Can’t believe the competition did it!

[ReneeFLL]

14 hours ago, harkinmr said:

That may be medical or religious exemptions which would need to be documented.  That is not children. There is no legal obligation to board children not eligible for a vaccine. 

I thought I read that they weren’t going to accept religious reasons for now, but I could be wrong. If that’s the case I’m sure more will all of a sudden become religious. 🙄

 

11 hours ago, dominicr said:

people have died from drowning yet there are still water excursions operated from a cruise.   If a number is so small that it is virtually non existent then there is no need to talk about it or make policy based on it. 
 

Children aren’t making others drown, but they are big spreaders which makes others die. Some people just don’t think clearly.

[Alibaster McGillicutty]

2 hours ago, cruiserking said:

I am well aware of the what the poll's question was. My point is there is large appetite for people who will get vaccinated to cruise compared to those who won't. 

 

Jonathan

I agree with that but that poll and the RCI situation are different animals.

 

Vaccinated:  Am I comfortable with RCI's approach where there will be unvaccinated on the ship?

Unvaccinated:  What additional requirements, restrictions, and/or costs will I have and can I even be one of the 5-10% unvaccinated they let on the boat?

 

The large appetite of people here can wish all were vaccinated but that doesn't seem to be the case with RCI so they have to ask themselves the question above.

 

I reserve the right to change my mind as often as the cruise lines change theirs in this ever-changing time 🙂

 

 

 

[crazyank]

deleted

Edited June 10, 2021 by crazyank

[Joebucks]

9 hours ago, dodgestang said:

 

Small Vocal Minority

 

There are 3 types of cruisers

 

1. Will cruise without a vaccine (because they either had Covid, had medical tings preventing it, have religious objects to the aborted fetal tissue in it, are too young, or generally speaking just don't want it because they evaluated their personal risk profile and there is nothing in it for them.

2. Will cruise with a vaccine and don't care about anybody else because, well, they have the vaccine.

3. Will cruise, but only if everyone on the boat has it too and will NOT get on a boat otherwise

 

If you think group 3 is larger than group 1 and 2.....I have a nice bridge for sale that you may be interested in 😉

 

#3 could split off into a 4th. Sure internet people love to draw their lines in the stand and take their moral stances. If the scenario happens where cruises allow people to sail without vaccinations and virtually nothing happens as a result, I'd like to revisit where those "absolutely not" people stand.

[time4u2go]

6 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Children aren’t making others drown, but they are big spreaders which makes others die. Some people just don’t think clearly.

So true.

[ArthurUSCG]

7 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Older people who have had the vaccine aren’t dying of covid or very few are. Children are big carriers and they have also died from it.

And now with the Delta variant from India has moved from the UK to the USA and is infecting the younger age ranges.

[dodgestang]

10 hours ago, cruiserking said:

I beg to differ. While the poll created on this forum asking "Would You Get a COVID Vaccine in order to Sail"? represents just a small sample it is clear that the majority of cruisers are opting for vaccinations 794 to 220. 

 

Jonathan 

This is the problem with polls and pollsters.  Its all in the phrasing of the question and then interpretation of the result set....often extrapolating into areas beyond the scope of the question asked.  The question has nothing to do with "would you NOT cruise if others on the ship were unvaccinated".

 

We're sailing out of Bahamas in August, so you know what we have to do to be on that boat.  So my answer to that question was "yes, I would in order to sail" while at the same time, I would sail without it and/or with passengers who don't have it.  Because 1. I have super low risk profile with covid and actually have INCREASED my risk by exposing myself and family to the vaccine and 2. Once I have a vaccine and didn't have a serious medical issue from getting it, my then new risk profile is lower than before and if someone near me on a boat doesn't have the vaccine and somehow also manages to get an infection, the only impact to me is negligible based on the rules/reg in place.

 

There is far too much emotion tied up in this whole thing thanks to the major overdose of fear mongering we've been subjected to over the course of 17 months.......we can debate the nefarious or virtuous machinations behind it all over beers sometimes, but not here lest another thread go poof.

[dodgestang]

11 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

I pretty much refuse to click links.

 

Plus for many, adding links to external sites also sometimes triggers auto moderation on your post, so then it never shows up (or at least not until a mod reviews and approves it, which if it does happen, happens so long after the fact that the discussion has moved on and the point being made and supported with facts from places like CDC and WHO raw data pages are lost to time)

Edited June 10, 2021 by dodgestang

[dodgestang]

26 minutes ago, ArthurUSCG said:

And now with the Delta variant from India has moved from the UK to the USA and is infecting the younger age ranges.

 

This is called fun with statistics

 

ANY variant will infect the younger age ranges as a larger % (the measures they are publicizing) because the older at risk age groups are the most vaccinated, so they are getting infected at a much lower rate.

 

[dodgestang]

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

 

#3 could split off into a 4th. Sure internet people love to draw their lines in the stand and take their moral stances. If the scenario happens where cruises allow people to sail without vaccinations and virtually nothing happens as a result, I'd like to revisit where those "absolutely not" people stand.

 

Yeah.....I have no doubt RCCL has taken into account that in my group 3 of loud voices saying "nononononooono we won't go" there will be defectors who decided f-it I'm going anyway 😉  They will either blame RCCL refund policies forcing them to go, work PTO schedules couldn't be changed, the only time the whole family could do it for another 4 yrs, etc......

[ArthurUSCG]

1 minute ago, dodgestang said:

 

This is called fun with statistics

 

ANY variant will infect the younger age ranges as a larger % (the measures they are publicizing) because the older at risk age groups are the most vaccinated, so they are getting infected at a much lower rate.

 

Yeah, if your looking at age brackets and looking at which age range has the higher % infected, it defiantly gets skewed, especially in the UK since they haven't worked as far down the age ranges yet with vaccines. So, you have to switch to looking at the number of people infected in each age range and compare it to previous time periods to compare infection rates overtime.

[kearney]

For those who are wondering about cruising... here is a link to a story about Celebrity Millennium which just started sailing out of St Maarten. Now their protocols are may be slightly different, since they are not sailing under CDC rules..but it looks like they have applied many of them... In any event.... This should help make some more comfortable...others may not like these steps..but they are focused on getting things going and as the pandemic winds down the rules will soften even more Article on First Cruise out of St Maarten

 

Fauci, the other day said that thing could return to normal when daily new cases drop to 10,000/day and we are currently at around 14,000 (7day ave). So we are getting close..who knows what protocols will be in a few months

[harkinmr]

4 minutes ago, kearney said:

For those who are wondering about cruising... here is a link to a story about Celebrity Millennium which just started sailing out of St Maarten. Now their protocols are may be slightly different, since they are not sailing under CDC rules..but it looks like they have applied many of them... In any event.... This should help make some more comfortable...others may not like these steps..but they are focused on getting things going and as the pandemic winds down the rules will soften even more Article on First Cruise out of St Maarten

 

Fauci, the other day said that thing could return to normal when daily new cases drop to 10,000/day and we are currently at around 14,000 (7day ave). So we are getting close..who knows what protocols will be in a few months

The Celebrity protocols have very little to do with RCI’s plan.  The Celebrity SXM cruises are fully vaccinated. RCI is not committing to the 95/98 vaccinated sailings. Full protocols will apply and likely to everyone on board for ease of managing the process. 

[Biker19]

4 minutes ago, harkinmr said:

 RCI is not committing to the 95/98 vaccinated sailings.

The 98 went down to 95:

 

COVID-19 Operations Manual for Simulated and Restricted Voyages under the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order | Quarantine | CDC

 

May 26, 2021

Provided cruise ship operators with more discretion regarding fully vaccinated travelers. Provided additional discretionary considerations for ships with at least 95% of crew and 95% of passengers fully vaccinated.

[cured]

11 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

It is not going to be that much fun going to the ports at twice the price in a bubble either.

 

Anyone who thinks that this cruise season is going to be like 2019 is guilty of wishful thinking

100% agree. That is why we don't have anything booked right now.  We have other just as fun places to go and we can sit back and watch this mess unfold without having to worry about everything that might happen.

[kearney]

2 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The 98 went down to 95:

 

COVID-19 Operations Manual for Simulated and Restricted Voyages under the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order | Quarantine | CDC

 

May 26, 2021

Provided cruise ship operators with more discretion regarding fully vaccinated travelers. Provided additional discretionary considerations for ships with at least 95% of crew and 95% of passengers fully vaccinated.

I wonder if they lowered that to allow bringing on newly vaccinated crew..who will quarantine until vaccine hit efficacy levels....98% might have been a bit too tight to allow moving crew around... 

[NateUpNorth]

18 hours ago, squadron said:

I have two cruises booked but I hope Royal  bans ALL who do not have protection against Covid .  Children can get the "shot" in Canada at this time.  Will keep the schools open and end the in and out of online classes  due to outbreaks at school.  Will decide closer to final payment about cancelling.

"Some" children can get the shot in Canada at this time.

[kearney]

We are on AOS out of Bahamas in Aug... and have watched the protocols loosen since we booked it in April. Also on a Celebrity in November and another one in April. Concern for our older dog is keeping me from scheduling anymore... less concern over Covid... plus the cruise with confidence 48hr cancellation... helps reduce risk..

[harkinmr]

9 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The 98 went down to 95:

 

COVID-19 Operations Manual for Simulated and Restricted Voyages under the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order | Quarantine | CDC

 

May 26, 2021

Provided cruise ship operators with more discretion regarding fully vaccinated travelers. Provided additional discretionary considerations for ships with at least 95% of crew and 95% of passengers fully vaccinated.

That is not the overall vaccine requirement for sailing approval.  It is still 95/98.  The item you posted has to do with further discretion on health protocols.  For example, if they are 95/95, then no passengers on board have to wear masks or social distance, including the unvaccinated. Check out the exact detail in the changes. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

23 hours ago, harkinmr said:

That may be medical or religious exemptions which would need to be documented.  That is not children. There is no legal obligation to board children not eligible for a vaccine. 

I just hope that Carnival is fully refunding the families with children instead of just turning them away at the gate.

[jules815]

11 hours ago, jrapps said:

Isn't MSC the 4th largest Cruise Line company in the world? (Behind Carnival, Royal, & NCL)? Do we just assume it's not major because they don't have a super large US presence?

 

Edit: I just looked it up. They are the 3rd largest, slightly bigger than NCL.

Oh yeah, they're big, I just meant they're not a big player in the US yet. We've only sailed with them once, and I didn't even know about them in the US until I started doing research on NCL Haven. We were looking to try something different, and while looking at Haven reviews, MSC Yacht Club kept coming up. The ship we sailed on, Seaside, was beautiful, and the Yacht Club experience was fantastic. 

 

We're not happy about them going the unvaccinated route, but we're not sailing until October, so who knows what will be happening then.

 

[dominicr]

21 minutes ago, hyerpraise said:

You are aware the least effected population over the last 15 months is children under the age of 18 for both contracting and spreading....right?

internet is no place for truth and facts.  

[kearney]

Just now, dodgestang said:

 

That makes it all worse ;).  So my 10 yr old has to wear a mask the whole time shes on board?  That's going to put a crimp in her Karaoke performances

That is my understanding. I believe that they don't have to wear it outdoors...but I am not an authority. Kids who are not used to wearing a mask...all the time indoors...may not enjoy cruising.. But there was one poster who indicated her children were comfortable wearing masks all the time...  There is a part of me who worries about anyone who becomes comfortable wearing one this long...especially younger children...

[dodgestang]

She's worn it at school....so she can do it....she doesn't like it.  And it isn't going to go over well when her 14 yr old brother (and his friend that we are taking with us) isn't wearing one 😉

 

At least she can sit in the room and play the piano to her hearts content if it too much of a big deal for her.  Again.....the biggest problem is the singing she is planning on doing....I'm not going to tell her....hopefully this will all work itself out by August.