New Bahamas Vax Requirements

[ADunk]

Just scrolled though this.

 

starting September 3rd, all ships calling port in the Bahamas, including private islands, must present a fully vaxxed manifest of all passengers and crew 12 and up. 
 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/25708-bahamas-sets-strict-vaccination-criteria-for-cruise-passengers.html

[Sunshine3601]

🙂   Good.      We will definitely see this happen with more islands over time.    

 

Most of the islands have very slow roll outs of vaccine distribution and they need to protect their citizens.    

 

Kiddos are back to school now or soon so there should be very few children sailing starting sept 3rd.

[smplybcause]

Doesn't matter. A country can do practically anything it wants with restricting who can come in.

 

So that means practically any Florida cruise needs to be vax only for Royal. There's some Tampa cruises that don't go to Bahamas but I think even most western ones stop at coco. 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Its hard for them as they will lose lots of possible cruise ship visits but still got to keep people safe first

[Moltar]

Good move.

[jrapps]

So now every cruise that goes to Coco Cay must be fully vaccinated for 12+

 

I see Royal and many other cruise lines either ignoring FL law or just formally joining NCLs lawsuit any day now.

[dswallow]

Emergency Powers (Covid-19 Pandemic)(Management and Recovery)(No.2)(Amendment)(No.8)Order, 2021 - Office of the Prime Minister (opm.gov.bs)

[ArthurUSCG]

25 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Its hard for them as they will lose lots of possible cruise ship visits but still got to keep people safe first

That's debatable, there's a large number of people that don't want to cruise without vaccine requirements.

[jrapps]

5 minutes ago, ArthurUSCG said:

That's debatable, there's a large number of people that don't want to cruise without vaccine requirements.

Agree. I think this increases the number of people willing to sail, not decreases.

 

My parents are among them...they won't even consider a cruise unless the whole ship is vaccinated.

[smplybcause]

45 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Its hard for them as they will lose lots of possible cruise ship visits but still got to keep people safe first

 

I highly doubt that. Every line has sunk way too much money in their private islands. Royal, Disney, and MSC are the only ones not already asking for 12+ vax. Royal has sunk way too much money in Coco to bypass it. Disney's private island is a huge draw for their cruises - I don't follow them but every itinerary I've seen from Canaveral included a stop. Haven't been to MSCs yet, but their entire Canaveral itinerary is short cruises to Bahamas - so I don't see them canceling all those cruises to then introduce longer cruises from the port. 

 

Edit - MSC just updated that starting Sept 3 any sailing out of Florida is vax only. 

Edited August 19, 2021 by smplybcause

[molly361]

They already have this for cruises to St Thomas and I don't believe that any onboard protocols are any different.  You still have to test before the cruise and still have to mask up onboard correct?

[smplybcause]

Correct. I doubt it will change anything. All Royal ships are sailing under the "test cruise" rules and not the 95% rules. Royal could still have more than 5% under 12 on their cruises. Based on their Alaska cruises I doubt Royal has any desire to switch so wouldn't expect this to change anything. 

[dswallow]

8 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

Correct. I doubt it will change anything. All Royal ships are sailing under the "test cruise" rules and not the 95% rules. Royal could still have more than 5% under 12 on their cruises. Based on their Alaska cruises I doubt Royal has any desire to switch so wouldn't expect this to change anything. 

 

What it can and will change is removing all unvaccinated passengers among all ages of people who are eligible to be vaccinated other than those with some documented medical reason they cannot be vaccinated.

[mivama]

Will there still be a requirement to take ship-only excursions on these islands?

 

[JMKreno]

163.9 million people, or 49 percent of the total U.S. population, have now been fully vaccinated. If we go by CLIA statistics, 8% of the US population has taken a cruise within the last 3 years. Based on that %, that's 13,112,000 people. I think that 13 million people is enough people to draw from when the ships are only running at 30-70% capacity. Why do those who are unvaxxed think the population for VACCINATED cruisers is so small? The VAST MAJORITY of Americans are now vaccinated and continue to be every day...and with the new planned requirements for foreign travelers needing to be vaccinated, that adds millions upon millions more. 

 

As a cruiser going out in October with 3 of 4 fully vaccinated people in our group (2 adults, 1 14yr old - 6 yr old un-vaxxed until able) this means everyone who CAN be vaccinated MUST be vaccinated. That makes me feel SO MUCH BETTER.

 

Bring it on!

[keels81]

I expect RCL and DCL will follow MSC's announcement this afternoon and require vaccination for everyone over the age of 12, regardless of situation. 

 

Let Disney handle DeSantis and his vaccination proof restriction. 

[Threedrones]

48 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

What it can and will change is removing all unvaccinated passengers among all ages of people who are eligible to be vaccinated other than those with some documented medical reason they cannot be vaccinated.

Not necessarily, though it would be nice. The last I looked, Florida was not subject to Bahama’s laws. It does present an intriguing problem for Florida though, as well as RCL. Can’t wait to see how it plays out since I’m on Freedom in late September.

[jrapps]

44 minutes ago, keels81 said:

I expect RCL and DCL will follow MSC's announcement this afternoon and require vaccination for everyone over the age of 12, regardless of situation. 

 

Let Disney handle DeSantis and his vaccination proof restriction. 

Amazing that MSC reacted so quickly. I don't see Royal doing anything before tomorrow. And Disney will take a week to do anything.

[footzz]

3 minutes ago, jrapps said:

Amazing that MSC reacted so quickly. I don't see Royal doing anything before tomorrow. And Disney will take a week to do anything.

Unlike all the other major cruiselines, MSC is a privately held company that doesn't have to go through numerous corporate contortions in the decision making process.

[lazydayz]

This is good news for Royal. It can tell Florida we tried to play by your rules but given what is going on in the Caribbean, we just can’t anymore.  100% vaxxed if the cruiser is eligible to be vaccinated.  If not vaccinated, then find some other place to vacation.  

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Do they have any evidence that the continued spread among residents is from cruise ship passenger spread? Or are they making CDC-level unscientific decisions?

I guess the biggest issue is that they hare having the highest new case rate in COVID history right now.

 

Their vaccination rate is still down in the teens (was in the single digits when we took our first cruise on the Adventure). The vaccines are just not available to them (we were told that they were praying to get some of the "free" vaccine the the US President promised). While the US talks about giving out 3rd shots, they can't get one shot. 

 

They are scared and want to take every possible precaution. 

 

So, let's not slam a country for trying to do the right thing for their people. Mitigate the risk by having vaccinated visitors. Mitigate the risk by having tested visitors. And try to keep some of the tourist coming in to provide income to their economy. 

[ZoeyVictoria]

1 minute ago, BirdTravels said:

I guess the biggest issue is that they hare having the highest new case rate in COVID history right now.

 

Their vaccination rate is still down in the teens (was in the single digits when we took our first cruise on the Adventure). The vaccines are just not available to them (we were told that they were praying to get some of the "free" vaccine the the US President promised). While the US talks about giving out 3rd shots, they can't get one shot. 

 

They are scared and want to take every possible precaution. 

 

So, let's not slam a country for trying to do the right thing for their people. Mitigate the risk by having vaccinated visitors. Mitigate the risk by having tested visitors. And try to keep some of the tourist coming in to provide income to their economy. 

I have been following an American woman living in Nassau on another forum.  She reported many weeks of lockdowns from Friday afternoon until Monday morning, with very few exceptions.  Purchasing groceries was not exempt from the lockdowns, and there were weeks when every citizen was assigned a four-hour window during the work week when it was their turn to purchase groceries.  Even outdoor exercise was prohibited for quite a while, she would exercise by walking back and forth on her condo balcony.  They really are trying to do the right thing.

[smplybcause]

37 minutes ago, jrapps said:

Amazing that MSC reacted so quickly. I don't see Royal doing anything before tomorrow. And Disney will take a week to do anything.

 

They were probably about to release September protocols when this bomb was dropped. Probably convos about what to do with all the booked unvax.

 

I didn't look deep into it, but did not see MSC mention of refunds or anything. 

[Cruising89143]

4 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

They were probably about to release September protocols when this bomb was dropped. Probably convos about what to do with all the booked unvax.

 

I didn't look deep into it, but did not see MSC mention of refunds or anything. 

If you are age 12 years and older and currently booked on an MSC cruise departing from PortMiami or Port Canaveral beginning September 3, 2021 through and including sailings of October 31, 2021 and you are not fully vaccinated and will not be fully vaccinated 14 days prior to the cruise, you are eligible for a full refund of any funds currently on your booking. Please contact MSC Cruises at 844-575-3185 if you booked directly with MSC Cruises or contact your Travel Advisor.

[Jkaczanowski]

3 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

They were probably about to release September protocols when this bomb was dropped. Probably convos about what to do with all the booked unvax.

 

I didn't look deep into it, but did not see MSC mention of refunds or anything. 

Royal could also have gotten wind that these new rules were coming and waited to issue September guidelines until Bahamas announced.