Understanding PCR testing

[laurenelisewhitaker]

I am hoping you lovely folks can help me to understand this process. We had no plans on a cruise until 2023, but we are now booked for end of April 2022, and I am scrambling to read up on all the details now.

From what I’m reading it seems like we should get a PCR test here at home soon to check and see if we might test positive, and if we do we can get a letter from our doctor saying we’re OK to travel in order to avoid potentially testing positive at the port. So if I do that, when should I do it? Is there some specific time period from the positive test until I would be granted a letter?

Also, I’ve been lucky enough to work from home the last two years, so no one in my immediate family has had Covid that we know of. So I haven’t had to do any Covid test at all. Are the test at the port the ones where they shove the thing all the way up in your nose or are they just shallow ones? We would be getting an Uber there and being dropped off if that makes any difference. Trying to mentally prepare.

Any other tips regarding this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Dug720]

If it would make you feel better, I'd say yes - get a test so you can get the recovered letter. It's for between 2 weeks and 90 days from your positive test.

 

[laurenelisewhitaker]

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[laurenelisewhitaker]

If it would make you feel better, I'd say yes - get a test so you can get the recovered letter. It's for between 2 weeks and 90 days from your positive test.

Ok, so we should test *no later than* 2 weeks prior to our sail date, is that correct?

 

[Dug720]

Ok, so we should test *no later than* 2 weeks prior to our sail date, is that correct?

Honestly I'd test sooner than that. Because if your test is only 2 weeks prior and you're positive...that's a quick turn around for recovery. Testing is really NBD - I've had both types and neither is THAT horrible.

 

[Geomom]

The port testing is supposed to be the shallow ones that you do yourself under supervision. I had the brain ticklers before some medical procedures in 2020, so I'll be happy to do the shallow ones! (The deep ones were still not that bad...it was like eating too much hot mustard with Chinese chicken fingers, lol.)

 

[ewoodall79]

We sail on March 14 and have a little one under 5, who will have to be tested 3 days prior and then again with us at the port. We just did a trial run this past Friday (2 weeks before we leave for FL), just to be safe. Well, to do a trial run and then again, to be outside of the 10 day window, on the off chance one of us tests positive. We all had negative reports, which made me feel better, but man, I don't want to leave my house now!

I'd highly advise to test just outside of that 10-day window as well. Just in case! And since testing is free at a handful of places, it doesn't cost anything to do this.

We tested at Walgreens, which the lady that "tested" us said she cruised last month, and it's the same kind of test - just like a scratchy q-tip just inside of your nose. We haven't had to be tested at all, either, so I was a nervous wreck prior to, but it was a piece of cake!

 

[jcarwash]

The at-port tests are supervised self-adminstered shallow ones. (You stand in a little curtained test area in front of the Inspire staffer and they tell you what to do and how.)

We did at-home antigen tests (iHealth brand) a few days before the cruise and then the night before at the hotel. Prior to that, our child was doing weekly at-home antigen tests in a school program that we opted to do. I understand the antigen tests aren't as good as a PCR test, but this is what we did.

And we had a wonderful cruise.

 

[Freeman867]

As stated, you can get a recovery letter for a positive test between 90 days and 11 days prior to your cruise date. I'd highly recommend testing close to the 11 day range as asymptomatic cases that a PCR test catches have been relatively common. If that does happen, much rather know early and get the recovery letter so you don't have to test at the port. Insurance must cover these tests, so you should be able to get one pretty easy for no cost if you're in the US.

Regarding the testing at the port, it's all done by yourself. They hand you a kit, direct you on how to do it, watch you do it to make sure you're doing it right, and the swab doesn't need to go in very far at all. I definitely noticed a large difference in early testing in 2020 to the testing done in 2021 on how far the swab was going up my nose. I had to test regularly for work, so had a lot of tests done over the past 2 years.

All in all, cases are WAY down in the US after Omicron, the summer has always brought lower cases, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this requirement of testing at the port go to testing 72 hours prior in the near future.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We sail Friday and started PCR testing 1 month before our sail date. First one was just to see if we had some old asymptomatic case, unknown to us. If positive, I wanted my doctor to feel confident that enough time had passed, and that we were truly recovered and able to travel. Both were negative.

Then we did another one Feb 20, approx 1 week after a small gathering (18 ppl) for my dad's 80th birthday. (Couldn't miss that!) Still negative.
Then did another last Saturday. Knowing that the timeframe is too late to be able to get a doctor's note, but I wanted to know before I started packing. (A LOT of work for packing, bill planning, etc for 14-nt cruise, which would be pointless if we test positive.) That was still negative, so I packed.

Our luggage is now by the door, and I'm off work getting some last minute things done. I just returned from another test before we fly tomorrow night. Dh will get a test on his way home from work this afternoon. Last weekend, our test results were back by the next day, late morning. So we should have these results before we load up the car and head to the airport.

I considered bringing a rapid, at-home, antigen test to do Friday morning at our hotel room but by that point, we might as well just go to the port and find out there. At least I know we did all we could to make it happen.

For our Aug and Nov cruises, we just showed up at the port and said, what the heck, if we test positive, we test positive, and try again when allowed.
Our Friday cruise is the last Panama Canal cruise for 2022 & 2023, so there are no others to switch to if we test positive. I don't want to miss it! I think if I had to face the risk of disappointment for my children with any sailing, I would follow the above steps too. Our kids are grown & working so we only have to deal with our own disappointment.

 

[MomOTwins]

I honestly don't think there is too much point in testing weeks early to try to get a 90 day recovered letter. Testing negative does not provide any reassurance that you won't test positive later from an old asymptomatic case, as those old cases are "skittish" and don't show up every test. And now the double-edged sword with the 90 day letter is at least one port (Jamaica) refused to allow DCL cruise guests with 90 day recovered status off the ship. If you are actively sick a month or so before a cruise and test positive, by all means get a 90 letter, but it's a bit of a needle in a haystack to go looking for an asymptomatic positive test and may even have some disadvantages.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Even if they aren’t 100% perfect, with 4 negative PCRs in the past month, it’s pretty safe to say that unless we acquired the virus very recently, which is possible, we should be fine at the port.

 

[mmouse37]

I am hoping you lovely folks can help me to understand this process. We had no plans on a cruise until 2023, but we are now booked for end of April 2022, and I am scrambling to read up on all the details now.

From what I’m reading it seems like we should get a PCR test here at home soon to check and see if we might test positive, and if we do we can get a letter from our doctor saying we’re OK to travel in order to avoid potentially testing positive at the port. So if I do that, when should I do it? Is there some specific time period from the positive test until I would be granted a letter?

Also, I’ve been lucky enough to work from home the last two years, so no one in my immediate family has had Covid that we know of. So I haven’t had to do any Covid test at all. Are the test at the port the ones where they shove the thing all the way up in your nose or are they just shallow ones? We would be getting an Uber there and being dropped off if that makes any difference. Trying to mentally prepare.

Any other tips regarding this would be greatly appreciated!

Read this thread:

90 day recovery status? | The DIS Disney Discussion Forums - DISboards.com

It has a ton of info in it on 90 Day recovered status. We have done testing twice now at the port since cruising restarted. Once in Port Canaveral and once in Miami. Both were self test and shallow!!!! You are watched as you take the test but very easy process.

My husband applied and was granted the Covid 90 Day Recovered Status for our cruise in January. In the thread I posted it mentions what docs were needed and how it all went.

MJ