Updated CDC guidance

[Joe817]

34 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

This is a game changer. Wow, I really think the .gov is looking at ways to "incentivize" getting vax'd.

 

Nice read here...

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/25113-cdc-significantly-relaxes-cruise-rules-for-fully-vaccinated-passengers.html?fbclid=IwAR1wFpWcDEZAb97kXNSXaf1D2BZt0VWlqCJGkOCn-8jk1ulyeB4k43BZG1M

A GREAT read pc! Thanks for posting. I have a different 'slant' on the news bulletin, rather than incentivizing getting vax'd.  I choose to think along these lines: CDC says: Ok. Things are looking much better now. Maybe it's time to loosen the screws that we've put on the cruise line industry. They've suffered enough."

[bdever]

1 hour ago, ChutChut said:

Won't do wrist bands or the like. Will probably rely on the truthfulness of pax or require everyone to wear a mask. 

I think the later and I’m okay with that. 

[kdr69]

Personally I would just pay the fine and ignore the law.  Im pretty sure they can make the 5,000 dollars up for each sailing.

[cscurlock]

4 hours ago, bdever said:

“Cruise ship operators, at their discretion, may...”

Realistically, if Carnival is not going to sail with all vaccinated passengers they are either going to have to enforce a mask mandate on unvaccinated passengers or come up with a way where they don’t have to police or enforce anything. 
I don’t think Carnival wants to be in the position of being mask police so the only way around it would be to 

a) give passengers who are vaccinated or unvaccinated visible identification such as wristbands 

b) make everyone wear a mask regardless of vaccination status

 

a) would be the logical choice so they are easily identifiable.  Especially on an unvaccinated voyage they might be setting up certain areas where vaccinated passengers can gather separately from the unvaccinated passengers according to the new rules.  So a wrist band would be the way to go here. 

They will be the mask police because at the end of the day they can't afford to get fined and possibly worse because they didn't follow the proper protocols.  

[cruisingguy007]

2 hours ago, kdr69 said:

Personally I would just pay the fine and ignore the law.  Im pretty sure they can make the 5,000 dollars up for each sailing.

 

Just juice it in to the cruise price from those ports or charge a fee/tax/surcharge per passenger from those states that have these laws that will cover it.  

[AnitaVacation]

This seems to be changing daily.  We are 107 days until cruise date, so we are expecting some kind of a decision in the next few weeks. 

If they do not require 95% fully vaxxed, then they will have to go with masks and distancing, which sounds like a complete bummer to me. 

I can only imagine the fights that will occur onboard regarding mask wearing.  Have you seen the videos from airports and airplanes of the people that refuse to comply??  Why would anyone think this would be different? (if anything, it will be worse).

 

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, ChutChut said:

Won't do wrist bands or the like. Will probably rely on the truthfulness of pax or require everyone to wear a mask. 

I know last week when I went grocery shopping, masks were required. This week the sign said masks were required if you were not vaccinated, fully vaccinated masks were not required. I took mine off as I walked in. There was an employee standing there (I think doing a capacity count coming and going), and I said I was fully vaccinated, any problem with taking my mask off. No comment from her. It was an honor system.

 

Most, but not all in the store still wore masks. My friend who went with me was still wearing his mask. I asked him if he had seen the sign, and his reply was "what sign?"

 

[KmomChicago]

10 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

I guess by challenging the FL law regarding that issue.

 

8 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

Well maybe not……

 

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article251706998.html

 

Really brilliant on the part of the governor to now be the primary obstacle to cruise resumption from his state. I get the political dance earlier but now we're being a spoiled baby tyrant wanting to show our stubbornness is somehow smarter and more important than resumption of business.

[Aplmac]

21 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Really brilliant on the part of the governor

to now be the primary obstacle to cruise resumption

from his state. ===> He can't help it! lol

 

I get the political dance earlier

but now we're being a spoiled baby tyrant

wanting to show our stubbornness is somehow smarter

and more important than resumption of business.

 

So much of this mess is yet to be sorted, far less thoroughly sorted.

 

It's going to be messed-up like this for awhile

at least until those first few test cruises and normal cruises

get underway -and completed.

 

Everything and everyone is Guinea Pig Status right now.

Not until August/September will we get a glimpse

of what cruise reality will look like,

on down towards Christmas and end-of-year.

 

I feel sorry for those with booking over the next several months.

[richfret]

Oh well, you can avoid all this by just cancelling your cruise.  Then with all the money you save, you could fly to another city.  Have breakfast at a restaurant.  Buy gifts at stores.  Go to  restaurant for lunch.  Enjoy a ball game.  Go to a restaurant for supper.  Celebrate at a bar and then spend the night at a hotel.  That way you don't have to worry about the virus like you do on a cruise.

 

Where the heck is my mask?  The mail man should be coming soon.   

[KmomChicago]

32 minutes ago, Aplmac said:

 

So much of this mess is yet to be sorted, far less thoroughly sorted.

 

It's going to be messed-up like this for awhile

at least until those first few test cruises and normal cruises

get underway -and completed.

 

Everything and everyone is Guinea Pig Status right now.

Not until August/September will we get a glimpse

of what cruise reality will look like,

on down towards Christmas and end-of-year.

 

I feel sorry for those with booking over the next several months.

I’m fine with guinea pigging if we actually get to do so.

[TNcruising02]

10 hours ago, pc_load_letter said:

This is a game changer. Wow, I really think the .gov is looking at ways to "incentivize" getting vax'd.

 

Nice read here...

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/25113-cdc-significantly-relaxes-cruise-rules-for-fully-vaccinated-passengers.html?fbclid=IwAR1wFpWcDEZAb97kXNSXaf1D2BZt0VWlqCJGkOCn-8jk1ulyeB4k43BZG1M

It sure is.  It sounds like they have realized that a cruise with fully vaccinated people isn't going to have people with severe covid cases or be a super spreader.  A fully vaccinated cruise can be as close to normal as anything we have seen.  This is good news and makes so much more sense than their original requirements of wearing masks on the pool deck or while dining.

Edited May 27, 2021 by TNcruising02

[TNcruising02]

1 hour ago, AnitaVacation said:

This seems to be changing daily.  We are 107 days until cruise date, so we are expecting some kind of a decision in the next few weeks. 

If they do not require 95% fully vaxxed, then they will have to go with masks and distancing, which sounds like a complete bummer to me. 

I can only imagine the fights that will occur onboard regarding mask wearing.  Have you seen the videos from airports and airplanes of the people that refuse to comply??  Why would anyone think this would be different? (if anything, it will be worse).

 

Yeah, there is no way they will require masks for some passengers and not for others.  They will either have a fully vaccinated cruise with limited restrictions or a cruise open to everyone with whatever restrictions the CDC decides at the moment.  Every passenger will be subject to the same rules.  There is just no way to enforce vaccinated/unvaccinated on a cruise.  The crew would be running themselves ragged trying to get people to put on masks.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

2 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

Yeah, there is no way they will require masks for some passengers and not for others.  They will either have a fully vaccinated cruise with limited restrictions or a cruise open to everyone with whatever restrictions the CDC decides at the moment.  Every passenger will be subject to the same rules.  There is just no way to enforce vaccinated/unvaccinated on a cruise.  The crew would be running themselves ragged trying to get people to put on masks.

 

Could you imagine that? Security is already stretched thin - they'd raise the white flag, or go nuclear, right from the start...

 

Tom

[TNcruising02]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

I know last week when I went grocery shopping, masks were required. This week the sign said masks were required if you were not vaccinated, fully vaccinated masks were not required. I took mine off as I walked in. There was an employee standing there (I think doing a capacity count coming and going), and I said I was fully vaccinated, any problem with taking my mask off. No comment from her. It was an honor system.

 

Most, but not all in the store still wore masks. My friend who went with me was still wearing his mask. I asked him if he had seen the sign, and his reply was "what sign?"

 

I went to Kroger the other day.  I saw the huge mask requirement sign, but there was also a tiny sign that stated fully vaccinated people didn't have to wear a mask.  It was wonderful to shop without a mask.  I would say about 75% wore the masks.  I think many people didn't realize you could take them off since this is new for Kroger.

[TNcruising02]

Just now, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Could you imagine that? Security is already stretched thin - they'd raise the white flag, or go nuclear, right from the start...

 

Tom

Oh, I could see the fights and you know it would be all over the internet!  There is just no way to have a mixed set of rules on a Carnival cruise and I am sure Carnival knows it.  I wish my cruise would be fully vaccinated because we don't like the masks, but it looks like it will be open to everyone if it sails.  Hopefully by then the rules will have changed to more reasonable ones for everyone.

[asalligo]

9 hours ago, kdr69 said:

Personally I would just pay the fine and ignore the law.  Im pretty sure they can make the 5,000 dollars up for each sailing.

I am pretty sure that would be $5k per person. 

 

This is the clue to how this is going to happen though.

“We are working with the Governor’s office to align on the path forward,” she said via email.

There are so many ways around sailing vaccinated and not asking for vaccine proof directly. The CDC guidelines left big gaps in that requirement. 

 

8 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I went to Kroger the other day.  I saw the huge mask requirement sign, but there was also a tiny sign that stated fully vaccinated people didn't have to wear a mask.  It was wonderful to shop without a mask.  I would say about 75% wore the masks.  I think many people didn't realize you could take them off since this is new for Kroger.

 

Same at Publix, big sign on the door, but I asked when I walked in if you had to wear a mask if vaccinated and they said no. 

 

13 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

Yeah, there is no way they will require masks for some passengers and not for others.  They will either have a fully vaccinated cruise with limited restrictions or a cruise open to everyone with whatever restrictions the CDC decides at the moment.  Every passenger will be subject to the same rules.  There is just no way to enforce vaccinated/unvaccinated on a cruise.  The crew would be running themselves ragged trying to get people to put on masks.

 

Exactly. We are talking about the same security force that has trouble even breaking up small fights and allows most rules to go broken until a bigger problem happens. Carnival is not about becoming the mask police. 

 

I still think Bamaone had the most accurate prediction. By the time July rolls around most requirements will be gone. Covid testing might last into September or so. 

[kdr69]

10 minutes ago, asalligo said:

I am pretty sure that would be $5k per person. 

I kinda figured that although take the "per occurrence"(sailing or person??) and a really good lawyer(s) ya never know....lol.  Also they don't have to "ask" at the cruise port they could just say upload a pic of your vaccine card during online check in procedure.  m sure there are work arounds regardless.

[asalligo]

1 minute ago, kdr69 said:

I kinda figured that although take the "per occurrence"(sailing or person??) and a really good lawyer(s) ya never know....lol.  Also they don't have to "ask" at the cruise port they could just say upload a pic of your vaccine card during online check in procedure.  m sure there are work arounds regardless.

 

I really am curious to see how they handle it. It was my first thought when I heard about the Celebrity cruise. They have nothing to worry about for their first cruise in June though. The Florida Vaccine law does not take effect until July 1st. They can ask for whatever they want. 

[asalligo]

Just now, crazy4themouse said:

Carnival pandering to the lowest common denominator and punishing everyone else doesn't really sit well with this stockholder.

No offense to anyone and I love Carnival, it is my first cruise choice, but this has always been Carnivals business model. Bring cruising to the common man instead of the more wealthy. They built their fleet on this model and always fill their ships with more blue and red cards than anyone else. 

[asalligo]

Just now, crazy4themouse said:

Carnival pandering to the lowest common denominator and punishing everyone else doesn't really sit well with this stockholder.

No offense to anyone and I love Carnival, it is my first cruise choice, but this has always been Carnivals business model. Bring cruising to the common man instead of the more wealthy. They built their fleet on this model and always fill their ships with more blue and red cards than anyone else. 

[crazy4themouse]

3 minutes ago, asalligo said:

No offense to anyone and I love Carnival, it is my first cruise choice, but this has always been Carnivals business model. Bring cruising to the common man instead of the more wealthy. They built their fleet on this model and always fill their ships with more blue and red cards than anyone else. 

 

Believe me, I know -- I should have clarified with "none of this surprises me"... but it's still disappointing, you know? Like when someone you love has the right-thing-to-do just staring them in the face, and they still make the wrong choice. Just disappointing.

 

 

[asalligo]

1 minute ago, crazy4themouse said:

 

Believe me, I know -- I should have clarified with "none of this surprises me"... but it's still disappointing, you know? Like when someone you love has the right-thing-to-do just staring them in the face, and they still make the wrong choice. Just disappointing.

 

 

The problem with that is that only the people who are vaccinated think it is the right thing to do. Those who do not want to get the vaccine still want to cruise and Carnival wants both of your money and really only cares about how to get more people cruising. I think they are making the right business choice by fighting fully vaccinated cruises when it comes to making more money. There are many people on these boards who want fully vaccinated cruises, but I firmly believe that Carnivals base demographic is and will try to remain non vaccinated.   

[TNcruising02]

16 minutes ago, crazy4themouse said:

Our next cruise isn't until mid-October, and I sure hope this is all sorted by then. I am so not okay with having to deal with restrictions just so that Carnival can cram a bunch of ignorant anti-vaxxers and germ-ridden kids onboard, when they could just as easily fill the ships with vaccinated folks. Last I checked, no under-12's had paid for a cruise. I certainly know life isn't fair and all, and my opinion means nothing to them, but Carnival pandering to the lowest common denominator and punishing everyone else doesn't really sit well with this stockholder.

 

 

 

 

You could always cancel your cruise for a full refund and book on a different cruise line.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

2 minutes ago, asalligo said:

... There are many people on these boards who want fully vaccinated cruises, but I firmly believe that Carnivals base demographic is and will try to remain non vaccinated.   

 

Certainly more so than Royal, Celebrity, or even NCL.

 

Tom