dswallow

There's innumerable places to get a free email account with domains that are similarly common and fine and with domains most people would never have heard of before. 

When I was aboard in June doing a few B2B's the first testing signup period nobody really knew what was going to happen for B2B's, AND the signup step had other problems, like not even showing up on phone browsers consistently or even on laptops. So the front desk was signing people up when they had a problem. And then later we discovered B2B's don't need to schedule an appointment as we'd be tested on turnaround day and we all just show up in a small window of time. But I'd had an appointment scheduled; they just said to ignore it and no-show. I guess they had no way to cancel it.

But the TrustOne app it uses for things otherwise worked well, including it providing a notification on the phone about the test result as long as it was running in the background well before anyone walked over to where we were waiting for results.

But everything worked out; I think everyone was way too happy just to be there to sweat these sorts of details. I go back in a few weeks for the last 2 sailings. I'm sure there'll be a completely different set of problems. And I'll still be happy to be there sweating it out. ?

You have no idea what you're talking about when you're calling this sort of thing "discrimination." And nobody said people who are medically unable (including those not of age yet) to get vaccinated would be excluded. You're just trying to create unnecessary panic, too. Right now, coming from outside the US, one must present proof of a negative test for COVID taken in the prior 3 days. This would simply create a requirement for proof of vaccination or proof of being unable to be vaccinated for a qualified reason.

We are in a pandemic and people are dying or suffering significant medical trauma that could last a lifetime right now. And it is necessary to use all available tools to put a stop to it while we can do so.

Like closing the barn door after most of the horses have already disappeared. But I still think it's a long-overdue and necessary step.

Like closing the barn door after most of the horses have already disappeared. But I still think it's a long-overdue and necessary step.

This topic is not directly related to cruising and is clearly going to go downhill quickly.  Contact your legislators with your support for, or opposition to, this bill.  ?

Like closing the barn door after most of the horses have already disappeared. But I still think it's a long-overdue and necessary step.

Like closing the barn door after most of the horses have already disappeared. But I still think it's a long-overdue and necessary step.

Like closing the barn door after most of the horses have already disappeared. But I still think it's a long-overdue and necessary step.

Like closing the barn door after most of the horses have already disappeared. But I still think it's a long-overdue and necessary step.

They still had to complete check-in before arriving at the pier, so there was no way they were completely ignorant of what was going to happen to them when they got there.

They still had to complete check-in before arriving at the pier, so there was no way they were completely ignorant of what was going to happen to them when they got there.

They still had to complete check-in before arriving at the pier, so there was no way they were completely ignorant of what was going to happen to them when they got there.

They still had to complete check-in before arriving at the pier, so there was no way they were completely ignorant of what was going to happen to them when they got there.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how Yale, Harvard and Stanford would choose a color scale for such a map that goes from brown/deep red for NO infections through blue-ish white for 1,000/100K infections or higher. It's backwards for any normal human expectation where red=bad/worse. And I am not sure it offers an easy way to show no data available versus actual 0 infections, either.
?

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how Yale, Harvard and Stanford would choose a color scale for such a map that goes from brown/deep red for NO infections through blue-ish white for 1,000/100K infections or higher. It's backwards for any normal human expectation where red=bad/worse. And I am not sure it offers an easy way to show no data available versus actual 0 infections, either.
?

It looks like Canada is requiring every passenger to be vaccinated in order to travel by air, train and cruise ships. (No date though)
"Starting soon, all commercial air travellers and passengers on interprovincial trains and large marine vessels with overnight accommodations (such as cruise ships) will have to be vaccinated"
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/federal-government-mandatory-vaccinations-1.6140131

Thanks for the docket number, @CGTLH.
As the documents for the appeal Florida files become available I will be keeping this up to date. It may not be instantaneous after each filing, but not too long after, generally. Included is a link to PACER if you want to watch for it yourself, but it'll potentially cost a small amount of money if you accumulate more than $30.00 in charges over a quarter. ?

US Court of Appeals, 11th District, Case 12729, NCLH v. Florida (2150.com)

Thanks for the docket number, @CGTLH.
As the documents for the appeal Florida files become available I will be keeping this up to date. It may not be instantaneous after each filing, but not too long after, generally. Included is a link to PACER if you want to watch for it yourself, but it'll potentially cost a small amount of money if you accumulate more than $30.00 in charges over a quarter. ?

US Court of Appeals, 11th District, Case 12729, NCLH v. Florida (2150.com)

On thing to stress. The only one that includes test results is the BinaxNOW Ag card box version of the test.

 
This is NOT the same as the ~$20 test that can be bought off the shelf. This one does not include results since it doesn't include a virtual visit for the test.

The religious and medical disability concepts of discrimination are a basis of discrimination based on religious beliefs or based on a medical condition or disability (there are some general definitions involved here; it's not just an arbitrary statement of "I have a medical condition" that can suffice). Fear of a vaccine is not a medical condition. And while I have significant issues with religious exemptions personally, as a society we seem to have settled on permitting people to believe their way via organized religion out of various duties to others. At least the religious exemptions generally don't permit arbitrarily making up new religions particularly easily.
You may own shares in a public company, but that still doesn't afford you the right to walk into their offices anytime you want.
Florida is making serious threats to businesses and individuals; I'm not sure why you think those threats aren't effectively stopping a business from doing what the threats say they want to do. If a business or individual ignores them and behaves as if they do not exist, it becomes a game of chicken, and that's not really a great way to run a business. Though sometimes there's a strategy in doing exactly that, too. But if you want to start up a multi-billion dollar business then you can determine the strategy to use when a government threatens your business operation. In the meantime, NCL's management gets to decide theirs, just like any other business.
 

You have no inherent right anywhere to board a privately owned cruise ship. Typically "discrimination" extends to religious and disability related reasoning. There's also the elements of employment law/equal opportunity law that defines discrimination in those settings involving things like race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Most of the states trying to make vaccination status some sort of protected class are going to face uphill battles because of the nature of a pandemic and the requirement of vaccination for health and safety reasons. But at best, you could see perhaps valid reasoning here for protection for access to essential services, like being able to go into a grocery store. But again, when there's a health safety concern it wouldn't be that unvaccinated couldn't enter; it would be that different precautions could apply to unvaccinated in order for them to enter. Anyway, then we get back to you not having an inherent right to board a privately owned cruise ship.

Abbott's ID NOW which is commonly found in use at Walgreen's is acceptable. You'll find it and basically every other type of NAAT or Antigen test approved for COVID-19 among the pages at the link Royal Caribbean now provides to the list of FDA-approved tests. That category of tests that is not accepted is Antibody tests.

In Vitro Diagnostics EUAs - Molecular Diagnostic Tests for SARS-CoV-2 | FDA


ID NOW has been specifically called out before as acceptable, though previously it's been via communication with Royal Caribbean whenever someone has had concerns, which means it falls in that "good luck getting the person handling check-in to agree." ?

Just for fun, I created an account and tried to initiate a test session. Could be worse, I suppose. That article seems to imply a family would be doing this serially via a single computer or smartphone, but I would expect everyone likely has access to multiple devices, and there's no reason you couldn't use every device you have to begin testing sessions and get through them more quickly. It's still a decent option for people in more out-of-the-way areas. And even someone like me in an area with plenty of places to go would be looking at 30-40 minutes round trip travel time plus any waiting for the process to begin once getting somewhere that can do it, then the same wait for results.

Royal Caribbean is starting to get their act together identifying the allowable COVID tests. Finally.

Where Do I Take A RT-PCR Test And Submit The Results Before Cruising? | Royal Caribbean Cruises


 
They actually refer to the complete list of FDA approved tests, too: In Vitro Diagnostics EUAs - Molecular Diagnostic Tests for SARS-CoV-2 | FDA
And an important addition is the use of home tests as long as they are supervised. This basically makes 15-minute tests accessible to anybody, anywhere as long as they can do a video conference online and order the necessary test in advance to have on hand when the test has to be performed. One of the first in this category is Abbott's BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag At-Home Test.
Abbott’s BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Ag At-Home Test Kit 6 Pack (emed.com)
Travelers can now buy CDC-approved at-home COVID-19 tests for just $50 (thepointsguy.com)