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Celebrity Cruises drops requirement for passengers to show proof of COVID vaccine for Florida cruises


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I just can't see too many unvaccinated adults on these cruises. We all have a passion for cruising that may be seen as a bit nuts by non-cruisers, but someone adamant enough not to get the vaccine doesn't strike me as someone that'd be more than happy to wear a mask all day long on vacation

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35 minutes ago, Jill said:

This is nothing new. Same as Royal. If you choose to show your proof of vaccination you’ll have one set of protocols. If you choose not to show proof or are not fully vaccinated, you’ll have to pay for additional testing, wear masks indoors and may be excluded from certain areas. 


It is new ….. until today, Celebrity’s policy was that you had to be vaccinated to sail on their ships.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Jill said:

This is nothing new. Same as Royal. If you choose to show your proof of vaccination you’ll have one set of protocols. If you choose not to show proof or are not fully vaccinated, you’ll have to pay for additional testing, wear masks indoors and may be excluded from certain areas. 

But won’t they be in violation of the [soon to be defunct, presumably] CSO if they sail with less than 95% vaccinated since they didn’t do a test sailing first ?

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47 minutes ago, ChrisK2793 said:


It is new ….. until today, Celebrity’s policy was that you had to be vaccinated to sail on their ships.

Odd.... This blog entry was posted 6/8 https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/06/08/celebrity-cruises-will-not-ask-proof-of-vaccine-florida-there-will-be-different-rules

Someone posted this on 6/8 as well: 

 

If you trust Celebrity's site that it hasn't been updated since 6/17: https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/us-travel-requirements

 

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8 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

But won’t they be in violation of the [soon to be defunct, presumably] CSO if they sail with less than 95% vaccinated since they didn’t do a test sailing first ?


‘According to the article, they plan to sail this Saturday, June 25, with nobody “required” to show proof of vaccine ….. maybe they made some sort of unreported deal with the CDC to sail without a test cruise after the CSO was struck down, even though the order was held off from going into effect until July 18?

 

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10 hours ago, ChrisK2793 said:


It is new ….. until today, Celebrity’s policy was that you had to be vaccinated to sail on their ships.

 

 

 

It’s been out for 2 weeks as @CGTLHposted. 
 

@WAAAYTOOO I don’t know how they’ll get around the CSO unless they somehow know they’ll hit that 95% mark. I think Royal put out that even with kids, they’ll still come in around 90%. 
 

Guess we’ll all find out tomorrow! 

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I think this has been out for a while.  There was a little discussion on the CC Celebrity board about how they would maintain the 95% requirement which is still in place until July 18th.  Would people be denied boarding if they exceeded the threshold?  I believe that Celebrity was asking people if they would be willing to provide proof of vaccination.  Maybe they have already got the information and run the numbers and are good. 

 

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Not new ........ I am interested in the mechanics of achieving their % vaccination goal. It definitely is not out there where we can see it. If they are still working on it, it's getting late in the game. If they simply intend to sail with whatever they get, they potentially run afoul of the CSO requirement to sail without a CSC ...... then again, that CSC is  likely to disappear on July 18th as it would become a recommendation after that date if the CDC does not submit an updated CSO to Merryday and/or there's not some kind of agreement reached on a CSO between the CDC and FL. Merryday did send the case back to mediation. That's supposed to occur between July 2nd and the 18th. The Edge booking that sails out of PEV on June 26th, from what I can tell, has the standard vaccination required to board policy. After July first from FL, they're hedging.

One thing worth considering is that RCL and Celebrity are co-brands. At the level of RCG is it corporate policy that RCL and Celebrity will follow identical vaccination policies? Alternatively is RCG deferring to the CEO's of RCL and Celebrity to decide on vaccination policy? I have no idea or gut feeling on this. Celebrity CEO Lutoff-Perlo seems to me to be the kind of CEO that might insist she'll make vaccination policy for Celebrity. RCG may be considering that two policies are complementary on a number of levels (booking, pax comfort levels, financials).

The hint that this might be the case is the report (assuming it's accurate) that during a conference call with TA's last week she said (paraphrased), "we (corporate after July 1st) for sailing from FL ports, we'll take care of getting the ship to the required vaccination rate by managing bookings." That means to me that requests for bookings coming from a TA or directly to a Celebrity CSR, there would be something like, check here if your're vaccinated, you are not required to provide this information but if you don't you will be treated as un-vaccinated and be unable to book based on CDC imposed required vaccination rates. Meanwhile RCL goes it's own way. I could see Celebrity's approach working or blowing up in their face. It's a tough call for Lutoff-Perlo.

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21 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan said:

Found this on the =X= boards.  I like the part about fraudulent docs.

 

Is this for FL sailings? I know the guidance is different for my sailing from Greece on July 9th. There, you have to be vaccinated to board. 

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19 minutes ago, JeffB said:

Meanwhile RCL goes it's own way. I could see Celebrity's approach working or blowing up in their face. It's a tough call for Lutoff-Perlo.

Based on my feelings from what I've read here and on the CC Celebrity boards there seems to be a higher level of preference for 95% vaccinated pax among the =X= crowd.  Certainly with the older demographic this makes sense.  

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18 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

If the first Adventure cruises are any indication, Celebrity should have no issue getting to 95% due to the lack of kids.

I agree! Also someone mentioned earlier about C contacting everyone before the cruise to find vaccination status and as such may deny them boarding is not correct. They are looking at how to schedule their shows or performances.

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9 minutes ago, cruisinghawg said:

I agree! Also someone mentioned earlier about C contacting everyone before the cruise to find vaccination status and as such may deny them boarding is not correct. They are looking at how to schedule their shows or performances.

Which part is not correct?  They are definitely contacting people and asking if they would like to say they are vaccinated and willing to prove it.  As far as denied boarding there is a lot of speculation only because, under the CSO, they have to sail with a 95% or greater vax rate.

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9 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

If the first Adventure cruises are any indication, Celebrity should have no issue getting to 95% due to the lack of kids.

Sure, but I'm 99% positive Celebrity isn't leaving this to chance. I would think it's being managed internally through bookings granted or denied. Speculating but what's probably happening right now is that they have some kind of gating criteria that dictates when they start asking people seeking bookings to voluntarily reveal vaccination status hoping to avoid having to do that at all.  That's a slippery slope legally but I also have no doubt Celebrity's legal team knows exactly how far they can go wit this. It would not be good PR if a curise journalist got a hold of it and framed a story in bad light.

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13 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I just can't see too many unvaccinated adults on these cruises. We all have a passion for cruising that may be seen as a bit nuts by non-cruisers, but someone adamant enough not to get the vaccine doesn't strike me as someone that'd be more than happy to wear a mask all day long on vacation

Wait a minute, all us cruisers are nuts?!?!?  Nobody told me that would happen!!  lol

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1 hour ago, WhiteSoxFan said:

Which part is not correct?  They are definitely contacting people and asking if they would like to say they are vaccinated and willing to prove it.  As far as denied boarding there is a lot of speculation only because, under the CSO, they have to sail with a 95% or greater vax rate.

Information was directly from Vicki Freed, RC rep, via her web talk yesterday to TA. To add yes both RC and apparently C are calling people to find out vax status, but RC at least is not denying boarding just what percentage will be vaxed so that they can plan their shows and dining.

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15 minutes ago, JeffB said:

Sure, but I'm 99% positive Celebrity isn't leaving this to chance. I would think it's being managed internally through bookings granted or denied. Speculating but what's probably happening right now is that they have some kind of gating criteria that dictates when they start asking people seeking bookings to voluntarily reveal vaccination status hoping to avoid having to do that at all.  That's a slippery slope legally but I also have no doubt Celebrity's legal team knows exactly how far they can go wit this. It would not be good PR if a curise journalist got a hold of it and framed a story in bad light.

Celebrity has been upfront with the fact that they are sailing from Florida with 95%+ vaccinated. Regardless of how they choose to manage that, anyone that is not vaccinated and thinking about booking a Celebrity cruise should know things may not turn out in their favor.  Of course, sometimes they never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

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3 hours ago, JeffB said:

Sure, but I'm 99% positive Celebrity isn't leaving this to chance. I would think it's being managed internally through bookings granted or denied. Speculating but what's probably happening right now is that they have some kind of gating criteria that dictates when they start asking people seeking bookings to voluntarily reveal vaccination status hoping to avoid having to do that at all.  That's a slippery slope legally but I also have no doubt Celebrity's legal team knows exactly how far they can go wit this. It would not be good PR if a curise journalist got a hold of it and framed a story in bad light.

just a layman's thoughts, I ask at booking if vaxxed and willing to disclose and you don't, could I not refuse to board you for Falsification of contract terms, not refusal of showing Vaxx status.  Semantics yes, possible, I'd have to ask a Lawyer.

I am sure Celebrity knows what they are attempting to do and it has been run through their legal department.

I am just glad to see some test sailing complete and we are seriously talking about how cruises will be starting for the rest of us. 

Well on our way back to a new normal whatever that will be

 

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To clear up my discussion from yesterday, as I said both C and RC are calling AT TIME OF BOOKING to determine vax status. They are different however in what they do with the information. When 5% is reached on C they cut off bookings so as to eliminate test cruises. RC is looking to schedule shows and dining for vaxed and unvaxed as I said yesterday.

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5 hours ago, cruisinghawg said:

To clear up my discussion from yesterday, as I said both C and RC are calling AT TIME OF BOOKING to determine vax status. They are different however in what they do with the information. When 5% is reached on C they cut off bookings so as to eliminate test cruises. RC is looking to schedule shows and dining for vaxed and unvaxed as I said yesterday.

I have a cruise on Symphony end of September and was never asked if I was vaccinated or not.  I have been booked for over 2 weeks now.

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Anyone who is vaccinated is going to have no issue volunteering proof of their vaccination. It is only the antivaxers who don't want anyone asking to show proof a vaccination. I prefers Celebrity's angle on this rather than Royal's where because of the unvaxed all the vaccinated cruisers will be required to wear masks as well

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3 hours ago, DanielB said:

I have a cruise on Symphony end of September and was never asked if I was vaccinated or not.  I have been booked for over 2 weeks now.

Strange because this info comes directly from RC and C. Since RC isn't going to deny you traveling they may be waiting to contact you closer to cruise. But keep me informed and thanks for the update.

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