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US cruises could restart soon with 'passenger voyages by mid-July,' CDC says


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Key part of the article...

 

Based on industry feedback, the CDC landed on five clarifications to its additional guidance issued April 2 to allow a resumption of sailing:

  • Ships can bypass the required simulated test voyages carrying volunteers and jump to sailings with paying passengers if 98% of crew and 95% of passengers are fully vaccinated.
  • CDC will review and respond to applications from cruise lines for simulated voyages within 5 days, a review previously expected to take 60 days.
  • CDC will update its testing and quarantine requirements for passengers and crew on sailings with paying passengers to align with the CDC's guidance for fully vaccinated people. So, for example, instead of taking a PCR lab test ahead of boarding vaccinated passengers can take a rapid antigen test upon embarkation.
  • CDC has clarified that cruise ship operators may enter into a "multi-port agreement" rather than a single port agreement as long as all port and local authorities sign the agreement.
  • The CDC has clarified guidance on quarantine guidelines for passengers who may be exposed to or contract COVID-19. For example, local passengers may be able to drive home and passengers who have traveled to cruise may quarantine in a hotel.
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20 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

CDC has clarified that cruise ship operators may enter into a "multi-port agreement" rather than a single port agreement as long as all port and local authorities sign the agreement.

Think this has been the biggest hurdle to comply with in the original form. If I was understanding it correctly each port of call would be required to have an agreement in place with the cruiseline. The agreement was to cover care and housing of infected individuals in the event of an outbreak.

Sounds like under the possible new terms one port could agree to cover for multiple ports.

 

Kinda circles back to the concern from this article: "Fine print with a huge impact: Ports struggle with CDC terms: Travel Weekly"

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6 minutes ago, CruisinForABruisin said:

Where you getting non FDA approved covid shots in the States? 

Nowere as far as I know I just thought about the cruise crew who comes from different countries , some get the Russian vaccine , some the Chinese , some get the Indian one and some can not get any. I wonder how the cruise companies will be able to admit the vaccine to their crew. Thinking about it even the AZ which is widely admited in Europe is not yet FDA approved...

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The 98% crew vaccination is the easy part. 

The 95% guest vaccination part needs more clarification.

The premise is that they can skip test cruises if 95% of guests are vaccinated.  On which sailing?  Just one sailing?  All sailings?  Until when?

It's not like guests board a ship and live there forever like its a nursing home.  Three days later those guests get off and another 3,000 get on.

What happens if the first sailing for a ship has a 96% guest vaccination rate but the 2nd sailing has only a 93% vaccination rate?  Does that mean they have to stop and do test cruises before cruise #2 can depart?  Or do they need to cancel cruise #2 since it fell short of 95%?  

If they do sample cruises can they then sail with 0% of guests vaccinated?

If they have to cancel any cruise that falls short of 95% guest vaccination that leads to a high degree of uncertainty.   When do they cancel?  The day of the cruise?  A week before the cruise?  Two months before the cruise? When will guests know if the magic number has been reached?  

If they cancel a Florida cruise because not enough guests were vaccinated does that put them at odds with the Florida Governor DeSantis EO that says they can't require guests to be vaccinated?  Are they violating the Governor's EO simply by asking if a guest is vaccinated?

So many questions.

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20 minutes ago, twangster said:

The 98% crew vaccination is the easy part. 

The 95% guest vaccination part needs more clarification.

The premise is that they can skip test cruises if 95% of guests are vaccinated.  On which sailing?  Just one sailing?  All sailings?  Until when?

It's not like guests board a ship and live there forever like its a nursing home.  Three days later those guests get off and another 3,000 get on.

What happens if the first sailing for a ship has a 96% guest vaccination rate but the 2nd sailing has only a 93% vaccination rate?  Does that mean they have to stop and do test cruises before cruise #2 can depart?  Or do they need to cancel cruise #2 since it fell short of 95%?  

If they do sample cruises can they then sail with 0% of guests vaccinated?

If they have to cancel any cruise that falls short of 95% guest vaccination that leads to a high degree of uncertainty.   When do they cancel?  The day of the cruise?  A week before the cruise?  Two months before the cruise? When will guests know if the magic number has been reached?  

If they cancel a Florida cruise because not enough guests were vaccinated does that put them at odds with the Florida Governor DeSantis EO that says they can't require guests to be vaccinated?  Are they violating the Governor's EO simply by asking if a guest is vaccinated?

So many questions.

So many... yet so important. I am happy to hear about how frequently the meetings are now occurring between the CDC and cruise lines, it was about time. I think with continued engagement and development of solid plans and adhering to certain aspects of the CSO, there is a path forward, which is what the FL governor wants. He is in some sort of contradiction though when he wants cruises to return but doesn't want cruise lines to require vaccines. It doesn't work that way, Ron. 

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2 hours ago, twangster said:

The 98% crew vaccination is the easy part. 

The 95% guest vaccination part needs more clarification.

The premise is that they can skip test cruises if 95% of guests are vaccinated.  On which sailing?  Just one sailing?  All sailings?  Until when?

It's not like guests board a ship and live there forever like its a nursing home.  Three days later those guests get off and another 3,000 get on.

What happens if the first sailing for a ship has a 96% guest vaccination rate but the 2nd sailing has only a 93% vaccination rate?  Does that mean they have to stop and do test cruises before cruise #2 can depart?  Or do they need to cancel cruise #2 since it fell short of 95%?  

If they do sample cruises can they then sail with 0% of guests vaccinated?

If they have to cancel any cruise that falls short of 95% guest vaccination that leads to a high degree of uncertainty.   When do they cancel?  The day of the cruise?  A week before the cruise?  Two months before the cruise? When will guests know if the magic number has been reached?  

If they cancel a Florida cruise because not enough guests were vaccinated does that put them at odds with the Florida Governor DeSantis EO that says they can't require guests to be vaccinated?  Are they violating the Governor's EO simply by asking if a guest is vaccinated?

So many questions.

So will they take the easy option and mandate vaccination for all guests and crew?

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18 hours ago, twangster said:

The 98% crew vaccination is the easy part. 

The 95% guest vaccination part needs more clarification.

The premise is that they can skip test cruises if 95% of guests are vaccinated.  On which sailing?  Just one sailing?  All sailings?  Until when?

It's not like guests board a ship and live there forever like its a nursing home.  Three days later those guests get off and another 3,000 get on.

What happens if the first sailing for a ship has a 96% guest vaccination rate but the 2nd sailing has only a 93% vaccination rate?  Does that mean they have to stop and do test cruises before cruise #2 can depart?  Or do they need to cancel cruise #2 since it fell short of 95%?  

If they do sample cruises can they then sail with 0% of guests vaccinated?

If they have to cancel any cruise that falls short of 95% guest vaccination that leads to a high degree of uncertainty.   When do they cancel?  The day of the cruise?  A week before the cruise?  Two months before the cruise? When will guests know if the magic number has been reached?  

If they cancel a Florida cruise because not enough guests were vaccinated does that put them at odds with the Florida Governor DeSantis EO that says they can't require guests to be vaccinated?  Are they violating the Governor's EO simply by asking if a guest is vaccinated?

So many questions.

Wouldn't they just bar X number of unvaccinated passengers from boarding, to ensure they reach the 95% quota? So if for example, they find that 92% of passengers are vaccinated prior to boarding, RC refuses boarding to whatever number enables them to reach 95%.  Therefore, if you haven't had your jab and you book, you are taking on a massive risk of being denied boarding.

Or, as suggested by Mike. S, this rule is effectively a mandate to ensure everyone is vaccinated, with possible exceptions of certain medical exemptions.

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Progress, but still a long, long way to go.

 

95% vaccinated?  THat seems random.  And is that 95% of all passengers or 95% of those vaccinated over age 16/18?

 

So you can skip test cruises if you're 95% vaccinated. How is this even possible?  That's like saying you can skip your pre-employment drug test if you promise to stay sober. It's basically the CDC saying test cruises are just for show.

 

I agree it's the shore agreements that will still be the big hurdle.  That clause should be completely removed from the CSO

 

"CDC looks forward to continued engagement with the industry and urges cruise lines to submit Phase 2A port agreements as soon as possible to maintain the timeline of passenger voyages by mid-July," Shockey said.

 

These aren't just handshake deals. They are complex legal agreements with boatloads of obsolete liability concerns. 

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Hard to glean too much from a questionable and biased media source.  A "story" in USAToday is available to anyone with money and they'll print anything.

I suspect the devil is in the details where we will find many more devils.  

It's not like the CDC is going to make it that easy.  

Once the CDC actually updates the technical requirements we should know more.

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34 minutes ago, twangster said:

Hard to glean too much from a questionable and biased media source.  A "story" in USAToday is available to anyone with money and they'll print anything.

Considering that a journalist there just resigned and publicly declared on Twitter that her reason to quit was because she was forced to write a probably false story, I wouldn’t treat USA Today as any more valid or reliable than the National Enquirer, or Daily Mail in the UK. It’s become a tabloid rag.

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41 minutes ago, twangster said:

Hard to glean too much from a questionable and biased media source.  A "story" in USAToday is available to anyone with money and they'll print anything.

I suspect the devil is in the details where we will find many more devils.  

It's not like the CDC is going to make it that easy.  

Once the CDC actually updates the technical requirements we should know more.

The CDC will not do anything fast , and its not really updated , up until 3 days ago Israel was in the "must no go" countries (level 4) due to C19 risk , three days ago they changed it to number 3 , yap same Israel that has 60% of the pupation fully vaccinated , 80% above 20 years old and 0.2% of new cases out of all the C19 daily tests. 

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6 hours ago, johnt83 said:

So many... yet so important. I am happy to hear about how frequently the meetings are now occurring between the CDC and cruise lines, it was about time. I think with continued engagement and development of solid plans and adhering to certain aspects of the CSO, there is a path forward, which is what the FL governor wants. He is in some sort of contradiction though when he wants cruises to return but doesn't want cruise lines to require vaccines. It doesn't work that way, Ron. 

The EO that DeSantis signed says businesses cannot ASK if you’ve been vaccinated. It says nothing about requiring/not requiring vaccine. It’s simply an order to protect your private health information. Regardless it is at odds with what he wants though. 

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56 minutes ago, twangster said:

Has anyone found another source?

Other media are reporting that "USAToday has reported..." but I can't find another direct source.  

The WSJ is also reporting it, and doesn't mention USAToday.

 

Cruise operators could restart sailings out of the U.S. by mid-July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, paving the way to resume operations that have been suspended for longer than a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The CDC, in a letter to cruise-industry leaders Wednesday evening, also said cruise ships can proceed to passenger sailings without test cruises if they attest that 98% of crew members and 95% of passengers are fully vaccinated. The move was a result of twice-weekly meetings with cruise representatives over the past month, the agency said.

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39 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Considering that a journalist there just resigned and publicly declared on Twitter that her reason to quit was because she was forced to write a probably false story, I wouldn’t treat USA Today as any more valid or reliable than the National Enquirer, or Daily Mail in the UK. It’s become a tabloid rag.

I thought that was the NY Post, not USA Today.

 

 

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8 hours ago, CGTLH said:

Key part of the article...

 

Based on industry feedback, the CDC landed on five clarifications to its additional guidance issued April 2 to allow a resumption of sailing:

  • Ships can bypass the required simulated test voyages carrying volunteers and jump to sailings with paying passengers if 98% of crew and 95% of passengers are fully vaccinated.
  • CDC will review and respond to applications from cruise lines for simulated voyages within 5 days, a review previously expected to take 60 days.
  • CDC will update its testing and quarantine requirements for passengers and crew on sailings with paying passengers to align with the CDC's guidance for fully vaccinated people. So, for example, instead of taking a PCR lab test ahead of boarding vaccinated passengers can take a rapid antigen test upon embarkation.
  • CDC has clarified that cruise ship operators may enter into a "multi-port agreement" rather than a single port agreement as long as all port and local authorities sign the agreement.
  • The CDC has clarified guidance on quarantine guidelines for passengers who may be exposed to or contract COVID-19. For example, local passengers may be able to drive home and passengers who have traveled to cruise may quarantine in a hotel.

Those instructions looked like they're adapted to the current conditions - not 100% good, quick turn on review of simulated voyages - good.

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7 hours ago, twangster said:

The 98% crew vaccination is the easy part. 

The 95% guest vaccination part needs more clarification.

The premise is that they can skip test cruises if 95% of guests are vaccinated.  On which sailing?  Just one sailing?  All sailings?  Until when?

It's not like guests board a ship and live there forever like its a nursing home.  Three days later those guests get off and another 3,000 get on.

What happens if the first sailing for a ship has a 96% guest vaccination rate but the 2nd sailing has only a 93% vaccination rate?  Does that mean they have to stop and do test cruises before cruise #2 can depart?  Or do they need to cancel cruise #2 since it fell short of 95%?  

If they do sample cruises can they then sail with 0% of guests vaccinated?

If they have to cancel any cruise that falls short of 95% guest vaccination that leads to a high degree of uncertainty.   When do they cancel?  The day of the cruise?  A week before the cruise?  Two months before the cruise? When will guests know if the magic number has been reached?  

If they cancel a Florida cruise because not enough guests were vaccinated does that put them at odds with the Florida Governor DeSantis EO that says they can't require guests to be vaccinated?  Are they violating the Governor's EO simply by asking if a guest is vaccinated?

So many questions.

Did anyone see an updated capacity limit?  Could use that to cover statistical uncertainty (slop) in the 95% guideline. 

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I'm cautiously optimistic this might come to be something big but we've been lied to and misled by the CDC so many times it's hard to commit any level of believing this might be an actual restart.  They've lost all credibility in my eyes, so...

Waiting to learn more before I jump on the bandwagon.  

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25 minutes ago, JennieUnderwood said:

I read on another post that the full new documents have a clause for kids under 16 - they won't need to be vaccinated (for obvious reasons). Has anyone seen actual wording on this yet? 

No, I haven't been able to find the actual letter.

Seems like this might be better news for NCL then Royal.  It matches up with their restart plans closer (e.g. no unvaccinated children onboard).

 

 

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15 minutes ago, karl_nj said:

No, I haven't been able to find the actual letter.

Seems like this might be better news for NCL then Royal.  It matches up with their restart plans closer (e.g. no unvaccinated children onboard).

 

 

The spin will be... "We are a family cruise line and we want you to sail with your children, but the CDC won't allow us to"

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7 minutes ago, wordell1 said:

I know that the there are vaccine trials underway for under 16 but I don't know if it will include all, or just certain ages.  The CDC may have knowledge that one will get approval shortly.

I believe Pfizer completed trials for 12-15 and has submitted them to the CDC for approval. 

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