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Bahamas banning cruise ships w/anyone 12+ not vaccinated


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Definitely will be interesting. Since the St Thomas requirement, my October Symphony has so many cabins available. Before the St Thomas thing, there were only about 30 cabins total available. Last night I took a look around and there were 80 OV balcony just in mid and forward. Didn’t even look at aft. 
 

My Facebook group for that sailing had many posting they had cancelled including a group of 22 and several UK passengers solely due to under 18 can’t be vaccinated. 
 

I noticed prices for Allure and Symphony sailings that have St Thomas for October and November are rock bottom. Mine went down $544 with the last sale. I saw some balconies going for $998 per person for oasis class! 
 

I know Royal says as much as 7-10% are unvaccinated but dang that put a dent in my Symphony sailings. Doesn’t seem that number would affect them. Will be interesting to watch. 
 

 

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This just blows.  Sick.

WAIT !  I just read the post on the blog and we qualify under #3.  We both have signed medical contradictions.  Unfortunately, they will probably still restrict us from the casino which is not acceptable to us so chances are we still won't be able to go but at least SOMEone is finally recognizing medical contradictions.  Hopefully natural immunity will follow close behind.

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So does this mean all RCL ships that have a Bahamas port after September 1 will be rerouted or canceled due to the fact that they accept passengers with no vaccine ?

These conditions include:

  • The ship transmits a full passenger manifest which discloses the vaccination status of all persons onboard
  • All passengers who are twelve years old and older were fully vaccinated prior to embarking on the cruise ship at the start of the voyage
  • The health protocols previously submitted to the Bahamian government have been complied with.
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Quite a rock and a hard place for RC, unless they're working back channels to get exceptions for Coco Cay.

 

They have to navigate Florida's vaccine passport ban and the sole existence of a series of cruises going to a country  saying you need a vaccine to go there.

 

But why just cruise ships? If you flew there and stayed at a resort, this wouldn't apply

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58 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

This just blows.  Sick.

WAIT !  I just read the post on the blog and we qualify under #3.  We both have signed medical contradictions.  Unfortunately, they will probably still restrict us from the casino which is not acceptable to us so chances are we still won't be able to go but at least SOMEone is finally recognizing medical contradictions.  Hopefully natural immunity will follow close behind.

FYI, the Bahamas Emergency Order does permit exceptions based on medical contraindications for vaccination.

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I'm clearly in the get vaccinated if you want to play crowd - my qualifiers on choice and medical contraindications not withstanding. 

As harsh as it sounds, you WILL deal with COVID should you choose to not get vaxed because the unvaxed are going to fall I'll from it at some point. The only question for the unvaxed is how ill will I get? It's a craps shoot. You can play the numbers, you may not get sick at all or you could die. I prefer the odds with getting vaccinated. Not everyone does and can tell you the math supporting their choice. I'm fine with it.

But, I said it earlier today. Stop haranguing those that have thought this through and made a reasonable decision to not get the shots. Instead focus on the crowd that doesn't know about the shot - and believe it or not there are such people - can't get off work, get relief with child care, lack the capacity to get to places administering vaccines. Focus on that group that is convinceable and we'll get to an 80-99% vax rate in the US. 

Unfortunately, for us cruisers that's not the case in some Caribbean nations. Ported today in St. John's Antigua. Toured on a ship's tour - the only way you could leave the ship. I asked our small group guide in a private conversation after the tour about labor unrest. Pre-COVID, that was a big deal in the West Indies/Lesser Antilles. Especially in Barbados where violent protests occurred Her response? That's quieted down with expanded social programs. What's causing protests now is vaccinations. She said 50% or more are resisting them. Mostly out of fear. They are fully available now in Antigua down to age 12 ..... but the folks don't want them. Of course that causes the government to restrict mobility and busnesses to keep heath care services from being overwhelmed. These kinds of headwinds are going to impact the travel and leisure economy of the Caribbean nations. They are going to affect cruising everywhere. Clearly the devastating impact can already be seen. The St. St. John's port area had undergone extensive improvements Pre-COVID when the economy was ticking. Now beautifully renovated shops are either boarded up or empty of customers. Forlorn sales staff inside empty stores. Sad. 

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10 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

But why just cruise ships? If you flew there and stayed at a resort, this wouldn't apply

Just a guess, but The Bahamas requires a negative test to enter the country from non cruise ship visitors. Whereas they're agreeing to the cruise ship visitors entering the islands without a separate test, just whatever up front test was required by the cruise line to board; thus those visitors are exposed within the cruise ship to other passengers, and they're likely concerned about that level of potential transmission with non-vaccinated passengers otherwise eligible for vaccination and then the lack of testing immediately prior to the visit.

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11 minutes ago, WannaCruise said:

Wow...interesting.  Our Dec cruise out of NJ stops at CoCo Cay and Nassau.  We're all vaccinated so we're good, but guess that means some will be cancelling.  Wonder too if that will affect NJ protocols , which I don't think have been announced yet (as I think Oasis does the same route).

The order expires Nov 1

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12 minutes ago, dswallow said:

Just a guess, but The Bahamas requires a negative test to enter the country from non cruise ship visitors. Whereas they're agreeing to the cruise ship visitors entering the islands without a separate test, just whatever up front test was required by the cruise line to board; thus those visitors are exposed within the cruise ship to other passengers, and they're likely concerned about that level of potential transmission with non-vaccinated passengers otherwise eligible for vaccination and then the lack of testing immediately prior to the visit.

Yet in theory, an unvax person could arrive in the Bahamas on a cruise stop with a test more recent than an unvax person flying to the Bahamas via plane.

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15 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Yet in theory, an unvax person could arrive in the Bahamas on a cruise stop with a test more recent than an unvax person flying to the Bahamas via plane.

Sure, but we're talking about how to deal with large numbers of visitors; you try to get the most bang for the buck and minimize entry of infectious people; you may not get them all, of course, but this approach likely gets more than not having this approach does, with pretty minimal impact, even. Just because a few problems could still get through doesn't mean you just toss your hands in the air, close your eyes, and let them all through.

 

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....... if RCL wants to operate in the Caribbean, they're going to have to switch gears and require everyone to be vaxed. 

I hold that what's going on throughout the Caribbean is hyper-conservative but completely understandable given limited health services. These islands cannot afford an outbreak and all it takes with Delta is one 12 yo getting infected in route to a cruise, passing antigen screening during the incubation period, going on a tour, spreading virions at high concentration levels and infecting unvaxed islanders.....1 to 5, 5 to 25, 25 to, you get the point. While the risk of that occurring remains low, it's a risk that governments protecting a vulnerable population and vulnerable health care systems are unwilling to take. 

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26 minutes ago, dswallow said:

Sure, but we're talking about how to deal with large numbers of visitors; you try to get the most bang for the buck and minimize entry of infectious people; you may not get them all, of course, but this approach likely gets more than not having this approach does, with pretty minimal impact, even. Just because a few problems could still get through doesn't mean you just toss your hands in the air, close your eyes, and let them all through.

 

It is risking damaging a key part of your struggling economy for a very low chance of actually stopping a case entering your country. As we know the number of unvaccinated 12+ on these ships is a very low number on a ship already operating at a very low capacity. 

Now if they'd change their health visa policy to allow only vaccinated 12+ into the country, then it'd all make sense
 

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2 hours ago, Jill said:


 

My Facebook group for that sailing had many posting they had cancelled including a group of 22 and several UK passengers solely due to under 18 can’t be vaccinated. 
 


 

 

Under 18s can be vaccinated in the UK. 16 and 17 yr olds can be vaccinated if they wish and vaccine has just been approved for 12yrs and above.

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43 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

It is risking damaging a key part of your struggling economy for a very low chance of actually stopping a case entering your country. As we know the number of unvaccinated 12+ on these ships is a very low number on a ship already operating at a very low capacity. 

Now if they'd change their health visa policy to allow only vaccinated 12+ into the country, then it'd all make sense
 

You should pay attention the news in The Bahamas. Everything they are doing is working towards getting the population vaccinated, encouraging vaccination, and tying reopening of things to vaccination. The latest messaging is about getting hundreds of thousands of vaccination doses just recently and completing nationwide vaccination plans soon. It is a consistent, repeated message. This change is just one more part of that to provide a cohesive, consistent protocol going forward, especially through the current spike of infections that appear to be coming from the Delta variant right now.

And seriously what do you really believe this change is going to do? This change is going to make Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines remove unvaccinated people who could other get vaccinated; they're not going to move a ship to a different port; for shorter cruises, there isn't another port in most cases that's a practical alternative. And there's really nothing like CocoCay either, in which Royal Caribbean has a big investment, and certainly must have a profit motive too because every single thing they sell there or sell to do there is a Royal Caribbean product. No way they want to go to St. Maarten instead, or any other port.

By Royal Caribbean's own admission there can't be more than 10% of passengers in total unvaccinated right now if as they claim all ships are in practice sailing 90-95% vaccinated anyway. If we're talking a 30% occupancy, we are possibly considering 10% to represent 200 people in total aboard an Oasis Class ship at first. No idea how many of those are under-12's, or even under-18's. But it's likely not representing 200 adults. So maybe they can't accept 25 or 30 adults; maybe even 50 adults. So boo-hoo they have to sail with 1,950 people instead of 2,000.

This change simply has no practical financial effect. And if anything, it's likely welcomed if in any part the requirement from The Bahamas provides an actual out on the Florida state law that NCL is fighting and other lines are kinda/sorta/mostly working around by making it highly inconvenient to sail unvaccinated if you could be vaccinated anyway.

 

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This is going to be the trend going forward for a long time. That's fine. Took us all of an hour between the 3 of my immediate family to get vaccinated (both sets) months ago; pretty easy investment of time/effort vs NOT getting vaccinated. My 6 yr old will get the shot as soon as it is available. Less people on board? I am not going to cry. But statistically, cruises have 13 million Americans to pull customers as of TODAY (that's 8% of the current fully vaccinated number of Americans - the same % of Americans CLIA has stated cruises regularly in the US). They will be fine, especially with more and more every day (500k or a day on the low end). That's a lot of $. If this means a few less on our upcoming OASIS cruise in October and perhaps NO MASK REQUIREMENTS FOR THOSE VACCINATED (as all adults will be vaccainted) will be awesome! 

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2 hours ago, dswallow said:

Sure, but we're talking about how to deal with large numbers of visitors; you try to get the most bang for the buck and minimize entry of infectious people; you may not get them all, of course, but this approach likely gets more than not having this approach does, with pretty minimal impact, even. Just because a few problems could still get through doesn't mean you just toss your hands in the air, close your eyes, and let them all through.

 

Pretty minimal impact, not sure how you draw that conclusion.  Perhaps the Bahamas will just print extra money like the US.

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23 minutes ago, Aulayan said:

I'm surprised the "Even the private islands" rule.  I mean yes, they are technically Bahamas Locations but there's no risk at all to their citizenry.  That's a hard line to impose.  The various cruise companies (Except NCL) must be in an uproar right now.

But many local bahamians work on the islands as well.  Not sure how many on Perfect Day but I know 2 boatloads came from the surrounding islands for Disney's Castaway Cay.  

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13 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I'm curious how that works around the Florida law

I believe the wording in the FAQ is very careful to say " ...guests who choose not to provide proof of vaccination..." and also "...to meet the requirements of The Bahamas..."

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It would appear there are just 5 of 69 sailings departing before November 1 and not back in port before September 3 from Florida ports that don't visit a port in The Bahamas between September 3 and November 1.

Odyssey, 10/23/2021, from Ft. Lauderdale, 8 Night Southern Caribbean Cruise | Royal Caribbean Cruises
Serenade, 10/25/2021, from Tampa, 5 Night Western Caribbean Cruise | Royal Caribbean Cruises
Serenade, 10/30/2021, from Tampa, 5 Night Western Caribbean Cruise | Royal Caribbean Cruises
Symphony, 10/30/2021, from Miami, 7 Night Eastern Caribbean & Perfect Day | Royal Caribbean Cruises
Odyssey, 10/31/2021, from Ft. Lauderdale, 6 Night Western Caribbean Cruise | Royal Caribbean Cruises

There are 9 more sailings from Florida ports that aren't affected by this protocol change because they end before September 3.

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I knew something like this would happen the minute Ron DeSantis signed that bill on vaccine passports which didn't exempt cruiselines.  I've said this from the very beginning cruiselines should be in the same category as airlines because except for the 2021 Alaska season there are no domestic cruises out of the U.S..   These Caribbean Island nations can not afford to be overrun with COVID and they have to do what they deem necessary to protect themselves until they have enough vaccine in circulation to where everyone of their citizens has a choice just like we here in the U.S. have a choice.

I am not surprised at all to see the Bahamas take this approach even with the cruise lines private islands, we have keep in mind although it is a private island locals still work on those islands, not every person we come across on these private island work on the cruise ship some of them actually live in the Bahamas.  

Ron DeSantis has no power to tell another country who they can allow into their country even the USVI now require cruise passengers over a certain age be vaccinated. 

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1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

I'm curious how that works around the Florida law

It is fairly simple if Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines with itineraries that include stops in the Bahamas wish to continue to sail to the Bahamas then they must comply with Bahamian law and require all passengers over the age of 12 be fully vaccinated in defiance of Florida law which so far we have not heard of any cruise line being fined by Florida.

However if a cruise lines decides they are going to comply with the Florida law and not require all passengers over the age of 12 be fully vaccinated then that cruise line or cruise ship can not stop in the Bahamas at all including the cruise lines private islands.

Basically cruise lines and their passengers are now stuck in the middle of this mess and they never should have been in the middle of this vaccine passport bill to begin with.

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2 hours ago, Aulayan said:

I'm surprised the "Even the private islands" rule.  I mean yes, they are technically Bahamas Locations but there's no risk at all to their citizenry.  That's a hard line to impose.  The various cruise companies (Except NCL) must be in an uproar right now.

I don’t think there’s any uproar at all. RCI, at least, wants to be running fully-vaccinated cruises, as evidenced by the fact that they’re already doing so everywhere (I think?) but Florida. These changes by the islands just give them more cover to do what they have wanted to do all along in Florida as well. 

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