Carnival Cruise Line Removes Pre-Cruise Testing for Vaccinated Guests and Welcomes All Unvaccinated To Sail

[mouche]

Doing the happy dance over here too, not even mad I spent $145 on Binax Now tests from emed, cruising the Mardi Gras Oct 2022, it has been a long time coming since I was originally booked on the inaugural sailing. Lord willing, I will finally get on this ship!!!  

[Craxe77]

So glad the pre-cruise testing went away and happy my cruise is in October. I was never worried about traveling near unvaxed folks. The only thing I worried about was testing positive while having no symptoms. 

 

Vaxed or unvaxed, your still getting it sooner or later. Just like the Flu.. 

[topaz123]

Best news in a long time....the hysteria meter dropped 50 points with this announcement. Now, we gotta cross fingers n toes that somehow a news announcement of..." NEW DISCOVERY IN FIJI OF NEW STRAIN RESISTANT TO ANY DRUGS" doesn't show up on our National Enquirer News Outlets.

[mz-s]

4 minutes ago, topaz123 said:

Best news in a long time....the hysteria meter dropped 50 points with this announcement. Now, we gotta cross fingers n toes that somehow a news announcement of..." NEW DISCOVERY IN FIJI OF NEW STRAIN RESISTANT TO ANY DRUGS" doesn't show up on our National Enquirer News Outlets.

 

It's a certainty that will happen but what is also certain is it doesn't matter, we're not going backwards here - the momentum is too great to go back.

[sc4125]

I too am happy that testing is no longer required - mainly because the Walgreens where we were getting tested for the last 5 cruises is no longer testing for travel.  

 

I had a total of 11 people in my family (including me) that took cruises in June on 3 different ships.  We are all vaccinated.  Out of the 11, nine (including me) tested positive after the cruises.  Three of us had pretty bad flu-like symptoms for a few days, the rest were either asymptomatic or had cold-like symptoms.  

 

I will be getting the next booster that is supposed to come out next month and have 6 cruises booked from now until December of next year.  I am not concerned for myself, but if I were not vaccinated I would definitely be a bit concerned, especially if I were over 65 or had prior health issues.  The virus is alive and well on cruises where the vast majority of the passengers were vaccinated and all tested negative before the cruise.  My thought is that the unvaccinated have every right not to be vaccinated - they know the risk and if they want to take the risk, more power to them.  People are still dying from this virus everyday - hopefully that won't happen to them.  If it does, I hope that they don't shut down the cruise lines when their family starts blaming the cruise for not testing everyone. 

 

[ProgRockCruiser]

On 8/12/2022 at 5:23 PM, Native Floridian 26 said:

Here we go.

 

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-cruise-line-removes-pre-cruise-testing-vaccinated

Figures - 45 min after I have to get on with other plans Carnival drops the announcement that I had been stalking all afternoon.

 

Anyway, I do feel a sense of relief of not having to panic about organizing a test prior to sailing for a cruise later this year.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, mouche said:

Doing the happy dance over here too, not even mad I spent $145 on Binax Now tests from emed, cruising the Mardi Gras Oct 2022, it has been a long time coming since I was originally booked on the inaugural sailing. Lord willing, I will finally get on this ship!!!  

It's a fantastic ship, a true game changer for the line.  Did a B2B in February and doing another B2B over Labor Day.

[mz-s]

22 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

This says nothing about reducing the severity of the illness if you are vaccinated. That may have been true for some in the early days (with different variants and fresh vaccines) but this is a different world. Obviously the CDC is not going to recommend against getting the vaccine if they think even one person may benefit from it. People like to THINK they are doing something to protect themselves.

 

And some people like to THINK they are better than others, because they chose one way or the other...

[Krisco]

On 8/12/2022 at 8:19 PM, pinto18 said:

Us too! Just got them…oh well

Me too.  I'm a planner so ordered them last week.  Need to be more like my procrastinating husband who is laughing at my wasted $75.

[LATTELOVE]

Yesss,  so happy to see this.

Game changer, we are sick of it all.

Just wished Royal Caribbean would follow 

with the same very soon.

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by LATTELOVE

[jimb cruisin]

9 minutes ago, LATTELOVE said:

Yesss,  so happy to see this.

Game changer, we are sick of it all.

Just wished Royal Caribbean would follow 

with the same very soon.

 

 

 

If RCL booking demand softens in relation to CCL and NCL we will most likely see them follow up from the rear. 

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, jimb cruisin said:

If RCL booking demand softens in relation to CCL and NCL we will most likely see them follow up from the rear. 

I see RCL keeps upping their debt. Another 1.25 billion they are looking for.

[ProgRockCruiser]

Seems like the announcement has had a good knock-on effect to booking activity:

 

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-cruise-line-says-booking-activity-nearly-doubles-2019

 

"After announcing last Friday that it was revising pre-cruise vaccination and testing requirements that will allow more guests to sail, Carnival Cruise Line said today that its booking activity for Monday, Aug. 15 was nearly double the level for the equivalent day in 2019."

 

I would assume the other lines are seeing similar increased booking rates.

 

So...good move by the industry, it appears.  At least from a business sense.  I will leave the other stuff alone.

[ninjacat123]

5 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

Seems like the announcement has had a good knock-on effect to booking activity:

 

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-cruise-line-says-booking-activity-nearly-doubles-2019

 

"After announcing last Friday that it was revising pre-cruise vaccination and testing requirements that will allow more guests to sail, Carnival Cruise Line said today that its booking activity for Monday, Aug. 15 was nearly double the level for the equivalent day in 2019."

 

I would assume the other lines are seeing similar increased booking rates.

 

So...good move by the industry, it appears.  At least from a business sense.  I will leave the other stuff alone.

Maybe that is why CCL's stock is over $11 a share (barely).  Good to know, thanks for posting!

[ProgRockCruiser]

Also, because I mentioned the other CCL lines as they were being announced, both Seaborn and HAL have announced (yesterday, 15 Aug) similar dropping/simplifying of testing protocols and allowing unvaxxed to sail.

[excitedcruiser]

I wish it would take affect immediately. I cruise this weekend and still have to scramble to get test done and results back in time. 

[ProgRockCruiser]

2 minutes ago, excitedcruiser said:

I wish it would take affect immediately. I cruise this weekend and still have to scramble to get test done and results back in time. 

Pretty sure it is timed to be exactly after the Labor Day long weekend on purpose.  There's no other reason I can fathom to stretch it out otherwise.

[ninjacat123]

14 minutes ago, excitedcruiser said:

I wish it would take affect immediately. I cruise this weekend and still have to scramble to get test done and results back in time. 

How many days is your cruise?

[JoLee2408]

This news came at a perfect time.  I was just getting ready to order a 6 pack of Binax.  

 

[excitedcruiser]

My cruise is 7 days. 

[ninjacat123]

1 minute ago, excitedcruiser said:

My cruise is 7 days. 

Dang it.  If it was 5 days or less you wouldn't have to test.  That bites.  Sorry.

[siestakeys04]

On 8/15/2022 at 10:02 AM, mouche said:

Doing the happy dance over here too, not even mad I spent $145 on Binax Now tests from emed, cruising the Mardi Gras Oct 2022, it has been a long time coming since I was originally booked on the inaugural sailing. Lord willing, I will finally get on this ship!!!  

 

On 8/15/2022 at 10:02 AM, mouche said:

Doing the happy dance over here too, not even mad I spent $145 on Binax Now tests from emed, cruising the Mardi Gras Oct 2022, it has been a long time coming since I was originally booked on the inaugural sailing. Lord willing, I will finally get on this ship!!!  

I did the same thing!! I have 3 test that I can give family that are not vaccinated. We are sailing Mardi Gras in December 24th. ( quoted twice in error)

Edited August 16, 2022 by siestakeys04

[Sotermarler]

Happy dance over here too. After not being able to sail for 2 years, I booked my October cruise this weekend.  I had rolled over so many credits I have $800 in onboard credit and only owed $400 for a 7 day Panorama cruise for three.  Win!

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

I no longer see that going to the Bahamas required the test.

[LATTELOVE]

4 hours ago, Sotermarler said:

Happy dance over here too. After not being able to sail for 2 years, I booked my October cruise this weekend.  I had rolled over so many credits I have $800 in onboard credit and only owed $400 for a 7 day Panorama cruise for three.  Win!

WOW!!

How nice. happy for you.