No More Masks

[KennyFla]

People who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus no longer need to wear masks indoors or outdoors or physical distance while in large and small gatherings, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced during a White House COVID-19 briefing Thursday.

Fully vaccinated individuals are still advised to wear masks while in crowded indoor settings such as while on public transportation and in hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters.

 

The dam is beginning to crack.

Edited May 13, 2021 by KennyFla

[Diane67B]

This is FANTASTIC news! I am cruising in January from Miami, and I have been watching everything on pins and needles. I will be fully vaccinated by next month and I am ready to cruise! 

[Cruiseaholic07]

Fingers crossed this continues for cruises. Especially NCL where everyone will be vaccinated 

[RocketMan275]

The actual guidance:

 

Fully vaccinated people can:

• Resume activities without wearing masks or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance
• Resume domestic travel and refrain from testing before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel
• Refrain from testing before leaving the United States for international travel (unless required by the destination) and refrain from self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States
• Refrain from testing following a known exposure, if asymptomatic, with some exceptions for specific settings
• Refrain from quarantine following a known exposure if asymptomatic
• Refrain from routine screening testing if feasible

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html

 

But to be fully truthful, fully vaccinated people could do those things with or without CDC approval.

Edited May 13, 2021 by RocketMan275

[WanderingBrit]

I'm feeling more and more optimistic about our August 7th sailing on Joy!

 

[Cruiseaholic07]

Us too for our Aug 7th cruise

[Notnewtoit]

...but, but, but I don't want to get vaccinated or wear a mask and I nonetheless demand to stand on property owned by NCL... rolls eyes 🙂

 

Great news indeed.

[graphicguy]

Oh...I'm confident Joy is sailing in August from Jamaica.  100% vaccinations, CDC is loosening up.  FL Governor has no authority in Jamaica to try to get in Del Rio's way about sailing requirements.

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, Diane67B said:

This is FANTASTIC news! I am cruising in January from Miami, and I have been watching everything on pins and needles. I will be fully vaccinated by next month and I am ready to cruise! 

The current "guidance" does not apply to cruise ships,,,, yet

 

And it is only guidance. 

Edited May 13, 2021 by BirdTravels

[PhillyTravelBug]

Best news I’ve heard all year, besides Prima.

[BSR]

Great news!!

[Diane67B]

BirdTravels, I am optimistic that by the time I get on a ship in January, rules will be more relaxed. This gives me much needed hope that we are heading in that direction. Have an awesome night!

[Shidah]

Everything is falling into place perfectly.  My only prayer is that NCL keeps with their current guideline of 100% vaccinated cruises through the end of the year.  I really don’t want to be around people on a ship that are not vaccinated, and we don’t cruise until December.

[Diane67B]

Me too Shidah!

Edited May 13, 2021 by Diane67B

[drvmywifecrzy]

Cant wait to sail again

[Goldconnection]

2 hours ago, Shidah said:

Everything is falling into place perfectly.  My only prayer is that NCL keeps with their current guideline of 100% vaccinated cruises through the end of the year.  I really don’t want to be around people on a ship that are not vaccinated, and we don’t cruise until December.

Same here. We don’t cruise until December and we prefer to be aboard a ship where 100% is vaccinated.

[JamieLogical]

4 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The current "guidance" does not apply to cruise ships,,,, yet

 

And it is only guidance. 

 

Yes, and I am hoping NCL will follow that guidance on their upcoming Jamaica and DR sailings where the CDC has no purview to enforce the current rules that apply to sailings from the US. If even the overly cautions CDC is saying no masks or social distancing needed if everyone is vaccinated, then I am hoping the current masking rules listed on NCL's site will be lifted for their fully vaccinated Caribbean sailings this summer.

[BirdTravels]

15 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Yes, and I am hoping NCL will follow that guidance on their upcoming Jamaica and DR sailings where the CDC has no purview to enforce the current rules that apply to sailings from the US.

We'll let you know... we are sailing before you on the Joy and will be on Royal next month out of Nassau. 

[BirdTravels]

While we hope that the cruise lines can relax the mask and distancing requirements if they sail fully vaccinated cruises, worldwide, the number of new cases each day continues to be at near record highs since the start of the pandemic. If the cruise lines relax their vaccination policies, the potential of having COVID-ships that shutdown the entire industry again will be high. 

 

[JamieLogical]

7 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

While we hope that the cruise lines can relax the mask and distancing requirements if they sail fully vaccinated cruises, worldwide, the number of new cases each day continues to be at near record highs since the start of the pandemic. If the cruise lines relax their vaccination policies, the potential of having COVID-ships that shutdown the entire industry again will be high. 

 

 

I certainly hope the cruise lines will continue to require vaccination for some time. As you said the numbers world-wide are still grim and cruises are international travel. Even here in the US, the numbers are still much higher than I would like, but they are trending in the right direction and this new guidance is specifically for vaccinated people. Hopefully it will serve as an incentive for more Americans to get vaccinated.

[DCGuy64]

13 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The current "guidance" does not apply to cruise ships,,,, yet

 

And it is only guidance. 

Only a matter of time, @BirdTravels. Only a matter of time.

And anyone who thinks the cash-starved cruise industry won't use this "guidance" to get rid of the mask requirement ASAP so people can sail again LIKE NORMAL, is living in a fantasy world!

[Red-Sol]

I certainly hope and believe that NCL will still continue forward with a policy of vaccinations required out of US ports for some period of time. I also believe that they will want to ditch the masking needs onboard for all of those vaccinated. So now I am starting to wonder based on many of the new vaccine apps being developed if there is a possible way that NCL in conjunction with the app developers might be able to come up with a way that an app could be used at the time of booking (rather than boarding) as proof of vaccination....Possible?

[DCGuy64]

18 hours ago, KennyFla said:

The dam is beginning to crack.

Yep, and I foresee a tidal wave coming. We've had more than a year of mask wearing here in DC and people are exhausted and fed up. Summer is just around the corner and it's gonna be masks off from here on out. 🌞😃

[JamieLogical]

13 minutes ago, Red-Sol said:

I certainly hope and believe that NCL will still continue forward with a policy of vaccinations required out of US ports for some period of time. I also believe that they will want to ditch the masking needs onboard for all of those vaccinated. So now I am starting to wonder based on many of the new vaccine apps being developed if there is a possible way that NCL in conjunction with the app developers might be able to come up with a way that an app could be used at the time of booking (rather than boarding) as proof of vaccination....Possible?

 

The video that NCL released a few weeks ago about the return to sailing indicated that ALL passengrs will be required to do electronic check-in prior to embarkation day. My assumption would be that proof of vaccination will be a part of that process. I am sure we will know soon, as the Joy and Gem sailings out of the Caribbean ports begin in August.

 

Here's how I envision it. We recently took a trip to Cancun once we were fully vaccinated. In order to return to the US, we had to test negative for COVID within 72 hours of our departure. Once we got our tests, we were able to upload our results to the United Airlines website. Shortly after that, I got notification that our test results had been accepted. Then, when we got to the airport to check in, we didn't have to show our test results to anyone again, because they were already on file.

 

I suspect NCL will do something similar, where you have to upload your proof of vaccination during the online check-in process. Alternatively, as you mentioned, there are many companies developing vaccine passport apps. NCL may partner with one of those, have them do the vaccine verification, and then just attach the info to your online check-in. Either way, I sincerely doubt they will be waiting until boarding to verify vaccine status. Can you imagine the confrontations that would happy if they waited that long and then had to turn people away at embarkation?

[roger001]

When the masks are gone and everyone on board is fully vaccinated.....I'm cruising (but not before)!!!!!   Bring it on!