Jverge

Well that question is a sure way to get this thread locked.  ? 
I'll give my simple perspective... vaccines aren't as protective against the new variants/strains of COVID and the biggest threat is the Delta strain which is the cause of surges in the UK and is taking a foothold in the US.  So even vaccinated people are still "at risk" of catching COVID, abet a milder form and hopefully not bad enough to allow that person to spread the disease (research is still out on that).  On a cruise however you feel more "at risk" because if you catch COVID, you may have to cut the cruise short due to the protocols and I know I don't want that for me having waited so long to get a boat.

It didn't look like dining venues would be closed to unvaccinated individuals but I could be being optimistic in my interpretation.   The real question would be if children unable to be vaccinated will be permitted in the "vaccinated only" seating with fully vaccinated parents or will the party need to sit in the "unvaccinated section"?

Rather than Coke vs Pepsi, I would say it's more like Target vs Walmart. They both have very similar products but attract noticeably different customers. 

I think they did it right by giving vaccinated pax the wrist bands because they will be less inclined to remove them, everything works in their favor.

I think in this case, you want vaccinated people to have the wristbands so they don't want "to get out of it".  If wristbands are given to vaccinated people it's like an all access pass! ?

I think in this case, you want vaccinated people to have the wristbands so they don't want "to get out of it".  If wristbands are given to vaccinated people it's like an all access pass! ?

What they really need to do is give every vaccinated guest a free cocktail each day of the cruise...now THAT would be some positive reinforcement. ???

Not necessarily true... you can have COVID more than once (in rare cases) and with the variants of COVID that exist, including the more contagious variant "Delta" now found in 6% of new cases and causing a surge in cases in the UK, those odds increase.  Depending on which vaccine you had, they are only protective 60%-88% of the time for this Delta variant.  This is why there will likely need to be a booster shots similar to seasonal flu shots.
Bottom line is that the protocols are working and that is the take home message for everyone to have confidence in cruising.  ? I know I have confidence to cruise in August on my Allure sailing!  
Taken from RC website, if you test positive at least you get a refund and they arrange and pay for you to quarantine and get home:
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Q What costs are covered in case I test positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the cruise? A  If a guest who followed our protocols tests positive during his/her cruise and is required to quarantine onboard, is removed from the ship mid-cruise or denied reboarding as a result, the impacted guest will receive a full refund. Additionally, Royal Caribbean will cover the cost of onboard medical treatment and any required land-based quarantine for that guest, and will arrange and pay any additional costs incurred by the guests for safe travel home.

That is not what I said at all, in fact I said quite the opposite I said COVID will come onboard the ship even Richard Fain has stated as much it is how you manage it that will prevent outbreaks, but if you only test passengers 3 days prior to boarding  and never test them again how will the cruise line know to enact their COVID protocols? 
Let's use the recent MSC cruise as an example.  Several people tested positive on that ship and they don't require vaccines either to cruise because of the slow rollout in Europe.  However, the only way MSC knew they had a problem and to activated their COVID protocols, quarantine the positive passengers and ultimately disembark the positive passengers , their entire traveling party and perhaps even other passengers who were deem in "close contact" was because MSC performed testing and contact tracing during the voyage. If MSC has not performed COVID testing after the voyage was underway they never would have known COVID was onboard the ship which would have allowed COVID to spread unchecked. 
If you're going to allow unvaccinated passengers on a cruise and that cruise is making stops at several ports of call then cruise lines must perform COVID tests on passengers at some point during the voyage it is the only way to keep COVID cases onboard (and their will be cases onboard) low and prevent any type of outbreak.  COVID found it way onto two different cruise ship over the span of 2 days but in both cases what stopped COVID from spreading unchecked was because each cruise line performed COVID testing during the voyage then activated their COVID protocols.
Having COVID protocols and activating COVID protocols are two different things. 
 

Not necessarily true... you can have COVID more than once (in rare cases) and with the variants of COVID that exist, including the more contagious variant "Delta" now found in 6% of new cases and causing a surge in cases in the UK, those odds increase.  Depending on which vaccine you had, they are only protective 60%-88% of the time for this Delta variant.  This is why there will likely need to be a booster shots similar to seasonal flu shots.
Bottom line is that the protocols are working and that is the take home message for everyone to have confidence in cruising.  ? I know I have confidence to cruise in August on my Allure sailing!  
Taken from RC website, if you test positive at least you get a refund and they arrange and pay for you to quarantine and get home:
+++++++++++++++
Q What costs are covered in case I test positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the cruise? A  If a guest who followed our protocols tests positive during his/her cruise and is required to quarantine onboard, is removed from the ship mid-cruise or denied reboarding as a result, the impacted guest will receive a full refund. Additionally, Royal Caribbean will cover the cost of onboard medical treatment and any required land-based quarantine for that guest, and will arrange and pay any additional costs incurred by the guests for safe travel home.

Thanks for the heads up... I'm on that sailing too but did not get an email yet.  I'm not happy with that new itinerary... one of the reasons I booked on Allure was it wasn't going to Puerto Costa May, Roatan, or Cozumel since I have been to all those on a different ship and wanted something new.  Plus I was looking forward to going to Labadee for the first time.  Oh well... I'll just be happy that I'm on a cruise finally but I wouldn't mind some on-board cruise credits for my troubles. ?

Hopefully it means it's sold out otherwise I'm not going to be happy.

Hopefully it means it's sold out otherwise I'm not going to be happy.

My guess is vaccinated individuals be given colored bands to mark you are vaccinated and thus have special privileges... VIP badge or something.  You don't want to "mark" unvaccinated passengers since  they can easily become "vaccinated passengers" by removing their band.

Plus evidence suggests vaccinated individuals don't shed enough virus to infect others... lots of vaccination benefits.

Plus evidence suggests vaccinated individuals don't shed enough virus to infect others... lots of vaccination benefits.

All good, everyone has a different opinion, I was just going off of what I am seeing on other social media sites like Facebook and my thoughts, most people aren't too happy with the decision. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Fortunately for me my next cruise isn't until November. I am a big believer in that the best and safest way to get cruising restarted out of the US is to require vaccines for all those who are eligible. Plain and simple. It's temporary, not forever, just do it at the start, because if something happens onboard, the CDC is ready to shut it down again.

My guess is vaccinated individuals be given colored bands to mark you are vaccinated and thus have special privileges... VIP badge or something.  You don't want to "mark" unvaccinated passengers since  they can easily become "vaccinated passengers" by removing their band.

And I'm holding out hope my Aug 15 Allure cruise goes forward... if I was RC I'd just say for the Aug cruises everyone needs to be vaccinated to cruise so they aren't dependent on CDC approval of the test cruise.   Otherwise they are likely canceling another round of cruises waiting for the CDC approval.

I've actually embraced the "one person over 21 per cabin rule".  We always book two rooms for our family... my wife and son (16) listed for one room and me and my other son (12) in the other room.  That way you now can bring more bottles of wine on board since each room has one adult.  We don't even bother with connecting rooms... we book adjoining balcony rooms and just open up the balconies to make them connected to save money. 

I've actually embraced the "one person over 21 per cabin rule".  We always book two rooms for our family... my wife and son (16) listed for one room and me and my other son (12) in the other room.  That way you now can bring more bottles of wine on board since each room has one adult.  We don't even bother with connecting rooms... we book adjoining balcony rooms and just open up the balconies to make them connected to save money. 

I've actually embraced the "one person over 21 per cabin rule".  We always book two rooms for our family... my wife and son (16) listed for one room and me and my other son (12) in the other room.  That way you now can bring more bottles of wine on board since each room has one adult.  We don't even bother with connecting rooms... we book adjoining balcony rooms and just open up the balconies to make them connected to save money.