New Vaccination / Booster / Testing standards as of March 1st

[KeithG]

The wife and I have been on 2 cruises since the restart, the second one required the testing 2 days prior. Did the eMed at home tests, everything went smoothly.

Getting ready to go on another cruise mid-March so was excited to see all the new protocols. This time there are 4 of us including our 2 girls. The wife and I are vaccinated and boosted, the girls vaccinated in December so not eligible for boosters. 

Cruise leaves on Saturday and we usually drive down on Thursday so that means EARLY morning testing Thursday...until recently. Now it looks like we can actually do it Wednesday at any time. So, I was a little paranoid because this particular trip is a HS Senior trip that has been planned for, literally, 450 days and I was unclear if the 2 girls who are vaccinated but unboosted could test Wednesday or not. The first "Have Fun. Be Safe" page says:

guests who are up to date with their vaccines may take their test within three days prior to sailing. Up to date means a person has received all recommended COVID-19 vaccinations, including any booster dose(s), when eligible. 

To me this was clear, the girls are not yet eligible for boosters so they are "up to date" and can also test Wednesday, others in our party were not so sure. Did I mention I was paranoid?

So finally I called Carnival. This is the 3rd time recently I had to call them. Has anyone tried that recently? Crazy busy. Anyway, called them this morning and, after a bit of a wait, talked to a person who proceeded to confuse the issue even more. After the phone call I resigned myself to just getting up even earlier and everyone testing on Thursday before our drive. Not a HUGE deal but not excited about it. 

So I was stumbling around searching for information about whether Suites are available before 1:30 (anyone know?) and came across the second page of the Return to Service FAQs where is lists out in detail what "up to date" on a vaccine means. If you are fully vaccinated but not yet in the booster window you are considered up to date and can test 3 days prior.  See below:

What is considered fully vaccinated?

An individual is considered fully vaccinated 14 days after the administration of the last dose in their primary vaccine series. On embarkation day, a minimum of 15 days must have passed since receiving the final dose in a vaccine series. Some countries and regions have a time limit on when the last dose was given to be considered fully vaccinated.

What is considered "up to date" relative to COVID vaccines?

Up to date means a person has received all recommended COVID-19 vaccinations, including any booster dose, when eligible. If a guest is fully vaccinated and not yet eligible for a booster, the guest is also considered up to date and may take their pre-cruise COVID test as early as three days before the cruise. Fully vaccinated guests are encouraged to visit the CDC's website  to determine when they are eligible for a booster.

Anyway, thought I would share with the other paranoids out there.

[Carnation2]

You mentioned you did the eMed covid test. Did you get one box which you and your wife used? Trying to understand if one box is enough? My fiancé and I purchased one box which has two test kits in it. We have heard we can just do the Walgreens Rapid ID Now test and get results in less than 24 hours. Appreciate your post. Thanks.

[KeithG]

We each got a box which incuded 2 tests, so four total. Only used the 2 and the other 2 are expired by now I believe. 

I know walgreens does, I believe, basically the same test and from what I read people are getting  results back fairly quickly. I'm going to make Walgreens appointments as a backup, did this last time but didn't need them. 

For this trip we got 2 boxes of 3, 6 total for the 4 of us. Just in case one of use messes up the  test. 

[David Nevada]

On 2/26/2022 at 8:33 AM, KeithG said:

We each got a box which incuded 2 tests, so four total. Only used the 2 and the other 2 are expired by now I believe. 

I know walgreens does, I believe, basically the same test and from what I read people are getting  results back fairly quickly. I'm going to make Walgreens appointments as a backup, did this last time but didn't need them. 

For this trip we got 2 boxes of 3, 6 total for the 4 of us. Just in case one of use messes up the  test. 

Is that the one from Optum that includes a telehealth call so they can monitor you sticking the swab up your nose?   I was thinking of doing that one, but Walgreens testing isn't really scarce in my neck o' the woods. 

[KeithG]

Yep, that's the one. Used the Telehealth version. Used them for 3 or 4 cruises now. Pretty easy and you can do it any time of day or night.