habitatnal

Ponant has updated their website to remove vaccination/testing requirements for Australia. I guess Viking is the only cruise line that hasn’t gotten the memo. It looks like China has dropped requirements as well so the chance of anyone going on a cruise with requirements is now very low.

Silversea no longer requires vaccinations for Australia. Ponant cruises still lists Australia as requiring vaccination/testing. The interesting thing is the Tasmanian government website says that they are updating guidelines for cruising so maybe that is why some cruise lines were slow to update their policies. https://www.health.tas.gov.au/health-topics/coronavirus-covid-19/guidance-and-resources/best-practice-guidelines#cruise-ships

The interesting thing is that Carnival is selling a cruise that leaves on October 31st going to Hobart and there is nothing on the Carnival website that indicates that there are any cruises with restrictions. If there truly are restrictions there will be many upset people because they weren’t told about them when booking.

What I don’t get is Carnival and Princess have not said anything about requiring the vaccine/testing in Tasmania. Carnival has a ship that is going to Tasmania in October and I would not be happy if I learned that there were requirements after Carnival said that there weren’t. From what I can see online the Tasmanian Government has not said that vaccines/tests are required for cruising. If I am wrong I would love to see the source. I know the requirements have only been gone for about a month but has there been a dramatic rise in cases, hospitalizations or deaths?

Have you heard anything from NCL? When I emailed them they didn’t respond.

I emailed them yesterday but I have not heard back.

Disney has dropped testing and vaccination requirements. I think NCL will drop the protocols soon.

I don’t understand how NCL can sail around the world with no protocols but they won’t drop them for Australia. Do you have a good email address for NCL? I couldn’t find one.

It sounds like someone needs to tell Disney and NCL that the protocols are truly dropped. NCL still has requirements on their website. I doubt Carnival or Princess have access to different information than NCL or Disney does.

I am also active on the Disney message boards. Someone on that message board said that they called Disney Cruise Line. Disney told them that the reason why they have not taken down the requirement to be vaccinated/tested is because not all the Australian states have dropped the protocols. I was under the impression that all of the Australian states did drop the protocols. Has anyone heard that certain states haven’t agreed to drop the cruise protocols?

Did this cruise go to Australia at all? I’m assuming that is why you were asked to provide proof of vaccination and a negative test. Going forward I assume that all cruises except ones maybe going to Mainland China will have no pre-boarding protocols. Cruising really hasn’t fully restarted in China but I know that major brands will start sailing there in the early spring. China did drop the requirement to test before flying into their country so who knows how they will feel in a few months.

If you look at the FAQs on this website it says that testing has been dropped. https://www.pocruises.com.au/plan/know-before-you-go/healthy-cruising

That makes sense. I have filled out a form like that for cruises in the US.

So what you are saying is you might have to fill out a survey saying you are negative and you took a test within 24 hours?

It looks like according to the media release that you posted, pre-cruise testing has been dropped in NSW. I would hope all the Australian states drop pre-cruise testing because it would be confusing to passengers and the cruise lines to have different protocols depending on where your cruise leaves from in Australia.

I’m hoping we will hear something soon. Thank you for the lesson in how Australian government works. I have never been to Australia but I hope to someday. I just think it is time to drop all protocols now because if you don’t think it is safe to go on a cruise then don’t go. No one is forcing you to go on a cruise.

I wonder when this will take effect? I would hope that all of Australia would drop protocols and not just NSW. I would think pre-cruise testing would be dropped as well.

I know that Australia is a country. The Australian federal government has dropped all requirements for cruising. Maybe I wasn’t clear but the reason why I said what I said is because the state governments are the ones still imposing restrictions on cruising.

The Australian state government wants to keep the vaccination requirement not the cruise lines. Holland America has cruises that are 40 days long with no requirements. Do you really think that they would offer that cruise with no restrictions but then want to require vaccinations in Australia? I have heard that the cruise lines are actively campaigning to drop the restrictions in Australia.

If you are over 12 the only way you can get an exemption in Australia, to vaccination, is if you can’t get vaccinated due to medical reasons. The Australian state government needs to realize that the rest of the world has moved on.

For people that don’t have NEXUS, you have to fill out a declaration at the kiosk when you scan your passport. If you use ArriveCan you don’t have to fill out the declaration at the kiosk because you already did it. This is how ArriveCan saves you time when arriving in Canada.

I opened up the VeriFLY app for my June cruise and the only thing I could do was upload a picture. What did you have to do for your pass to become active in VeriFLY?

VeriFLY is obsolete now since there are currently no cruises with vaccination or test requirements. The whole purpose of VeriFLY was to upload your vaccination card or test. When there were requirements it sped up the boarding process since you didn’t need to show the port agent your test or vaccination card.

Let us know if you have to fill out a paper questionnaire or asked any health questions. I’m guessing you won’t.

I am going on the Nieuw Amsterdam in June. I saw that my Health Assessment has disappeared from online check-in. Have other people seen that? Has anyone that has sailed in the past few weeks, noticed if they asked if you were vaccinated at the port? Were you asked any health questions at the port? This cruise has standard protocols and I am asking about cruises that have standard protocols.