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Wearing Masks = Cancellation

baldilocks
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kearney

kearney

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Posted

It will be interesting to see what comes out of the Florida CDC case. Keep in mind much of the rules are based on CDC guidance with a splash of Florida no vaccine passport law.   We sail on AOS in August and the rules have changed a couple of times already. The cruise was inexpensive...relative to our longer Celebrity cruises... and before final payment I wanted to see if cruising was fun. The reports have been very positive ...so far. Everyone on AOS over 16 is vaccinated...so I assume the symptomatic Covid suffer is likely a child.  Royal is a family line, why else have all those kids oriented activities... Celebrity is not... The Celebrity cruises we have been on have generally had fewer than a dozen 'children' ... so it is easier for their business model to insist on vaccinated passengers... especially given that well above 50% of older people are already vaccinated... Royal has to deal with fact that a large bulk of their target is not in the vaccination age... and given some of the side effects that are showing up... may take longer to get vaccine approval for young children. So they are in a box..  Now add to that CDC...current requirements that if you do have >5% unvaccinated... everyone has to maskup indoors... they don't have much choice... so we need to see if the court review ends up resulting in looser rules based on whatever data they present to the court. Of course this could drag on with appeals etc.

 

We have two other cruises planned...both Celebrity and late fall and spring... I did this because like the OP I can't see wearing a mask on vacation when I haven't had to for many many months at home. However,  some are very comfortable wearing them... which I have a hard time imagining in 90 degree heat (one of my concerns about AOS out of Nassau)..but I think it is a mental thing..once you get in that zen place you probably don't even notice the mask... alas.. I am not in that place.

 

I do hope that Royal rules will be tweaked and allow vaccinated to go mask free indoors... but right now the CDC guidance for >5% unvaccinated requires masking.. as I recall..but again perhaps that too has changed. The question I have is ...what makes 95% vaccinated...magic?... why not 90%..or 85%?

 

 

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BecciBoo Great Review Rare

BecciBoo

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24 minutes ago, billf0401 said:

We may never cruise again after more than 25 cruises that we have enjoyed.

That is sad for you.  I can't imagine feeling that way.  You sound as passionate about cruising as we are.  We would never even consider never cruising again.  Things don't have to seem that drastic...if it bothers you wait a while longer.  But life is full of wonderful things to do, we just recently started tent camping again and I am 71.  We are having a ball.  Equipment is much improved and it's really Glamping now.  We are not booking any new cruises after our Allure Sept. and will get to see some of this marvelous country of ours up close and personal instead.  Later, much later, we may do another Alaska, but for now we wait.

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CruisingSince1982

CruisingSince1982

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22 hours ago, baldilocks said:

We are fully vaccinated and see no need to be wearing masks and social distancing on Royal ships. So if they want to do this, we will cancel along with some friends that say the same thing. They are are not going to come all the way from NE to wear masks on a ship.

 

Totally agree. I can't see that rule staying. 

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CruisingSince1982

CruisingSince1982

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22 hours ago, VermontsFinest said:

Sail Adventure out of Nassau then. 
 

Celebrity? Carnival? You have options. RCL can set their own policies and doesn't care if you cancel.

They do care. They want vaccinated ships. They do not want unvaccinated people on their ships. Follow Michael Bayley on Facebook. They aren't going to punish vaccinated people. 

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CruisingSince1982

CruisingSince1982

Posted
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9 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

What people don't realize is that is not a matter of mask or no mask. It's not a matter of catering to a niche group of people that want to travel on a vaccinated cruise. 

 

Right now, the cruise lines have to make the general population feel safe about cruising again. They can't do that if there is a COVID outbreak on every cruise. For the next few months of startup, they should be trying to minimize the risk of an outbreak by maximizing the number of vaccinated passengers and changing the protocols to minimize the chances of transmission. 

 

Even the 92% vaccinated, 25% loaded cruise out of Nassau this week had 2 COVID cases amongst the unvaccinated passengers. If I were still onboard, I would have a mask on and be splashing sanitizer at every Purell dispenser I passed. Since the one COVID case was symptomatic, I know that Royal is hoping and praying that they can get back to Nassau on Saturday before more people become symptomatic. 

2 cases is hardly an outbreak. 

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Oxo

Oxo

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11 minutes ago, billf0401 said:

We may never cruise again after more than 25 cruises that we have enjoyed....If masks are required we will cancel our upcoming January, 22 cruise...we have already had 2 other cruises cancelled.  The extremely slow start up of the industry is quite disappointing.

Why are wearing masks such a determining factor? In the medical field we wear them daily. If you have been vaccinated you do not need to wear a mask on some cruises. Yes, it is quite disappointing that it took so long to restart cruises. Many people had to cancel cruises. We canceled 5 last year alone. Two so far this year. 

Better to be safe than sorry. 

Your money, your choice. 

STAY SAFE!

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kearney

kearney

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20 minutes ago, Nessa1dc said:

There is only a mask mandate out of Florida...if you want to cruise without a mask, be vaccinated and cruise out of another port.  The slow start is likely.  They are trying to maneuver with a pandemic and nonsensical outside factors.  They will be fine.  

Mask mandate.. is based on CDC... so ... at this point... rules for masking out of US ports is guided by CDC guidance... The sailings out of Nassau and St Maarten are not necessarily CDC..although looks like they tried to incorporate much of those rules.  At this point if appears that if you sail with <5% unvaccinated passengers... the vaccinated don't have to mask up on the ship...but if more than 5%... well then everyone does indoors.... outdoors no one has to unless there is a crowd (no definition on what is a crowd). How Florida differs is that they passed a law...intended to prevent discrimination...that does not allow a business to demand to see proof of vaccination. Now the way Royal and Celebrity appear to be getting around that is to 1) simply ask if people are vaccinated 2) Ask if they are willing to present their card at boarding... Then...with Royal if the passenger is not vaccinated or claims to be but does not present their card... they are treated as unvaccinated...so pay for additional testing... mask everywhere indoors... and they can not go to those aras of the ship restricted to vaccinated only...eg certain bars.. perhaps sections of the theater etc.  Now Celebrity's plan is similar...but they are holding to the no more than 5% unvaccinated... one they they are doing is calling passengers and noting if they are vaccinated or not. I assume... but do not know for sure...that once they hit the 5% mark that the next passenger who says they are not vaccinated will have their cruise cancelled or moved. I also assume that if you said you were vaccinated..but show up at port and do not have a card..you will be considered unvaccinated and if theyknow they have reached the limit...you will be canceled at the point of departure. This last group of what happens..is my guess as to how they will handle it. I have seen numerous places where Celebrity is sticking too the 95% vaccinated commitment... so they have to do something if people claiming to be vaccinated don't have or won't show CDC card.

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CruisingSince1982

CruisingSince1982

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Just now, Itchy&Scratchy said:

but it will become one if people are unvaccinated and not wearing masks.

It won't. The majority are vaccinated. The rules for those unvaccinated to sail are crazy. Separate dining rooms? Separate shows? Masks all the time except outdoors? You really think the ships are going to be filled with unvaccinated passengers? Royal does not want them on their ships, and the rules reflect that. 

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Itchy&Scratchy Great Review Rare

Itchy&Scratchy

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1 minute ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

Again - read the rules. Royal does not want unvaccinated people on their ships

is that why RCI is not requiring vaccinations for cruises out of FL?

 

 

FWIW, we will have an unvaccinated kid with us. There is no way to achieve 100% vaccination on the cruise, unless RCI bans all kids under 12.

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Goodtime Cruizin

Goodtime Cruizin

Posted
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1 minute ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

is that why RCI is not requiring vaccinations for cruises out of FL?

 

 

FWIW, we will have an unvaccinated kid with us. There is no way to achieve 100% vaccination on the cruise, unless RCI bans all kids under 12.

 

and even then a cruise may not be 100%...i.e. Millenium out of St.Martin. 

 

Covid happens. 

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kearney

kearney

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

is that why RCI is not requiring vaccinations for cruises out of FL?

 

 

FWIW, we will have an unvaccinated kid with us. There is no way to achieve 100% vaccination on the cruise, unless RCI bans all kids under 12.

I think they want adults vaccinated...but they want families... that is their business

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Jimbo

Jimbo

Posted
Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

is that why RCI is not requiring vaccinations for cruises out of FL?

 

 

FWIW, we will have an unvaccinated kid with us. There is no way to achieve 100% vaccination on the cruise, unless RCI bans all kids under 12.

Your first question, answer is because of Desantis................

 

2nd statement.......I have always thought for the startup of cruises it should be for vaccinated only to prevent issues on the startups.

 

Correct that means no children for now..............I know doesn't seem fair but not everything in life is fair.

I wouldn't allow children  younger then 16 until January 2022 once things hopefully settle down more.

Edited by Jimbo
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CruisingSince1982

CruisingSince1982

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1 minute ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

is that why RCI is not requiring vaccinations for cruises out of FL?

 

 

FWIW, we will have an unvaccinated kid with us. There is no way to achieve 100% vaccination on the cruise, unless RCI bans all kids under 12.

Royal can't "require" vaccinations out of Florida. That is why those who are vaccinated and voluntarily provide that information to Royal will have much less to no restrictions. Unvaccinated people have a ton of restrictions. They change the age requirement based on the vaccine availability. Right now it's 16. It's lowering to 12 soon.  Follow the CEO on Facebook. He is very transparent with information. 

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kearney

kearney

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I wonder how many people get Covid on an airplane...but no one knows because people move on. This is what makes cruise ships look so bad... you are there a week not a few hours...so cases will show up. Same with Noro virus... you might spend a night in a hotel and pick it up there..but if you depart and move on..no one makes the link back to the hotel... But get it day 3 on a cruise... by day 7 dozens or more will have it before you get back... So people consider it dangerous...but perhaps regular hotels and other modes of transport are as bad...but we just have no way of knowing.

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