Pre-Cruise Testing

Glad you were able to get them. Sometimes the hype is correct and sometimes not. The trouble is; you never know when to believe it. At least now you will be able to get your testing complete, unless of course it expires by then.

Right...looks like you're committed.......to going, that is...heheheh

They're suppose to be good for a minimum of 90 days from date of shipment....... but who knows.

Or perhaps you could say I SHOULD be committed..... to an institution, that is.......

We also bought them from the carnival link. We received one box, however, we bought two boxes. When I called the company, I was told it had shipped. I called back and was told they had made a mistake and the warehouse had the order. I called back a third time and was told the order was misplaced. I cancelled the order. Still waiting for reimbursement to my CC. We did however, book and appointment at a local urgent care clinic and was tested and given written results...alll within about one hour (2 days prior to sailing). I am now very leary about Binax ordering.

Sounds just about right to me...sorry to say....went thru an epic walk thru the weeds months ago re all this...finally got tested the day before at a walk in clinic near the pier for our NOV cruise (which started two days after THANKSGIVING..spent HOURS on the phone finding a place and setting it up)....NEVER AGAIN!!!)...in and out, in an hour, results in hand...next one, will also be a walk-in clinic, so close to me I could walk there...This is NOT fun...this is NOT why we cruise...and I'm sure there are literally millions of other old-timers and newbies who feel that way too...Glad it worked out for you!!!

Well, I ordered the tests yesterday morning from Optum. I just got home and my wife said they arrived via FedEx about 3 hours ago. We have 4 people going on the cruise (hopefully) but I ordered [6] tests (two 3-packs) because I watched a couple videos on how they work, and in both of them it was stated that its best to have one or two extras on hand, just in case anything goes wrong. If you drop it on the floor while swabbing the test strip, or something like that, it's null & void.

I wanted to set up something at a lab in FL, but we're not arriving until late at night on the day before we sail. I thought of getting tested where we live, but [2] people of our group work until late on the day before we fly out. For us this is the most practical way for me to guarantee that we get the tests & results done within the 2-day window, aside from paying $100 per test at the pier.

We need to order our Binax soon traveling in March.

Looks like pre cruise testing is well in hand. |Now just have to work on post cruise testing ... and hope the cruise line does not change their policy at the last minute.

A tip for using the home test kit with eMed telemed.... Do the test as early as possible in case your test kit is defective!

I had ordered the BinaxNOW test with eMed Telemed from Optum about 2 weeks prior to our cruise as suggested by CCL. The box was received within a couple of days, and I was sure to bring it inside the house as soon as it arrived (not good to have these sitting out in the Florida heat for any length of time). The expiration date had passed, but there was a sticker on the box that said the FDA had allowed for extending the expiration date for another 3 months, so all was good.

At the time, the requirement was for testing to occur no more than 3 days before the cruise, so on the morning of the third day before the cruise, I got online with eMed to do the monitored test. While doing the video call eith eMed, I opened the test kit as instructed by the proctor, and did the nasal swab. The next step was to open a little plastic bottle of reagent and apply a few drops to the sample. Surprise - the bottle (which was sealed) was empty when I opened it, making the test kit useless. So now it was my wife's turn to use the second kit in the box. Her kit seemed to be OK - she went through all of the steps with the proctor, but then after the 15 minute waiting period - the test results were "inconclusive", meaning the test didn't work.

With 3 days to go before the cruise, we were left with a $70 test kit that couldn't provide results. We ended up being able to find a public health resource at the last minute that would do a rapid antigen test and provide acceptable documentation for CCL. To Optum's credit, they ended up refunding the $70 I paid for the defective test kit after a couple of weeks.