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Poll for Opinions Regarding Removal of the CDC COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships


Poll for Opinions Regarding Removal of the CDC COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships  

228 members have voted

  1. 1. Would you feel uncomfortable cruising if a larger proportion of unvaccinated were allowed to sail by the end of 2022?

    • Absolutely!
      61
    • Probably
      31
    • Meh
      42
    • Definitely not!
      94
  2. 2. Would you feel comfortable if cruise lines eliminated regular interval testing requirements for onboard staff?

    • No problem!
      88
    • Indifferent
      62
    • No way!
      78
  3. 3. Would you self-test prior to embarkation if the test requirement was removed?

    • Yes, for my own piece of mind
      68
    • Only if a benefit was provided (i.e. priority/early embarkation, discounts, OBC, etc.)
      52
    • No, I won't since it's not required
      108


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When was this written? Early 2020? CDC recommends literally EVERY intervention ever tried for COVID, including sneeze guards and partitions, which have been thoroughly disproven. There's no way any cruise line will enforce all these 'recommendations,' considering that they are way more restrictive than what they are doing now. So they will get to pick and choose which ones they want to use. The CDC is (of course) not making this easy on cruise lines.

Hopefully the cruise lines will see through this and realize that CDC recommendations have always been over the top safety-isms, and if you want to follow all of them, say goodbye to that raw cookie dough or medium rare steak!

Edited by nate91
added to my thoughts
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"Should" is on that page 125 times. "Must" appears once. It seems relevant that if cruise lines were to 100% follow the CDC guidelines requiring vaccination, they would need to require boosters (first AND second, for those who qualify). Considering how few Americans have been boosted, it seems unlikely that cruise lines will do this. So they may just throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, and just pick a couple things that are low burden for cruise ships (eg reporting of symptoms before entering the cruise, having a quarantine space available).

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I’m thinking rather than making a lot of changes all at once…cruise lines may decide to drift away from the current mandates and not make an enormous splash. Test the waters, so to speak. See what floats the boats of their guests.

Seriously, I think it would make sense for them to go slow and make incremental changes. They have to look at how their customers react to each change. The sentiment is real that some cruisers may opt to take their business elsewhere if the mandates are less restrictive on another line. There are also cruisers who may want some requirements that make them feel safer, and may opt to cruise on a line that has pre-cruise testing as a mandate. I also think many cruisers are tired of the negative rap cruising has been getting in most press stories over the past few years. Especially after the restart, where the changes put in place have shown to be effective in providing safe cruising. No ship has been shut down since the restart…nor had a real ‘outbreak’ of cases requiring medical intervention. The sky was not falling.

I think with cruises seemingly being at or near full capacity, with all ships back in service, there is now a very high demand. So there is no need for them to make drastic changes just yet. But that could change. If one line drops mandates and sees higher bookings while another line loses bookings, it would make business sense for the other line to do the same. There can also be a business value in highlighting their ‘safer’ ships due to still maintaining mandates. But, that could backfire if a line without mandates proves to have similar infection rates…which I think would be the case. Either way, I do believe we are finally over the hump and on the way to eventually eliminating all mandates. And it’s about time.

 

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Looks like RC is acknowledging that the CDC has made the new recommendations and is now reviewing them:

CDC Guidance for Cruises Departing the U.S.


The U.S. CDC recently announced that the COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships is no longer in effect, and published recommendations to guide cruise lines as they determine protocols. Upon review, we will adjust our protocols and provide guidance to our guests. For now, our current protocols remain in effect for cruises departing U.S. homeports. See current protocols.

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What an exciting chance to return to a more normal experience!

Personally, the most important thing for my peace of mind is knowing that everyone on board has very recently tested negative, within 48 hours of embarkation.

While everyone in my extended family group is vaccinated, it has shown in practice to be mostly irrelevant in terms of actually spreading covid, and every one of them except my partner and I have caught it recently with pretty bad symptoms. So at this point I really don't care about vaccination status, I'm much more interested in ensuring those onboard are testing negative and likely not contagious.

My vaccinated uncle just got turned away on the day of his cruise for testing positive. If there were no testing requirements, he would be onboard and potentially spreading it to others - and his vaccination status would be irrelevant.

I think the most reasonable position to best mitigate covid outbreaks at this moment is to keep the (admittedly imperfect) testing requirements in place to ensure (as best as possible) everyone on board is likely negative and not contagious, and get rid of vaccination requirements. Since a positive test means the person is likely contagious regardless of vaccination status, it would still be best for the safety of others that they stay off board, regardless of vaccination status.

 

So the negative test result is the most important thing at this point, since a positive test would mean the same level of risk to others regardless of vaccination status. This allows for maximum inclusion, and gives everyone a chance again to enjoy a cruise, so long as they are not sick.

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7 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Someone has to go first and I think Virgin Voyages is small enough that their decision will not make headline news on major networks.  The fall season starts in middle of September I think by then at the latest most cruise lines will have dropped their pre-covid testing requirement.

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17 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

Someone has to go first and I think Virgin Voyages is small enough that their decision will not make headline news on major networks.  The fall season starts in middle of September I think by then at the latest most cruise lines will have dropped their pre-covid testing requirement.

Yeah, and though Virgin won't take a ton of customers from the big lines, they are certainly more likely to take business in the coming months since summer is ending and most people aren't traveling with kids until next year. Especially if you can call first to check unvaccinated availability, so much easier than booking and hoping. And I've had this conversation with about a billion people today, so if I already said that on here, sorry!

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As a person who works in the in vitro diagnostics industry, I'm a little bit worried about how RCCL will proceed. Although I do understand the angst and the headache for passengers that need to do pre-cruise testing. I can also understand the argument that pre-cruise testing is still letting covid onboard. But I can also see the other side of the picture which was eloquently put by Tony for La Lido Loca pre-cruise testing will catch people who can are infectious. The testing allows the cruise line to mitigate some of the population that are infected. Are there passengers that will get through because the test was done too early to catch it? Yes. But by getting rid of pre-cruise testing completely I think you then allow even more infection onboard. Pre-cruise testing was one of the tools used to prevent covid from spreading on board.  From a healthcare perspective I am also worried that by inviting more infected onboard ships could face a situation where their facilities are overrun. This can definitely be the case with the new variants. I would say that if the cruise line gets rid of covid testing then they should increase safety using other tools such as mandating vaccinations for children now that the emergency use authorization for that age group is available.          

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1 hour ago, leesam82 said:

As a person who works in the in vitro diagnostics industry, I'm a little bit worried about how RCCL will proceed. Although I do understand the angst and the headache for passengers that need to do pre-cruise testing. I can also understand the argument that pre-cruise testing is still letting covid onboard. But I can also see the other side of the picture which was eloquently put by Tony for La Lido Loca pre-cruise testing will catch people who can are infectious. The testing allows the cruise line to mitigate some of the population that are infected. Are there passengers that will get through because the test was done too early to catch it? Yes. But by getting rid of pre-cruise testing completely I think you then allow even more infection onboard. Pre-cruise testing was one of the tools used to prevent covid from spreading on board.  From a healthcare perspective I am also worried that by inviting more infected onboard ships could face a situation where their facilities are overrun. This can definitely be the case with the new variants. I would say that if the cruise line gets rid of covid testing then they should increase safety using other tools such as mandating vaccinations for children now that the emergency use authorization for that age group is available.          

This is the same line of thinking I had above. Though in my opinion vaccination is not an adequate replacement for testing, as too many vaccinated people still can and do catch and spread covid. This is why I think testing is the most important priority (with no preference for vaccination status), as a cruise with 100% of the guests having recent negative test would give would give a much higher probability of having a low incident cruise than one with a fully vaccinated but untested population.

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Prior to boarding please add testing for:  Influenza, Norovirus, common cold, STDs, High Blood Pressure, Strep Throat, Whooping Cough, Pink Eye, Monkey Pox, Shingles, the list goes on and on and on.......people, please stop.

We went through A LOT together.  Some was bad, really bad.  Some...an enormous amount was completely self inflicted.  We are and will pay for it....literally for years.  Walk through this logically and you will recognize the math is overwhelmingly in your favor.

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On 7/20/2022 at 8:04 AM, memebag said:

So you would roll the dice and maybe infect other people just so you could go on vacation? You wouldn’t feel horribly guilty if you found out later that you may have been the vector?

I would feel the same way I feel when I don’t test myself before going to a concert, sporting event, school play, the mall, going out to eat, flying to a destination vacation.

I feel healthy and fine to go on vacation no need to test.

 Royal Caribbean’s average client is aged 40. Outside of 65 and older, age 40 is the highest risk of dying at a 0.04% chance.  That is not even 1 percent! 🤣 Your chance of getting struck by lightening ⚡️is the same at 0.04% So in the highest risk group on average with traveling with Royal your chance of dying is the same as getting struck by lightening. (If we take out all the people who are hospitalized and fighting life threatening illnesses (I’m pretty sure they are not cruising ) those numbers go down even more. Not sure how much lower you can go when you are basically at 0% 

So yaaaa I would not feel bad if I caught covid and gave it to someone. They will  fare just fine 👍
 

Going to the pharmacy knowing I was going to be around elderly or immune compromised people who are sick that is where I would test first. Does anyone do that??? Nope.  What about before visiting the elderly in nursing Homes or visiting the sick in a hospital?  Do we test before that or make people test before that? Nope. Maybe we should have thought that one out a little better. The places where people were catching covid and dying is where we should have started with the forced tests.  

Bullying the cruising industry has been the biggest hypocrisy through this entire time covid has been around. I for one am glad to see the abrupt end to the CDC’s reign of terror on an industry that did not deserve to be bullied. the biggest waste of time and money that could have been spent on finding cures to those disease that put older people at risk or went to finding a cure for covid or went to protecting the long term facilities etc etc. But no we wasted it on testing healthy people who were not at risk and going away from the people that were at risk. 🤣 Good riddance! 

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8 hours ago, Bowen said:

they are certainly more likely to take business in the coming months since summer is ending and most people aren't traveling with kids until next year. 

After watching the show in the UK called " The Cruise" which is about Virgins Scarlet Lady, i very much doubt us Brits will be rushing out to book!

In fact if i was already booked i would be on the phone cancelling lol

It really is that bad! 

After the 2nd episode my other half had already decided she would never cruise on any Virgin Ship.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Ray said:

After watching the show in the UK called " The Cruise" which is about Virgins Scarlet Lady, i very much doubt us Brits will be rushing out to book!

In fact if i was already booked i would be on the phone cancelling lol

It really is that bad! 

After the 2nd episode my other half had already decided she would never cruise on any Virgin Ship.

 

 

Ray, it took you that long? After seeing the greeter as you board the ship my wife and I said, not for us!!

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14 hours ago, leesam82 said:

As a person who works in the in vitro diagnostics industry, I'm a little bit worried about how RCCL will proceed. Although I do understand the angst and the headache for passengers that need to do pre-cruise testing. I can also understand the argument that pre-cruise testing is still letting covid onboard. But I can also see the other side of the picture which was eloquently put by Tony for La Lido Loca pre-cruise testing will catch people who can are infectious. The testing allows the cruise line to mitigate some of the population that are infected. Are there passengers that will get through because the test was done too early to catch it? Yes. But by getting rid of pre-cruise testing completely I think you then allow even more infection onboard. Pre-cruise testing was one of the tools used to prevent covid from spreading on board.  From a healthcare perspective I am also worried that by inviting more infected onboard ships could face a situation where their facilities are overrun. This can definitely be the case with the new variants. I would say that if the cruise line gets rid of covid testing then they should increase safety using other tools such as mandating vaccinations for children now that the emergency use authorization for that age group is available.          

I completely disagree with you on the issue of testing for one simple reason according to the CDC as a result of the vaccines the incubation period for covid can now be up to 14 days.  And during that incubation period an individual can test negative for the virus and have no symptoms.  This is also a reason why I'm against post-cruise mandatory testing or reporting and why I say people who say they got covid on a cruise should be very careful making that statement.  An individual could have covid before they board the cruise, test negative, feel fine for the entire 7 night cruise then feel like crap right after the cruise ends.  Naturally they would think they got covid onboard the ship but the truth is they could have had covid before the cruise ever set sail but were in the incubation period which has changed from what it was in 2020 and 2021.

I think the vaccine requirement for adults will remain at least through the end of the year but pre-cruise testing needs to go away because it is not preventing covid onboard ships thanks to the longer incubation period.  Vaccines prevent serious illness and will keep a ships medical facilities from being overrun which is what the vaccine is supposed to do.

In my opinion anyone who is concerned about covid on cruise ships should not cruise at this time.

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27 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

I completely disagree with you on the issue of testing for one simple reason according to the CDC as a result of the vaccines the incubation period for covid can now be up to 14 days.  And during that incubation period an individual can test negative for the virus and have no symptoms.  This is also a reason why I'm against post-cruise mandatory testing or reporting and why I say people who say they got covid on a cruise should be very careful making that statement.  An individual could have covid before they board the cruise, test negative, feel fine for the entire 7 night cruise then feel like crap right after the cruise ends.  Naturally they would think they got covid onboard the ship but the truth is they could have had covid before the cruise ever set sail but were in the incubation period which has changed from what it was in 2020 and 2021.

I think the vaccine requirement for adults will remain at least through the end of the year but pre-cruise testing needs to go away because it is not preventing covid onboard ships thanks to the longer incubation period.  Vaccines prevent serious illness and will keep a ships medical facilities from being overrun which is what the vaccine is supposed to do.

In my opinion anyone who is concerned about covid on cruise ships should not cruise at this time.

Agreed. And testing 2-3 days prior is useless - obviously you can contract "it" from the point in time when you test to the time you board the ship.

Keep vax requirement for those eligible but drop testing.  That's my opinion for what it's worth 🙂

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I've been watching videos of The Scarlet Lady, I must be missing something. It looks like a pretty modern ship (maybe a bit too sparsely decorated), but otherwise normal? I'm not seeing anything weird or hearing anything odd from the people making the videos. Some of that stuff sounds incredibly cool, like Vegas at sea. I wouldn't want to see a burlesque show, but I don't have to go to it, so that's good. The wandering pop up entertainment sounds hilarious. And how nice that internet is included. I would be sad to cruise without my kids, but I think if one of the family lines doesn't drop the mandates then I'll have to take my mom in August or September on Virgin. 🙂

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I just watched a whole video from La Lida Loca. Is just everything included on Virgin other than alcoholic drinks? Like all the specialty restaurants, soda, etc? Free wifi, room service anywhere you are? It doesn't sound like traditional cruising, but it does sound intriguing. 

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7 hours ago, Mike.s said:

Ray, it took you that long? After seeing the greeter as you board the ship my wife and I said, not for us!!

We were thinking the same but gave it a chance until the 2nd episode. 

The guy paying for saline drip to ease his hangover just so he could go drink again said it all. Idiots lol

And Staff are so unprofessional its unbelievable.

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2 hours ago, Bowen said:

I've been watching videos of The Scarlet Lady, I must be missing something. 

We are on about a UK tv show called the cruise. 

Cameras go onto ship and record crew and guests daily activities for a few weeks or months. 

You can watch a 5 minute video on youtube but it wont show you the everyday things that this show does. If Virgin wanted to advertise their cruises its backfired big style because it just shows how bad they are. 

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20 minutes ago, Ray said:

We are on about a UK tv show called the cruise. 

Cameras go onto ship and record crew and guests daily activities for a few weeks or months. 

You can watch a 5 minute video on youtube but it wont show you the everyday things that this show does. If Virgin wanted to advertise their cruises its backfired big style because it just shows how bad they are. 

Odd. So many bloggers have long videos up, all great things, with some exceptions (like too much fitness equipment outside, and no maps). Maybe the show is sensationalized for TV?

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20 hours ago, LotharioRowe said:

What an exciting chance to return to a more normal experience!

Personally, the most important thing for my peace of mind is knowing that everyone on board has very recently tested negative, within 48 hours of embarkation.

While everyone in my extended family group is vaccinated, it has shown in practice to be mostly irrelevant in terms of actually spreading covid, and every one of them except my partner and I have caught it recently with pretty bad symptoms. So at this point I really don't care about vaccination status, I'm much more interested in ensuring those onboard are testing negative and likely not contagious.

My vaccinated uncle just got turned away on the day of his cruise for testing positive. If there were no testing requirements, he would be onboard and potentially spreading it to others - and his vaccination status would be irrelevant.

I think the most reasonable position to best mitigate covid outbreaks at this moment is to keep the (admittedly imperfect) testing requirements in place to ensure (as best as possible) everyone on board is likely negative and not contagious, and get rid of vaccination requirements. Since a positive test means the person is likely contagious regardless of vaccination status, it would still be best for the safety of others that they stay off board, regardless of vaccination status.

 

So the negative test result is the most important thing at this point, since a positive test would mean the same level of risk to others regardless of vaccination status. This allows for maximum inclusion, and gives everyone a chance again to enjoy a cruise, so long as they are not sick.

Unvaccinated are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill than vaccinated and updated.  I agree that a negative test result is a good thing, but I think we could do that with self-testing and self-reporting.

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24 minutes ago, ChessE4 said:

Unvaccinated are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill than vaccinated and updated.

This is likely the key point as to why it would be unlikely for Royal Caribbean to drop vaccine requirements in the near future.  Allowing more unvaccinated to cruise increases the likelihood that they'll run into a higher rate of critically ill COVID patients. 

However, they should look closely at the age adjusted rates of hospitalization as individuals aged 17 and below have much less, or nearly zero, disparity in the hospitalization rates between the vaccinated and unvaccinated compared to the hospitalization rates of vaccinated and unvaccinated adults since the Omicron wave.  I could see them adjusting their requirements that 90% of their passengers 12 and older be vaccinated and exclude 11 and younger from the vaccinated/unvaccinated count.  Seems like a manageable level of risk that would allow more of their loyal customers who are not vaccinated to cruise again.

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1 hour ago, Bowen said:

Maybe the show is sensationalized for TV?

Definitely not sensationalized!

Some staff just seem clueless and not intetested. When i say some i mean most! Also how they look is unbelievable. Lets be met by someone wearing a tight loud shirt with the buttons undone so everyone can see their hairy chest right down to their belly button lol

Another example is of female manager looking after suite guests, a family waited for a shuttle to take them to a booked excursion. The Shuttle was late and family missed excursion boat, it was only later they found out they could as suite guests have recieved a private shuttle. 

Guest service manager didnt care! Pretty sure no compensation was given. It was more a case of you missed excursion ok lets get you back to ship or to the beach!

This was on whatever island virgin classes as their own private island...

 

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19 minutes ago, Ray said:

Definitely not sensationalized!

Some staff just seem clueless and not intetested. When i say some i mean most! Also how they look is unbelievable. Lets be met by someone wearing a tight loud shirt with the buttons undone so everyone can see their hairy chest right down to their belly button lol

Another example is of female manager looking after suite guests, a family waited for a shuttle to take them to a booked excursion. The Shuttle was late and family missed excursion boat, it was only later they found out they could as suite guests have recieved a private shuttle. 

Guest service manager didnt care! Pretty sure no compensation was given. It was more a case of you missed excursion ok lets get you back to ship or to the beach!

This was on whatever island virgin classes as their own private island...

 

When did you sail with them? I know they’re pretty new, so maybe working out the kinks?

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8 minutes ago, Bowen said:

When did you sail with them? I know they’re pretty new, so maybe working out the kinks?

I havent and i wont! 

Things i mention are what everyone in the UK is seeing on a weekly basis on the TV show

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