Why 90 Day Recovery Letters for Cruises?

[ITGirl50]

I apologize if this has been answered, I didn’t find it. My DH and I have recovered from COVID. We tested positive on July 20. If we decided to do a last minute cruise in September, would we need a recovery letter? We are vaccinated. Why not just go and test. We would do the NAAT from Walgreens. That’s how we tested when we got sick (after testing positive at home).

 

[Terapin]

It's only to waive the requirement to test because there is the potential for still testing positive from a previous bout and being denied boarding. It's not mandatory that you get a letter - you can choose to test with everyone else instead. Cheers!

 

[soniam]

It was more of a concern with PCR pre-boarding testing. PCR tests are very sensitive and can pick up an old infection from which you have recovered for about up to 90 days. It's still possible for antigen tests to do the same. Not as common though, but I have heard anecdotal evidence. To do the recovery process, you need an official positive test and a letter from a doctor stating you have recovered. The positive test can not be a regular at-home test. I don't know if the proctored telehealth tests count or not.

 

[ITGirl50]

It was more of a concern with PCR pre-boarding testing. PCR tests are very sensitive and can pick up an old infection from which you have recovered for about up to 90 days. It's still possible for antigen tests to do the same. Not as common though, but I have heard anecdotal evidence. To do the recovery process, you need an official positive test and a letter from a doctor stating you have recovered. The positive test can not be a regular at-home test. I don't know if the proctored telehealth tests count or not.

We went to Walgreens for the official test because we had a cruise planned for the end of September. We were at our 60 day cancel for any reason and I cancelled the cruise. We were both pretty sick and just didn’t want to cruise. Now we are feeling good, I wish we still had the cruise. The Fantasy has some pretty good prices, so we are just thinking about going.

 

[soniam]

We went to Walgreens for the official test because we had a cruise planned for the end of September. We were at our 60 day cancel for any reason and I cancelled the cruise. We were both pretty sick and just didn’t want to cruise. Now we are feeling good, I wish we still had the cruise. The Fantasy has some pretty good prices, so we are just thinking about going.

Sorry you got sick. Glad you are doing better. We got it about 2.5 weeks before our cruise, so we did the recovery thing. Our son never got it, until we did the cruise. Day 6 of a 9 night he tested positive. We all quarantined, since it was just the 3 of us. It might not be a big deal to skip it. We thought about skipping it but thought only having 1 of us needing to test would be easier.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We have both had COVID in the last month and could have gotten the recovery letters for our Sept cruise. In the end, we decided it was easier and cheaper to just do the proctor test with the free government tests we already had rather than jumping through the hoops for a PCR, doctor visit (I don't even have a primary at this point), confirming the letter was correct, etc.

 

[ITGirl50]

We have both had COVID in the last month and could have gotten the recovery letters for our Sept cruise. In the end, we decided it was easier and cheaper to just do the proctor test with the free government tests we already had rather than jumping through the hoops for a PCR, doctor visit (I don't even have a primary at this point), confirming the letter was correct, etc.

Thank you. That’s what I was thinking too. Not sure why people go through all of that to avoid a test.

 

[nancipants]

It really wasn’t a lot of effort. My drive thru test was free because I had symptoms. I wanted an official result for work and to get my son tested anyway. I used MDAnywhere to get my letter ($69).

 

[Giraffe Lounge]

Thank you. That’s what I was thinking too. Not sure why people go through all of that to avoid a test.

“All that”? Test at a drive up clinic: 20minutes. Recovery letter from an online clinic: 10 minutes.

Not worrying about a false positive test after flying 11 hours to Europe: Priceless.

 

[Karin1984]

Thank you. That’s what I was thinking too. Not sure why people go through all of that to avoid a test.

Precruise testing is stressful. More stressful than getting 2 documents.

 

[Cheburashka]

My DH and I have recovered from COVID. We tested positive on July 20. If we decided to do a last minute cruise in September, would we need a recovery letter? We are vaccinated. Why not just go and test.

A lot of people would rather use the letter because there is no risk of testing positive.

 

[Lillebelle]

It was a big deal when they were doing mandatory at-port testing -- huge stress eliminator for anyone flying in to know they wouldn't get turned away staring at the ship. Same for people with under 5's who have to test at the end of long cruises, or people doing back-to-back cruises who have to test in between.

 

[Henlady]

Before getting a 90 day letter stating someone can possibly still test positive, why don’t they just get another test following infection to check for negative or positive results?? People can get covid again within that 90 day period. So they could get covid, Recover, be negative but contract covid again a couple days before the cruise, but then don’t have to test before boarding and end up legitimately positive onboard. Makes no sense to me.

 

[nancipants]

Before getting a 90 day letter stating someone can possibly still test positive, why don’t they just get another test following infection to check for negative or positive results?? People can get covid again within that 90 day period. So they could get covid, Recover, be negative but contract covid again a couple days before the cruise, but then don’t have to test before boarding and end up legitimately positive onboard. Makes no sense to me.

It started because PCR tests, which Disney was doing at the port, could detect earlier infections. It’s not as much of an issue now with antigen tests and Disney probably should stop accepting the letters. But, I suffered through Covid so I’m taking advantage of Disney’s policy while I can.

 

[married2grumpy]

We have both had COVID in the last month and could have gotten the recovery letters for our Sept cruise. In the end, we decided it was easier and cheaper to just do the proctor test with the free government tests we already had rather than jumping through the hoops for a PCR, doctor visit (I don't even have a primary at this point), confirming the letter was correct, etc.

Is it cheaper to use the government tests? I still have a bunch of those. We are 22 days out so I haven't gotten on Safe Passage yet to see options and prices.

 

[Karin1984]

Before getting a 90 day letter stating someone can possibly still test positive, why don’t they just get another test following infection to check for negative or positive results?? People can get covid again within that 90 day period. So they could get covid, Recover, be negative but contract covid again a couple days before the cruise, but then don’t have to test before boarding and end up legitimately positive onboard. Makes no sense to me.

Because you do not know if you test positive because your first infection or a new second. Some people still test positive weeks or even months after an infection.

That is why you need a doctor to state: this person is healthy.

 

[Giraffe Lounge]

Before getting a 90 day letter stating someone can possibly still test positive, why don’t they just get another test following infection to check for negative or positive results?? People can get covid again within that 90 day period. So they could get covid, Recover, be negative but contract covid again a couple days before the cruise, but then don’t have to test before boarding and end up legitimately positive onboard. Makes no sense to me.

It makes sense since they’re slowly relaxing covid protocols and don’t want to go backwards on something previously offered.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Is it cheaper to use the government tests? I still have a bunch of those. We are 22 days out so I haven't gotten on Safe Passage yet to see options and prices.

Yes, it's ~$15/person to do the proctor test with OnPoint, since you already have the tests on hand. It's more expensive to use Safe Passage.

 

[owensamo]

It's really a good idea to have a certificate of recovery, even if you board with a negative antigen test. I was reading a report on another board of a cruiser whose wife had had Covid within 90 days of their cruise and did not get a certificate of recovery, and tested positive on rapid PCR in the medical center when going there for something unrelated. Even though both of them continued to test negative on antigen tests, they were still quarantined because of the Positive PCR test with no documentation that she had recovered from Covid recently.

After reading this, our family will make sure to have a certificate of recovery if we need one due to a pre-cruise positive test, just in case something else happens and they have another reason to test us on board.

 

[Aimeedyan]

It's really a good idea to have a certificate of recovery, even if you board with a negative antigen test. I was reading a report on another board of a cruiser whose wife had had Covid within 90 days of their cruise and did not get a certificate of recovery, and tested positive on rapid PCR in the medical center when going there for something unrelated. Even though both of them continued to test negative on antigen tests, they were still quarantined because of the Positive PCR test with no documentation that she had recovered from Covid recently.

After reading this, our family will make sure to have a certificate of recovery if we need one due to a pre-cruise positive test, just in case something else happens and they have another reason to test us on board.

Are you sure they would ignore the positive test on board even with a certificate of recovery? You can get this strain as often as every 30 days (I personally know several families that have had it multiple times this summer, definitely NOT 90 days apart). I would hope and pray that they quarantine anyone testing positive, regardless of if they had it 2-3 months ago. You can get it again, which means you're spreading it around the ship.

Disney is still using old math from former strains. 90 days recovered means nothing for this virus.