New Announcement Coming Next Week?

[bdever]

Hi everyone,

 

I follow Justin from The Shiplife on YouTube and apparently one of his followers sent him an email from Christine Duffy stating that Carnival is currently in talks with the CDC to get kids under 12 on sailings for this summer and that an announcement to be made next week. Did anyone get this letter and if so can you please share it?

 

Thanks,

Bethany

[Cap'n Ron]

That would be great if they can figure out a way to let the kids sail and hopefully they can increase the number of kids allowed.  

[firefly333]

Not to be a downer, but how many times have they said they are in talks? And nothing came of it.

 

My roll call is in limbo, gone quieter. Hard to know when there are kids booked what will happen. I'd be good with a lower percentage than 95% to allow for kids. 

[AtoZgirl]

This would be wonderful. I sure hope it’s true for all the families and their kiddos too young to be vaccinated.

[stellarose]

9 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Not to be a downer, but how many times have they said they are in talks? And nothing came of it.

 

My roll call is in limbo, gone quieter. Hard to know when there are kids booked what will happen. I'd be good with a lower percentage than 95% to allow for kids. 

my December MG roll call has gone silent too.

[bdever]

25 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Not to be a downer, but how many times have they said they are in talks? And nothing came of it.

 

My roll call is in limbo, gone quieter. Hard to know when there are kids booked what will happen. I'd be good with a lower percentage than 95% to allow for kids. 

I agree with you but my feeling is that a combo of the blow back, cancellations, loosing a large percentage of their bookings/passengers to RCL (especially passengers who now say they are going Royal Loyal) might have prompted this recent letter if in fact one went out.

[Tnlynch81]

The key is to NOT cancel for these issues. Try to be patient and wait it out. There are so many horror stories about people missing out on OBC, losing deposits etc. 

[BlerkOne]

5 minutes ago, bdever said:

I agree with you but my feeling is that a combo of the blow back, cancellations, loosing a large percentage of their bookings/passengers to RCL (especially passengers who now say they are going Royal Loyal) might have prompted this recent letter if in fact one went out.

Considering that the majority of cruisers want vaccinated cruises, I think Carnival will pick up more than they might lose. Especially with a more pleasant cruise experience.

[TNcruising02]

20 minutes ago, bdever said:

I agree with you but my feeling is that a combo of the blow back, cancellations, loosing a large percentage of their bookings/passengers to RCL (especially passengers who now say they are going Royal Loyal) might have prompted this recent letter if in fact one went out.

That's true.  Maybe a lot of families don't want to be in limbo, so they switched to Royal.  If I had kids and wanted to cruise, I would pick a cruise that allowed children instead of the back and forth with Carnival. I am sure a ton of families booked summer cruises while their kids were on summer break.

People with kids have really been on a roller coaster with Carnival lately.

[stellarose]

carnival will lose some to RCCL.  

[Radiioman46]

55 minutes ago, stellarose said:

carnival will lose some to RCCL.  

Will they? how many want to wear masks on the entire cruise? Don't be confused with the Adventure of the Seas out of the Bahamas, because they are using the same protocols as Carnival will do in July.

 

That's not what they will do when they start their cruises out of Florida. 

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, stellarose said:

carnival will lose some to RCCL.  

Lol and theres a thread over there to change to carnival from those who want a vaccinated cruise lol. Works both ways.

[TNcruising02]

1 hour ago, Radiioman46 said:

Will they? how many want to wear masks on the entire cruise? Don't be confused with the Adventure of the Seas out of the Bahamas, because they are using the same protocols as Carnival will do in July.

 

That's not what they will do when they start their cruises out of Florida. 

Families with children 12 and under may flip to RCL this summer because they may want to know with certainty that they won't be turned away at some point before their cruise.  As of today, nobody with children 12 and under knows if they can sail in July or August on Carnival, unless someone got a positive response to the exemption form.

[BoozinCroozin]

I won't take the word of anyone other than the horse's mouth. That mouth spoke 100% clearly on GMA for the Mardi Gras arrival. Christine Duffy clearly stated and re-emphasized after the person asked her a second time, that cruises will be vaccinated only for the start. When asked a second time specifically about children under 12, Duffy replied it is unfortunate and they don't have any plans for unvaccinated passengers for the start of cruising. She alluded to the CDC and CSO. 

 

Everyone with kids can get their hopes up or hold on to that thread of hope. However, there is nothing Carnival has in place that would be a fair system for unvaccinated passengers. The little experiment of an exemption process was 100% flawed. Telling everyone to submit than an hour later telling most too bad because they had too many people submit. There is a massive legal hole to dig if they start hand picking who gets an exemption and who does not. That will become information that would have to be shared if a lawsuit is filed. Then anything in that decision process that was age or race related will be extremely detrimental. They cannot say the 5% can only be those under 11. If one person claims religious reasons, they cannot be denied at all because unvaccinated if they allow unvaccinated passengers. The Carnival Legal team has far more important things to be concerned with than dealing with which passenger(s) may have a legal argument for being denied boarding because of vaccination.

[ryanpatricksmom]

Here's the e-mail.

 

Dear Carnival Guest: We are excited about our summer restart and I wanted to follow up on our email from late Thursday about our plans to operate your cruise. Things are moving quickly, and in our desire to share information with you in timely fashion, we know that there a gaps to fill in. First, as we work through this restart process and our operations for August, we are extending final payment on your sailing to Monday, June 21. As we operate to meet the CDC guidelines, there is an exemption process to accommodate a small number of guests who are unable or ineligible to be vaccinated (children under 12 and other exceptions as required by federal law).  The current standard to meet the CDC’s criteria for a fully vaccinated cruise – under which guests can sail without a mask and other restrictions – is that at least 95 percent of all guests on board are fully vaccinated.  In addition, our crew will be fully vaccinated. We will be sending details next week about this exemption process, and additional protocols as they are finalized.  It’s important to note that the number of exemptions will be a very small subset, will largely be children under 12, and it will be less than 5 percent of guests to account for no shows and other operational matters.  And, we cannot begin to process these exemptions until after all final payments are received and we have certainty on the total number of guests on board – so that we can determine the number of exemptions.  But we are committed to moving as quickly as possible. In the meantime, it is important that you make sure your booking is up to date, which includes the names and ages of all guests in your party.  You can manage that in the MyCruisePlanner function on Carnival.com, with your Personal Vacation Planner, your travel agent or by calling us at 1-800-CARNIVAL. Thank you for your support and patience.  We are working hard to restart operations and welcome you and our other great guests back on board. Sincerely,

Christine Duffy President, Carnival Cruise Line

[LadyMac72]

11 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Considering that the majority of cruisers want vaccinated cruises, I think Carnival will pick up more than they might lose. Especially with a more pleasant cruise experience.

I agree.  My Alaska cruise is 100% vaccinated and therefore no children under the age of 12.  This cruise group on the book of faces has EXPLODED with people making new reservations because they are excited about a safe cruise that will not require masks/social distancing and will allow exploration of ports without requiring Carnival shore excursions.

[crewsweeper]

1 hour ago, ryanpatricksmom said:

Here's the e-mail.

 

Dear Carnival Guest: We are excited about our summer restart and I wanted to follow up on our email from late Thursday about our plans to operate your cruise. Things are moving quickly, and in our desire to share information with you in timely fashion, we know that there a gaps to fill in. First, as we work through this restart process and our operations for August, we are extending final payment on your sailing to Monday, June 21. As we operate to meet the CDC guidelines, there is an exemption process to accommodate a small number of guests who are unable or ineligible to be vaccinated (children under 12 and other exceptions as required by federal law).  The current standard to meet the CDC’s criteria for a fully vaccinated cruise – under which guests can sail without a mask and other restrictions – is that at least 95 percent of all guests on board are fully vaccinated.  In addition, our crew will be fully vaccinated. We will be sending details next week about this exemption process, and additional protocols as they are finalized.  It’s important to note that the number of exemptions will be a very small subset, will largely be children under 12, and it will be less than 5 percent of guests to account for no shows and other operational matters.  And, we cannot begin to process these exemptions until after all final payments are received and we have certainty on the total number of guests on board – so that we can determine the number of exemptions.  But we are committed to moving as quickly as possible. In the meantime, it is important that you make sure your booking is up to date, which includes the names and ages of all guests in your party.  You can manage that in the MyCruisePlanner function on Carnival.com, with your Personal Vacation Planner, your travel agent or by calling us at 1-800-CARNIVAL. Thank you for your support and patience.  We are working hard to restart operations and welcome you and our other great guests back on board. Sincerely,

Christine Duffy President, Carnival Cruise Line

Thanks for sharing.  And yes since Under 12s are exemption from vaccines, this makes clear they will be counts as part of the 5%. 5% is  only between 150 and 320 passengers.  So hopefully if you are intending on traveling with children under 12, both parents have been vaccinated. 

But also appears that they are looking to sort this out prior to people reaching the cruise terminal.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

13 hours ago, firefly333 said:

...

 

My roll call is in limbo, gone quieter. Hard to know when there are kids booked what will happen. I'd be good with a lower percentage than 95% to allow for kids. 

 

13 hours ago, stellarose said:

my December MG roll call has gone silent too.

 

Our 8/7 MG roll call has actually picked up a bit in the last few days. Of course, that's not saying much, we just managed to hit PAGE 2.

 

Tom

[BoozinCroozin]

34 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

Thanks for sharing.  And yes since Under 12s are exemption from vaccines, this makes clear they will be counts as part of the 5%. 5% is  only between 150 and 320 passengers.  So hopefully if you are intending on traveling with children under 12, both parents have been vaccinated. 

But also appears that they are looking to sort this out prior to people reaching the cruise terminal.

Without clearly defining how the process is going to work, it will open them up to bias. If there is going to be a criteria, the only fair criteria is to state the total number of exemptions requested, total number available, and the exact criteria used to determine those that became exempt. The only fair way to do it is based on the booking date.

 

If they have 150 spots, the line gets drawn at number 150 on the exempt list based on when they booked the cruise. If a family has 2 unvaccinated kids and they are #150 and #151, then the family has a decision to make because #151 is not cruising. Randomly drawing or first-come-first-served is not fair and has flaws. A family with 1 child under 12 will get one chance, but what about a family with 2 kids and only 1 gets selected. The 2nd child should not get an automatic go because the first did. This is why earliest bookings get the exemptions first. I know all the people will whine about "but our 5 cruises were canceled". Those have no bearing on what is happening now. The other fair and safest way is no unvaccinated passengers until the CDC has very clear guidance and lifts the CSO. 

[firefly333]

33 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

 

Our 8/7 MG roll call has actually picked up a bit in the last few days. Of course, that's not saying much, we just managed to hit PAGE 2.

 

Tom

Ours has over 400 people. Quiet is relative. We have a lot of families and non vaxxed hanging and its sept 11, so we are now past final payment. Some are dropping out. It's a huge roll call with many first timers, friends of friends of friends. 

[tm_aw_love]

2 hours ago, LadyMac72 said:

I agree.  My Alaska cruise is 100% vaccinated and therefore no children under the age of 12.  This cruise group on the book of faces has EXPLODED with people making new reservations because they are excited about a safe cruise that will not require masks/social distancing and will allow exploration of ports without requiring Carnival shore excursions.

I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but a good portion of the 'explosion' probably has to do with the fact that Alaska is some of the very first sailings to actually be happening for the US. Vaccinated or not, basically every ship for every cruise line that gets to sail in the US will be at or near whatever reduced capacity they are allowed to sail with. 

[ProgRockCruiser]

12 minutes ago, tm_aw_love said:

I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but a good portion of the 'explosion' probably has to do with the fact that Alaska is some of the very first sailings to actually be happening for the US. Vaccinated or not, basically every ship for every cruise line that gets to sail in the US will be at or near whatever reduced capacity they are allowed to sail with. 

I don't think the poster you quoted would feel your statement disagrees with theirs, if anything it bolsters it:

 

Carnival will get more bookings than they lose despite a policy of requiring vaccinations because people are ready to sail ASAP, and if that means it is all vaxxed people, so be it.  

[Buckeyefrank100]

2 hours ago, LadyMac72 said:

I agree.  My Alaska cruise is 100% vaccinated and therefore no children under the age of 12.  This cruise group on the book of faces has EXPLODED with people making new reservations because they are excited about a safe cruise that will not require masks/social distancing and will allow exploration of ports without requiring Carnival shore excursions.

To be fair, the Alaskan itineraries draw a much different crowd that the Caribbean itineraries.  I've not yet had the priviledge of going on an Alaskan cruise but I wouldn't expect a lot of 20 somethings with 3 year olds like you see going to Nassau.  it completely makes sense that the Alaskan crowd would be excited over no kids.

[TNcruising02]

16 minutes ago, Buckeyefrank100 said:

To be fair, the Alaskan itineraries draw a much different crowd that the Caribbean itineraries.  I've not yet had the priviledge of going on an Alaskan cruise but I wouldn't expect a lot of 20 somethings with 3 year olds like you see going to Nassau.  it completely makes sense that the Alaskan crowd would be excited over no kids.

My son's friend's family sailed to Alaska.  While his parents really enjoyed the cruise, their son preferred cruising out of Florida because there were more kids his age.  I would love to cruise to Alaska someday.

[jimbo5544]

On 6/15/2021 at 8:32 AM, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

 

Our 8/7 MG roll call has actually picked up a bit in the last few days. Of course, that's not saying much, we just managed to hit PAGE 2.

 

Tom

What type of room do you have for that cruise?