nate91

I think these two together about sum it up.

So...the CSO is invalid in FL and TX? I agree with @twangster, this has gotten to the point that it's ridiculous!

I disagree vehemently!

I would go with c. I also agree with cruisellama that cleaning is important, but I think we can all agree that RC has been VERY good at keeping things clean even pre-pandemic. I think that at some point, we will all need to go back to weighing individual risks whenever we do any activity, whether it's going on a cruise or crossing a street. The vaccines are protective, so if I'm vaccinated, I don't much care who else is or is not.

I'd love to see a poll of the members of RCBlog, asking whether people, if given the choice, would choose: a. a fully vaccinated cruise ship b. a mixed cruise ship, vaccination status not required c. a 2019 cruise ship, run exactly the same as a pre-pandemic cruise.

I'm wondering if any health and safety protocols will change now that the 95% number is simply a recommendation.

I guess we know now, wristbands will be required and a hole will be punched in the SeaPass card. Does anyone else feel very uncomfortable with the separate venues and areas for the two different classes of people? Makes me very uneasy.

I think this brings up a BIG problem with vaccinated cruises. Obviously by requiring vaccination, you are excluding a large portion of the potential customers already. Now, with positive cases happening on a fully vaccinated cruise, will fully vaccinated cruisers be willing to take the risk of having their vacation abruptly ended due to what's either a false positive, or a correct positive? Even if they are indeed COVID positive, the fact that everyone else on that ship is fully vaccinated means that COVID will not spread based on the evidence we know now. So what does kicking people off the ship accomplish, aside from a PR perspective? I would think from a PR perspective that there are some vaccinated people who would choose not to cruise due to the chance of something like this happening.

The CDC has demonstrated...I don't know what exactly, confusion, ineptitude...by measuring cases in one way for COVID and in another way entirely for those vaccinated. This creates a cognitive dissonance that is clearly showing what the CDC would like the results to be. I wonder what would happen if we measured in reverse and tested vaccinated like the unvaxxed and vice versa. Bringing it around to cruises, I'm sure the cruise lines would love to test based on the lower PCR thresholds for the vaccinated, and do the new CDC rule of not counting a case unless it leads to a hospitalization. That would surely help their news exposure.

To add to that, The likelihood of a vaccinated asymptomatic child infecting another vaccinated person is so low that it’s really not worth thinking about thinking about thinking about it.

I quite wish people understood that the concept of herd immunity isn't a magical button that stops COVID in its tracks. The more immunity, natural or vaccine, the less COVID will spread. But it will always be around, just like various plagues still circulate, albeit at VERY low levels. We just need to be able to make level-headed risk determinations of where that proper risk threshold lies. One of the big questions recently is who is most fit to make that risk analysis, whether it's the government, the cruise lines, or the individual. Hence...arguments (the number one supporter of the internet!) )!

I doubt any of us used the term 'asymptomatic' before 2020. The retro term for this was 'healthy.' Overall, the background testing rate on a cruise ship shouldn't be any higher than a similar environment on land, say, Las Vegas. There may be discussion on what this proper level is, but overall, if we are testing more in one similar environment than another, the amount of cases found will be higher, even if the same percentage of the overall populations are positive (and that's not even taking into consideration false positives).

Can I get a supercut of all the times we have been told anything regarding cruises is coming "soon?"

It would be humorous if it wasn't so sad how inept the CDC is, and how their ineptitude has effected the country. Did the article say that...they're going back to mediation? (Since it worked so well the first time!)

Wanted to share my thoughts on this and see what others think. RCI has made it clear that on cruises where vaccines are "highly recommended" that there will be an upfront testing cost for unvacccinated passengers. They have also mentioned additional protocols, which I think many of us assume means masks. I'm wondering how they will enforce these onboard protocols, eg if staff see someone not wearing a mask, how will they know if they are vaxxed? I can only think of a few options: 1. Market for vaxxed, such as a wristband. This would have to be replaced every day throughout the cruise though, as wristbands don't last, and it would be VERY easy for someone to share their wristbands. They could also do a sticker on the SEAPASS card, but then no one would see it unless the person was paying for something. 2. Do what every grocery store in America seems to be doing and leave it up to the honor system. Anyone think of any other options than these two? First one puts a lot of pressure on the staff and enforcement, and second one is essentially the same as recommending that unvax on the ship wear a mask but not requiring.