Royal Caribbean drops testing for 10 days or shorter

[Kwami]

Absolutely. Even the proctored tests were cheatable if one desired. It was a frequent occurrence for international travelers returning to the U.S. when it was required from what read. There were different ways of doing it, but it wasn't very hard from what I heard.


That, or people will just buy a test, not do a nasal swab, and put the liquid into the test strip. It will show the control line but will never show positive, since no swab was done. Then they can pass that same fake test to each family member and do their photos too.

You shouldn't see a control line if there was no swab. That's what the control line is there for.

 

[nancipants]

Didn’t safe passage have an unsupervised mail in option.

All the options I currently see are proctored.

 

[braysmommy]

Absolutely. Even the proctored tests were cheatable if one desired. It was a frequent occurrence for international travelers returning to the U.S. when it was required from what read. There were different ways of doing it, but it wasn't very hard from what I heard.


That, or people will just buy a test, not do a nasal swab, and put the liquid into the test strip. It will show the control line but will never show positive, since no swab was done. Then they can pass that same fake test to each family member and do their photos too.

We used Emed for testing to fly back from Barcelona and 100% could have flown home positive. There was very little proctoring in our proctored tests.

 

[maui2k5]

No telling when Disney will align with the rest of the industry. They waited 6 weeks between the June 30 and Aug 15 updates so we could be in for more waiting and at this rate I could see them not removing all restrictions until after winter (if ever).

Having said that, we cruise in Oct on the Dream so I am really hoping they get rid of the testing for our 4 night cruise (not holding my breath).

 

[KashasMom]

We used Emed for testing to fly back from Barcelona and 100% could have flown home positive. There was very little proctoring in our proctored tests.

And now no testing is required to fly back into the U.S. We just traveled from US to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, back to the U.S. NO testing ANYWHERE. This is just so ridiculous. ENOUGH ALREADY!

 

[Disneychick13]

You shouldn't see a control line if there was no swab. That's what the control line is there for.

The control line has nothing to do with a swab being present. The control line is going to tell you if the test itself works. As long as the test works, there will be a control line. If you have extra tests at home you can do this fun experiment yourself.

 

[cmph]

We used Emed for testing to fly back from Barcelona and 100% could have flown home positive. There was very little proctoring in our proctored tests.

DD had to do a proctored test for a summer program in the US. Easiest option was CVS - they definitely do NOT watch. They are way too busy. So even in-person, proctored doesn't always mean much.

 

[brentm77]

You shouldn't see a control line if there was no swab. That's what the control line is there for.

As someone said above, that's not true. The control line shows the test is working/solution is present. There is nothing in the control line that is dependent on swabbed nostril particles/snot being present. You can try it for yourself, or check out some of the IFU's for the tests. Here is an example:



Edit: I am not at all advocating doing this to cheat tests. I think this loophole for self testing is well known too, so I don't think I am contributing to anyone doing this. I am just pointing out why I agree that self-testing is no different than no testing at this point.

 

[braysmommy]

No telling when Disney will align with the rest of the industry. They waited 6 weeks between the June 30 and Aug 15 updates so we could be in for more waiting and at this rate I could see them not removing all restrictions until after winter (if ever).

Having said that, we cruise in Oct on the Dream so I am really hoping they get rid of the testing for our 4 night cruise (not holding my breath).

We are on the Dream Oct 20-24 and while it would be nice if the dropped testing I’m happy we can at least test before we fly. We had a false positive with testing at the port this past February which was not fun.

 

[DCLMP]

All the options I currently see are proctored.

The first cruise we did last August we had the option of ordering a test from them and mailing it in. It wasn’t proctored.

 

[DCLMP]

DD had to do a proctored test for a summer program in the US. Easiest option was CVS - they definitely do NOT watch. They are way too busy. So even in-person, proctored doesn't always mean much.

At the port they don’t pay attention either.

 

[caryrae]

Shouldn’t this be in the Royal Caribbean section?

 

[Kwami]

As someone said above, that's not true. The control line shows the test is working/solution is present. There is nothing in the control line that is dependent on swabbed nostril particles/snot being present. You can try it for yourself, or check out some of the IFU's for the tests. Here is an example:

View attachment 696256

Edit: I am not at all advocating doing this to cheat tests. I think this loophole for self testing is well known too, so I don't think I am contributing to anyone doing this. I am just pointing out why I agree that self-testing is no different than no testing at this point.

My tests said that the control line was looking for stuff that would be in our noses to ensure that we swabbed properly. Maybe some are different.

 

[DCLMP]

My tests said that the control line was looking for stuff that would be in our noses to ensure that we swabbed properly. Maybe some are different.

It’s a pretty easy science experiment to find out.

 

[Disneychick13]

My tests said that the control line was looking for stuff that would be in our noses to ensure that we swabbed properly. Maybe some are different.

I’m sure you misunderstood. That would never be how a rapid test works.

 

[cvjw]

Absolutely. Even the proctored tests were cheatable if one desired. It was a frequent occurrence for international travelers returning to the U.S. when it was required from what read. There were different ways of doing it, but it wasn't very hard from what I heard.

My oldest son and his partner flew back to the US multiple times when testing was required. They had several back up plans in place if one of them tested positive. They were not quarantining multiple weeks in another country.

 

[WB1971]

Shouldn’t this be in the Royal Caribbean section?

No, it’s pertinent to the discussion that DCL is 100% out of phase with industry and societal norms. Apparently the Bahamas and others are okay with a pseudo test requirement, which tells all of us that DCL is the hold up here.

 

[Where’s the beef]

So confused by the anti-test sentiment. Why is it so upsetting? Truly don’t get it. I guess we’re one of the rare families who sees this as the final nail in the coffin for cruising any time soon.

 

[g_ppetto]

So confused by the anti-test sentiment. Why is it so upsetting? Truly don’t get it. I guess we’re one of the rare families who sees this as the final mail in the coffin for cruising any time soon.

I'm not confused, I'm disappointed. Disappointed that they are willing to put others at risk because they do not want to take a test. We had an RCCL cruise we had to postpone from last May until May 2023 due to issues with a family estate. With RCCL eliminating the testing I do not feel comfortable cruising with them. We have a B2B coming up on the Wish. Should DCL eliminate testing it will be my last cruise. In addition to the personal risk involved, it makes me realize I do not want to travel with these people.

 

[o&smom]

No telling when Disney will align with the rest of the industry. They waited 6 weeks between the June 30 and Aug 15 updates so we could be in for more waiting and at this rate I could see them not removing all restrictions until after winter (if ever).

Having said that, we cruise in Oct on the Dream so I am really hoping they get rid of the testing for our 4 night cruise (not holding my breath).

My guess is they will wait until all the FCCs expire at the end of September.