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No More Pre-Cruise Testing for Vaccinated guests on voyages less than 6 nights staring August 8th!


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1 hour ago, CruisingNewb said:

If i were a betting man, and I am, I would bet that the "shorter than 6 night" thing is likely because it typically takes about 5 days from initial infection to show symptoms and/or test positive.  Meaning, an unvaxxed person tests negative and gets on board to Mexico or where ever, they get covid, they wont really know until they are off of the ship.  RCCL does not have to worry about quarantining that person, prorating or refunding them, etc.  

That makes sense to my completely uneducated in any kind of scientific way mind!

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3 hours ago, Patchy said:

Not trying to start a debate here about vaccinations …. But I think this would / should be an opportunity for Royal to tweak their guidance on vaccination status in conjunction with lifting the testing requirement.  Eg, testing is only required for those who are unvaccinated (except ineligible children) or not up to date with their boosters.   Just looking out for Royal because they don’t want to be in a situation where they have someone vaccinated two years ago, not boosted, and gets very sick or worse on the ship.   

It would have been better left unsaid if you weren't trying to start a debate 😅

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The change in protocols announcement on the Health Sail Center page also mentions vaccines, but not very specifically

Starting with August 8, 2022 departures, our protocols will include:
 

  • • Requiring testing for unvaccinated guests on all sailings, and for vaccinated guests on sailings that are six nights or longer.
  • Maintaining a high percentage of fully vaccinated guests onboard all our sailings, far above the general population.
  • • All crew will continue to be fully vaccinated and boosted when eligible, and tested regularly.

I wonder if they'll remove their requirement for medical or religious vaccine exemptions and open it up to first come first served like Virgin did 🤔  Also, "high percentage" is very non-specific.  It'll be interesting to hear what they officially go with once it's all set in stone.

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30 minutes ago, AspiringCruisePlanner said:
  • Maintaining a high percentage of fully vaccinated guests onboard all our sailings, far above the general population.
  •  

That's just marketing-speak there to not make it seem it'll be one big unvaxxed party on board.  What does "far above" mean? Is the threshold based on adults?  12+?

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3 hours ago, Toby said:

Per their website, Celebrity Cruises (and a part of Royal Caribbean Group) is following suit with the same testing requirements as RC.  No surprise there.

We have a 10-Nighter on Celebrity Edge coming up in December so hope testing is dropped by then for longer sailings!! But this is good news. Testing is so super stressful.....drove me to drink🍸🍸waaaaay before 5p that day!!

1 hour ago, Cakemeister said:

My Emed tests expire in December so hopefully before then! 🙂

Exactly!! My eMed tests expire in November, about a week before I would need to test. I really don't want to buy more if I don't have to!!!😧

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25 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

It wouldn't surprise me if this goes away when pre-cruise testing goes away for the longer cruises

I’m not so sure.  The PR would truly suck for the cruise line(s) if someone could verify that they tested positive and then the cruise line refused to refund their money, basically forcing them to cruise with COVID.  “Don’t ask, don’t tell” ?  Absolutely !  But forcing pax to cruise knowing they are positive would be a real PR nightmare,I would guess.

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9 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I’m not so sure.  The PR would truly suck for the cruise line(s) if someone could verify that they tested positive and then the cruise line refused to refund their money, basically forcing them to cruise with COVID.  “Don’t ask, don’t tell” ?  Absolutely !  But forcing pax to cruise knowing they are positive would be a real PR nightmare,I would guess.

RC could just say "this is why we recommend travel insurance"

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57 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I’m not so sure.  The PR would truly suck for the cruise line(s) if someone could verify that they tested positive and then the cruise line refused to refund their money, basically forcing them to cruise with COVID.  “Don’t ask, don’t tell” ?  Absolutely !  But forcing pax to cruise knowing they are positive would be a real PR nightmare,I would guess.

Forced to cruise?  If they did the "right thing" they would eat the cost of the cruise and not go at all.  It would suck to be sure.  If it were me I would want to stay close to home in case I needed increased care by a doctor I know and trust.  Another good reason to have travel insurance.

I do agree with you that RC should also step up and refund the cruise fare.

 

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3 hours ago, AspiringCruisePlanner said:

The change in protocols announcement on the Health Sail Center page also mentions vaccines, but not very specifically

Starting with August 8, 2022 departures, our protocols will include:
 

  • • Requiring testing for unvaccinated guests on all sailings, and for vaccinated guests on sailings that are six nights or longer.
  • Maintaining a high percentage of fully vaccinated guests onboard all our sailings, far above the general population.
  • • All crew will continue to be fully vaccinated and boosted when eligible, and tested regularly.

I wonder if they'll remove their requirement for medical or religious vaccine exemptions and open it up to first come first served like Virgin did 🤔  Also, "high percentage" is very non-specific.  It'll be interesting to hear what they officially go with once it's all set in stone.

I don't see them moving to what Virgin is doing until they no longer include anyone under 12 in that %.  That is the main reason they can't do what Virgin is doing.

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2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

RC could just say "this is why we recommend travel insurance"

It's assuming travel insurance would cover that scenario.  I'm not sure it would in all cases.  You would need to get a doctor to say you were not fit for travel.

The closest thing to the "pre pandemic" world would be getting denied boarding for checking one of the boxes on the questionnaire, right?  How was that handled if the cruise line denied boarding because you showed up to the port and were suspected to have norovirus?  Would they give you FCC?

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3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

It wouldn't surprise me if this goes away when pre-cruise testing goes away for the longer cruises

Royal Caribbean extended their full refund policy for testing positive with 10 days of departure through April 30, 2023 a few months ago. I'd be surprised if they rescinded that. They run the risk of people not reporting and cruising anyway if they didn't offer the full refund.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/if-i-test-positive-for-sars-cov-2-what-is-your-refund-policy-and-costs-covered

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38 minutes ago, AspiringCruisePlanner said:

Royal Caribbean extended their full refund policy for testing positive with 10 days of departure through April 30, 2023 a few months ago. I'd be surprised if they rescinded that. They run the risk of people not reporting and cruising anyway if they didn't offer the full refund.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/if-i-test-positive-for-sars-cov-2-what-is-your-refund-policy-and-costs-covered

I didn't realize this got extended. I thought this still ended in September

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2 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

@WAAAYTOOOI was wondering if Royal allowed unvaxxed but you had to test would you go? I am sure they might be looking into allowing those loyal to royal unvaxxed to get in soon. Or will you continue to wait until all protocols are done? 

No vax and no testing for us so we will wait until it all goes away.

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Okay...promise not type anything that will get me censored. 😉  Let me repeat, I    love this blog and interaction and would enjoy sharing a beverage with any of you....AND I    hope to.  Wouldn't it be great to share a bunch of in person laughs together??!!  Even ones that have different perspectives.  We would be on a cruise ship!  Nobody is in a bad mood on a cruise ship!

From the article:

"One of the calculations that we have is about 40% of all of the folks that are sitting on the byline. So people who've been waiting for the protocols to change."

I bet a huge part of the 40% they calculated are actually waiting for VAX requirements and Testing to drop. They are turning the valve a bit to see how much of it flows before taking the next step.  You can't continue to treat vax and unvax different for long.  I    think there is a HUGE contingent like WAAAYTOOO that won't bite until it is all dropped.  

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24 minutes ago, CharmMicah68 said:

Okay...promise not type anything that will get me censored. 😉  Let me repeat, I    love this blog and interaction and would enjoy sharing a beverage with any of you....AND I    hope to.  Wouldn't it be great to share a bunch of in person laughs together??!!  Even ones that have different perspectives.  We would be on a cruise ship!  Nobody is in a bad mood on a cruise ship!

From the article:

"One of the calculations that we have is about 40% of all of the folks that are sitting on the byline. So people who've been waiting for the protocols to change."

I bet a huge part of the 40% they calculated are actually waiting for VAX requirements and Testing to drop. They are turning the valve a bit to see how much of it flows before taking the next step.  You can't continue to treat vax and unvax different for long.  I    think there is a HUGE contingent like WAAAYTOOO that won't bite until it is all dropped.  

I guess we will find out, but I am not even sure what the 80% means.  Because there is still a limit, so it isn't floodgates, but how are they going to monitor it now to know when they are getting close to the 80%.  And is 5 to 12 in that 80% or not?  It is very vague what was released today outside of vaxed for short cruises don't test.  I am hoping by November it is for longer cruises too.

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Well as far as the 80 % goes I believe that opens up 10% for unvaxxed adults as the original threshold was 90%. My guess it that since those children under 5 don't count and depending on circumstances they left 7-10% for children who could be vax but aren't. Maybe they will do it by C&A status or first come, first served. Hopefully they will follow Virgin's lead and keep a tally, so people don't book on a prayer. 

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8 hours ago, IzzyB said:

I don't see them moving to what Virgin is doing until they no longer include anyone under 12 in that %.  That is the main reason they can't do what Virgin is doing.

Under 12's dont count on Virgin because being an Aduly only cruiseline they don't have any.🙂

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23 hours ago, ak810 said:

How about European sailings? Nothing mentioned for them!

I have just chatted to them online. They said the changes are only for US cruises. The customer services advisor said it’s possible they’ll make changes to European cruises also but didn’t know when 

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33 minutes ago, Bowen said:

I was reading through it today (as much as I could without actually having a FB account), are they also saying only 80% of the ship has to be vaccinated now? If so, great news!

I interpreted that to mean they were shooting for 80%, but it wasn't going to be any hard and fast rule. But they've been sailing over 90% since the restart, so I can't imagine 80% is a concern

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2 hours ago, kelblue23 said:

I have just chatted to them online. They said the changes are only for US cruises. The customer services advisor said it’s possible they’ll make changes to European cruises also but didn’t know when 

Im keeping my fingers crossed. We are sailing from Southampton on 11th September and can't look forward to it at the moment

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Since I'm dying to cruise again I went ahead and booked a cruise for January in the hopes that all the mandates will be gone (but since it's out of Galveston I am willing to take a test). I think my dozen FCCs will be ready to use again by September and I can apply those to the cruise. I did specifically ask her about my September cruise (which is currently pending an exemption request). She said that I will no longer need the exemption request in September, but that I would have to take a test (either PCR or antigen) before the cruise. She said kids under 12 would need to take a PCR, but since we are all 12+ then we can pick.

I'm not hanging my hat on this, but she sounded like she'd been given this information, so hopefully we'll be cruising next month. I'll let you know!

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