One Line Figures Out How To Work With Florida Law And Still Do Vaccinated Cruises

[KennyFla]

I apologize if this has already been posted.  Celebrity has come up with a creative way to work within the Florida Law:

 

Celebrity Cruises told travel agents on a webinar on Tuesday that they will not require passengers to show proof of vaccination, but someone that prefers or opts out of showing proof will be held to a different set of protocols onboard, as well as additional costs to incur to confirm they are healthy.

 

Celebrity still intends to sail with at least 95% vaccinated guests, but it will optional to show proof of being vaccinated or not.

 

 

If you choose not to show proof of vaccination, then there are additional steps required to fulfill in order to sail.

According to Celebrity, guests who do not show proof of vaccination will be considered unvaccinated and will require a SARS-COV-2 test at the terminal at their own expense.

Guests that do not meet the requirements will be denied boarding. Unvaccinated passengers may be also be restricted in certain ports, depending on the local laws.

 

What was not made clear during the webinar is how exactly Celebrity will ensure a 95% vaccinated minimum of guests onboard, if they are not certain how many guests will not provide proof of vaccination at check-in.

This question came up again, and Ms. Ritzenthaler assured travel agents they would stop selling certain room categories depending on vaccine status.

 

 

[MichiganBound]

Sounds like a lot of jumping through hoops that the cruise line has to coordinate in order to comply with the idiotic DeSantis law.  Just knock down the law and be done with it. Stick with only vaccinated cruisers for the time being.

[zerooveride]

16 minutes ago, KennyFla said:

What was not made clear during the webinar is how exactly Celebrity will ensure a 95% vaccinated minimum of guests onboard, if they are not certain how many guests will not provide proof of vaccination at check-in.

Simple way, they can deny boarding. A cruise ship can deny anyone for any reason and they don't have to tell you why. They just don't say it is COVID vaccinated related. 

[JamieLogical]

My thoughts on solving this problem:

• Don't allow Floridians to cruise and require non-Floridians to upload their proof of vaccination from their home states, before arriving in Florida.
• Don't require proof of vaccination at port, but confine all passengers to quarters until they have prove their vaccination status once in international waters.
• Provide a "discount" to passengers who provide proof of vaccination that makes the cruise actually affordable and charge passengers who are unvaccinated some outrageous amount, like $10,000 extra per person.

[Treasure Hunter]

Wow! Thinking outside the box. I like it😁

[KennyFla]

53 minutes ago, MichiganBound said:

Sounds like a lot of jumping through hoops that the cruise line has to coordinate in order to comply with the idiotic DeSantis law.  Just knock down the law and be done with it. Stick with only vaccinated cruisers for the time being.

You guys are a broken record.  You don't care if the cruise ships go, you just want to trash talk politics.

Again, the State Of Florida has not delayed or prevented one cruise ship from sailing.

Unlike the CDC.

[CruisingSince1982]

1 hour ago, KennyFla said:

I apologize if this has already been posted.  Celebrity has come up with a creative way to work within the Florida Law:

 

Celebrity Cruises told travel agents on a webinar on Tuesday that they will not require passengers to show proof of vaccination, but someone that prefers or opts out of showing proof will be held to a different set of protocols onboard, as well as additional costs to incur to confirm they are healthy.

 

Celebrity still intends to sail with at least 95% vaccinated guests, but it will optional to show proof of being vaccinated or not.

 

 

If you choose not to show proof of vaccination, then there are additional steps required to fulfill in order to sail.

According to Celebrity, guests who do not show proof of vaccination will be considered unvaccinated and will require a SARS-COV-2 test at the terminal at their own expense.

Guests that do not meet the requirements will be denied boarding. Unvaccinated passengers may be also be restricted in certain ports, depending on the local laws.

 

What was not made clear during the webinar is how exactly Celebrity will ensure a 95% vaccinated minimum of guests onboard, if they are not certain how many guests will not provide proof of vaccination at check-in.

This question came up again, and Ms. Ritzenthaler assured travel agents they would stop selling certain room categories depending on vaccine status.

 

 

RCCL is doing the same. Knew it wouldn't be hard for them to figure it out! 

[SpainAlien]

Fain said yesterday that non-vaccinated passengers would incur extra costs and restrictions

 

[Middleager]

Simple solution, those who don't show proof of vaccination is required to stay inside their cabin for the entire cruise.  They can still cruise.  Nobody is stopping them.

[Inflatable_Catfish]

Why not just run an antibodies test at embarkation or require test results within a week of etc.?

[coffeebean]

31 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

My thoughts on solving this problem:

• Don't allow Floridians to cruise and require non-Floridians to upload their proof of vaccination from their home states, before arriving in Florida.
• Don't require proof of vaccination at port, but confine all passengers to quarters until they have prove their vaccination status once in international waters.
• Provide a "discount" to passengers who provide proof of vaccination that makes the cruise actually affordable and charge passengers who are unvaccinated some outrageous amount, like $10,000 extra per person.

Not a fan of your first bullet point as I'm a Florida resident and I'm fully vaccinated.

Your second bullet point does not seem to be feasible to pull off.

Your third bullet point is a great way to get around Florida's law. Sock it to 'em in their pocketbooks. LOVE IT!!! Wonder how DeSantis will react. LOL.

[JamieLogical]

26 minutes ago, coffeebean said:

Not a fan of your first bullet point as I'm a Florida resident and I'm fully vaccinated.

Your second bullet point does not seem to be feasible to pull off.

Your third bullet point is a great way to get around Florida's law. Sock it to 'em in their pocketbooks. LOVE IT!!! Wonder how DeSantis will react. LOL.

 

I agree that it would be unfortunate to bar Floridians, but DeSantis says this law is to protect Floridians, so I assume that excluding them would allow cruise companies to get around the law.

[JamieLogical]

39 minutes ago, KennyFla said:

You guys are a broken record.  You don't care if the cruise ships go, you just want to trash talk politics.

Again, the State Of Florida has not delayed or prevented one cruise ship from sailing.

Unlike the CDC.

 

I definitely care if cruise ships go! I have had something like 7 cruises canceled so far! Right now the CDC is saying they can go. The current law in FL is the barrier to the Edge sailing later this month and several other ships sailing out of FL in July. I was booked on the Sky out of Miami for the first two weeks of September and decided to switch to the Breakaway out of NYC because I am concerned about how/whether this will get resolved by then.

[MichiganBound]

41 minutes ago, KennyFla said:

You guys are a broken record.  You don't care if the cruise ships go, you just want to trash talk politics.

Again, the State Of Florida has not delayed or prevented one cruise ship from sailing.

Unlike the CDC.

Whose the broken record here?  

 

[KennyFla]

1 minute ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I definitely care if cruise ships go! I have had something like 7 cruises canceled so far! Right now the CDC is saying they can go. The current law in FL is the barrier to the Edge sailing later this month and several other ships sailing out of FL in July. I was booked on the Sky out of Miami for the first two weeks of September and decided to switch to the Breakaway out of NYC because I am concerned about how/whether this will get resolved by then.

The article I posted is about Celebrity and how they will sail on time and still meet the criteria for a fully vaccinated cruise.

Out of Florida.

[JamieLogical]

9 minutes ago, KennyFla said:

The article I posted is about Celebrity and how they will sail on time and still meet the criteria for a fully vaccinated cruise.

Out of Florida.

 

Except it still didn't actually provide any details on how they are going to accomplish it. In order to forego test sailings, Celebrity needs to *verify* that 95% of passengers are vaccinated. The article specifically says it is not clear how they are going to accomplish that without requiring passengers to show proof of vaccination.

[SeaHunt]

Same with Carnival sailings out of Texas:

 

"Carnival said passengers planning to travel with children on the new sailings out of Galveston who are not vaccinated would need to apply for space onboard first, given the limited number of unvaccinated passengers allowed under the 95 percent threshold.

 

“Such guests are being asked to put their names on our list (online submissions only) for follow-up communication,” the line said. “There will be testing, mask requirements and other restrictions for unvaccinated guests who are granted an exemption."

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6178/

[KennyFla]

25 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Except it still didn't actually provide any details on how they are going to accomplish it. In order to forego test sailings, Celebrity needs to *verify* that 95% of passengers are vaccinated. The article specifically says it is not clear how they are going to accomplish that without requiring passengers to show proof of vaccination.

The law (order) says that you can not require proof of vaccination for your service/product.  By allowing 5% unvaccinated on board they adhere to the order.  Passengers have an incentive to voluntarily provide vaccine status to avoid higher fees.

I'm sure the cruise lines worked this out with the state before issuing the announcement.

If you are not vaccinated you can cruise Celebrity, but your reservation may be in the future because of the non vaccinated capacity restraints.

I believe that vaccinated and recovered should be the same thing, and I think that with the new studies coming out they soon will be.

 

[JamieLogical]

11 minutes ago, KennyFla said:

The law (order) says that you can not require proof of vaccination for your service/product.  By allowing 5% unvaccinated on board they adhere to the order.  Passengers have an incentive to voluntarily provide vaccine status to avoid higher fees.

I'm sure the cruise lines worked this out with the state before issuing the announcement.

If you are not vaccinated you can cruise Celebrity, but your reservation may be in the future because of the non vaccinated capacity restraints.

I believe that vaccinated and recovered should be the same thing, and I think that with the new studies coming out they soon will be.

 

 

It's still not clear to me how this will work in reality. Do you have to then provide proof of vaccination at the time of booking to guarantee your spot on board? If you don't provide proof, are you risking getting bumped? Can Celebrity only sell 5% of bookings at a time until the passengers provide proof, in case any of the booked passengers cannot provide said proof? This ship is sailing in 17 days.... how are they going to manage all of this in that short period of time?

Edited June 9, 2021 by JamieLogical

[mkdreams]

2 hours ago, KennyFla said:

You guys are a broken record.  You don't care if the cruise ships go, you just want to trash talk politics.

Again, the State Of Florida has not delayed or prevented one cruise ship from sailing.

Unlike the CDC.

Perfectly said and so very true.

Edited June 9, 2021 by mkdreams

[CaptainWoody]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Except it still didn't actually provide any details on how they are going to accomplish it. In order to forego test sailings, Celebrity needs to *verify* that 95% of passengers are vaccinated. The article specifically says it is not clear how they are going to accomplish that without requiring passengers to show proof of vaccination.

It doesn't make much sense.  Perhaps there are two waiting areas.  Passengers who volunteer to show proof of vaccination are admitted to one.  Everybody else to the other.  Board 95 from area one, 5 from area two.  Continue until area one is empty and then the remainder in area two are denied boarding due to CDC 95% requirement.  Nobody is required to show proof of vaccination.