Likelihood of Cunard updating vaccination requirements?

[D&N]

14 hours ago, Cdogg said:

I would not be surprised if quite a few Cunard customers are mildly anti vax....

I imagine Cunard's customer base for Crossings is likely to mainly come from North America, UK and some other Western European countries. Vaccination rates in the US are quite high and even higher in the other countries. Generally in excess of 80% of those aged over 60 in Western Europe are triple jabbed. I'd be shocked if there were many with such views.

[exlondoner]

15 minutes ago, D&N said:

I imagine Cunard's customer base for Crossings is likely to mainly come from North America, UK and some other Western European countries. Vaccination rates in the US are quite high and even higher in the other countries. Generally in excess of 80% of those aged over 60 in Western Europe are triple jabbed. I'd be shocked if there were many with such views.

 

That was my thought. I was interested to see if there was any evidence for the view posted. Certainly from reading comments on here, one would think Cunard passengers were very strongly in favour of vaccination, but of course that is a small sample.

[2Oldpeopleinlove]

I’ve seen only one poster here who clearly considered it more important to treat fellow passengers to his and his wife’s faces than to protect us all. Most here seem pretty empathetic and kind.

[Cdogg]

7 hours ago, exlondoner said:

 

As you have stated this, I think it is important to be clear. Do you have any evidence for this or is it simply a vague feeling?

Just a vague feeling. Cunard - Southampton-based executive team - being a conservative region within the UK. Older and more traditional customer demographic etc. Also, very odd that they leave the decision to update so late - which is near the point of no return in terms of the deadline for someone getting fully vaxxed in response to a vaccine requirement extension being compatible with first post current policy sailing.

[exlondoner]

I think you may be under some misapprehensions about Southampton and the UK. Southampton is not a particularly conservative area in any sense. In the U.K. it is we who are older and more traditional, who are keenest on vaccination, and keen that their fellow Cunard passengers are fully vaxed.

[deck chair]

HI!  I am curious if vaccinated and protected why the concern about the occasional unvaccinated passengers.  

Deck Chair

[Cdogg]

8 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I think you may be under some misapprehensions about Southampton and the UK. Southampton is not a particularly conservative area in any sense. In the U.K. it is we who are older and more traditional, who are keenest on vaccination, and keen that their fellow Cunard passengers are fully vaxed.

I hope you are correct. I hope that Cunard fix this very quickly because they are setting it up for a big mess from every angle otherwise - unhappy customers, outbreaks - panics mid Atlantic, broken schedule, tarnished reputation, etc. I've tried to rationalize their thinking but I cannot do it except to perhaps wrongly infer Cunard's reading of their customers - whether or not libertarian thinking is significant. Libertarian people can be quite loud - "my rights trump the societal interest". Perhaps Cunard are polling their customers or counting their complaints? Do you think a forum like this is a true reflection or self sorted?

[Victoria2]

This loyal Cunard passenger is very calm about it all.  I don't think Cunard will relax their vaccination protocols and am not sure when Cunard cliental could ever have been described as Libertarian. I have heard pretty staid and conformist at times when folk want to poke fun at traditionalists,  but libertarian? Nope. 🙂

[Cdogg]

32 minutes ago, deck chair said:

HI!  I am curious if vaccinated and protected why the concern about the occasional unvaccinated passengers.  

Deck Chair

If vaccine requirement expires, it might not be "occasional". If there is an outbreak two days out on a six day crossing, the ship will likely turn around to the nearest capable port - the port of boarding most likely. At least two crossings would therefore be ruined and possibly more if the outbreak reached the crew. Additionally, the destination port may functionally block entry. An outbreak would perhaps mean being confined to cabin and getting crummy cabin service food if the galley was short staffed. In other words, there is a range of potential horrors and this cannot be predicted in detail. Additionally, if Cunard allow the requirement to lapse and then decide to turn it back on, that isn't so simple either because of the number of disrupted passengers. All round quagmire if you want my opinion.

[neeuqdrazil]

57 minutes ago, deck chair said:

HI!  I am curious if vaccinated and protected why the concern about the occasional unvaccinated passengers.  

Deck Chair

 

Because while vaccinated people CAN get the virus, and be contagious, they are neither as contagious, nor contagious for as long, as unvaccinated. Unvaccinated passengers increase the risk to the whole ship exponentially. 

 

In confined spaces (like the interior of a ship), I'd prefer to be assured that everyone I meet has been vaccinated, especially since there will be extended periods of un-masked time (meals, afternoon tea...)  

[mcloaked]

1 hour ago, deck chair said:

HI!  I am curious if vaccinated and protected why the concern about the occasional unvaccinated passengers.  

Deck Chair

 

Being fully vaccinated including a booster does give very high protection against severe illness but only partial protection against becoming infected.  Any ship where there are unvaccinated passengers runs a higher risk of infecting more passengers, but also runs a risk of having seriously ill passengers who may need disembarking for hospital care.  In that event there is a cost for Cunard, and an added risk that a voyage would need to be curtailed or even terminated early.  There is the very recent example of a Saga ship headed to the Caribbean that had to turn around with 140 passengers infected out of 700, as well as a significant number of crew infected - and they were all vaccinated. If they had been unvaccinated it would have been significantly more serious. At least they could all simply isolate in their cabins without being too unwell.  Also QM2 had a curtailed voyage to the Caribbean a few months ago that we will all remember seeing.

[lissie]

4 hours ago, neeuqdrazil said:

 

Because while vaccinated people CAN get the virus, and be contagious, they are neither as contagious, nor contagious for as long, as unvaccinated. Unvaccinated passengers increase the risk to the whole ship exponentially. 

 

In confined spaces (like the interior of a ship), I'd prefer to be assured that everyone I meet has been vaccinated, especially since there will be extended periods of un-masked time (meals, afternoon tea...)  

I agree with all of the above. Plus, I don't really want to share a dining table with someone who is so selfish and arrogant that they think their "rights" to not vaccinate trumps their responsibility to  living in a society. 

 

In NZ we're in the middle of a huge outbreak (our first) - its really noticeable that with a 95% vaccine rate (sorry 80% is laughably low) - for over 12s - the people who are getting it are getting it from children - so I think excluding unvaccinated children is also a good idea (and frankly that really doesn't take out many potential Cunarders) . 

[navybankerteacher]

On 3/7/2022 at 7:41 PM, Cdogg said:

...

 

However, I would not be surprised if quite a few Cunard customers are mildly anti vax or perhaps Cunard hope current positive trends continue...

Really????

 

I would be inclined to think that typical Cunard passengers, being willing to accept the dress code, and to pay just a bit more for a quality experience, are sophisticated enough to recognize the efficacy (and necessity) of vaccination. 

[rafinmd]

I am hoping for a change.  Not to drop the requirement but to require boosters or recent vaccination.'\

 

Roy

[sogne]

4 hours ago, rafinmd said:

I am hoping for a change.  Not to drop the requirement but to require boosters or recent vaccination.'\

 

Roy

Boosters were required on our Jan 14th Caribbean voyage

[zak477]

We just returned from New York 14 day round trip Caribbean. We make sure we were vaccinated and got our boosters, not just for the cruise but for ourselves. 

That said, we did everything Cunard stated via online forms filled out and PCR & antigen test 2 days prior. We also brought our vaccine cards with us, as demanded by Cunard.

No one, I mean No one at the Brooklyn Terminal or even the QM2 staff asked us for any health documents that their website demanded we bring with us.  Even onboard many of that boarded in NY asked why no

one cared about our health docs, and got a shrug of the shoulders!

I would say that for the rare person with a mask being used as a chin guard all guests wore masks. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, zak477 said:

We just returned from New York 14 day round trip Caribbean. We make sure we were vaccinated and got our boosters, not just for the cruise but for ourselves. 

That said, we did everything Cunard stated via online forms filled out and PCR & antigen test 2 days prior. We also brought our vaccine cards with us, as demanded by Cunard.

No one, I mean No one at the Brooklyn Terminal or even the QM2 staff asked us for any health documents that their website demanded we bring with us.  Even onboard many of that boarded in NY asked why no

one cared about our health docs, and got a shrug of the shoulders!

I would say that for the rare person with a mask being used as a chin guard all guests wore masks. 

 

Did you have to upload a copy of your vaccine card in advance of the cruise? 

 

[Sweetpea711423]

Hi.  My husband and I are doing a transatlantic crossing on the QM2 to New York, leaving Southampton on Sunday, April 24.  Today I received the following notice from Cunard:

 

For your voyage, all guests of all ages need to be fully vaccinated with two doses of a recognised vaccine* a minimum of 14 days prior to travel. If more than 270 days have elapsed since the second vaccine then a booster vaccine will also be required. The 270 days will be calculated from the day of disembarkation from your cruise. Booster vaccinations need to have been administered a minimum of seven days prior to embarkation.
 

*A recognised vaccine is one approved (by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) or the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL)) two dose Covid-19 vaccination course or the approved single dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine. A single or double dose of any other vaccine will not be accepted.

 

I must say that I am greatly relieved.

[mcloaked]

6 minutes ago, Sweetpea711423 said:

 

Hi.  My husband and I are doing a transatlantic crossing on the QM2 to New York, leaving Southampton on Sunday, April 24.  Today I received the following notice from Cunard:

 

For your voyage, all guests of all ages need to be fully vaccinated with two doses of a recognised vaccine* a minimum of 14 days prior to travel. If more than 270 days have elapsed since the second vaccine then a booster vaccine will also be required. The 270 days will be calculated from the day of disembarkation from your cruise. Booster vaccinations need to have been administered a minimum of seven days prior to embarkation.
 

*A recognised vaccine is one approved (by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) or the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL)) two dose Covid-19 vaccination course or the approved single dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine. A single or double dose of any other vaccine will not be accepted.

 

I must say that I am greatly relieved.

 

I thought that this was now standard for all Cunard cruises and is current policy until the May policy period for QE at least. with a slightly different date for QM2. I would be amazed if this policy was not extended as the current policy period gets towards expiry date.

[Sweetpea711423]

3 minutes ago, mcloaked said:

 

I thought that this was now standard for all Cunard cruises and is current policy until the May policy period for QE at least. with a slightly different date for QM2. I would be amazed if this policy was not extended as the current policy period gets towards expiry date.

No, this was the Cunard policy, and is actually still up on their website.  As you can see, there would not have been a vaccine requirement for my April 24, 2022 sailing.

All guests (of all ages) will need to be fully vaccinated in order to travel on any voyage departing up to and including April 17, 2022 for voyages on Queen Mary 2 

[naturelovergirl]

This is what Cunard has just recently posted to social media.

(Certainly sounds like they will keep high standards regarding vaccination protocols.)

 

*************

 

We are delighted at the news that the Canadian authorities are once again welcoming cruise ships and we can’t wait to be calling at Vancouver and the spectacular region for our Alaska voyages this summer and beyond. Rest assured, we’ll carry on adapting our protocols to best protect everyone on board and meet all requirements of destinations we visit, including vaccine and testing policies.

[neeuqdrazil]

4 hours ago, Sweetpea711423 said:

 

Hi.  My husband and I are doing a transatlantic crossing on the QM2 to New York, leaving Southampton on Sunday, April 24.  Today I received the following notice from Cunard:

 

For your voyage, all guests of all ages need to be fully vaccinated with two doses of a recognised vaccine* a minimum of 14 days prior to travel. If more than 270 days have elapsed since the second vaccine then a booster vaccine will also be required. The 270 days will be calculated from the day of disembarkation from your cruise. Booster vaccinations need to have been administered a minimum of seven days prior to embarkation.
 

*A recognised vaccine is one approved (by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) or the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL)) two dose Covid-19 vaccination course or the approved single dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine. A single or double dose of any other vaccine will not be accepted.

 

I must say that I am greatly relieved.

 

Oh, this makes me feel better! (Although I am also booked on this crossing, and haven't received that email, and their website still indicates that the 100% vaccinated policy expires on 17 April for QM2. I shouldn't be surprised anymore that Cunard's left hand doesn't know what their right hand is doing.)

[3rdGenCunarder]

8 hours ago, Sweetpea711423 said:

No, this was the Cunard policy, and is actually still up on their website.  As you can see, there would not have been a vaccine requirement for my April 24, 2022 sailing.

All guests (of all ages) will need to be fully vaccinated in order to travel on any voyage departing up to and including April 17, 2022 for voyages on Queen Mary 2 

 

If someone booked the April 24 departure hoping the vaccine requirement would be dropped, it's a tight timetable to get up to date on vaccines. Counting back, last day for second dose is April 10, first dose March 13 or 20 depending on the gap recommended between doses. Cunard really needs to improve their communication. 

Edited March 10, 2022 by 3rdGenCunarder

[lissie]

8 hours ago, naturelovergirl said:

This is what Cunard has just recently posted to social media.

(Certainly sounds like they will keep high standards regarding vaccination protocols.)

 

*************

 

We are delighted at the news that the Canadian authorities are once again welcoming cruise ships and we can’t wait to be calling at Vancouver and the spectacular region for our Alaska voyages this summer and beyond. Rest assured, we’ll carry on adapting our protocols to best protect everyone on board and meet all requirements of destinations we visit, including vaccine and testing policies.

I'm wondering if that was what they were waiting for to update the rules and extend the vaccine requirements? 

[lissie]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

If someone booked the April 24 departure hoping the vaccine requirement would be dropped, it's a tight timetable to get up to date on vaccines. Counting back, last day for second dose is April 10, first dose March 13 or 20 depending on the gap recommended between doses. Cunard really needs to improve their communication. 

If someone was going to get vaccinated they'ved had  pretty much a year to do so - they are clearly not going to at this late stage.