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Vaccination and test requirements for Med cruises (Barcelona/Rome ports)


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I saw lots of discussions around Europe cruise vaccination requirements so I thought to try and summarize  what is known so far.

Most of the Europe countries  dropped the requirements for testing if your are fully vaccinated.

Fully vaccinated in the EU considered that your last shoot of an approved vaccine is no older than 9 month (270 days) . That is unless you got your booster shot which in most EU countries currently dose not have expiration date.

But , one of the most "cruised" country , Italy , counts the 9 month rule even for the booster shot , so if for example you got your booster shot at Sep 2021 and you are planning to cruise at July you consider to have "expired" vaccination status.

Royal Caribbean , apparently decided to go with the Italian system , meaning they consider two kind of vaccination status :

1. Up to date  one , your last shot including the booster is not older than 9 month. (the important date is the disembarkation date).
2. Non update , you have done the required vaccination but the last shot is older than 9 month.

Who ever consider as "up to date " one  , you can take a test 2 days before the cruise (not including the boarding day) and you do not need anything else.

For non update - You need to take a test One Day  before the boarding day and You will need to take a test before going to the port ,This test can be taken on the ship for the cost of 55$ , not sure yet if it is antigen test which good for only one port or the PCR that is valid for 3 days and might be OK for 3 ports. You can also use the EMed test. 
People with the non update status might want to consider and take a PCR test even during the boarding day (beside an antigen a day before) so at least they will be covered for the first two ports.

Royal also claiming that if you will take a booster shot one day before the cruise that will still consider as if you have up to date vaccine (that I did not understood but I guess its better than waiting 14 days).

Please mind the rules are based on the current Italian rules which currently until April 30 , so things might change after that , (They must change as most of the Europe booster shoots were admitted around Sep-October)

If you want to check the requirements for each country you can use this link - https://visiteurope.com/en/covid-19-information-page/

 

Lets hope that soon RCL will drop the requirements , but this is were we are currently.

   

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I’m booked in Celebrity for July (joining family who organized the trip).  Celebrity website talks all about cruising from the US. and the CDC and testing.  I could not find links about cruising out of Europe. I was specifically looking for testing, figuring the EU had done away with test to enter perhaps the ships did there as well. Anyhow I finally called and was told it’s test up to 2days prior to sailing (fully vaxxed people as you defined it). I’ve now adjusted my flights so I can test before flying and I can use  those results for ship entry.  Im hoping the US drops test to enter the US, otherwise it will be a long wait to renter the US if we test positive at the end of the sailing, but I’m aware and have insurance for this, and the ability to “wait to test negative”.

I notice the ship is not quite full as compared to US sailings. imagine there aren’t many US citizens willing to risk the extended stay. It is definitely hurting the industry.

thank you for sharing the info that is difficult to find!

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1 hour ago, Traveler said:

But , one of the most "cruised" country , Italy , counts the 9 month rule even for the booster shot , so if for example you got your booster shot at Sep 2021 and you are planning to cruise at July you consider to have "expired" vaccination status.   

Hi @Traveler. Can I ask you where you're seeing this? According to the official EU website re-open EU's Italy page, the 9-month rule applies only to the primary vaccination series and, like the rest of the EU, certificates with boosters are valid until further notice. https://reopen.europa.eu/en/map/ITA/7001

Royal's information is very badly worded and highly confusing. The best rendering is the one in the app. This is what the health info for my upcoming cruise out of Civi says:

"To be considered up-to-date, guests must have received all doses in their vaccine series and their booster if the second vaccine dose was administered over 270 days (9 months ) ago."

Probably a moot point anyway, since, as you say the rules there are due to expire on the 30th of April. Let's see what they decide to do at that point.

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47 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

Hi @Traveler. Can I ask you where you're seeing this? According to the official EU website re-open EU's Italy page, the 9-month rule applies only to the primary vaccination series and, like the rest of the EU, certificates with boosters are valid until further notice. https://reopen.europa.eu/en/map/ITA/7001

Royal's information is very badly worded and highly confusing. The best rendering is the one in the app. This is what the health info for my upcoming cruise out of Civi says:

"To be considered up-to-date, guests must have received all doses in their vaccine series and their booster if the second vaccine dose was administered over 270 days (9 months ) ago."

Probably a moot point anyway, since, as you say the rules there are due to expire on the 30th of April. Let's see what they decide to do at that point.

I thought like you that all the EU the same but in this site - https://www.italia.it/en/covid19

They are saying : 

"The certification of vaccination is valid for 9 months after completion of the vaccination cycle or administration of the booster dose."

I guess this is why currently RCL ask for the same. I do think it will be change soon by the end of the month as the booster in Europe will also expire soon (older than 9 month). 

Maybe its jus wrong translation 🙂

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