Yellow Fever Shots

[ronrick1943]

Cruiswluv,  Thanks for checking also----one would think since Regent reads CC post they would correct this information here on the spot.  (Why hasn't Mr. Jason cleared this up himself our appoint someone on his staff make a statement regarding this?).

Edited August 27, 2019 by ronrick1943

[cruiseluv]

16 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Cruiswluv,  Thanks for checking also----one would think since Regent reads CC post they would correct this information here on the spot.  (Why hasn't Mr. Jason cleared this up himself our appoint someone on his staff make a statement regarding this?).

 

Agree ronrick! To think I was about to rush to get the vaccine! Actually, it was the person I talked to in the Travel Medicine dept in my medical network who told me I should double check with the CDC website before I had the vaccine, she didnt think my information was correct. I'm waiting to hear what Regent tells my travel agent

 

[rcandkc]

It almost seems that letters were sent to the wrong cruise.  Maybe they were meant to go to a cruise that comes from Brazil and stops at St. Lucia.  I really hope they clear this up soon.  We were really looking forward to our April Splendor cruise but I will not/cannot get this vaccine. 

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

It is fortunate that we have CC to discuss issues such as this one.

It seems that the November cruise is not affected. 

 I agree that Regent should have done it’s homework before sending out such a notice. 

Maria——- Let us know if you hear from Regent again. 

Sheila

Edited August 27, 2019 by Bellaggio Cruisers

[Keith1010]

20 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Extract from CDC Website:

"Revaccination against yellow fever was previously required by certain countries at 10-year intervals to comply with International Health Regulations (IHR). In 2014, the World Health Assembly (of WHO) adopted the recommendation to amend the IHR by removing the 10-year booster dose requirement, and stipulated a 2-year transition period for this change. Consequently, as of July 11, 2016, a completed International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP) is valid for the lifetime of the vaccinee. Moreover, countries cannot require proof of revaccination (booster) against yellow fever as a condition of entry, even if the last vaccination was >10 years prior."

 

So your 12 year old Certificate should still be valid as proof of vaccination.

However, you should check with your own Health Professional and ask for confirmation from Regent as to what documentation they require you to carry.

 

Once you have the vaccination it is good for life and you have to carry this proving you have had it.

 

You could have had it 30 years ago and it is now good since they changed the 10 year requirement.

 

As long as the OP and anyone else has kept their certificate they are all set.

 

Keith

[1985rz1]

7 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

I haven't read every post but I am a bit confused.

 

It used to be that you needed a Yellow Fever Vaccination every ten years.

 

That is not longer the case.

 

If you have your Yellow Fever Certificate showing that you have received the vaccination that is all you need.  As long as you have had it one time it is good for life.

 

Keith

You're not confused.  You got it right.

[cruiseluv]

I still have not heard from my TA (getting annoyed about this as in a couple of days I'm going out of the country for close to a month!) , but a poster in our roll call just posted this :

" Regent said that the Yellow Fever vaccine is required by the Port Agent in St Lucia.  No port that we are visiting has Yellow Fever, but that was not acceptable as a reason."

 

Really?? Are passengers in other cruise lines being asked this? I dont see any comments in Cruise Critic that that's the case

[cruiseluv]

Update! My travel agent just called, she brought up the situation to the Sales people in Regent, and they just confirmed this had been an error, this notice was supposed to go to people in a different cruise, that is stopping in Brazil before going to St Lucia. Frankly, Regent should do a better job before disseminating these notices and getting people in a tizzy!  

[Jim B]

NEVER MIND

2:55 pm 08/27/19

I just received a email from my TA saying that this requirement is for cruises that had stopped in Brazil

and our cruise is not one that requires a yellow Fever shot.

 

[rcandkc]

Thank you for reporting!  What a bad mistake. 

[1985rz1]

2 hours ago, cruiseluv said:

Update! My travel agent just called, she brought up the situation to the Sales people in Regent, and they just confirmed this had been an error, this notice was supposed to go to people in a different cruise, that is stopping in Brazil before going to St Lucia. Frankly, Regent should do a better job before disseminating these notices and getting people in a tizzy!  

I hope Regent sends out a correction and apology to those affected.

[ronrick1943]

Had Regent had a good PR department they would have been proactive on this it would never had gone this far.  Regent still needs to react to all this cruise---it should be a simple thing.  Think about it, Regent pays a lot of dollars in Advertisement,  brochures to get you to cruise---something as simple as this takes away from Regents Advertisements.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Phew, glad this was an error.  I agree it was very careless of Regent to do this.  I'm especially glad to hear the resolution, since we will visit St. Lucia on the 2021 WC.  We had our YF shots somewhat over 10 years ago, and intend to confirm with the travel doctor in due course that the 10 year validity is now indefinite.  We are going nowhere on this cruise that would require this vaccination, at least not that I know of.

[Bell Boy]

I haven't had the time to look through 'all' the replies to the OP's post, however just to say that a 'Yellow Fever' inoculation is now for LIFE ! just as long as we keep hold of our original certificate .

 

Yellow fever was originally for a period of ten years before one needed a booster. This has all changed, now it is for life.

I shall be leaving for a cruise around South America shortly ( visiting Brazil) I last had a yellow fever inoculation almost 15 years ago. I have been reliably informed by my practitioner ( and the cruise line) that I don't need to have another, as I will be presenting my certificate at check-in, upon boarding. 

[vitacura]

I'm on the same cruise but did not receive this latest notification. Glad it was just an error.

[cruiseluv]

31 minutes ago, vitacura said:

I'm on the same cruise but did not receive this latest notification. Glad it was just an error.

 

Wish I had not gotten it, would have saved me lots of aggravation! 

[F6969]

Dear Fellow Cruisers,

yes, this has been confusing, stressful etc for several of us. We have justed completed 11 hours of research on the "misinformation " given to us from Regent  for our cruise on November 4th.  Have researched with, CDC, Passport health, Local Travel offices in New York area, Seabourn cruise line, Silversea cruise line, Celebrity Cruise line, Regent cruise lines 2 hrs of conversations, WoW up to and including the Consulate in New York for St. Lucia.  All , everyone, except Regent cruises said, " Yellow Fever Vaccaine, not needed for our cruise, November 4th". Regent, up until I contacted Consulate said it was needed for the following reasons:

They were notified by their Port Agent in St Lucia, via email of the requirement, so they must follow it to protect their guests, even though on their memo to guests said check with the CDC?.... Makes you wonder did they verify information received info with the CDC first for clarification??

Another reason given was,  

Regent does not know where their guests come from prior to boarding ship, so we have to be sure all have the yellow fever vaccine??

Reason #3.  They gave the incident recently with Carnival Cruise lines in Mexico??

Apparently Carnival had passengers onboard whose Passports expired less than 6 months after their cruise, so therefore they were not allowed to dock???Not sure what that had to do with Yellow Fever.

We could go on with the other reasons Regent said we needed shots without first verifying with those they suggested.

End result was the update we received from Regent yesterday "required for their cruises FROM Brazil. ". Which is what the CDC  said to begin with, Vaccine required only for entry into St Lucia FROM a Country that has yellow fever.

This is our first time sailing with Regent, hope the ships are run better than the landside Customer Service department. Bon Voyage

Rob

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Seems to me this has always been done badly.  When we did Rio-Miami about 10 years ago they insisted on the YF shot, despite the fact that we did not visit the Amazon or other infected area.  and we were told that Barbados insisted on it as well, since we were coming from Brazil.

 

In Rio, unbeknownst to me, I lost my certificate some time before boarding.  After freaking out not so quietly, when we boarded, NO ONE LOOKED!  And when we got to Barbados we went happily off on a sailing trip without anyone asking either.  Despite being vastly relieved at the time, I was ticked off that Regent had put us to all this trouble for no reason.  They should have done better, and they should do better now.  I realize these regulations are difficult to penetrate, and change, and that the cruiseline wants to disavow themselves of any liabilities here.  But really, it's not that hard.

[cruiseluv]

2 hours ago, F6969 said:

Dear Fellow Cruisers,

yes, this has been confusing, stressful etc for several of us. We have justed completed 11 hours of research on the "misinformation " given to us from Regent  for our cruise on November 4th.  Have researched with, CDC, Passport health, Local Travel offices in New York area, Seabourn cruise line, Silversea cruise line, Celebrity Cruise line, Regent cruise lines 2 hrs of conversations, WoW up to and including the Consulate in New York for St. Lucia.  All , everyone, except Regent cruises said, " Yellow Fever Vaccaine, not needed for our cruise, November 4th". Regent, up until I contacted Consulate said it was needed for the following reasons:

They were notified by their Port Agent in St Lucia, via email of the requirement, so they must follow it to protect their guests, even though on their memo to guests said check with the CDC?.... Makes you wonder did they verify information received info with the CDC first for clarification??

Another reason given was,  

Regent does not know where their guests come from prior to boarding ship, so we have to be sure all have the yellow fever vaccine??

Reason #3.  They gave the incident recently with Carnival Cruise lines in Mexico??

Apparently Carnival had passengers onboard whose Passports expired less than 6 months after their cruise, so therefore they were not allowed to dock???Not sure what that had to do with Yellow Fever.

We could go on with the other reasons Regent said we needed shots without first verifying with those they suggested.

End result was the update we received from Regent yesterday "required for their cruises FROM Brazil. ". Which is what the CDC  said to begin with, Vaccine required only for entry into St Lucia FROM a Country that has yellow fever.

This is our first time sailing with Regent, hope the ships are run better than the landside Customer Service department. Bon Voyage

Rob

 

Hello Rob,

 

Seems that I went through the same exhaustive research that you did, even calling St Lucia Embassy. None of that seemed to move Customer Relations Dept, who kept insisting that we needed to do it because "Port Agent had requested it", and went as far as to say that if we werent vaccinated we would probably not even be able to board the cruise! I not only had my TA bringing it up to the attention of the Sales people, also another fellow Regent cruiser contacted some higher up to inquire about this. I cant help but think that if there had not been this pushback  by some of us, this may have gone undetected for a while and created even more problems. Their letter updating the information was very terse and impersonal. No mention of "sorry for our mistake", only the proverbial " we apologize for any inconvenience".  And signed by nobody, just by a generic  "Regent Seven Seas Cruises". Extremely lacking. 

 

I just checked and dont see you in our Roll Call. Please join us there, here's the link : 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2534555-nyc-miami-1142019/

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by cruiseluv

[Caroldoll]

On 8/26/2019 at 6:44 PM, rcandkc said:

If I can’t get on ship without it, I’ll have to cancel cruise.  I cannot under any circumstances take a live vaccine. 

You can have your doctor give you a letter I believe

[mariners]

Wendy, if I remember correctly, we were on the same cruise but we chose to leave the cruise in Barbados because of family issues.  We could not leave the ship in Barbados until we showed proof, understandably, to the Barbadian authorities that we had the Yellow Fever vaccination.   We had received the vaccination, had proof that we had received the vaccination, and finally (after many hours) got to leave the ship after being "cleared".  We now have a letter that we take from our travel clinic that gives the date of our inoculation and also states that we should NOT be given another inoculation as it is no longer recommended. I would suggest that you get the same type of letter and travel with the letter, as well as your previous documents regarding the Yellow Fever vaccination, on your world cruise.   

[rallydave]

17 minutes ago, mariners said:

Wendy, if I remember correctly, we were on the same cruise but we chose to leave the cruise in Barbados because of family issues.  We could not leave the ship in Barbados until we showed proof, understandably, to the Barbadian authorities that we had the Yellow Fever vaccination.   We had received the vaccination, had proof that we had received the vaccination, and finally (after many hours) got to leave the ship after being "cleared".  We now have a letter that we take from our travel clinic that gives the date of our inoculation and also states that we should NOT be given another inoculation as it is no longer recommended. I would suggest that you get the same type of letter and travel with the letter, as well as your previous documents regarding the Yellow Fever vaccination, on your world cruise.   

Believe the only acceptable proof of YELLOw Fever shot accepted world wide is the yellow world health card  copy shown above that should be provided no matter who or where gives you the shot.  Also don't believe anyone will take a letter from you travel except a properly filled form stating that you cannot take the shot and thus are relieved of the requirement.  Believe all have to be on documents recognized world wide and no simply a letter.

[BBWC]

rallydave is exactly right. All the responses here about getting a letter from your doctor that you cannot take the shots are incorrect. You can get a waiver, but it has to be documented on the same yellow health card that is used for the shots. The card has to be stamped by a doctor who is licensed by your state as a yellow fever vaccine provider, not some family physician who likely has no knowledge of tropical diseases.

[cruiseluv]

Good to know that you have to jump through hoops to document why you're not getting the vaccine. Glad our itinerary does not require and I'll make sure not to book a cruise with stops that would ask for YF vaccine. 

[mariners]

My apologies if I did not make the information in my answer clear.  In Canada, we have an International Certificate of Vaccination booklet (the previous documents that I stated above that I recommended that Wendy take with her) that includes the International Certificate of Vaccination or Revaccination Against Yellow Fever.  That document states the date of vaccination/revaccination, the manufacturer and batch number, the signature and professional status of vaccinator, and the official stamp of the vaccination centre.  In Canada, we are also now given a WHO/CDC letter that we take with the Health Canada International Certificate of Vaccination that states the information that  "a completed International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP) is valid for the lifetime of the vaccinee."  

 

The information that I provided was directed to Wendy because it is relevant for her and, perhaps, others who are travelling with Canadian documents.  In Canada, family physicians do not provide the Yellow Fever inoculations, nor the waiver required if one cannot have the inoculation.  Obviously, from the answers others have given, all of this might be done differently in the USA.

 

As a side note, I also travel with a letter "recognized world wide" that states that I cannot ever have another Yellow Fever Vaccination as I am one of the small number of individuals who experienced an adverse reaction to my initial inoculation.  

 

I would also recommend that any individual who is travelling, regardless of where they are from, request information and assistance from a travel clinic, if one is available, in his/her country.