As cruise lines get ready to meet new CDC guidelines and operate test cruises to gain new certification to sail, including adding on-board testing capacity, one of them has gotten a head start: Viking is first to add a full-scale PCR testing lab on one of its ships.
Viking Star, one of the line's 930-passenger ocean ships, will test its new capacity on a transfer to Bergen, Norway mid-November. Unlike other plans that have relied on pre-cruise testing and shore-based laboratories, Viking's lab will process all tests on board. It has the capacity to test all crew and guests.
The onboard testing will use saliva rather than nasal swabs. Perhaps the less-invasive method was chosen because Viking is considering daily testing. Sp far, daily testing has not been mandated; CDC is looking to pre- and post-cruise testing and a cruise limit of seven days.
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