Yikes! Over age 70 passengers need doctor’s note (Merged threads)

[Fouremco]

52 minutes ago, Content@Sea said:

Anybody at ANY age is equally at risk.

That's simply not true. There is conclusive evidence that the mortality rate for those 70 and over is higher than the rate for lower age groups.

 

58 minutes ago, Content@Sea said:

The exam has to within 7 days of departure, evidently.

Can you provide a link? I've not been able to find any information on the timing for the doctors' notes. 

[hcat]

Assuming the requirement remains and one can't get the med  clearance, what becomes of a  Future Cruise Credit...issued before the note requirement was widely known?

Edited April 20, 2020 by hcat

[Covepointcruiser]

So sorry for those of you who have doctors who are unwilling to sign a “fit to sail” form.    My husband’s doctor said he would have no problem signing the form.   Buying non refundable tickets, no matter how cheap, is foolhardy in the current situation.   Our travel agent has advised us to only book through the cruise line for our own protection.   Seabourn has given us Business Class flights to Montreal from BWI and from Miami-Dade to BWI for $238 each.   We certainly can’t beat that price and if we don’t sail in late October it’s Seabourn’s problem!

[Fouremco]

4 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Our travel agent has advised us to only book through the cruise line for our own protection.

I'm going off topic for a minute, but can you explain what protection a cruise line can provide that can't be acquired when booking through a travel agent?

[Content@Sea]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/11/proposal-white-house-cruise-industry-bar-people-70-ships/5020325002/

Doctor form here:
https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/Certificate-of-Medical-Fitness-to-Travel-form.pdf

"The form has to be signed by a licensed medical professional no more than seven days ahead of embarkation or seven days before the guest's travels began if they are traveling more than seven days before a voyage's start time."

[Content@Sea]

1 minute ago, Content@Sea said:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/11/proposal-white-house-cruise-industry-bar-people-70-ships/5020325002/

Doctor form here:
https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/Certificate-of-Medical-Fitness-to-Travel-form.pdf

"The form has to be signed by a licensed medical professional no more than seven days ahead of embarkation or seven days before the guest's travels began if they are traveling more than seven days before a voyage's start time."

I just noticed the extra spec... it was not on the info I previously read:
"or seven days before the guest's travels began if they are traveling more than seven days before a voyage's start time"

That gives us more leeway if flying to an overseas departure point. 🙂
 

[Content@Sea]

On 3/29/2020 at 9:04 AM, Barcelona17 said:

I think as this discussion continues we each need to clarify what policy we are addressing. The policy regarding 70+ and COVID-19 is totally different than the policy requiring 70+ being required to obtain a doctor's note once COVID-19 is not an issue.

 

dcl

 

 

Good point! I am interested - as probably most of us - about "the policy requiring 70+ being required to obtain a doctor's note once COVID-19 is not an issue."

As somebody mentioned earlier - our demographic is historically the largest cruising segment. 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Content@Sea

[Covepointcruiser]

If the cruise line cancels the cruise and you have air through them,  they will take care of flight cancellations and it will be part of your 100% refund or 125% cruise credit.   If I booked the air myself or through the TA they would only cover the change fees.   If you booked a non refundable airfare, good luck.

[Content@Sea]

2 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

If the cruise line cancels the cruise and you have air through them,  they will take care of flight cancellations and it will be part of your 100% refund or 125% cruise credit.   If I booked the air myself or through the TA they would only cover the change fees.   If you booked a non refundable airfare, good luck.

Thanks for that additional info. 🙂

 

[Fouremco]

47 minutes ago, Content@Sea said:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/11/proposal-white-house-cruise-industry-bar-people-70-ships/5020325002/

Doctor form here:
https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/Certificate-of-Medical-Fitness-to-Travel-form.pdf

"The form has to be signed by a licensed medical professional no more than seven days ahead of embarkation or seven days before the guest's travels began if they are traveling more than seven days before a voyage's start time."

Unfortunately, you've provided information related to NCL, not Celebrity. The doctor's note isn't even similar, and there is still  nothing that I've seen to date indicating timing for Celebrity.

[markeb]

30 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Unfortunately, you've provided information related to NCL, not Celebrity. The doctor's note isn't even similar, and there is still  nothing that I've seen to date indicating timing for Celebrity.

Given that it’s moot until they start sailing, I guess I’m not surprised. I would expect it to be closer to departure when they do post a timeframe. 
 

Kind of makes me wonder if RCCL was a holdout on the CLIA proposal and is being passive aggressive here...

[ldubs]

I've followed this off and on, but have not read most of the comments.  So sorry if this is already out there. 

 

On Celebrity's website, under the cover-19 Q&A it says there is no specified time period to obtain a doctor's sign-off prior to sailing.  Just that 70+ year olds must have the sign-off.  

 

This from Celebrity's website: 

 

Q: How long before sailing does the physician certification letter for guests over 70 years old need to be obtained?

 

A: There is no specified period of time to obtain the certificate before sailing. Passengers will need to provide the certification at the pier at the time of boarding.

[markeb]

4 hours ago, yorky said:

Thank you but you have your opinion and I have mine. I do not subscribe to the doomsday scenario a few of you are pushing. We can’t wait to cruise again and many others feel the same way, that’s our prerogative exactly the same way it is for those that are done with cruising. We are due to cruise in February and will take a balanced view before that date based on the situation at the time.

I admire your optimism. I don’t share it, and don’t know if it’s based purely on hope. I do wish you luck. If you’re right, the world will be in a much better place in February than I see any reason to expect.

[Denny01]

It gets a bit tough to continue with legit discussions with more than a few of the ‘conspiracy’ posts and the ‘no DR would ever sign this’ posts and so on, all based on squat....I‘ LL step away from those (although I just Love responding to such!), and try to think through the approach being taken by the Cruise Lines. I mean, Cruise Lines didn’t think this up: “Oh, how can I further ruin our business’ or some such approach. My view is, with COVID-19 not under full control, either with a vaccine distributed or the virus just ‘magically’ goes away and is a rare level (yeah, right), anyone with any level of higher risk shouldn’t consider joining any group above 10, let alone jump on a cruise ship, or for that matter go to DisneyWorld. So the form is, in my view, acts two-fold; 1 - it makes each of us to realistically look at our own level of risk, whether we are 70+ or whatever, and 2- for the established higher risk group of us Geezers, that we need a Dr to talk to us on how much risk we are at. 

 

And of course, the Form is there to be waved around by the Cruise LIne Lawyers.....see, we warned them!!! And in truth: They Did. 

 

So once most all of us (if not all) should truly consider going back to cruising is when a Vaccine is made available Or COVID is disappears. And this is posted by a guy who has an Oct 2020 cruise out of Europe back to the US. Just waiting that one out.

 

And think about it. The infection and death rate drop but it’s still there; the States open up more so I go jump on a cruise because a Dr signed some form....and one guy out of 2,000 with no symptoms, gets on board, or some woman goes shopping in the next port and bring ‘you-know-what!’ on board....and off to the races!

 

enough, Den 

 

 

[Fouremco]

Thank you @ldubs, that's a new addition to the restructured Q&As. I'm very surprised that they would be so liberal, but it's good news for those requiring a doctor's ok. It means being able to see a doctor before final payment and cancel if you can't get the doctor's sign off. 

[Germancruiser]

If the cruise lines really go through with those travel restrictioins they will find their ships not very crowded in the future- dear me- what driffle- i was just thinking  - cruisers - not older then say- 40- all healthy.

They would even have trouble filling the " fun ships"!

With that scenario they all end belly up!

 

[hcat]

Whew

One less hurdle!

[markeb]

2 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Thank you @ldubs, that's a new addition to the restructured Q&As. I'm very surprised that they would be so liberal, but it's good news for those requiring a doctor's ok. It means being able to see a doctor before final payment and cancel if you can't get the doctor's sign off. 

Fascinating. Try to take your dog on a plane with the logic X is showing (it’s normally 10 days on a health certificate). Like I said above, it’s moot, and frankly they’re not trying. 
 

it would make sense for you as the traveler to have this conversation with your physician before final payment is due, but a lot could change in 90-120 days. 

[acesneights99]

I was told that 30 days is probably the latest that you could reliably have that form dated. But there is no absolute limit.

 

Norwegian's policy is insane. It's nearly impossible to get an appointment that close to departure.

 

If one does not have any of the conditions on the form, it would seem possible to find a doctor, possibly a travel doctor to sign it.

 

If you have one of the medical conditions on the form, you would be asking a doctor to commit fraud and possibly open up the possibility of a wrongful death suit.

[Fouremco]

4 minutes ago, markeb said:

Fascinating. Try to take your dog on a plane with the logic X is showing (it’s normally 10 days on a health certificate). Like I said above, it’s moot, and frankly they’re not trying. 
 

it would make sense for you as the traveler to have this conversation with your physician before final payment is due, but a lot could change in 90-120 days. 

I'm not sure if it's a question of not trying or one of not being able to come up with something better. Either way, as you say, it's a moot issue until cruising restarts.

[az_tchr]

3 hours ago, Content@Sea said:

Good point! I am interested - as probably most of us - about "the policy requiring 70+ being required to obtain a doctor's note once COVID-19 is not an issue."

As somebody mentioned earlier - our demographic is historically the largest cruising segment. 

Since we are not cruising and not likely to resume any time soon a note right now is moot.

Celebrity stated that a doctor's note was a temporary measure instituted in an effort to continue to keep cruising.  Since cruising cannot resume until COVID is no longer an issue a doctor's note will then obviously not be needed.  The idea of cruiseline requiring a note that would effectively exclude over a third of their customers is silly.  Cruising IMO will not resume until there is a vaccine.

Lots more will change between now and then.

[downsmead]

I don’t think the  cruise companies would survive if they had to wait for a vaccine. 
When one becomes available, it will be in limited supplies to start with and requiring one for a holiday will be towards the bottom of the list. Though on the plus side, the over 70’s will likely be towards the top.

Edited April 21, 2020 by downsmead

[yorky]

8 hours ago, markeb said:

I admire your optimism. I don’t share it, and don’t know if it’s based purely on hope. I do wish you luck. If you’re right, the world will be in a much better place in February than I see any reason to expect.

Of course there is a level of hope. No one can be sure how it’s going to pan out whether they feel confident about the future or negative. Those predicting that cruise lines will go bankrupt don’t know if it will happen. We all know this is huge and it’s going to take time for things to get back on track regardless but history tells us as a species we are resilient and we do bounce back. I firmly believe that cruising is still a great product and people will return, others seem to feel you will be lucky to find a single person willing to cruise, I think  they are going to be surprised at the number of people willing to get back on a cruise ship.

[Barcelona17]

Well. I think your just wrong. Statistics are now coming out from Europe and around the world that a large percentage (in many areas up to 50%) of deaths are being attributed to those in nursing homes. So what this form is going to accomplish is keeping nursing home patients from cruising (can't remember last time I met a nursing home resident on a cruise) and most of those over 70, healthy or not. It will do little to keep those with underlying illnesses from cruising and until a vaccine is produced cruising will not be safe and there will be deaths on cruise ships regardless of their silly form. I do think this policy is shortsighted and a poor attempt at avoiding liability, but perhaps we are better off. Regardless of all the fondness and loyalty being displayed on this site for cruising and the cruiselines....cruising is not safe and never will be until we have a vaccine and this virus is contained. Period. And no amount of proselytizing or manipulating statistics is going to change that.

[Barcelona17]

On 4/12/2020 at 6:56 PM, travelordie said:

Italy just published figures showing death rates versus age.  To the best of my knowledge, these are not confounded by large populations of seniors confined to old age homes.

 

Sorry. My comments are for travelordie.