Christine Duffy on GMA Today - Vaccine Question

[TNcruising02]

Just now, cruisingguy007 said:

 

The cruise lines want nothing to do with testing. It's expensive, slows things down, causes more problems, creates additional oversight, additional paperwork, and increases liability/exposure. It's not in their best interests. Vaccines remove that.  

Did they say they won't be testing since the cruises will be vaccinated only?  I do get that it is easier to require vaccinations, especially since many ports might require them.  If that eliminates the need for covid tests, that will make things easier too.  I just do not believe cruising with tested people is the explosive bomb that will end all cruising that some people think.  I think things would have been just fine.

We are vaccinated, so the selfish part of me is happy to not have to wear a mask and that our cruise won't be crowded.  I like to look on the bright side, and there is a bright side.

[BlerkOne]

1 minute ago, txgranny said:

Actually on united airlines I already uploaded my vaccine card as well and fill in the date, where and what shot was given

Thanks for the reminder. I need to do that.

[florida eagle]

I got sent to the naughty room three times on the Covid issue with this site. To me until my death, liberty and freedom is the main issue. Even though we are not that. I do not want to upset anyone. And be ignorant. Cruising is freedom. To do what we want! The people in charge being in our faces is not good. To all of you ion the vax side...loosen up. 

[LHARTWICK]

4 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Any travel agent claiming to have for sure knowledge of all cruiselines protocols is obviously clueless. At least my very great ta admits things are changing so rapidly no one knows. Sorry I'd trust my ta over one making up stuff. Travel agents are regular people like us. I know I keep up and read everything but I sure wouldn't claim to know. That's crazy. I wouldn't trust someone claiming that they know the future.

She was only going by what she's hearing from the cruise lines.  And don't shoot the messenger...I was only trying to be helpful.

Edited June 4, 2021 by LHARTWICK

[BlerkOne]

Why else would Christine give a heads up before official protocols are released? So people might have a chance to get vaccinated. There is barely a month before cruising restarts.

[jfunk138]

3 minutes ago, txgranny said:

Actually on united airlines I already uploaded my vaccine card as well and fill in the date, where and what shot was given

Were you required to do so in order to conduct business with any entity in the US?  

My understanding is the United website is simply a convenience thing so that you have it available to present to a foreign border control that requires it?

[BlerkOne]

Just now, jfunk138 said:

Were you required to do so in order to conduct business with any entity in the US?  

My understanding is the United website is simply a convenience thing so that you have it available to present to a foreign border control that requires it?

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/your-shot-to-fly-sweepstakes.html

[florida eagle]

1 minute ago, BlerkOne said:

Why else would Christine give a heads up before official protocols are released? So people might have a chance to get vaccinated. There is barely a month before cruising restarts.

BlerkOne...we all screw up over and over in life. The powerful makes thing worse when they do the same.

[txgranny]

Just now, jfunk138 said:

Were you required to do so in order to conduct business with any entity in the US?  

My understanding is the United website is simply a convenience thing so that you have it available to present to a foreign border control that requires it?

Correct, I  volunteered the info so when I do travel it's already provided. I have zero problems providing the data that proves my vaccination status, if a company asks ill provide. 

[BlerkOne]

1 minute ago, florida eagle said:

BlerkOne...we all screw up over and over in life. The powerful makes thing worse when they do the same.

I'm looking forward to the freedom of cruising next month.

[TNcruising02]

3 minutes ago, txgranny said:

Correct, I  volunteered the info so when I do travel it's already provided. I have zero problems providing the data that proves my vaccination status, if a company asks ill provide. 

I did it because they had a contest for free flights.  I am already a United member, so providing the dates of my vaccinations was no big deal.

Edited June 4, 2021 by TNcruising02

[BrotherCraig]

Just submitted a vaccination record,  covid test results, and passport info on the United Airlines site for the flight to Honduras this Sunday.    Approved in less than 2 minutes.  Good to go.  

 

All mandatory to fly out out of the mainland and to Honduras.  Once the plane arrives, there is more paperwork to submit.  Yay!  lol

[BoozinCroozin]

4 minutes ago, florida eagle said:

I got sent to the naughty room three times on the Covid issue with this site. To me until my death, liberty and freedom is the main issue. Even though we are not that. I do not want to upset anyone. And be ignorant. Cruising is freedom. To do what we want! The people in charge being in our faces is not good. To all of you ion the vax side...loosen up. 

Are you saying with have freedom of choice AND freedom from no consequences? 

 

The facts are if on a cruise with unvaccinated passengers, everyone has to wear a diaper on their face. For the 90% of the people, why should we have to wear a diaper on our face because of you? I say the cruise lines test a theory. Use two sister ships. Have one vaccinated and one with all non-vaccinated passengers and see what happens. It would go like this:

 

• Unvaccinated cruise will only allow 2 cabins at a time at the test facility. Once they are negative, they are permitted to board. Then the next groups in. If the all aboard time is reached and you were not tested, you lose your entire cruise with no refund. If you test positive at the test facility, you do not cruise and do not get a refund. 
• The unvaccinated cruise can only have 100 people on the Lido deck. Each bar can only have 50% capacity. If you are not within the capacity for any venue on the ship, you must remain in your cabin. You cannot wander around the ship aimlessly. You can be in one of the designated areas with the capacity restrictions or in your room. 
• Everyone must keep their diaper on the entire cruise and at ports. If at any time you do not follow the diaper face rule, you will be dropped off at the next port to find your own way home. 
• The fully vaccinated cruise can operate without restrictions and have a great time.

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Nonsense. There will be plenty of kids. Plus she hinted at working with the CDC to accommodate those with children under 12 to sail as families. Maybe that's what the 5% is for. Who knows? You anti-kid folks shouldn't break out the party hats just yet.  

5% kids is fine.   It's the swarm of unvaccinated adults that concerns me.  Hopefully they will not be allowed until the CSO expires.  A swarm of unvaccinated adults increases the possibility of an outbreak ever so slightly. And more importantly not having that many unvaccinated adults on board increases the chances of masks, social distancing and bubble excursions not being needed.  I just want our Halloween cruise to be as normal as possible. 5% kids at that time of year is probably normal anyway.

[cscurlock]

44 minutes ago, BoozinCroozin said:

Are you saying with have freedom of choice AND freedom from no consequences? 

 

The facts are if on a cruise with unvaccinated passengers, everyone has to wear a diaper on their face. For the 90% of the people, why should we have to wear a diaper on our face because of you? I say the cruise lines test a theory. Use two sister ships. Have one vaccinated and one with all non-vaccinated passengers and see what happens. It would go like this:

 

• Unvaccinated cruise will only allow 2 cabins at a time at the test facility. Once they are negative, they are permitted to board. Then the next groups in. If the all aboard time is reached and you were not tested, you lose your entire cruise with no refund. If you test positive at the test facility, you do not cruise and do not get a refund. 
• The unvaccinated cruise can only have 100 people on the Lido deck. Each bar can only have 50% capacity. If you are not within the capacity for any venue on the ship, you must remain in your cabin. You cannot wander around the ship aimlessly. You can be in one of the designated areas with the capacity restrictions or in your room. 
• Everyone must keep their diaper on the entire cruise and at ports. If at any time you do not follow the diaper face rule, you will be dropped off at the next port to find your own way home. 
• The fully vaccinated cruise can operate without restrictions and have a great time.

I agree, although we might still have to wear a mask at ports as some countries might still require them.  Not sure on all their rules yet as there are many.  But for the rest of it vaccination actually = freedom.  

[florida eagle]

56 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

I'm looking forward to the freedom of cruising next month.

Freedom is earned and with vigilance. A civilian public school teacher earning a hundred thousand dollars a year and a Catholic school nun earning a few thousand are two different vouchers. Loving a job for some true belief over just working a job for human pay scales. I mean for fifty years now we are graduating idiots our of inner city schools. And I would probably want to be educated by the public school system if I had a choice.

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, firefly333 said:

  Imo. They need more than 5% allowed. 

But if they need more than 5% allowed, then they would have to do the test cruise route, which you had said in the past they would not do. 😉

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, jfunk138 said:

In a way, this whole thread is "hearsay"... Christine Duffy didn't make any specific policy announcements.  

Keep waving that unvaccinated flag.

[JMKreno]

5 hours ago, BrotherCraig said:

 

 

Yeah, losing the OBC would be like giving them a interest free loan since March 2020.  lol  

 

The FDA didn't approve any of the COVID vaccines yet.  For kids, they just started research on it so it would be at least a year before the FDA would approve the mRNA vaccine for all ages.  Pfizer just submitted for approval in early May and Moderna just submitted it on June 1st.  It takes 10 months for the FDA to approve them once the applications are received.  Data takes time.  

 

This is not accurate regarding Covid-19. Most scenarios, even longer, but not for this.

 

FDA requires ~1 year of efficacy data, not safety data, and since we only tested for efficacy since mid-2020 so that means the data should be available soon but Pfizer submitted early data to get the reviews moving. Safety is a non-factor at this point. NORMAL approvals take years due to red-tape; reviews done in sequence instead of in parallel, etc. For COVID-19 and basically unlimited funding, the FDA is basically going as fast as they SAFELY can go by performing data reviews, safety checks, and any other "bureaucratic" garbage that slows everything else down. I expect an FDA approval sometime this year, and I would not be that surprised if completed by summer's end (for schools to require, for example) and due to the large amount of vaccine hesitancy we are now hitting in this country. OSHA has already said that workplaces CAN required EUA vaccines like Covid-19 but FDA approval will go a lot further. 

 

In fact, Pfizer will LIKELY be FDA approved in the 2nd half of 2021 unless some REALLY EGREGIOUS oversight is caught, but with almost 100 million Pfizer doses administered in the US with little REAL fallout I doubt it will have any major issues.

 

 Here is just a single source but there are a lot more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/18/covid-vaccines-what-full-fda-approval-means-for-you.html

 

TLDR; It is “highly likely” that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will be fully approved by the FDA as early as the second half of this year, said Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. The shots, he said, have already demonstrated to be safe and highly effective in millions of Americans.

Edited June 4, 2021 by JMKreno

[BoozinCroozin]

4 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

But if they need more than 5% allowed, then they would have to do the test cruise route, which you had said in the past they would not do. 😉

The statement was clear and even asked again by the interviewer about children under 12 unvaccinated. She stated it will be vaccine only as they work with CDC protocols in the future to allow unvaccinated passengers. There was no confusion in her words. The only ambiguity is the answer to when? That is an unknown and what everyone will be guessing at. I would like to believe after 4-8 weeks of cruising, the CDC may be able accept data to make alterations to its plan. Even then, there is only about a month left of the CSO. So the common cadence may be to leave things as they are and let the CSO expire on Nov 1. 

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

. Despite the vocal anti-family minority, families are still the fabric of society. They also spend more money than singles/couples. No way they will be ignored/forgotten/past over.  

There is a much larger and vocal anti vaccination contingent on Cruise Critic than those that are anti family.  There have been multiple threads regarding vaccinations that have gone down the rabbit hole and been locked. 

Those that are anti family look forward to the possibility of sailing on Carnival without having to deal with unruly kids possibly on a one time basis when cruising resumes.  Families are the backbone of Carnival, RCI and NCL.  Bit I would disagree that families spend more than couples on board.  Kids don't eat in the specialty venues multiple times, they don't buy Cheers and they don't gamble.  The casino and the bars are the areas that generate the most discretionary revenue on cruises and kids do not spend a dime here.  And if any parents do get Cheers, they split the kids in the cabins so only Dad purchases it and he more than likely shares with Mom.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

Cruise lines are a business; not a political party. They are interested in giving their customers the best, and safest experience, given the circumstances. They can't control how people are going to spin that, nor should they try.

They are also interested in making a profit. And they are especially interested in surviving after the financial hits they have taken recently. The publicity from a cruise in which something goes bad will not only be bad for whatever cruise line on which it happens, but the industry as a whole. I'm sure they never want to hear the term "floating petri dish" again.

[TerReuv]

8 hours ago, BrotherCraig said:

 

That will open up a lot of cabins due to people having to cancel.  Should help reduce the amount of passengers greatly.

 

It could encourage more to get vaccinated.  Just like the states offering scholarships and companies offering donuts and beer.

[SNJCruisers]

2 hours ago, jfunk138 said:

I still have some optimism that vaccine "proof" is going to be "check the box", "wink wink, nod nod", which is basically what every other business in US has done so far.  But again... the Duffy comments were less than specific on actual policy.

You and everybody else that is against taking the jab.

[cruisingguy007]

38 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

There is a much larger and vocal anti vaccination contingent on Cruise Critic than those that are anti family.  There have been multiple threads regarding vaccinations that have gone down the rabbit hole and been locked. 

Those that are anti family look forward to the possibility of sailing on Carnival without having to deal with unruly kids possibly on a one time basis when cruising resumes.  Families are the backbone of Carnival, RCI and NCL.  Bit I would disagree that families spend more than couples on board.  Kids don't eat in the specialty venues multiple times, they don't buy Cheers and they don't gamble.  The casino and the bars are the areas that generate the most discretionary revenue on cruises and kids do not spend a dime here.  And if any parents do get Cheers, they split the kids in the cabins so only Dad purchases it and he more than likely shares with Mom.

 

Many of us don't sail with only one cabin, we never do, two min unless we bring someone else (like grandma), then it's three min. My wife and I both pay for cheers. I buy outside of cheers also (buckets and wine bottles) and I gamble a bit. I'm sure my story isn't unique. One cabin and two $15 meals would be way cheaper lol.