Yikes! Over age 70 passengers need doctor’s note (Merged threads)

[SHIP TRAVELER]

10 hours ago, marty1950 said:

Well I say good luck to Celebirty cruise line as well as Holland and Princess filling up their ships if they deny people over 70 to cruise without a doctors note. Seeing that these lines cater to mostly elderly cruisers.

Princess and HAL do not have this requirement....only Celebrity, NCL and RCL as far as I know.

Edited April 25, 2020 by SHIP TRAVELER
spelling

[travelordie]

4 hours ago, yorky said:

Covid 19 is certainly beyond their control, but a little unfair to state because of this they were forced to change their policy and as such are not responsible for the change and have no need to refund your deposit.

Celebrity is being disingenuous in claiming that they were forced to change their policy.  All CLIA member cruise lines required a letter for those 70 and older starting in mid-March.  In early April, CLIA removed the requirement from their website.  Since then all cruise lines removed the age discriminatory requirement from their website with the exception of Celebrity, Azamara and Royal Caribbean.  

[llawrence]

• Maybe the demographics of the polls are right. .that is  if you base it on all  cruise lines....Carnival has a much younger demographic then HAL and Celebrity....even Royal has a younger clientele then Celebrity.....my kids don’t care much for Celebrity but love Carnival and Royal.....Do we spend more.....I would say yes. We are lucky enough to travel in Suites....still enjoy cocktails....spend money in ports...and enjoy special dining....we also go on longer trips.  When we travel as a family , we end up paying for the majority of the cruise...Over the past few days I have come to the conclusion to let this just play out.   Celebrity owes us money and FCC... but I don’t think they know how to handle this yet.   

[acesneights99]

Even if only 13% of cruisers are over 70, what percentage of revenue do they represent? What percentage of cruise days?

 

And what are the statistics for Celebrity?

Edited April 25, 2020 by acesneights99

[acesneights99]

Regarding Royal Caribbean vs. Celebrity. When we take grandchildren, we use Royal Caribbean. So, when the new over 70 policy came into force we canceled 3 cabins. 

 

If the policy doesn't change, we will be forced to change to Carnival.

[OuiOnboard]

 

20 minutes ago, acesneights99 said:

If the policy doesn't change, we will be forced to change to Carnival.

I am at a loss to understand why Celebrity would want to cause you and others in your position to even begin to think this way.

Edited April 25, 2020 by OuiOnboard

[travelordie]

21 minutes ago, acesneights99 said:

Regarding Royal Caribbean vs. Celebrity. When we take grandchildren, we use Royal Caribbean. So, when the new over 70 policy came into force we canceled 3 cabins. 

 

If the policy doesn't change, we will be forced to change to Carnival.

Why Carnival?  Except for Celebrity, Azamara and Royal Caribbean,  no cruise lines now require a physician's letter for those over 70.  Celebrity, Azamara and Royal Caribbean are now the ONLY cruise lines which continue to discriminate against older folks.  It is just a matter of time before they encounter sufficient cancellations from senior cruisers to realize this policy is not in their best interests. 

 

Until they change this policy, I am prepared to forfeit my deposit.

[acesneights99]

So am I, grandkids love the huge Royal Caribbean cruise ships and our Elite status on Celebrity gives us Diamond on RC and access to the Diamond Lounge.

 

And we found that bringing a parent or two allows us to avoid having to pay to watch the kids on shore excursion.

 

At Labadee our son went on a one hour snorkeling safari with his daughter. We can't swim for an hour anmore. At Falmouth e took her on a 3 hour zipline excursion that required climbing 50 foot poles with spikes as stairs, like telephone poles. Needless to say, there is no way we could have done that.

 

 

[acesneights99]

30 minutes ago, travelordie said:

Why Carnival?  Except for Celebrity, Azamara and Royal Caribbean,  no cruise lines now require a physician's letter for those over 70.  Celebrity, Azamara and Royal Caribbean are now the ONLY cruise lines which continue to discriminate against older folks.  It is just a matter of time before they encounter sufficient cancellations from senior cruisers to realize this policy is not in their best interests. 

 

Until they change this policy, I am prepared to forfeit my deposit.

Carnival is probably the second best mass cruise line for children (except Disney which very expensive). However, it is vastly inferior to RC. But if we can't sail on RC, that leaves Carnival.

[Quo Vadis?]

Until this policy changes, we are not going anywhere:

Avoid all cruise ship travel

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is recommending that Canadians avoid all cruise ship travel due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

Cruise passengers include travellers from around the world who may be arriving from areas with known or unknown spread of COVID-19. The virus can spread quickly on board cruises due to the close contact between passengers. Older people and people with a weakened immune system or underlying medical condition are at a higher risk of developing severe disease.

Recent cruise ship outbreaks of COVID-19 indicate that a large number of individuals onboard can become infected. While the majority of affected passengers may experience mild symptoms, there have been a significant number of cases requiring hospitalization and critical care, and some deaths have been reported.

Planning a cruise

Canadians planning cruise ship travel should be aware that infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, can spread quickly due to close contact between passengers. Older people and people with a weakened immune system or underlying medical condition are at a higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19.

As the situation evolves, many countries are implementing policies and restrictions in order to contain the outbreak. These restrictions may impact a cruise traveller's:

• itinerary
• ability to disembark
• access to health care

If an outbreak of COVID-19 occurs on your cruise ship:

• you could be subject to quarantine procedures, on-board ship or in a foreign country
• the range of consular services available to those on cruise ships, in particular in situations of quarantine, may be significantly restricted by local authorities
• upon return to Canada, you will be required to remain in mandatory isolation for 14 days at a location determined by the Chief Public Health Officer as per the terms of any applicable emergency orders

The decision on Minimizing the Risk of Exposure to COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease in Canada Order (Persons Not on Government Flight) is effective from February 19 to April 30, 2020.

Canadians who choose to voyage on a cruise ship should also be aware that they may not be offered the opportunity to return to Canada on a government-organized repatriation flight, or could be responsible for the costs of repatriation travel.

Government of Canada COVID-19 information line: 1-833-784-4397.

 

Thank you for your recent inquiry.

You (and your eligible dependents, if applicable) have coverage while travelling out of the country for up to
95 days.

Coverage applies to treatment required due to a sudden, unexpected injury which occurs, or a new medical
condition which begins while travelling outside the province of residence. There is also coverage for a
previously identified medical condition that was stable and not diagnosed as terminal or palliative at the
time of departure from the province of residence. We would consider expenses and treatment required in order
to stabilize the initial emergency/medical condition.  Any ongoing treatment required would not be considered
emergent in nature, and is therefore not covered under the Out of Country benefit.

 

Two days later we were told that we had 10 days to get home or we would not be covered since Covid-19 was the new norm.

[yorky]

2 hours ago, travelordie said:

Why Carnival?  Except for Celebrity, Azamara and Royal Caribbean,  no cruise lines now require a physician's letter for those over 70.  Celebrity, Azamara and Royal Caribbean are now the ONLY cruise lines which continue to discriminate against older folks.  It is just a matter of time before they encounter sufficient cancellations from senior cruisers to realize this policy is not in their best interests. 

 

Until they change this policy, I am prepared to forfeit my deposit.

I honestly believe they will drop it sooner rather than later, it’s just going to hit them incredibly hard financially.

[drakes2]

57 minutes ago, yorky said:

I honestly believe they will drop it sooner rather than later, it’s just going to hit them incredibly hard financially.

I think so too otherwise I'll have to find another cruiseline that will sail out of Amsterdam next summer.  

[travelordie]

1 hour ago, Argo. said:

Until this policy changes, we are not going anywhere:

Avoid all cruise ship travel

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is recommending that Canadians avoid all cruise ship travel due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

 

 

 

Even if PHAC had no policy on cruise ship travel, we still could not travel.  Canada currently has a level 3 travel advisory against all non-essential travel.   My travel insurance, including travel medical insurance, is not valid when there is a level 3 travel advisory.  Anyone with travel insurance will soon discover that this probably applies to them as well.

[hulamoon]

On 3/11/2020 at 10:00 AM, DebInAntigua said:

It's not just over 70... they also want to bar anyone considered high risk. Which medical experts say are people with high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma... wow.

Call me crazy, but isn't this most people I meet on a cruise?

[drakes2]

33 minutes ago, hulamoon said:

Call me crazy, but isn't this most people I meet on a cruise?

Well maybe its time for them to pack up and go home. I, for one, have not been happy with how they handled themselves throughout this pandemic.

[Barcelona17]

13 hours ago, drakes2 said:

Well maybe its time for them to pack up and go home. I, for one, have not been happy with how they handled themselves throughout this pandemic.

Who are you talking about?

[drakes2]

11 minutes ago, Barcelona17 said:

Who are you talking about?

I was referring to post 839 and talking about the cruise lines. If they ban 70 plus and all others with any type of medical issues there won't be many left to cruise. Celebrity caters mainly to older demographics. 

[TeeRick]

18 hours ago, yorky said:

I honestly believe they will drop it sooner rather than later, it’s just going to hit them incredibly hard financially.

Agree completely.  I truly believe that this topic is flogging a dead horse at this point.  Probably a thousand posts in multiple threads on this topic.  They will need to change this policy.  But they will need to add, delete and change a lot of policies in order to resume cruising.  RCCL or CCL or NCL or whatever cruise line company you choose will all need to comply with the new reality whatever that may be.  Let's wait and see.  If you feel or think otherwise just keep flogging I guess.

[shipshape sam]

1 hour ago, drakes2 said:

I was referring to post 839 and talking about the cruise lines. If they ban 70 plus and all others with any type of medical issues there won't be many left to cruise. Celebrity caters mainly to older demographics. 

What percentage of Celebrity's passengers are 70 plus do you think?

[hcat]

17 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Agree completely.  I truly believe that this topic is flogging a dead horse at this point.  Probably a thousand posts in multiple threads on this topic.  They will need to change this policy.  But they will need to add, delete and change a lot of policies in order to resume cruising.  RCCL or CCL or NCL or whatever cruise line company you choose will all need to comply with the new reality whatever that may be.  Let's wait and see.  If you feel or think otherwise just keep flogging I guess.

 

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by hcat

[drakes2]

15 minutes ago, shipshape sam said:

What percentage of Celebrity's passengers are 70 plus do you think?

That's very difficult to judge as dependent on a lot of factors such as length of cruise, time of year, embarkation port etc. Typically guests over 70 tend to do longer sailings so you would find more of us than on a 7 night March break Caribbean cruise.  I remember on the Equinox last September- October there were 7 kids all under 5 years of age. Not one teenager, not to say there were none onboard ..... I just didn't see any. 

[yorky]

28 minutes ago, shipshape sam said:

What percentage of Celebrity's passengers are 70 plus do you think?

Certainly a meaningful percentage with regard to Celebrity. If however they start refusing boarding for something like Asthma regardless of how severe it is that’s one in six people in the UK. The US has 25 million people with Asthma then they really have a problem with all age groups. I’m 58 and have had mild Asthma more or less all of my life. I’m fit, don’t own a car, and cycle everywhere including to work and back. I could probably outrun many individuals in their 30/40s but would not be allowed to cruise.

Edited April 26, 2020 by yorky

[bouhunter]

17 hours ago, hulamoon said:

Call me crazy, but isn't this most people I meet on a cruise?

Maybe not "most", but definitely a lot.

[travelordie]

26 minutes ago, yorky said:

I’m 58 and have had mild Asthma more or less all of my life. I’m fit, don’t own a car, and cycle everywhere including to work and back. I could probably outrun many individuals in their 30/40s but would not be allowed to cruise.

You'll be pleased to know that preliminary results from New York, as the state released data last week on the top 10 chronic health problems suffered by people who died from COVID-19,  showed that asthma was notably absent, i.e., not even in the top 10.  After old age, which was in the top 10, the most significant factor predicting that COVID-19 infection would lead to hospitalization was obesity.  Here's the reference:

 

https://khn.org/morning-breakout/understanding-covid-19-data-continues-to-reveal-surprising-truths-mysterious-clues-and-comforting-facts-about-virus/

 

Since you are only 58 years old and asthma is not even in the top 10 list of factors, you have nothing to worry about as long as you don't suffer from obesity.

 

 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, travelordie said:

You'll be pleased to know that preliminary results from New York, as the state released data last week on the top 10 chronic health problems suffered by people who died from COVID-19,  showed that asthma was notably absent, i.e., not even in the top 10.  After old age, which was in the top 10, the most significant factor predicting that COVID-19 infection would lead to hospitalization was obesity.  Here's the reference:

 

https://khn.org/morning-breakout/understanding-covid-19-data-continues-to-reveal-surprising-truths-mysterious-clues-and-comforting-facts-about-virus/

 

Since you are only 58 years old and asthma is not even in the top 10 list of factors, you have nothing to worry about as long as you don't suffer from obesity.

 

 

The CLIA and its member cruise lines rely on the advice and expertise of the CDC, which assesses moderate to severe asthma as one of the underlying medical conditions for people who are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19. While the preliminary information reported by the New York Times might suggest otherwise, this single-source data needs to be analyzed in conjunction with data obtained from multiple sources before the CDC is likely to change its current assessment.