spread.

 

[holula]

It would not bother me at all if they dropped testing. The two day prior antigen test basically does nothing at this point - the number of COVID cases on the ships prove that.

 

[Trisaratops]

I believe viking dropped testing for most of their cruises

 

[Mommb]

It would not bother me at all if they dropped testing. The two day prior antigen test basically does nothing at this point - the number of COVID cases on the ships prove that.

The number of recent cases shows that the current policy does not prevent COVID from spreading onboard. However, we cannot tell whether or not the current policy reduces the spread. That may become more apparent after some cruise lines drop the pre-cruise testing.

 

[cvjw]

The number of recent cases shows that the current policy does not prevent COVID from spreading onboard. However, we cannot tell whether or not the current policy reduces the spread. That may become more apparent after some cruise lines drop the pre-cruise testing.

How would we know? It doesn’t appear that cruise lines are keeping up with covid positive cases or reporting them. FB groups are reporting how many of their members are catching covid on Disney cruises, but I haven’t seen anything official from DCL.

 

[Weedy]

Unless people left home and drove right to their cruise without stops then stayed on the ship the whole time and then drove home without stops there is no way they can say they caught Covid on the ship.

 

[mousefan73]

For transparency I have gone through and removed the mask bickering and stastic dumps. Please keep in mind the ongoing policy around covid discussion, thanks!

I also dislike this half-hearted antiviral two days prior policy, namely because we both caught covid onboard along with 100-400 other folks on the maiden (depending on who you ask, I'm not sure what the real # is of course). Yes, we had well fitted KN95 masks and only removed them when actively eating. That was more than enough for our break through cases... if it comes onboard its gonna spread.

I think with Disney it’s also hard to pinpoint if those cases were actually spread specifically on the MV . I know many that were on that sailing were living it up at WDW before the sailing. One friend posted on her FB account “ tested negative ! Yeah ! now heading to Magic Kingdom” and was in crowds basically 48 hours all over WDW before she got on the boat after her test.” So she may have gotten Covid there and spread it on the ship, or got it on the ship who knows with Covid it’s only speculation he can’t really 100% pinpoint that one is all over the place anyways. I hope you’re doing / did well though.

 

[goofy4prez]

I've been on the DIS for 14 years and never "violated" any rules, I guess until this week at least. I've never had a comment deleted until this week. I'll be honest, right now I don't know what is and is not allowed sometimes, and that's after having read the rules. Sometimes it's as hard as trying to decipher the bi-laws of an HOA. LOL. Hopefully what I'll say is allowed. It's time to move on. It's time to stop these pre-testings and confusing steps. Covid will be with us till the end of time just like the common cold and the flu. It's obvious now that even "science" is not sure of things. For those who got covid on the ship; It could have started on the plane. Perhaps at the McDonalds in the airport waiting for your transfer. Perhaps it was in WDW, maybe even standing in the Lightning Lane waiting to ride RoR. Maybe it was on the bus on the way to the terminal. It could have even been on the last day of your work day on the job and then hopped in your Honda Pilot and drove 12 hours to the terminal. And perhaps it happened as you were enjoying your first evening's dinner in Animators Palate. All I can say is let each person decide for themselves what their risk tolerances are and go from there. I am not making light or downplaying covid, but we need to move on. Hopefully this did not violate any rules.

 

[disneylandlocal]

I agree the pre-cruise antigen testing is just theatrics and an expense/ burden shifted to cruisers. I’d like it dropped before my Oct cruise. I support the vaccine requirement and feel more comfortable knowing other cruisers are vaccinated and presumably taking Covid precautions more seriously (but know people have different motivations so this is just a generalization).

 

[Cheburashka]

How about "I'd rather go on a cruise that required PCR tests at the terminal before boarding"? That seemed to work a whole lot better!

No way! I never want to go through that again, flying cross-country only to have to wait and hope that I don't test positive at port, then worry about how to get home if I were to test positive. I'll happily take the silly antigen test in advance before going through that again. I always tested before flying out, anyway, just as a precaution to try to avoid a surprise at port.

 

[Cheburashka]

My November cruise is 5 nights, and I'm hopeful that by then I won't have to test at all. Disney does like to watch what others do and make policy changes later, but I suspect an announcement will come within a month or so.