Carnival Requiring Booster for 16 Day Voyage - Is This New?

[TravelBluebird]

Hi, everyone! Just got this in my e-mail; it looks like Carnival is requiring everyone on the 16 day Spirit repositioning cruise (leaves April 17)  through the Panama Canal to have their COVID booster shot.

 

Is this new? Its not a big deal for me and hubby because we have our boosters, but I don’t recall any other Carnival voyages requiring this up to this time.

[Lane Hog]

Just when you thought normalcy was returning... 

[csm5986142]

Thank you for sharing (although I'm not booked on any long itineraries yet, it's interesting know that Carnival is going in this direction).

[urbanhawk]

48 minutes ago, Lane Hog said:

Just when you thought normalcy was returning... 

 "Normal is only a setting on a dryer"! 

This is 1st I have heard about a booster on a 16 day cruise. What's next-needing one on a 14 day cruise?

[mz-s]

This is the first I have heard of Carnival requiring passengers be "up to date". Their COVID guidelines page has said for some time they recommend boosters and their guidelines will automatically shift to requiring boosters if need be. I wonder what the cutoff is, would a 10 day need boosters? What if you're on a series of B2B's?

[firefly333]

The longer cruise to hawaii also had some additional requirements. I'm booster so not worried though I booked a 14 day cruise. 

 

It could even be something seattle requires. Who knows.. I saw the prices for this were good, but still not interested. Prices to fly are high.

Edited March 15, 2022 by firefly333

[TravelBluebird]

18 minutes ago, mz-s said:

This is the first I have heard of Carnival requiring passengers be "up to date". Their COVID guidelines page has said for some time they recommend boosters and their guidelines will automatically shift to requiring boosters if need be. I wonder what the cutoff is, would a 10 day need boosters? What if you're on a series of B2B's?

 

I believe this may be Carnival’s first announced “fully boostered” cruise.

 

 I would like to see a clear policy on how long a cruise will require a booster. Maybe there is a fear of having a big outbreak early on in a longer cruise (where lots of crew end up quarantined), or while in the middle of several sea days in a row (in case someone gets very sick).  Just speculating to figure out why. And your point about B2B cruisers is interesting.

 

I have several family members who are vaccinated but NOT boostered for various reasons; before I book a  big family cruise for this summer, I hope they clarify their “must be boostered” policy and which cruises it will apply to. 

[cruisingguy007]

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

The longer cruise to hawaii also had some additional requirements. I'm booster so not worried though I booked a 14 day cruise. 

 

It could even be something seattle requires. Who knows.. I saw the prices for this were good, but still not interested. Prices to fly are high.

 

 I was looking at Jubilee during that 72 sale and flights killed it for me too. I guess I'll just wait for Carnival to bring one of those out west. I'm sure one will come here eventually. 

[Eli_6]

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

The longer cruise to hawaii also had some additional requirements. I'm booster so not worried though I booked a 14 day cruise. 

 

It could even be something seattle requires. Who knows.. I saw the prices for this were good, but still not interested. Prices to fly are high.

Are you looking at Hobby or IAH?  And, yeah, I hear you on the airfare costs.  I went to book a one-way flight for my Alaska cruise (I had already booked the first leg) in May for 4 of us and a flight that was $379 two weeks ago was now over $700 per person. I had to book an earlier flight to make it affordable and now I am concerned about making the flight off the ship, but no way was I paying 3k for basically four 1-way coach tickets from SEA to Houston.

[firefly333]

12 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

Are you looking at Hobby or IAH?  And, yeah, I hear you on the airfare costs.  I went to book a one-way flight for my Alaska cruise (I had already booked the first leg) in May for 4 of us and a flight that was $379 two weeks ago was now over $700 per person. I had to book an earlier flight to make it affordable and now I am concerned about making the flight off the ship, but no way was I paying 3k for basically four 1-way coach tickets from SEA to Houston.

My oasis cruise is out of miami spring break 2023. I live in texas. I guess I should book sooner rather than later.

 

I looked at the repositioning cruise I think the op is talking about, good price but no way I'm flying to miami and home from seattle. ..I booked the 14 day out of Galveston lol. So much easier. 

[BlerkOne]

How is this a surprise to anyone? It has been the direction all along. Recently Carnival changed testing requirements so that cruisers who had been boosted, can test 3 days before the cruise instead of 2.

[dreaminofcruisin]

It might also be Panama that's requiring it.

 

I know Panama has been pretty strict in the past on ships passing through the canal. It might be that Carnival doesn't want to risk sitting at one end not being able to go through...

 

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

Panama is my guess as well.

[RichYak]

I agree with the prior 2 comments. It's Panama, not the length of the sailing.

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

I agree with the prior 2 comments. It's Panama, not the length of the sailing.

 

The letter specifically says "due to the length of this voyage"

[TravelBluebird]

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

My oasis cruise is out of miami spring break 2023. I live in texas. I guess I should book sooner rather than later.

 

I looked at the repositioning cruise I think the op is talking about, good price but no way I'm flying to miami and home from seattle. ..I booked the 14 day out of Galveston lol. So much easier. 

 

Thank goodness we purchased our plane tickets awhile back! 

[TravelBluebird]

1 hour ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

It might also be Panama that's requiring it.

 

I know Panama has been pretty strict in the past on ships passing through the canal. It might be that Carnival doesn't want to risk sitting at one end not being able to go through...

 

 

 

This is a good point. As mentioned for me its no big deal; I do know some people booked on the cruise that do not have their boosters and now must decide what to do.

[cruisingguy007]

19 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

This is a good point. As mentioned for me its no big deal; I do know some people booked on the cruise that do not have their boosters and now must decide what to do.

 

If they allowed folks with up to date boosters to opt out of pre-cruise testing altogether, I'd bet it would motivate a lot of people to get boosted. Hopefully, CDC is considering something like this. A carrot works much better than a stick.  

Edited March 16, 2022 by cruisingguy007

[mz-s]

17 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

If they allowed folks with up to date boosters to opt out of pre-cruise testing altogether, I'd bet it would motivate a lot of people to get boosted. Hopefully, CDC is considering something like this. A carrot works much better than a stick.  

 

As the Pfizer CEO said the other day, protection after three doses is "not that good against infections" and "doesn't last very long" when faced with a variant like Omicron.

 

Letting someone opt out of testing because they're boosted is just bribing people to get shots that are ineffective so they can continue to enrich big pharma. It's not following the science.

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

The letter specifically says "due to the length of this voyage"

I know what the letter says.

[scpirate]

2 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

If they allowed folks with up to date boosters to opt out of pre-cruise testing altogether, I'd bet it would motivate a lot of people to get boosted. Hopefully, CDC is considering something like this. A carrot works much better than a stick.  

Thats true i can lead my flock of sheep to the end of the earth with a handful of corn.Baaaaa baaa. No need for fact checkers i actually do have sheep and other critters.

[BlerkOne]

Following science is getting boosted and getting tested.

 

 

[Jasalth]

6 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

I believe this may be Carnival’s first announced “fully boostered” cruise.

 

 

 

We were booked on the Pride repositioning cruise in October. We ended up canceling because of needing the PCR test within 48 hours, which we thought was cutting it close at the time. You also had to be fully vaccinated at the time also (2 shots, boosters weren't for everyone then). 

 

I feel it might be either a length, back to back sea days (which would explain Hawaii having different) or a reposition issue requirement (end city doesn't want an influx of 3000+ people with Covid dropped in their lap!) 

 

What I would be MOST concerned about right now, is the FDA approvals in the works for a 4th booster for specific people. In the case of someone over 65 on this cruise... what happens when on April 3rd they pass the 4th booster for that age group? I would really really want clarification on that if I was older and planning on being on this sailing... 

 

Our 10 day on May 2nd doesn't have this requirement (or I haven't gotten a letter yet at least) but either way, we are sailing because well I bought airfare as soon as prices started rising because of fuel costs, my air would be almost $900pp now... and I got them for less than $500pp so it works for us! 

 

 

[cruisingguy007]

2 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

As the Pfizer CEO said the other day, protection after three doses is "not that good against infections" and "doesn't last very long" when faced with a variant like Omicron.

 

Letting someone opt out of testing because they're boosted is just bribing people to get shots that are ineffective so they can continue to enrich big pharma. It's not following the science.

 

I'm OK with that, everyone has choices. Preventing serious outcomes has value too. I'd get my boosters either way, it would just be nice to have an extra incentive for folks who are going along with the program. People can decide for themselves, one extra day of testing is nice and all but skipping it all together is an even nicer reward/incentive. Besides, I prefer the 100 micro-gram concentration Moderna version over the 30 microgram concentration Pfizer version. Makes my 5G government chip stronger. 😁  

[TravelBluebird]

14 minutes ago, Jasalth said:

 

We were booked on the Pride repositioning cruise in October. We ended up canceling because of needing the PCR test within 48 hours, which we thought was cutting it close at the time. You also had to be fully vaccinated at the time also (2 shots, boosters weren't for everyone then). 

 

I feel it might be either a length, back to back sea days (which would explain Hawaii having different) or a reposition issue requirement (end city doesn't want an influx of 3000+ people with Covid dropped in their lap!) 

 

What I would be MOST concerned about right now, is the FDA approvals in the works for a 4th booster for specific people. In the case of someone over 65 on this cruise... what happens when on April 3rd they pass the 4th booster for that age group? I would really really want clarification on that if I was older and planning on being on this sailing... 

 

Our 10 day on May 2nd doesn't have this requirement (or I haven't gotten a letter yet at least) but either way, we are sailing because well I bought airfare as soon as prices started rising because of fuel costs, my air would be almost $900pp now... and I got them for less than $500pp so it works for us! 

 

 

 

If the FDA approves the 4th booster for the over-65s right away, I think Carnival could reasonably epect people to get them in time for the cruise, bit as we get closer, its not realistic, since I think I read somewhere you are supposed to have 14 days after your last shot/booster before you can sail.