How will kids under 12 not being vaccinated effect Holiday cruises this year?

[Fireworks77]

Do you think Thanksgiving & Xmas sailings will see lower then normal capacity if young  children 2-11 are not fully vaccinated?

[K_e_short]

Probably not.

 

There are probably a bunch of people that will be happy that there will be less children on their cruise ship during holidays.

 

 

[matymil]

2 hours ago, Fireworks77 said:

Do you think Thanksgiving & Xmas sailings will see lower then normal capacity if young  children 2-11 are not fully vaccinated?

Depends what you consider normal. Lower than years past? For sure but if i had to guess id say it would be pretty consistent with how full the ships have been since the restart. The protocols are in place until Dec 31st which means the 5% exemptions will be available for kids. On our recent Magic cruise there was a decent amount of kids, like not more than there should be but i remember i kept saying to my wife "i thought there would be less young children"

Edited October 24, 2021 by matymil

[BoozinCroozin]

It won't change anything since it takes 5-weeks to be fully vaccinated. If Carnival mandates it for 5 and older, it will probably be in effect either Jan 1, Jan 15, or Feb 1 (my guess).

[Angiedw1]

I think there will probably be less families. There will also be some others who would never schedule these dates who will opt in since it won't be over run with kids...

 

Normally we would avoid the busy family times(summer, spring break, holidays), but with the offers they are sending and the 5% rule we are going on a cruise from December 26th to January 2nd.

[KmomChicago]

Interesting question but it could really go either direction. With kids 12 and up now eligible for the vaccine for months, this coupled with the 5% exemption and pent up demand and pandemic weariness, we could have something close to full capacity during the school breaks as more people want  to get back to the experiences they enjoyed in the past.  Historically, winter holiday break is a very, very high demand time - and in particular the way the dates fall this year, that week between Christmas and New Year's could be massively high demand as it's likely to be the only one that pretty much all kids (Kindergarten up to college) have off in common, a factor when families are trying to coordinate multiple student schedules.

 

On the other hand you still do have the opposite factors in place as well - vaccine hesitancy, fear of travel, irritation with masks or testing or other protocols making the experience "not worth it" for some segment of the usual audience. 

 

My crystal ball is telling me that Thanksgiving sailings will be only slightly heavier than the late summer sailings have been, sailings the week before Christmas (i.e. sailing December 18/19ish) will mostly not sell out but will end up being close to capacity due to heavy discounting and that the week between Christmas and New Year's (sailing December 25/26ish) will mostly sell out at the usual inflated prices as in past years but not very far in advance.

 

I think a lot of people are still waiting to see but as the nights get longer and colder and, say, people with only high school and college students, realize they are running out of years to get the family together on these kinds of holiday trips, and meanwhile gradually more and more of them are getting vaxxed anyway due to work or school mandates,  the math will start to fall into place. 

 

The low demand this fall has provided a useful dress rehearsal period as the various lines and individual ships come back into service and I am sure the goal for them is to be ready for higher demand at the turn of the year and then the hope that the 8ish weeks of spring break (roughly 15 Feb-15 Apr) maintain strong numbers and that next summer is approaching something like the old days with ships typically full at high season pricing.

[stellarose]

will be interested to see xmas Mardi Gras.  I think less families with young kids but more families with teens and older.  just a thought.

 

but who knows.

[mredandchis]

We were booked on the Mardi Gras on dec 26 and have a child not yet eligible for the vaccine.  With the 24th being a holiday and saturday actually christmas we thought that getting the PCR and the results would be dicey so me moved it to June when she will be vaccinated.

[LaRue1975]

They are on the verge of approving the vaccines for 5 to 11 year olds, could happen this week. There should be plenty of time to get them fully vaccinated before the Christmas cruises if it’s what the parents want to do. 

[Domergirl]

I'm tentatively planning a cruise with my kids, but one of them remains unvaccinated because she's only 11.  So I'm waiting to actually book until the vaccine is approved...it looks like there will be an announcement on November 3rd or 4th.  As soon as it's approved and I am able to get an appointment (if needed) for shot #1 - I will feel like we're good to book.   I know we could go ahead and book now, but I don't want to go if she's unvaccinated, because we wouldn't be able to enjoy the ports the way we like to.

 

Also - keep in mind that there is no Camp Ocean at all for kids 11 and under...so while I think there will be kids on board (hopefully US!!!), I do think the numbers will be a lot lower.

[BoozinCroozin]

The vaccine is approved for 5-11. The only question at this point is when are they going to approve it for injection. It will be this week or next week at the latest.

[MrMarc]

If they require the 2 dose regiment, which is what it sounds like they are right now, I would guess that any "requirement would not take effect for at least 3 months after the approval.  For the 95% cruises, it's possible that it would not be made a requirement, depending on what the CDC and Safe Sailing group recommends or requires.  In another board someone brought up something I am embarrassed that I never thought about.  Some of these rules might be aimed at the safety and comfort of the crew.  They don't necessarily have the political overlay that we(and I include everyone because I think consciously or unconsult no one can avoid it at this point) have add in our country.  They are exposed to far more people for longer periods of time than any passenger.  

[matymil]

On 10/24/2021 at 11:10 AM, LaRue1975 said:

They are on the verge of approving the vaccines for 5 to 11 year olds, could happen this week. There should be plenty of time to get them fully vaccinated before the Christmas cruises if it’s what the parents want to do. 

I think they would give families at least 2 months before they change the current protocols. Since they have to do the protocols month to month, unless they approve 5 & under before Nov, i dont see how they make change the protocols before Feb 1st at the earliest. The demand for vaccines will skyrocket, alot of families may not be able to have their kids fully vaccinated before Dec 31st.

[BlerkOne]

Kids 5 and up can get vaccinated before Christmas. Should make for more exemptions possible in the under 5 range.