LizzyBee23

The ID Now rapid NAAT's get you results within an hour. I thought supervised antigen tests were also ok for Bermuda?

NAAT is a broad class of tests (stands for nuclealic acid amplification)... PCR (polymerase chain reaction), LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification), and TMA are types of NAAT test. Walgreen's "Rapid NAAT" test is Abbot's ID NOW test (not Abbot's BinaxNOW test, which is an antigen test). I'm pretty certain ID NOW is a LAMP test, but ideally you would see it listed as an acceptable test regimen by name somewhere on Bermuda's travel website.

Hopefully that logic extends to testing children onboard. Maybe that will be the next domino to fall, as it's only rational based on this news.

My 3 and 5 year olds are going on an AK cruise with us in a few weeks... Not sure if this has been asked, but for the day 5 testing can we bring our own tests and avoid any waiting onboard if we arrange for them to be proctored? Seems like a good way to spend $40.

Wait, there was an archery range?

Just pointing out that PCR is a form of an NAAT test.

I'm on it too, and I vaguely remember what you're talking about though I wasn't the subject. I think maybe @CFL was in that thread, too? If I wasn't on mobile, I'd search.

I think you're a good candidate for the certificate of recovery if you got a PCR test at any point

I don't think you need to, unless you're talking about for a very young baby. Here's little man at about 40 lbs and 44 inches tall. There was at least one size smaller available. They're also the same ones they have available on board for children.

Could not agree more. Perhaps it made sense in a world where we still believed the vaccines halted transmission in a meaningful way, but not now... Especially when they're not requiring your last shot to have been within the last 3-6 months. Hopefully the PCR and day of testing for kids are the first to go.

No you're right.. Far less likely. But it's also quite a bit less sensitive than rapid-isothermal NAAT or PCR, meaning it's much less likely to catch early or subclinical infections that may be at the limit of its detection. NAAT tests (both the rapid isothermal and PCR tests) "amplfy" bits of target viral genetic material. They vary in how they do the amplification and how the characterize the targeted viral material. Antigen tests use a substrate matched for the virus to try to grab it directly. It would be like if you took half of a strip of velcro and ran a sample over it. If the "velcro" grabs something, you are probably positive. If it can't grab hold of anything, negative. All of the antigen tests are rapid, and to make it even more confusing, Binax offers both a rapid antigen and a rapid NAAT test (though obviously you can only buy and process a sample at home with the antigen test.

So I need to be more precise... An NAAT test can be synonymous with PCR tests when in reality a PCR test is a type of NAAT test. But when you see a place like Walgreens advertise a rapid NAAT test, it is generally an isothermal, "rapid" NAAT type that is done at the point of contact. It's not "better" persay (it depends on your perspective), but for us "better" means less likely to come up with a false positive (and in truth, more likely to miss subclinical infections).

Do you have any unvaccinated kids travelling with you? You mentioned "family". Honestly, that's a huge wild card. When it comes time to get their PCR test, do everything you can to get an NAAT version.

White pass will be like it has been for the last few years... It will turn around before it crosses the border. How many people are you booking for in Juneau? If you are game, you can always rent a car and do things on your own time.

So has my grocery bill... Things are getting really expensive.

Something I would take care of ASAP... Not all rooms are quad occupancy and you usually end up paying a premium. May get lucky and find adjacent (or possibly even adjoining rooms).

It's going to depend on how much the a la carte prices go up, but our break-even is just under $60 for a mindful trip (and just under half of that is on water/nice coffee/juices). At $65, it becomes a bargain in our heads for trading the extra $5 to be able to try things we wouldn't otherwise try or splurge for a glass of wine (or 3) at dinner. The math on the packages doesn't work for us either right now, but if the average drink goes up considerably that may change your calculus. For us, it would probably mean just less drinking onboard period, and switching to more meals/dining experiences at port rather than making a point to be back on the ship for a dinner at Chops or Izumi.

That way you're always teed up and the anxiousness fades away in the background... Oh, and just ignore your bank account pleading for relief. But seriously, 2020 was supposed to be the year we got back to our regular cadence post-kids... That didn't happen, obviously, and then we couldn't help but feeling like Charlie Brown every time Lucy would pull away the football up until we made it on a ship last fall. The not-so-great experience of cruising mid-COVID was enough to quell the excitement (somewhat) for our next one, but if this one is more normal we'll be in the same place as Newb and utterly unable to deal with the waiting for our next one!

We haven't been on a cruise since last year, but our daughter was 2.5 at the time. She was required to "wear" a mask in the nursery as an older toddler (put in quotes because after 5 minutes of wearing it invariably became a necklace or a scarf). We didn't use the nursery much.

You would be hard pressed to find a country in Europe (or anywhere else) that's asking kids this young to mask... Masking on toddlers (especially when the adults around them are unmasked) is a pretty uniquely American thing. I don't find it odd at all that someone who hasn't watched this unfold very carefully wouldn't be absolutely caught off guard by the disparity in policies.

There are family play sessions scheduled on those ships where they'll bring out the toys for the littles to play with. I'm not sure where or what time it will be on Voyager, but an old cruise planner may be helpful.

So I think RCL extending their healthy sail protocols through June knowing this was a likely outcome is a sign that things will likely stay as they are through that, but am hopeful they may start getting loose around the edges in terms of relaxing the vaccine mandate on at least a case by case basis. That and masks in AO. Maybe after June I'll hope for relaxed testing protocols.

Isn't the mask mandate essentially the stick the CDC was using to incentivize participation in the modified CSO? Not saying cruise lines don't see the benefit in doing so anyway, but removing the penalty may add flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances without a layer of bureaucracy. It could be the first domino to fall in terms of overturning a vaccine mandate (or at least allowing more flexibility for waivers).

From the CNN article: Mizelle suggested that the government's implementation of the mandate -- in which non-complying travelers are "forcibly removed from their airplane seats, denied board at the bus steps, and turned away at the train station doors" -- was akin to "detention and quarantine," which are not contemplated in the section of the law in question, she said. "As a result, the Mask Mandate is best understood not as sanitation, but as an exercise of the CDC's power to conditionally release individuals to travel despite concerns that they may spread a communicable disease (and to detain or partially quarantine those who refuse)," she wrote. Not familiar with the legal arguments being made, but that's an interesting interpretation. Also, I second this week will be interesting in the skies. Have about 4 weeks to get it figured out before we take our turn, so hoping for common sense to prevail.

Same re: flying... And it's a close number two on my list of worries about the trip (right after testing). It's a long flight for us from the southeast, with a layover in Chicago. We gave ourselves an extra day, but I'm beyond worried we'll end up in one of the airport related quagmires that seem to have plagued the northeast at random (Chicago has a lot more in common with Philly than other Midwestern cities, don't @ me). Wishing we had chosen the flight that connected in SLC.