Was scheduled to be at Castaway Cay today, but Covid positive test

[LA Poolboy]

Was scheduled to be on the Dream this week for 4 nights. At port we parked in the garage, took our Covid tests and waited for results. I got a call that my test was inconclusive and would need a redo. Met the guy at the elevator area and took test #2. Half our later I got a call that #2 test was also inconclusive so I take test #3. A minute later I got a "clear to sail" notification so my wife and I started getting things together to go into terminal. At the terminal I was stopped and told I was not in fact "clear to sail." They tried for a few minutes to figure things out. I took test #4. In the meantime I am notified by email that test 3 was negative and another "clear to sail" notice. We enter terminal, go through security, and get in line to board. They come and get us out of line and say the doctor needs to see us. We walk way over to the tent testing area to be told that test #4 was positive and we are not sailing. Triple vaccinated, NO symptoms, but not sailing. 3 days later still no symptoms and still not sailing. Quarantine.

 

[knewton64]

Was scheduled to be on the Dream this week for 4 nights. At port we parked in the garage, took our Covid tests and waited for results. I got a call that my test was inconclusive and would need a redo. Met the guy at the elevator area and took test #2. Half our later I got a call that #2 test was also inconclusive so I take test #3. A minute later I got a "clear to sail" notification so my wife and I started getting things together to go into terminal. At the terminal I was stopped and told I was not in fact "clear to sail." They tried for a few minutes to figure things out. I took test #4. In the meantime I am notified by email that test 3 was negative and another "clear to sail" notice. We enter terminal, go through security, and get in line to board. They come and get us out of line and say the doctor needs to see us. We walk way over to the tent testing area to be told that test #4 was positive and we are not sailing. Triple vaccinated, NO symptoms, but not sailing. 3 days later still no symptoms and still not sailing. Quarantine.

I’m texting you some ice cream, assorted candies …. and a shot of whisky to help ease the pain.
*
I am so sorry .

Q-
Did you wind up rebooking or just cancel altogether ?

 

[mullysisters]

My sister and I are sitting here feeling like crying for you. We are so sorry. We just cancelled our cruise yesterday, cancelled all the "sitters" just for this reason-testing. We're not afraid of Covid we're afraid of exactly what you have just gone through. It's crazy, I guess, but a cruise ship full of Covid passengers is too. Some people, including children are still hospitalized and some dying. But it is all so confusing and no one seems to know what our collective social next step should be.

 

[LA Poolboy]

I’m texting you some ice cream-
I am so sorry .

Q-
Did you rebook or cancel ?

We canceled. We live 10 hour drive away so we will just book another cruise maybe when Covid is conquered.

 

[belle032]

I'm so sorry that happened to you.

The process you described seems incredibly confusing and detrimental. With that much confusion, I wouldn't know what result to trust! Why did they force a Test #4 when #3 cleared? I wonder if you had left and tested at another location, what that result would have been.

It's a reason I won't sail DCL right now, I'm not undergoing that stress of testing at port.

I hope you're able to cruise soon!

 

[lanejudy]

Wow, that's the first report I've read of them administering a subsequent test -- not just re-testing the initial sample. Something was off to receive so many "inconclusive" results. So sorry that happened to you!

 

[Snowwhyt]

Triple vaccinated, NO symptoms, but not sailing. 3 days later still no symptoms

My daughter had a positive test the day after her 2nd shot. But then she took two more PCR tests on the following day and then another four days later, they both showed up negative.
I wonder if you possibly had Covid previously in the past 90 days? That was absolutely my fear with the healthcare workers that I had on our trip. Did you feel you had any symptoms in the last 90 days?

 

[LA Poolboy]

I was boosted about 2 weeks prior to cruise date. Have not had any symptoms at all through this whole Covid ordeal of 22 months. So if I actually do have it then the vax and booster must really be working or it is an extremely mild case.

 

[Snowwhyt]

I was boosted about 2 weeks prior to cruise date. Have not had any symptoms at all through this whole Covid ordeal of 22 months. So if I actually do have it then the vax and booster must really be working or it is an extremely mild case.

With the building of your immunity from the vaccine and being told it’s a few weeks before our immunity is at Full strength. I wonder if that’s where the inconclusive part came in?

 

[dreynolds1982]

Wow that is awful. I mean, I get that this is a bit out of their control and I'm sure they are doing the best they can with these requirements, but still, that stinks. We have a cruise planned for last week of March. My wife just recovered from covid so she's going to go for the 90-day exemption. Meanwhile, I quarantined with her the whole week but never tested positive. I was kinda hoping I would so I could get the exemption as well. Now, unless I get it before the cruise, I'm going to be sweating and stressing this big time.

We're not canceling and I'm sure it will probably be fine. I mean, if I spent a whole week being constantly exposed to my wife who had COVID and I never got it, the odds of me randomly testing positive the day of our cruise seems very low, but still. It's not going to be a fun wait for those results.

 

[diablodancer]

With the building of your immunity from the vaccine and being told it’s a few weeks before our immunity is at Full strength. I wonder if that’s where the inconclusive part came in?

It shouldn’t be, there’s nothing in the vaccines that would interact with the tests in any way that would affect the results.

Sorry this happened to you OP - that’s incredibly unlucky. Never heard of so many inconclusive tests - I’m assuming you didn’t hear of/witness anyone else having a similar experience at port that day? With that number of inconclusives I’d have wondered if it was a testing issue but that wouldn’t work if only you were affected.

 

[shh]

my sympathies on a crazy situation. I'm so tempted to book a cruise - I love them! But have to physically stop myself every time because of stories like these.

 

[Freeman867]

It shouldn’t be, there’s nothing in the vaccines that would interact with the tests in any way that would affect the results.

Sorry this happened to you OP - that’s incredibly unlucky. Never heard of so many inconclusive tests - I’m assuming you didn’t hear of/witness anyone else having a similar experience at port that day? With that number of inconclusives I’d have wondered if it was a testing issue but that wouldn’t work if only you were affected.

Right, this situation sucks and is exasperated by the strangeness of 3 inconclusive tests. Makes me wonder what's up with their testing machines that this could happen.

 

[LA Poolboy]

Right, this situation sucks and is exasperated by the strangeness of 3 inconclusive tests. Makes me wonder what's up with their testing machines that this could happen.

Actually test #3 came back negative, but by then they had given me the 4th test which came back positive. They didn’t want to do a 5th test to break the tie.

 

[Freeman867]

Actually test #3 came back negative, but by then they had given me the 4th test which came back positive. They didn’t want to do a 5th test to break the tie.

So strange. Why re-test a 4th time if the results from #3 wasn't back yet?

 

[DLgal]

Right, this situation sucks and is exasperated by the strangeness of 3 inconclusive tests. Makes me wonder what's up with their testing machines that this could happen.

It's not the machines. Inconclusive tests happen because the sample is not "good enough." This is usually due to poor collection method (not going in the nostril deep enough, not gathering adequate nasal secretions, nasal secretions being too dry, etc). The machine will spit out "inconclusive" when there isn't enough "sample" to get an accurate reading.

Are the sample collections at the port done by the passengers themselves or by trained staff?

 

[Freeman867]

It's not the machines. Inconclusive tests happen because the sample is not "good enough." This is usually due to poor collection method (not going in the nostril deep enough, not gathering adequate nasal secretions, nasal secretions being too dry, etc). The machine will spit out "inconclusive" when there isn't enough "sample" to get an accurate reading.

Are the tests at the port done by the passengers themselves or by trained staff?

My understanding is they're done by the passengers while being observed by trained staff.

 

[DLgal]

My understanding is they're done by the passengers while being observed by trained staff.

Okay. That explains how you could get several "inconclusive" results in a row. In other words, "user error."

 

[Freeman867]

Okay. That explains how you could get several "inconclusive" results in a row. In other words, "user error."

Could be? One would think after 1 inconclusive test, they'd take that variable out of the equation and let the trained staff collect the sample though. Who knows... Just a very odd situation all around with inconclusive, negative, positive.

 

[insureman]

Not canceling just developing a plan B and Plan C. Possibly a plan D.