CDC gives Celebrity the approval to start in June

[graphicguy]

So, saw this in another thread....also good news for those who are vaccinated....

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/25113-cdc-significantly-relaxes-cruise-rules-for-fully-vaccinated-passengers.html

[MrCoachRentz]

I wonder since Celebrity is a part of RCL that the "go around" is the fact that you can cruise on an RCL ship without a vaccine.  

 

[Smmessineo]

 As a Florida resident, i feel like i am in one of those weird dreams that don't make sense. My husband and I are fully vaccinated, and we have our cards. But i always like redundancy with any documentation. So I   just called my county department of health to see if they keep vaccination records. I asked specifically about COVID vaccines and she literally could not speak the word., even though I initiated the request. She was great, and she managed to get me to ask about my flu shot last fall instead and said    " sure, come down and fill out a form and we will give you a print out of ALL your vaccines". 

This is insane. The poor state employees who have to deal with this ....

 

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by Smmessineo
Misspelled word

[Jazzbo]

1 hour ago, Smmessineo said:

 As a Florida resident, i feel like i am in one of those weird dreams that don't make sense. My husband and I are fully vaccinated, and we have our cards. But i always like redundancy with any documentation. So I   just called my county department of health to see if they keep vaccination records. I asked specifically about COVID vaccines and she literally could not speak the word., even though I initiated the request. She was great, and she managed to get me to ask about my flu shot last fall instead and said    " sure, come down and fill out a form and we will give you a print out of ALL your vaccines". 

This is insane. The poor state employees who have to deal with this ....

 

 

 

Thanks for posting this!  Now I know what to ask for.

[wrk2cruise]

3 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I have found that depends on the ship/line etc...it has been been about 50/50 or less for me being charged any drink taxes in port...or less..and I've had drinks in port 100% of the time.  🙂

 

I know sometimes they fill out the paper slips and then enter them later once out of the jurisdiction rather than run the card at the time.   There generally is a loophole if you try hard enough.

[NMTraveller]

So what is the difference in these first sailings vs pre covid sailings?  Is the only difference for vaccinated cruisers the reduced capacity of the cruise ships?

[Fouremco]

8 minutes ago, jg51 said:

.

Just a bit of clarification, regarding terminology, is in order:

 

Celebrity is not "a part of RCL."  There is not (and, as far as we can recall, there never has been) something called "RCL."

 

Instead ... Celebrity Cruises, Silversea Cruises, and Royal Caribbean International [RCI, not RCL] are the three subsidiaries of Royal Caribbean Group (RCG). 

 

Until (roughly) a year ago, Royal Caribbean Group was known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL).

.

Absolutely correct.

 

On the other hand, this board has thousands of posts referring to "RCL".  Given the context of these posts, including that of @MrCoachRentz, I doubt that readers will have any difficulty understanding the reference.

[evandbob]

8 hours ago, Smmessineo said:

. I asked specifically about COVID vaccines and she literally could not speak the word., even though I initiated the request. She was great, and she managed to get me to ask about my flu shot last fall instead and said    " sure, come down and fill out a form and we will give you a print out of ALL your vaccines". 

This reminds me of the order given out by the previous Florida Gov Rick Scott that forbade gov't employees to mention "climate change".  Only in Florida!!

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, jg51 said:

.

Just a bit of clarification, regarding terminology, is in order:

 

Celebrity is not "a part of RCL."  There is not (and, as far as we can recall, there never has been) something called "RCL."

 

Instead ... Celebrity Cruises, Silversea Cruises, and Royal Caribbean International [RCI, not RCL] are the three subsidiaries of Royal Caribbean Group (RCG). 

 

Until (roughly) a year ago, Royal Caribbean Group was known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL).

.

Actually you do not have it quite right.  The holding company/mother company is called Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and its stock symbol is "RCL."  That company owns Royal Caribbean International (RCI) (which was previously called RCCL), Celebrity Cruises, and  Silverseas Cruises.  They also hold a stake in some other cruise lines (such as TUI) which is of little interest to most folks in the USA.  Having cruises with RCI from back in the 70s and also owning some of their stock for over 25 years I do have some minor knowledge of the structure.  One surprise to some is that RCL no longer owns Azamara (we like this line) which they sold to Sycamore Partners this past January.

 

As a long time follower (and investor) in the industry we thought the sale of Azamara was very interesting.  We have thought, for years, that Azamara was a promising brand almost ignored by the holding company and never developed to any great extent.  Azamara is what I call a Premium Line which might be considered a direct competitor to Oceania.  A cruise agent friend calls Oceania and Azamara a "stepping stone" from the mass market lines to the luxury lines (i.e. Seabourn, Silverseas, Crystal, Regent, etc).    I have no clue what Sycamore Partners will do with Azamara but it will be fun to watch.

 

Hank

 

Hank

[tallyho8]

Celebrity cruises would be off the hook and able to follow the governor's rule of not checking people for vaccinations if:

They get St Maarten to require fully vaccinated people on their EHAS forms. 

 

Then they would not have to check passengers for vaccinations, they just have to check them for the EHAS forms that have been approved by the St Maarten government. No forms approved, no cruise.

Simple and makes the governor happy.

 

If they are traveling from the US to other countries they just have to have one of  the other countries require a similar form.

Edited May 28, 2021 by tallyho8

[Hlitner]

29 minutes ago, tallyho8 said:

Celebrity cruises would be off the hook and able to follow the governor's rule of not checking people for vaccinations if:

They get St Maarten to require fully vaccinated people on their EHAS forms. 

 

Then they would not have to check passengers for vaccinations, they just have to check them for the EHAS forms that have been approved by the St Maarten government. No forms approved, no cruise.

Simple and makes the governor happy.

 

If they are traveling from the US to other countries they just have to have one of  the other countries require a similar form.

I am not so sure.  After seeing your post I pulled up Florida SB 2006 (this is the law that contains the anti-vaccine passport provision) and that part of the law says:

     381.00316 COVID-19 vaccine documentation.—
 1122         (1) A business entity, as defined in s. 768.38 to include
 1123  any business operating in this state, may not require patrons or
 1124  customers to provide any documentation certifying COVID-19
 1125  vaccination or post-infection recovery to gain access to, entry
 1126  upon, or service from the business operations in this state.
 1127  This subsection does not otherwise restrict businesses from
 1128  instituting screening protocols consistent with authoritative or
 1129  controlling government-issued guidance to protect public health.

I did not notice any exception if St Maarten (or other islands) have different requirements.   IMHO, Florida has laid the ground work for an interesting legal argument about whether they have jurisdiction over cruise ships.  In their Federal suit against the CDC (heard in Tampa) Florida argued that the CDC lacked the authority to shut down (or even regulate) the cruise industry.  Now, Florida has enacted legislation which could not only be used to challenge the CDC's authority but also raises a new issue if a State can regulate marine/cruise operations in their jurisdiction.  The Lawyers will have fun with this and I wonder how many days it will take Celebrity Cruises to seek an injunction asking the Federal District Court to enjoin the State from enforcing their new law.

 

There is a strange irony to all of this stuff.  Governor DeSantos has led the charge to get the Feds to allow cruise line operations to resume out of Florida ports.  But at the same time he has supported and signed a new law which makes it very difficult for any cruise line to comply with CDC requirements necessary to resume operations (unless the Federal District Court decides the CDC has no authority).  As to Celebrity, since they now have CDC permission to resume cruises with the Edge in late June, one solution will be for Celebrity to simply more their embarkation port to another State such as Alabama or South Carolina.  

 

Hank

 

 

[grandgeezer]

Celebrity is allowed to sail with paying customers mainly because of the vaccine guarantee for most the passengers and crew. If they can't require proof to verify they are meeting the requirements, they should be forced to run nonrevenue generating cruises like RCL is talking about doing on the Freedom of the Seas. Just asking someone if they had their shots is pointless. Who would admit they didn't if they knew it was a requirement to board?

The cruise line knew about the Donald Trump wannabe governor of Florida plan for not allowing vaccine proof documents for quite awhile, yet they went ahead anyway. Either they knew it wouldn't hold up under scrutiny, they had a workaround, or they knew  the gov. would change his mind and allow the cards and take the credit for being the single savior that allowed cruising to restart in Florida.

[ipeeinthepool]

The Florida vaccine regulation was targeted toward the cruise lines.  This won't be a problem.

[D C]

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

 

I did not notice any exception if St Maarten (or other islands) have different requirements.   IMHO, Florida has laid the ground work for an interesting legal argument about whether they have jurisdiction over cruise ships.  In their Federal suit against the CDC (heard in Tampa) Florida argued that the CDC lacked the authority to shut down (or even regulate) the cruise industry.  Now, Florida has enacted legislation which could not only be used to challenge the CDC's authority but also raises a new issue if a State can regulate marine/cruise operations in their jurisdiction.  The Lawyers will have fun with this and I wonder how many days it will take Celebrity Cruises to seek an injunction asking the Federal District Court to enjoin the State from enforcing their new law.

 

There is a strange irony to all of this stuff.  Governor DeSantos has led the charge to get the Feds to allow cruise line operations to resume out of Florida ports.  But at the same time he has supported and signed a new law which makes it very difficult for any cruise line to comply with CDC requirements necessary to resume operations (unless the Federal District Court decides the CDC has no authority).  As to Celebrity, since they now have CDC permission to resume cruises with the Edge in late June, one solution will be for Celebrity to simply more their embarkation port to another State such as Alabama or South Carolina.  

 

Hank

 

 

I have a feeling that the RCL attorneys have everything written up and are just waiting for the moment to file.  Wouldn't surprise me if it's on the day of the 1st cruise embarkation. 

[Jeremiah1212]

9 minutes ago, D C said:

I have a feeling that the RCL attorneys have everything written up and are just waiting for the moment to file.  Wouldn't surprise me if it's on the day of the 1st cruise embarkation. 

 

Yesterday Celebrity kind of said two things. One was that RCG, Carnival and NCL are all working together on communication with the governor and they expect they can get this resolved. Which is of course the 'happy' path of sorts. Then she let it slip a little bit that otherwise they need to firm up 'how they are going to word it' to get around the legislation. I'm pretty sure they are confident they could approach this from a few different angles and still get the outcome they want. 

[rhblake]

What is being discussed is a "LAW" and can only be changed by the legislature or the courts. The governor can not change state law. All of the discussions with the governor will go no where unless the governor gets the legislature to rescind the "LAW." Is the Florida legislature still in session?

[ipeeinthepool]

40 minutes ago, rhblake said:

What is being discussed is a "LAW" and can only be changed by the legislature or the courts. The governor can not change state law. All of the discussions with the governor will go no where unless the governor gets the legislature to rescind the "LAW." Is the Florida legislature still in session?

 

Nope.  They will likely clarify some definitions.

[rhblake]

4 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Nope.  They will likely clarify some definitions.

Who is "they?" Can they governor clarify those definitions on his own or is it the legislature?

[TeeRick]

I know there is a high amount of cruise infrastructure, assets, and capital in the state of Florida.  Investments in cruise terminals and support is huge.  Port Everglades, Miami. Port Canaveral. Tampa.  Palm Beach.   And employees.  And supporting industries.  All of this argues for a saving-face solution soon.  But a small part of me wants to see the cruise industry snub its nose at the governor and create itineraries from other southeast states.  Just like going out of the Bahamas, St. Maarten, etc.

[ipeeinthepool]

15 minutes ago, rhblake said:

Who is "they?" Can they governor clarify those definitions on his own or is it the legislature?

 

The Governor and the cruise line executives are working on a statement.

[cangelmd]

8 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

I know there is a high amount of cruise infrastructure, assets, and capital in the state of Florida.  Investments in cruise terminals and support is huge.  Port Everglades, Miami. Port Canaveral. Tampa.  Palm Beach.   And employees.  And supporting industries.  All of this argues for a saving-face solution soon.  But a small part of me wants to see the cruise industry snub its nose at the governor and create itineraries from other southeast states.  Just like going out of the Bahamas, St. Maarten, etc.

Let's do it, NOLA and Mobile are ready. Oh snap. wait, our legislature passed a similar ridiculous law as well. Unlike Florida, it has no enforcement clause and penalties were not specified, so we can unwind it fairly easily. Our problem in Mobile is I'm not certain the ship channel can take a ship the size of say Equinox. I know they've done some work for larger ships and there's a new turning basin, but I'm not sure even that is big enough for an S or E class cruise ship.

Edited May 28, 2021 by cangelmd

[TeeRick]

There are a bunch of Navy and military bases in Florida.  If the US government requires navy sailors to be vaccinated, will FL fine them too?

[cangelmd]

On to more practical questions. We are now much more confident that our Aug 1 Equinox sailing may be a go. What is the situation in FLL? Are the hotels full? Ubers available? Delta flights (can't fly Spirit or Southwest, so don't bother)? Did they finish working on the @#$%^ terminal at FLL?

 

DH and I are discussing arrangements - I'm thinking we may be better off driving this one time. because if anything gets disrupted between now and July 31, we will have less to cancel. A glass of wine on the plane is our traditional beginning to a cruise vacation, but that may not happen this time - I'm just thankful to go! Anyone else actually making plans? What have you considered doing differently?

[Ken the cruiser]

14 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

On to more practical questions. We are now much more confident that our Aug 1 Equinox sailing may be a go. What is the situation in FLL? Are the hotels full? Ubers available? Delta flights (can't fly Spirit or Southwest, so don't bother)? Did they finish working on the @#$%^ terminal at FLL?

 

DH and I are discussing arrangements - I'm thinking we may be better off driving this one time. because if anything gets disrupted between now and July 31, we will have less to cancel. A glass of wine on the plane is our traditional beginning to a cruise vacation, but that may not happen this time - I'm just thankful to go! Anyone else actually making plans? What have you considered doing differently?

We'll be driving down the day before our July 24th Edge sailing and staying in a Ft Pierce hotel as it's an 11 hour drive to Ft L. This way we'll also have our car in the port parking lot just in case anything happens while on any of our cruises. Definitely fun times ahead!! 😎

[cangelmd]

9 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We'll be driving down the day before our July 24th Edge sailing and staying in a Ft Pierce hotel as it's an 11 hour drive to Ft L. This way we'll also have our car in the port parking lot just in case anything happens while on any of our cruises. Definitely fun times ahead!! 😎

Part of our reluctance is that I'm still working, so we can break up the drive down, but the drive back we will have to go straight through, then I have to go to work the next day. It's about 10 hours.