Testing, testing, testing. Can everybody hear me?
This is only a test. In the event of an actual emergency…
So, scheduling/getting a Covid test in our area has not been as easy as we had hoped it would be. Truth be told, it has been a Royal pain. Don’t misunderstand me, I think that pre-cruise testing is a really good idea. I will feel much more secure boarding a ship when I know that all the passengers have been tested and no one actively has Covid.
My initial response to the pre-cruise testing requirement was only slightly stressed. We had a few weeks and I figured it would be no big deal. I looked around on the internet, though, and found that very few places
near us were scheduling appointments for the test. No worries, I asked my
doctor about testing and he said he would put in an order for one that I could take at the appropriate time. Great! No problem. He could write orders for both of us and we would be set. Only…
There was this nagging worry in the back of my mind.
So, when a popular cruise blogger/vlogger came out and told us all that there was an ‘at-home’ test that Royal would accept, we were quite relieved. We ordered a pack of them as a back-up. The tests arrived yesterday and I set them aside so they would be handy if we needed them. On a whim, I called my medical group this morning to see if we needed appointments for our tests or we could just show up for the drive-through testing. I was told we didn’t need an appointment but we did need an order from our primary care physician. No problem, I told her, we have them. Just as I was about to hang
up, I asked her what the turnaround time should be. She told me that it could take 2-5 days because they had run out of the rapid tests. My heart sank.
Well, at least we had the at-home tests so we were covered…or so I thought.
After chatting with my amazing daughter-in-law, I went back
to look at the terminology used on Royal’s FAQs about at home testing. What I read led me to believe that they did NOT accept any at home tests. At this point, panic set in. After some back and forth with my son, I sent Royal an email. I still have not heard back from them. In the meantime, my son was able
to chat with a Royal representative via Twitter and was told that they, indeed, do NOT accept these at-home tests, even when they are proctored online through eMed. My son immediately called me to tell me that he found a Walgreens about 50 miles away that had rapid test appointments available. I was able to schedule tests for the both of us, two hours apart. They were the last available tests that this Walgreens had. The results should be available within 24 hours and hopefully, this will be an accepted test.
It would be so much easier if the cruise lines would offer
testing at the port for an additional cost. I don’t mind having to be tested. I
don’t even mind paying to be tested. It’s just that the whole process has been
incredibly stressful. I know that once I board the ship, all this stress will
melt away into the past. But for now, it still feels like things could go
wrong.
So hoping this is a test that I can pass…with a negative result, that is.
See you shipside!