Child Vaccine Exemption - Help!

[llarsen]

Hi,

We are taking a family reunion cruise Nov 4th out of Long Beach.

I submitted the Vaccine Exemption form for our two underage grandchildren Sept 3rd. We still have not received approval.

My nephew submitted his last week and received approval within 24hrs for his 2 children.

 

I have tried calling Carnival and no one seems to know who takes care of this.

Our travel agent has tried calling Carnival, and spoke with a supervisor who could only tell her that our grandchildren did not have a code on the reservation, indicating they have not yet been approved. The supervisor didn't know who takes care of this or why they have not been approved. She said "I'd just show up at the pier".

What!??? This is so unprofessional!

 

I am so stressed out from this and it's driving me crazy!

 

Does anyone know who to contact about the children's Vaccine Exemption Form or have any special "Contact" numbers or emails that could get us to the right people handling this?

 

Thank you!

[nicolelarios]

HI! I will be on this cruise toooo!  There are other families with kiddos on the Facebook group for this sailing, just sayin if you want to maybe meet some other kiddos too since they do not have the kids club.  

 

Maybe try resubmitting?

[matymil]

Sorry you have to deal with this. You can try to resubmit just to make sure you did it correctly because if it did go through you will get a message saying that it was already put in. Honestly since you're less than 14 days away i may try John Heald. Him and his assistant actually help a large amount of people. I had afew questions before we sailed with our toddler afew weeks ago and unfortunately you're going to run into alot of under trained people on the phones the same amount as we do. I will say with 100% certainty, the person who said "just show up" is dead wrong. They will have no issue turning you away. We had a small issue with my wives covid test having our sons birthday and her birthday year....i figured it would be fine since it had her name on it and it was not. My wife had to wait for them to call the CDC. While she was waiting she heard a worker say they "expect to turn away at least 300 people".

[llarsen]

matymil- thanks so much! At the risk of sounding ignorant...How do I get in touch with John Heald?

 

So glad you were able to get on board! 🙂

[matymil]

2 hours ago, llarsen said:

matymil- thanks so much! At the risk of sounding ignorant...How do I get in touch with John Heald?

 

So glad you were able to get on board! 🙂

Honestly Ive had luck over FB, i dont know if you can direct message him or if he will even see it but ive posted on his page a couples of times and i know others who have as well and hes gotten back to. If its not him then Jacinta, his assistant will probably get back to you. Hes usually pretty active really early in the morning.

[BoozinCroozin]

Basically, if you have not received an exemption yet for a Nov 4 cruise, they are waiting to find out how many vaccinated are cruising. Then the last small few will be approved and the rest denied. It's unfortunate, but that is the luck of the draw. 

 

I hope you get your desired answer soon.

 

[matymil]

I forgot to ask. How old are your grand kids? They are waiting to see if the vaccine gets cleared for certain ages before doing exemptions for cruises but i dont think that takes into effect until after Dec 31st. Who knows though at this point 🤷‍♂️

[gigem_aggies]

I am not sailing until November 20, but we just got our exemption back last Friday.  I filled out the form on September 2, when it was made available to us and it took about 45 days.  Others in our FB group got it back within a week.

Because you are within 2 weeks, I would absolutely call again and someone should be able to look into it.  

I did reach out to John Heald on FB about our exemption because so many people from our cruise group were getting them and we didn't.  Even people who had booked way after us!  No clue if he actually helped us or it was just a coincidence that we got it a few days after reaching out.  But, I don't believe he is answering questions on FB this week because he's getting ready to sail on the Mardi Gras.

[cjsegninir]

I got our approval about 2 weeks after submitting and a long time before the cruise itself.

This is the link I used https://www.carnival.com/vaccine-exemption-submission

 

You can try calling the "covid line" for Carnival 1800 314 9859. This is where you would call if you tested positive or need to cancel due to Covid related stuff. So they are the closest ones to look at your issue. 

 

Also I agree with the suggestion of contacting John Heald. Many may not like him but he is actually very friendly and he does have certain freedom to help people, which may not sound like what you would expect of contacting someone over Facebook. His page is https://www.facebook.com/JohnHeald

 

 

[matymil]

4 hours ago, cjsegninir said:

I got our approval about 2 weeks after submitting and a long time before the cruise itself.

This is the link I used https://www.carnival.com/vaccine-exemption-submission

 

You can try calling the "covid line" for Carnival 1800 314 9859. This is where you would call if you tested positive or need to cancel due to Covid related stuff. So they are the closest ones to look at your issue. 

 

Also I agree with the suggestion of contacting John Heald. Many may not like him but he is actually very friendly and he does have certain freedom to help people, which may not sound like what you would expect of contacting someone over Facebook. His page is https://www.facebook.com/JohnHeald

 

 

Many dont like him?

[hurricane0226]

40 minutes ago, matymil said:

Many dont like him?

say it ain't so.

[matymil]

2 minutes ago, hurricane0226 said:

say it ain't so.

Im asking honestly because personally i dont know anyone who doesnt like him.

[cjsegninir]

Then you probably don't read all his posts on Facebook. Many people write him quite bad stuff, but he does take it very lightly.

[llarsen]

19 hours ago, cjsegninir said:

I got our approval about 2 weeks after submitting and a long time before the cruise itself.

This is the link I used https://www.carnival.com/vaccine-exemption-submission

 

You can try calling the "covid line" for Carnival 1800 314 9859. This is where you would call if you tested positive or need to cancel due to Covid related stuff. So they are the closest ones to look at your issue. 

 

Also I agree with the suggestion of contacting John Heald. Many may not like him but he is actually very friendly and he does have certain freedom to help people, which may not sound like what you would expect of contacting someone over Facebook. His page is https://www.facebook.com/JohnHeald

 

 

Thank you for your help.

I tried the Covid Line...they didn't know who handles it, transfered me to to Resolutions Dept, she said same thing I've already been told "We don't have any way of contacting that department" was transfered to Executive Resolutions and was told that there is nothing they can do. No one has a way to contact whatever department is handling Vaccine Exemptions. She was very sorry for the stress this is causing but this is just the way it is, there is nothing anyone can do. If we do not hear anything by the day before our sailing we need to call and cancel or we will not even receive cruise credit on day of sailing!

 

Btw, the Exemption Form cannot be resubmitted...I've tried a million times.

Shame on Carnival. Leaving us helpless and at their mercy with something so important as this.

[llarsen]

19 hours ago, cjsegninir said:

I got our approval about 2 weeks after submitting and a long time before the cruise itself.

This is the link I used https://www.carnival.com/vaccine-exemption-submission

 

You can try calling the "covid line" for Carnival 1800 314 9859. This is where you would call if you tested positive or need to cancel due to Covid related stuff. So they are the closest ones to look at your issue. 

 

Also I agree with the suggestion of contacting John Heald. Many may not like him but he is actually very friendly and he does have certain freedom to help people, which may not sound like what you would expect of contacting someone over Facebook. His page is https://www.facebook.com/JohnHeald

 

 

Thank you for your help. I am going to try contacting John Heald if we do not have an answer by Monday. Do I include the Booking number and Names in the message? Im not sure if everyone sees this information? 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

On 10/20/2021 at 9:10 PM, llarsen said:

Hi,

We are taking a family reunion cruise Nov 4th out of Long Beach.

I submitted the Vaccine Exemption form for our two underage grandchildren Sept 3rd. We still have not received approval.

My nephew submitted his last week and received approval within 24hrs for his 2 children.

 

I have tried calling Carnival and no one seems to know who takes care of this.

Our travel agent has tried calling Carnival, and spoke with a supervisor who could only tell her that our grandchildren did not have a code on the reservation, indicating they have not yet been approved. The supervisor didn't know who takes care of this or why they have not been approved. She said "I'd just show up at the pier".

What!??? This is so unprofessional!

 

I am so stressed out from this and it's driving me crazy!

 

Does anyone know who to contact about the children's Vaccine Exemption Form or have any special "Contact" numbers or emails that could get us to the right people handling this?

 

Thank you!

How old are they? 5 and up required to get vaccine. Two weeks prior to the cruise. Must ahve vaccination card. Otherwise treated the same as an adult that is unvaccinated.

[BoozinCroozin]

1 hour ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

How old are they? 5 and up required to get vaccine. Two weeks prior to the cruise. Must ahve vaccination card. Otherwise treated the same as an adult that is unvaccinated.

Vaccines have only been recommended for approval. They have not been approved yet, but soon (at least that was the last news I saw). Cruise lines can't require a vaccine for 5+ if there is no possible timetable for it on the current schedule. Dose 1 + 3-weeks for Dose 2 + 14-days = Nov 28 as the first possible day. 

 

Believe me, if you have not heard for Nov 4 by now, it is an extremely high probability of denial at this point. You are within 14 days and I doubt they are making many changes.

[llarsen]

7 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

Believe me, if you have not heard for Nov 4 by now, it is an extremely high probability of denial at this point. You are within 14 days and I doubt they are making many changes.

This is seriously making me sick to my stomach. We have 27 people on this trip.

Why would they approve others in our group who did not even submit their request until last week? We submitted ours Sept 4th, have booked Bubble Tours and are all Checked In.

I just feel their Exemption Requests may have slipped through the cracks somewhere.

 

[BoozinCroozin]

10 hours ago, llarsen said:

This is seriously making me sick to my stomach. We have 27 people on this trip.

Why would they approve others in our group who did not even submit their request until last week? We submitted ours Sept 4th, have booked Bubble Tours and are all Checked In.

I just feel their Exemption Requests may have slipped through the cracks somewhere.

 

Is it just a group of people or did you book the cruise as a group, like 8 rooms for the group? If it is individually, each exemption would be handled that way. If you booked a group of 8 rooms, I think the exemptions would have been as a group. I know there are a bunch on our Nov 20 cruise that still have not heard anything yet. Then I read somewhere of someone just getting a denial for a Nov 21 cruise. 

[Bevv]

23 hours ago, llarsen said:

Thank you for your help. I am going to try contacting John Heald if we do not have an answer by Monday. Do I include the Booking number and Names in the message? Im not sure if everyone sees this information? 

The message you post on JH's FB page goes directly to him or his assistant. It is not public.

[Roscoe13]

14 hours ago, llarsen said:

This is seriously making me sick to my stomach. We have 27 people on this trip.

Why would they approve others in our group who did not even submit their request until last week? We submitted ours Sept 4th, have booked Bubble Tours and are all Checked In.

I just feel their Exemption Requests may have slipped through the cracks somewhere.

 

Have you checked your spam folder?

[Drazil65]

Btw, the Exemption Form cannot be resubmitted...I've tried a million times.

Shame on Carnival. Leaving us helpless and at their mercy with something so important as this.

 

I really hope you find out your answer asap from JH or elsewhere but please have plan B in place so you can act immediately upon receiving the answer.  If you can move forward with the cruise great and if you dont get exemptions, then decisions for that need to be discussed well before (just in case) that answer is had.  The kids may (and maybe the parents if no other babysitting alternative exists) have to stay home since there are so many people in your group, something you may need to think about.  

 

That being said, you will have options either way, may be not the ones you want at that time BUT the kid thing has been known for a while now.  Backup plans are always warranted when traveling, especially this last year and half.   

[llarsen]

7 minutes ago, Drazil65 said:

Btw, the Exemption Form cannot be resubmitted...I've tried a million times.

Shame on Carnival. Leaving us helpless and at their mercy with something so important as this.

 

I really hope you find out your answer asap from JH or elsewhere but please have plan B in place so you can act immediately upon receiving the answer.  If you can move forward with the cruise great and if you dont get exemptions, then decisions for that need to be discussed well before (just in case) that answer is had.  The kids may (and maybe the parents if no other babysitting alternative exists) have to stay home since there are so many people in your group, something you may need to think about.  

 

That being said, you will have options either way, may be not the ones you want at that time BUT the kid thing has been known for a while now.  Backup plans are always warranted when traveling, especially this last year and half.   

 

Yes, the back up plan is our daughter and grandchildren will have to stay home.

We booked our large group booking before the new vaccine rules were in place, (which is another reason we were told they would be accepted.)

We were told not to worry because A. We booked so early and would be reviewed first. B. We booked before the vaccine rules were in place. C. We were part of a large Group Booking.

 

Now I know none of this is true, and Carnival employees who are in place to answer your questions and help resolve problems, really are not educated on the procedures at all and have their hands tied when it comes to solving any real problems. Disappointing...

[llarsen]

26 minutes ago, Roscoe13 said:

Have you checked your spam folder?

Yes, but thank you for mentioning that! I read that someone found theirs in Spam. 

[DB2VA]

I have no information to add, but just wanted to say how sorry you are going through this.  It is so frustrating. Please let us know what happens.  Wishing you good luck!