How is Celebrity ensuring that unvaccinated guests don't exceeed 5%?

[Tapi]

Hello!

 

We are a family of 4 (including 2 small, unvaccinated children). We just booked the Summit for September. Before making my payment, my TA confirmed with Celebrity that we would indeed be allowed to sail, and that the children will be given a complimentary covid test at the pier on embarkation day. They also reassured her that the system wouldn't have allowed the booking to proceed had the small children count been exceeded. When we received our confirmation from Celebrity, the information attached to it corroborated what our TA had said.

 

But I've been reading on the Carnival boards that over there, passengers have been informed that Carnival will be holding some sort of "lottery" to determine who will be allowed to sail unvaccinated, and inform them at a later date who will be selected to sail and who won't. Even with all the reassurance from our TA that Celebrity won't be doing that, it did make me a bit uneasy to read that and I'm hoping that we don't have any unpleasant surprises closer to departure. We are paid in full, with pre-hotel reservations, as well as airfare. 

 

So, does anybody know exactly how Celebrity is ensuring that unvaccinated guest bookings won't exceed the allowed 5%? I'm sure their system can keep track of how many children under 12 are booked on a particular sailing, but how about adults with an exemption? Thanks for any information!  

[iamaqt2]

11 minutes ago, Tapi said:

Hello!

 

We are a family of 4 (including 2 small, unvaccinated children). We just booked the Summit for September. Before making my payment, my TA confirmed with Celebrity that we would indeed be allowed to sail, and that the children will be given a complimentary covid test at the pier on embarkation day. They also reassured her that the system wouldn't have allowed the booking to proceed had the small children count been exceeded. When we received our confirmation from Celebrity, the information attached to it corroborated what our TA had said.

 

But I've been reading on the Carnival boards that over there, passengers have been informed that Carnival will be holding some sort of "lottery" to determine who will be allowed to sail unvaccinated, and inform them at a later date who will be selected to sail and who won't. Even with all the reassurance from our TA that Celebrity won't be doing that, it did make me a bit uneasy to read that and I'm hoping that we don't have any unpleasant surprises closer to departure. We are paid in full, with pre-hotel reservations, as well as airfare. 

 

So, does anybody know exactly how Celebrity is ensuring that unvaccinated guest bookings won't exceed the allowed 5%? I'm sure their system can keep track of how many children under 12 are booked on a particular sailing, but how about adults with an exemption? Thanks for any information!  

Easy, children travelling with vaccinated adults will automatically be included in the first 5% of allowed unvaccinated cruisers.  

If enough families with children book and it reaches the 5% threshold for unvaccinated cruisers, then Celebrity won't allow people of vaccination age who've chosen to remain unvaccinated onboard.

 

[Cruising89143]

We booked the EQ today. We were asked at the time of booking if we were vaccinated and if we would present our card at check-in. We said yes. We were placed in the vaccinated group. It was explained to me that if a guest states that they are not vaccinated or will not voluntarily present their proof of vaccination then they go in the unvaccinated group. Once they hit the 5% of unvaccinated then that’s it. Also, for those that had already booked before the change, the cruise line will be reaching out to ask the same questions. 

[MarieLill]

My group of 8 booked last week and we were not asked if we were vaccinated.  We all are, but are they going to wait until after you pay final payment and do your online check in before this question is asked?  

[Tapi]

14 minutes ago, cruisingator2 said:

We booked the EQ today. We were asked at the time of booking if we were vaccinated and if we would present our card at check-in. 

Hi,

 

Did you book directly with Celebrity? We booked through our TA and we weren't asked. My wife and I are vaccinated, but needless to say, my 11 and 9yo kids are not. 

[Cruising89143]

7 minutes ago, Tapi said:

Hi,

 

Did you book directly with Celebrity? We booked through our TA and we weren't asked. My wife and I are vaccinated, but needless to say, my 11 and 9yo kids are not. 

Yes, I booked through my X agent. I suggest making sure that your TA has communicated with X on this. 

[JennAngel9]

We booked a November cruise several months ago-- I'm hoping our kids will be vaccinated by then, but that's up Pfizer, Moderna and the FDA.  I'm wondering if there's a way to reach out to Celebrity to affirmatively ensure that we are in the 5% allocation-- though frankly, I'm not certain we want to sail if they haven't been vaccinated by then.

[iamaqt2]

5 minutes ago, JennAngel9 said:

We booked a November cruise several months ago-- I'm hoping our kids will be vaccinated by then, but that's up Pfizer, Moderna and the FDA.  I'm wondering if there's a way to reach out to Celebrity to affirmatively ensure that we are in the 5% allocation-- though frankly, I'm not certain we want to sail if they haven't been vaccinated by then.

Their risk would be extremely low on a 95/5 cruise.  But as a parent, I understand the concern.  Mine are grown now, and have gotten their own vaccines, but I would have thought twice about cruising if they couldn't be vaccinated.  

With all that being said, vaccines are being trialed for 5-11's and 6 months to 4's right now.  Hopefully they have good data before the end of summer.

[Tapi]

31 minutes ago, cruisingator2 said:

Yes, I booked through my X agent. I suggest making sure that your TA has communicated with X on this. 

I just looked at the confirmation from Celebrity, and under each adult's name it says in capital letters: VACCINATED-YES, so I'm guessing that the TA automatically marked us down as such. Thanks! 

[Ken the cruiser]

58 minutes ago, cruisingator2 said:

We booked the EQ today. We were asked at the time of booking if we were vaccinated and if we would present our card at check-in. We said yes. We were placed in the vaccinated group. It was explained to me that if a guest states that they are not vaccinated or will not voluntarily present their proof of vaccination then they go in the unvaccinated group. Once they hit the 5% of unvaccinated then that’s it. Also, for those that had already booked before the change, the cruise line will be reaching out to ask the same questions. 

Thanks for sharing that Celebrity will be reaching out to us already booked folks as we haven't been asked the vax question yet and we have a B2B2B on the Edge starting on Aug 7th. It will be interesting to see how Celebrity will "reach out" to us, whether it will be via a phone call with our PVP or via email.

[ricksurf]

Folks, the protocols for returning to cruising are going to mandate how we participate in these initial cruises.  If you are unable to comply with these protocols then consider another type of vacation format which meets your standards.  

Debating these protocols here are not going to change them at this time.  Science has brought us this far; so science will bring us to a happy conclusion.