If Royal Requires A Covid-19 Vaccine Before Cruising Will You Get It???

[A&L_Ont]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

Of course you'll have this, and who knows what other forms of circumventing the system. Human nature. As I said on another forum, push all this (cruising) off till the start of '22, allowing for more time for vaccination globally speaking, and at least moving closer to herd immunity, instead of coming up with all sorts of scenarios that may or may not work. We're still in the early phases of vaccination and have no idea how long any immunity gained from the vaccines will even last. A year from now we'll likely be much farther along and in a better position to restart cruising in the manner of which we all want it to be anyway. To rush back into it too soon just invites problems and could possibly incur another industry-wide shutdown. What joy will there be to get back on a ship, worrying a good part of the time whether or not everything is copacetic. 

I have said this entire time that the lines only really get one shot with how the CDC is watching, as well as the media. They certainly don’t need other obstacles in their way, once sailing begins, which can potentially cause failure. 

[Incognito1]

9 hours ago, LXA350 said:

 

This is the new norm and likely all the major cruiselines will have the same policies in place that you have to be vaccinated in order to be able to board a cruiseship, this is our new reality. Eventually it will not only be boarding a cruiseship, it will be able to go to a concert, to travel etc. 

Probably not the case in the US, but we'll have to wait and see.

[Milwaukee Eight]

9 hours ago, LXA350 said:

 

This is the new norm and likely all the major cruiselines will have the same policies in place that you have to be vaccinated in order to be able to board a cruiseship, this is our new reality. Eventually it will not only be boarding a cruiseship, it will be able to go to a concert, to travel etc. 

Here in Florida we are back to concerts. Little River Band next Thursday. Booked Blue Oyster Cult for May. It will be nice getting back to some concerts. 
 

M8

[ONECRUISER]

23 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Here in Florida we are back to concerts. Little River Band next Thursday. Booked Blue Oyster Cult for May. It will be nice getting back to some concerts. 
 

M8

Agree, can't ever see Vaccine required here for Concert, Amusement Parks, etc. On news 98% AMC Movie Theaters are open this weekend, even NY is opening Restaurants and other Venues now. A Mandate is hard sell in US, shoot only 52% Medical Field have even received it, about 1/3 said they don't ever plan on getting it. Cruises, do not see Vaccine required for too long on Royal, Children will be board w/o Vaccine as they start so no 100% anyway. Did get my first shot, around people need keep safe and now bases covered want to Cruise soon. Though interesting as my Vaccine Card all personal info Blank, no name with just Vaccince info/date. Guess I'll fill in in before my second shot in 2wks... Funny should mention Blue Oyster Cult, was just listening to them thinking back 40+ years ago went to Black and Blue Concert, Black Sabbath/Blue Oyster Cult

[Milwaukee Eight]

3 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Agree, can't ever see Vaccine required here for Concert, Amusement Parks, etc. On news 98% AMC Movie Theaters are open this weekend, even NY is opening Restaurants and other Venues now. A Mandate is hard sell in US, shoot only 52% Medical Field have even received it, about 1/3 said they don't ever plan on getting it. Cruises, do not see Vaccine required for too long on Royal, Children will be board w/o Vaccine as they start so no 100% anyway. Did get my first shot, around people need keep safe and now bases covered want to Cruise soon. Though interesting as my Vaccine Card all personal info Blank, no name with just Vaccince info/date. Guess I'll fill in in before my second shot in 2wks... Funny should mention Blue Oyster Cult, was just listening to them thinking back 40+ years ago went to Black and Blue Concert, Black Sabbath/Blue Oyster Cult

That would have been an awesome concert. I was listening to a bunch of Deep Purple today. Was in that kind of mood. 

[smokeybandit]

5 hours ago, coffeebean said:

My vaccine provider is a temporary set up with my county in Florida. I would hope my information is in a state data base. Hope the information in this article is factual and correct.......

Immunization Registry

The physical vaccination clinic may have been temporary, but I assume the actual provider exists outside the context of covid. 

[ONECRUISER]

Just now, Milwaukee Eight said:

That would have been an awesome concert. I was listening to a bunch of Deep Purple today. Was in that kind of mood. 

Yeah think was more fun being 15/16 year old back then, know I had great time! 

[Ocean Boy]

1 minute ago, xpcdoojk said:

Awe to bad, I couldn’t wait to hear more....

Yeah, me too.

[xpcdoojk]

M8, tell me if BOC is good still.  They have dozen albums of which 2-5 songs are decent, and the rest just filler.  The good songs though are really good.  Have seen them 4 or 5 times, the last about 35 years ago...

 

jc

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 minute ago, xpcdoojk said:

M8, tell me if BOC is good still.  They have dozen albums of which 2-5 songs are decent, and the rest just filler.  The good songs though are really good.  Have seen them 4 or 5 times, the last about 35 years ago...

 

jc

I’ll be glad to give an update. 
 

M8

[Biker19]

7 hours ago, molly361 said:

Wonder what happens if you lose your card? 

Bookmark the web site (like the CDC VAMS) on your mobile device where you can show it online - a bit more authentic than a piece of paper.

[dswallow]

Here's my thinking on the subject:

 

The world has chosen vaccines as the way to address the pandemic.

 

It won't happen overnight, of course, simply for logistical reasons, but that's the aim and the goal. And to that end, everything, and I mean everything that returns to what we would call normalcy is going to be based on being vaccinated.

 

To the extent the concept of herd immunity can let us survive the pandemic without 100% vaccine compliance, great, I suppose, but that means we're resolving the pandemic in spite of those people who are refusing vaccination. More on that in a moment.

 

Vaccination isn't about preventing infection as much as it's about minimize the detrimental effects of the disease. That can certainly be by preventing infection. It can also include minimizing serious effects. Essentially if the worst effect on a vaccinated person are symptoms much like a common cold, we've won, compared to what we were facing when COVID-19 first appeared. It's about preventing serious complications; preventing the need for hospitalization; preventing widespread infections when one person become infected and has mixed with others.

 

What that means, of course, in a world where you have people who will choose not to be vaccinated because they're given the choice, they will be in a secondary position everywhere. What does that mean, really? It means from a liability perspective, those who have made that choice will be left on their own to the consequences of that choice. As cruising begins to restart, for example, we see protocols in place where the cruise line is essentially covering any and all medical needs for those who may contract a COVID-19 infection. You can be certain that such guarantees won't be extended to those who choose not to be vaccinated, should the cruise lines at some point permit those not vaccinated who could be vaccinated aboard the ships.

 

Burdens will move from the general population onto those who choose not to be vaccinated. Exclusions on insurance coverage, for example, will place burdens more on the individual choosing not to be vaccinated than it does for those who are stricken but did get vaccinated.

 

Now as herd immunity essentially creates barriers around those who are unvaccinated from readily transmitting an infection to most anyone they are in contact with, we as a society will still see a significant benefit from vaccinating just a majority of individuals in a population, instead of 100%. And those who choose to be in the unvaccinated group won't be immune from infection at any point, really, it's just that the chances of an infection successfully reaching them is significantly diminished. And that's why, ultimately, those choose to be unvaccinated are also going to find themselves excluded in ways where liability and medical coverage is necessary. They chose to be unprotected, so they will suffer the burden of that choice should the become infected.

 

I think we can expect the cruise lines to take some baby steps initially. It will be disastrous for instance if these initial cruises with vaccinated crew and passengers should suffer a significant outbreak, or really almost any outbreak other than discovering people boarded with an infection that was not discovered (i.e., such as a false negative test). And while I think most everyone expects vaccination to reduce transmission as much as reducing infection, everyone's just waiting for some actual experience with large groups of vaccinated people spending time unencumbered by things like social distancing and mask wearing to see how it works out in practice. If I were an organization like the CDC I'd be loving the idea of a big test group like a cruise ship, to see how this really works out. But since these aren't studies, we have to face them as public relations efforts. So the industry needs the sailings to work out well. We'll likely see conservative steps in reducing any protocols we've become used to in the last year like masks and social distancing.

 

Some realities of course are that the proof of vaccination is unfortunately readily forged. So while requiring proof of vaccination is the desire, they also really need to back that up with a negative COVID-19 test, too. I'm sure at some point when/if such a test exists and is reliable, we'll see testing move towards confirming vaccination. But in the case of Nassau departures, the testing requirement actually comes from The Bahamas, in entering the country initially. But it does serve the necessary purpose of backing up the vaccination requirement.

 

And we'll probably have some sort of regular testing onboard, too. Either based on secondary tests or random or periodic. Because while we are "pretty sure" vaccination minimizes risks even if an infection occurs, we just want to be safer than that and ensure we limit further transmission if we detect anything out of the ordinary. Again, something that likely will be relaxed as the comfort level over vaccination results increases.

 

We all benefit by these initial cruises going well. So I would seriously hope that nobody purposefully attempts to circumvent either the actual precautions or the intent of those precautions and protocols that will be in place. Now is not the time to be petulant over such protocols. 

[Ourusualbeach]

12 minutes ago, dswallow said:

But in the case of Nassau departures, the testing requirement actually comes from The Bahamas, in entering the country initially. But it does serve the necessary purpose of backing up the vaccination requirement.

 

And we'll probably have some sort of regular testing onboard, too. Either based on secondary tests or random or periodic.

Celebrity has already announced that in addition to the PCR test required to enter St. Maarten all guests will take an antigen test at the pier as well as receive one on the last day of the cruise..  no further testing mid cruise. I fully expect that Royal will follow the same protocols. 

 

 

[dswallow]

6 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Celebrity has already announced that in addition to the PCR test required to enter St. Maarten all guests will take an antigen test at the pier as well as receive one on the last day of the cruise..  no further testing mid cruise. I fully expect that Royal will follow the same protocols. 

 

 

 

Obviously we need one to use for flying home post-cruise, but I would still be expecting they'll do things like temperature checks that could then result in actual tests, since a temperature check just requires stationing a crewmember someplace.

 

Have you heard anything about such measures being in place for these Caribbean sailing son either cruise line yet?

[Ourusualbeach]

5 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

Obviously we need one to use for flying home post-cruise, but I would still be expecting they'll do things like temperature checks that could then result in actual tests, since a temperature check just requires stationing a crewmember someplace.

 

Have you heard anything about such measures being in place for these Caribbean sailing son either cruise line yet?

 Nothing was mentioned about temp checks.  Only the 2 antigen tests. 
 

it would not surprise me to see temp checks on board, possibly returning from shore excursions....at least in the beginning. 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Ourusualbeach

[LXA350]

16 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

You're wrong.  Nothing was mentioned about masks.  And nothing was mentioned about guests who can't.  What was mentioned is all guests over 18 need to be vaccinated, kids need the negative test and the other protocols and restrictions have not yet been determined, which would include masks, social distancing and possible excursion bubbles.

 

At this stage if someone can't get vacinated because of "health" conditions then they should definetly not go on a cruise both for their own health and safety and for the thousands of crew members and passengers. BTW: it was already mentioned that leaving the ship will only be possible with excurisions from the ship, unless in Coco Cay there I assume everyone can leave the ship as they like given the Island is a buble.

 

11 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Here in Florida we are back to concerts. Little River Band next Thursday. Booked Blue Oyster Cult for May. It will be nice getting back to some concerts. 
 

M8

 

It's nice to hear and hope you will be able to enjoy the concerts safely. It's maybe just to early unless you can only attend if vaccinated as such events are a big risk to turn out into super spreader events as long as many people are not yet vaccinated. A big threat to Florida is currently the events around Spring Break which could have again a negative effect and delay things even further for going back to a more normal.

[Ourusualbeach]

10 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

At this stage if someone can't get vacinated because of "health" conditions then they should definetly not go on a cruise both for their own health and safety and for the thousands of crew members and passengers.

This is yet one more thing that has not been clearly decided by Royal and appears that it will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

 

16. If a vaccination is medically contraindicated because of a disability, how is this handled?

Guests unable to comply with safety requirements due to medical disabilities should contact Royal Caribbean's Access Department at (866) 592-7225 or send an e-mail to special_needs@rccl.com. Should you require it, our fax number is(954)628-9622. If desired, travel partners may contact us on their guest’s behalf.

[Fido Chuckwagon]

18 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

At this stage if someone can't get vacinated because of "health" conditions

Anyone claiming the can’t get the vaccine because of health conditions at this point is almost certainly lying, or their doctor is dumb.  My MIL who has lupus, cancer, is living on a transplanted kidney, and takes a daily regimen of tons of immunosuppressants because of the transplant and the lupus got one.  If she, with all of those disorders, including the immune system issues, gets one, then everyone can get one.  The only real issue is whether or not a vaccine is effective and works in a person like her, not whether it is safe to take it.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Fido Chuckwagon

[soremekun]

16 hours ago, coffeebean said:

My vaccine provider is a temporary set up with my county in Florida. I would hope my information is in a state data base. Hope the information in this article is factual and correct.......

Immunization Registry

In my case, I had to provide my health insurance information.  The vaccination site is run by CIC Health.  While the vaccine is free, administration of it is paid by insurance.  So there have to be records of my vaccination in several databases in addition to the card I have.

Edited March 21, 2021 by soremekun

[LXA350]

26 minutes ago, Fido Chuckwagon said:

Anyone claiming the can’t get the vaccine because of health conditions at this point is almost certainly lying, or their doctor is dumb.  My MIL who has lupus, cancer, is living on a transplanted kidney, and takes a daily regimen of tons of immunosuppressants because of the transplant and the lupus got one.  If she, with all of those disorders, including the immune system issues, gets one, then everyone can get one.  The only real issue is whether or not a vaccine is effective and works in a person like her, not whether it is safe to take it.

 

Of course, these would be people like the ones that claim they are "disabled" and must have a scooter because they are to lazy to walk. There are many that fully depend on such aid because they really are  barely able to walk and would not be able to cruise without it but there are a large number of people that just have a scooter not because they need it for medical reasons.

 

RCL should be consequent, people that claim they can't get vaccinated or be able to wear a mask should not board a cruiseship with 0 tolerance.

[Milwaukee Eight]

51 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

It's nice to hear and hope you will be able to enjoy the concerts safely. It's maybe just to early unless you can only attend if vaccinated as such events are a big risk to turn out into super spreader events as long as many people are not yet vaccinated. A big threat to Florida is currently the events around Spring Break which could have again a negative effect and delay things even further for going back to a more normal.

Vaccinations not required for concert. There is some cap on capacity. Florida has been open since May-June. Kids are back in school, very little issue. Sports are happening. NASCAR has moved several of their races to Florida from lockdown States that prohibit them. Win-win for Florida. The issues in Miami dealt with gun play and a shooting. That part is not being covered by the National Media. National media is all about Covid. We had nearly 500k bikers and Spring Breakers here in Daytona/Ormond area two weeks ago. No big surge. Only waves were coming ashore on the beach. 
 

I track the ICU available beds for Florida Hospitals. We have 25% available which is normal and the total bed count has dropped a 1000 (when things get bad they can and do add beds as needed). The 25% number is a good number. Hospitals don’t make money from a vacant bed. 
 

Florida’s numbers are better than many lockdown States. We eat out quite often and restaurants are very full, especially during snowbird season.  We wear our mask when indoors shopping and as appropriate. We don’t judge others who don’t, we just avoid them as practical. 
 

People are just tired and at wits end for being in this state of mind for a year. Their frustrations are showing and you can see in here as well. 
 

M8

[LXA350]

6 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Vaccinations not required for concert. There is some cap on capacity. Florida has been open since May-June. Kids are back in school, very little issue. Sports are happening. NASCAR has moved several of their races to Florida from lockdown States that prohibit them. Win-win for Florida. The issues in Miami dealt with gun play and a shooting. That part is not being covered by the National Media. National media is all about Covid. We had nearly 500k bikers and Spring Breakers here in Daytona/Ormond area two weeks ago. No big surge. Only waves were coming ashore on the beach. 
 

I track the ICU available beds for Florida Hospitals. We have 25% available which is normal and the total bed count has dropped a 1000 (when things get bad they can and do add beds as needed). The 25% number is a good number. Hospitals don’t make money from a vacant bed. 
 

Florida’s numbers are better than many lockdown States. We eat out quite often and restaurants are very full, especially during snowbird season.  We wear our mask when indoors shopping and as appropriate. We don’t judge others who don’t, we just avoid them as practical. 
 

People are just tired and at wits end for being in this state of mind for a year. Their frustrations are showing and you can see in here as well. 
 

M8

 

Happy to hear that things are working out quite good in FL and you have some normality back to daily life. Luckily you also have the mild climate that enables you to have lot's of activite outside and also eat outside in Restaurants, which surely helps as well.

 

At the end it's about keeping a balance and as long as hospital capacity is under control this enables to give your population more freedom.

 

We all hope this will be over eventualy and let us live mostly as we were able to do so before COVID.

[Keksie]

1 hour ago, LXA350 said:

 

It's nice to hear and hope you will be able to enjoy the concerts safely. It's maybe just to early unless you can only attend if vaccinated as such events are a big risk to turn out into super spreader events as long as many people are not yet vaccinated. A big threat to Florida is currently the events around Spring Break which could have again a negative effect and delay things even further for going back to a more normal.

No matter what happens with spring break Florida will not go backward as far as normality goes.  We have been eating inside restaurants for months and they are very busy.  I have been seeing my son on a regular basis, visiting with my group of friends weekly, getting my nails done and my dogs groomed since May.  We had a Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthdays as we always have.  I know that cruising will not be a vacation for us for a long time but I am starting to plan a road trip or two.  

[Milwaukee Eight]

5 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

Happy to hear that things are working out quite good in FL and you have some normality back to daily life. Luckily you also have the mild climate that enables you to have lot's of activite outside and also eat outside in Restaurants, which surely helps as well.

Some restaurants have limited outdoor seating, more so on the beach or river, but most really don’t.  I can’t remember when the last time we ate outdoors. Florida has a milder climate but its sub tropical and rains can be the norm. Can’t use outdoor seating in the rain and can’t use it to point to for our current situation.  Our numbers are better than or equal to most lockdown States.

 

Just think, Florida is going to be smarter too as our kids have been back in school all year. 😇

 

M8

[Keksie]

8 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Some restaurants have limited outdoor seating, more so on the beach or river, but most really don’t.  I can’t remember when the last time we ate outdoors. Florida has a milder climate but its sub tropical and rains can be the norm. Can’t use outdoor seating in the rain and can’t use it to point to for our current situation.  Our numbers are better than or equal to most lockdown States.

 

Just think, Florida is going to be smarter too as our kids have been back in school all year. 😇

 

M8

Not all of Florida is warm year round either.  We have had some cold weather so eating outside is not something we want to do.  At the first part of last May we did eat outside a few times but after that it has been inside at restaurants for us at least once a week.  Children need to be back in school everywhere just like the children in our area have been since September.