Vaccinations?

[DrSHF]

I am booked on the Lisbon/ Barbados cruise this fall. I have seen no indication that Atlas is requiring COVID-19 vaccinations as a requirement for passengers or crew. Most other lines we take ( Seabourn, Crystal, Silversea) wisely  have such a requirement in place.

Have I missed the announcement here? This is a very small ship. Passengers will be very close to each other. Why hasn’t Atlas initiated a vaccine policy?

[Love.II.Cruise]

On 5/26/2021 at 8:29 PM, DrSHF said:

I am booked on the Lisbon/ Barbados cruise this fall. I have seen no indication that Atlas is requiring COVID-19 vaccinations as a requirement for passengers or crew. Most other lines we take ( Seabourn, Crystal, Silversea) wisely  have such a requirement in place.

Have I missed the announcement here? This is a very small ship. Passengers will be very close to each other. Why hasn’t Atlas initiated a vaccine policy?

I do not know, but totally agree with you!!!

[DrSHF]

I wonder what could be the reason for Atlas' reluctance, particularly now as the CDC has decided that fully vaccinated ships won’t need masks. I hope it is not some executive decision that fears it will lose potential passengers who don’t want to be vaccinated. If those passengers are their marketing target then I am on the wrong ship.
 

If someone on board does come down with Covid I am not worried that we vaccinated passengers will catch it, but rather that the ship will go into some sort of lockdown, which would be dreadful, for many reasons, especially  given how small most of the cabins are. 

On 5/28/2021 at 8:22 AM, keokukjoe said:

As a fully vaccinated retired physician I believe in science and this goes against everything that the CDC recommends. 

I am, coincidentally, also a vaccinated retired physician!

 

As I am booked through a travel agent, so I have no direct line to Atlas to express my concerns. I will ask her to check in with them about this. I am hoping that this will not be a deal-breaker for us, but I don’t think we will go if they will be relying solely  on testing on a transatlantic crossing.

[keokukjoe]

2 hours ago, DrSHF said:

I wonder what could be the reason for Atlas' reluctance, particularly now as the CDC has decided that fully vaccinated ships won’t need masks. I hope it is not some executive decision that fears it will lose potential passengers who don’t want to be vaccinated. If those passengers are their marketing target then I am on the wrong ship.
 

If someone on board does come down with Covid I am not worried that we vaccinated passengers will catch it, but rather that the ship will go into some sort of lockdown, which would be dreadful, for many reasons, especially  given how small most of the cabins are. 

I am, coincidentally, also a vaccinated retired physician!

 

As I am booked through a travel agent, so I have no direct line to Atlas to express my concerns. I will ask her to check in with them about this. I am hoping that this will not be a deal-breaker for us, but I don’t think we will go if they will be relying solely  on testing on a transatlantic crossing.

I don't know if Atlas has considered how many passengers who might cancel if vaccinations are not made mandatory. Even though you booked through an external agent, you can and should call  Atlas directly and relay to them all of the valid concerns you delineated above. As of yesterday, the ship for our voyage is only about 50% booked and they will not fully book it (max 75% capacity). The latest is that crew and staff will be vaccinated and still be required to be  masked (why). Passengers will be "encouraged" to get vaccinated but there is no mandate. Masking of passengers (vaxed or un-vaxed) is up to the individual. Testing (probably antigen, not PCR) will be conducted Q3days and will not be charged to the passenger. Again, this is from a phone call directly to Atlas and it is not written in stone. and their policy seems to change daily. Would like to see a written policy. I know things can change daily so we'll wait and see. I did ask what would happen if someone tested positive out in the Atlantic and the agent said  that they would call for a helicopter -----now really, in the middle of the Atlantic??? Another point is if the countries visited require vaccines, those anti-vaxers will not be able to debark. Why aren't they thinking of this??

[skrink]

From the “Q&A with Alberto Aliberti, President of Atlas Ocean Voyages” post at the top of the Atlas forum section:

 

 

and

 

 

 

[DrSHF]

I received the same bizarrely unhelpful vaccination policy info from Atlas. We are probably going to cancel. As we already have good flights to Lisbon, we have booked  Oceania Marina, Lisbon to Venice, which also departs on Oct 4. We’ve never been on Oceania but hear the food is good!

[keokukjoe]

While I would ideally like to see all passengers and crew vaccinated, I still would rather be on a small ship which will only be booked to a maximum of 70-75% and is presently only booked to 50% of maximum capacity. If maximum capacity is 196,  75% is only 147 passengers and 50% is only 98 passengers, Prefer that any day over the Oceania Marina with 1200 passenger  and 800 crew capacity.

[keokukjoe]

On 6/2/2021 at 10:03 AM, DrSHF said:

I received the same bizarrely unhelpful vaccination policy info from Atlas. We are probably going to cancel. As we already have good flights to Lisbon, we have booked  Oceania Marina, Lisbon to Venice, which also departs on Oct 4. We’ve never been on Oceania but hear the food is good!

Good news for those on the TA cruise out of Lisbon. All US passengers can enter Portugal only if vaccinated.  

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/portugal-welcome-vaccinated-us-tourists-hopes-salvage-summer-2021-06-08/

 

[AA-Flier]

Just found an article on Atlas vaccine policy:

 

Atlas redeploys World Navigator Egypt/Greek Isles for inaugural summer (seatrade-cruise.com)

 

Looks like they are having crew vaccinated and will require passengers to also be vaccinated, look at the end of the article.

[keokukjoe]

2 hours ago, AA-Flier said:

Just found an article on Atlas vaccine policy:

 

Atlas redeploys World Navigator Egypt/Greek Isles for inaugural summer (seatrade-cruise.com)

 

Looks like they are having crew vaccinated and will require passengers to also be vaccinated, look at the end of the article.

Thank you for this update. As of yesterday morning, Atlas stated that the guests were encouraged to get vaccinated but that it wasn't mandatory. They also stated that guests, vaccinated and unvaccinated, didn't need to wear masks in the enclosed spaces on the ship. Totally against CDC guidelines. We were going to cancel, as were our friends, if Atlas didn't require the passengers to be vaccinated. Glad we don't have to as we are looking forward to our journey.

Another interesting article:

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/environmental-health/cdc-clarifies-advice-against-cruising-applies-unvaccinated-people-drops-warning

I have no idea why people who don't want to get vaccinated would cruise. 

[jwsfun]

"attest to their vaccination " - Very interesting way to put it. 

[keokukjoe]

3 minutes ago, jwsfun said:

"attest to their vaccination " - Very interesting way to put it. 

Legal liability issue that will 1. fall on the passenger who falsely attests to the fact that they were vaccinated or uses a fake CDC card. 2. can also implicate the cruise line if they fail to confirm the attestation. It is very easy to check vaccination status through vaccination records kept by the states. I tested this on my own records. I live in TN but had the Covid vaccinations in Georgia. I contacted both TN and GA immunization registries and found that both had my vaccination records all the way back to my childhood and adult immunizations from NY and Illinois. Very interesting. As a physician, I knew this existed but never "tested" it before. Personal liability attorneys will have a field day with this. 

[keokukjoe]

The FBI categorized the unauthorized use of an official government agency's seal (such as HHS or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)) as a crime. Citing this as an act that could be "punishable under Title 18 United States Code, Section 1017, and other applicable laws," and added "do not buy fake vaccine cards, do not make your own vaccine cards, and do not fill-in blank vaccination record cards with false information." The federal penalties are pretty stiff (fines and jail time). The individual states can also prosecute offenders. I wouldn't be surprised if we see indictments and prosecution under these measures, both criminal and civil. 

[Vineyard View]

Just popped onto this as we were considering an Itinerary on Atlas. 
No vaccine requirements = no booking from us. 
in addition, many countries are requiring vaccinated passengers to visit, so this is, IMHO, setting up a lot of people to not be allowed to disembark in numerous ports. 

[keokukjoe]

11 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Just popped onto this as we were considering an Itinerary on Atlas. 
No vaccine requirements = no booking from us. 
in addition, many countries are requiring vaccinated passengers to visit, so this is, IMHO, setting up a lot of people to not be allowed to disembark in numerous ports. 

I totally agree with you. I recommend that you call Atlas directly and inform them that you are considering sailing with them but only if they require vaccinations. If you do, please report back. 

[gskimmel]

I spoke with them this morning.  I was told that passengers do not need to wear masks throughout the cruise and passengers do not need to be vaccinated.  They only need to provide a negative test prior to the cruise.  This was a deal breaker for us.  

[DarthCruiser]

1 hour ago, gskimmel said:

I spoke with them this morning.  I was told that passengers do not need to wear masks throughout the cruise and passengers do not need to be vaccinated.  They only need to provide a negative test prior to the cruise.  This was a deal breaker for us.  

I agree.  We have an Antarctic cruise booked for February with final payment due in November, and if vaccines are not required of all passengers we will likely cancel and re-book later with another line that requires vaccination of all passengers and crew.  We booked a nice suite and were very excited about this trip, now we're having second thoughts. 😟

[Vineyard View]

They have intrigued me since their announcement of the new line. They have some very attractive itineraries. 
 

No way will we be willing to step on board any ship that doesn’t require proof of vaccination for all crew and Pax. That is a total deal breaker. 
 

Those who are okay with that rule will probably need to remain very flexible with their ability to get off the ship in many ports. 

[AA-Flier]

Everyone should realize that a medical emergency on an Antarctic cruise cuts all the passengers time in Antarctic considerably. The ship has to detour to the only landing strip available, the person transported to shore, and then the ship needs to get back to the cruise.- this can take away a minimum of a whole day out of your time in Antarctica. Not requiring vaccination is a bad mistake for a cruise going to a remote area with medical facilities that are far away and limited.

[keokukjoe]

WILL ATLAS NOW REQUIRE VACCINATIONS AND MASKS IN INTERIOR PUBLIC SPACES?? I SURE HOPE SO. They also need to update their protocol as the 20 min exposure time may have been fine before the Delta variant became the predominant strain but this variant is much more transmissible and the current recommendation is no more than 10 minutes! What contact tracing is being used on the ship if any???

 

 

Just posted on New Atlas Ocean Voyages Info by a passenger, Joyce from Ottawa:

  5 hours ago, joyce Ottawa said:,

The person is asymptomatic and feels fine, but will apparently be debarked to a quarantine in Heraklion.  People who according to the protocols had proximity to the person for more than 20 minutes in a confined area, ( example a bus tour) are also confined to their rooms until more testing is done.  What I’m hearing, (nothing official, )  is that it seems that Egypt didn’t refuse entry but it was felt that it would be easier/clearer  to deal with the Greek covid protocols. Hence the return to Crete. We are waiting for an official update later today. 

Hi Joyce:

We hope that the passengers who tested positive will be fine as well as everyone else on board. Is there any contact tracing on the ship itself? Exposure on the ship is as likely as on a tour bus especially since Atlas, for some unknown reason, doesn't require vaccination nor masking in interior spaces. While vaccination doesn't prevent "breakthrough" infections, it does help. Hopefully, they will change their "Health and Safety Protocol" ASAP! It is my professional medical opinion that Atlas didn't have a vaccination/mask requirement because they were afraid of turning away paying passengers and possibly hurt their revenue. Pennywise and pound foolish because now, they have to charter flights to get you all to Egypt (hopefully, they will let you in). 

A travel agent on board just posted this to Instagram:

 

travelswithtesa

Is Cruising back? Not for this first-timer.

August 10, Day 7/9 Athens to Cairo cruise on #worldnavigator of @atlasoceanvoyages We left Crete, had our PCR test and would have arrived in Alexandria, Egypt the next day.

Instead we are headed back to Heraklion port in Crete. One vaccinated passenger has tested and retested positive for COVID.

My husband and I were in contact (less than six feet) from the paseenger and have been isolated in our stateroom all of yesterday. We’ve just been cleared to leave our rooms. The ship doctor has administered two tests (rapid and PCR) and both times we tested negative. We are both fully vaccinated. We also have both travel insurance and emergency medical evacuation insurance.

What happens when we get to Crete? The positive passenger will be disembarked. Beyond that I don’t know. We are apprised of the next step as it comes. And I do believe the crew and ship are doing their best under the circumstances.

I have traveled quite extensively during COVID and understand the risks in traveling during this period. As much as I’ve exercised all the safety protocols, get tested regularly and am vaccinated - there are external circumstances beyond our control.

My heart is heavy. I really wanted to love cruising and start selling it. I know that some travel advisors have already started cruising or will be cruising soon. I can adjust and justify all these as a travel professional but at this moment in time cannot make this recommendation to my clients.

[Globalnomad1]

I am on the ship and was in isolation for 24hrs because I was in contact with the positive passenger. We sat at the same dining table with other people. My first time to have dinner with their group. We’ve since tested negative but I was shocked to learn that two people at that table were unvaccinated. I just assumed that everyone going on a cruise right now is vaccinated.

[keokukjoe]

2 hours ago, Globalnomad1 said:

I am on the ship and was in isolation for 24hrs because I was in contact with the positive passenger. We sat at the same dining table with other people. My first time to have dinner with their group. We’ve since tested negative but I was shocked to learn that two people at that table were unvaccinated. I just assumed that everyone going on a cruise right now is vaccinated.

Was the passenger who tested positive unvaccinated or was a breakthrough case? If a breakthrough case, it would be of epidemiological interest which vaccine he/she had and how long after his second shot (or first shot with J&J) he boarded the ship.  J&J and A-Z vaccines have higher breakthrough rates when compared the the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna). 

Edited August 11, 2021 by keokukjoe

[keokukjoe]

9 hours ago, Globalnomad1 said:

I am on the ship and was in isolation for 24hrs because I was in contact with the positive passenger. We sat at the same dining table with other people. My first time to have dinner with their group. We’ve since tested negative but I was shocked to learn that two people at that table were unvaccinated. I just assumed that everyone going on a cruise right now is vaccinated.

Thank you for this information. 

 

I want to share the CDC's guidance for an asymptomatic vaccinated person exposed to Covid-19. I hope that Atlas is giving you this information.

"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends fully vaccinated individuals get tested if they have symptoms or if they have had a known COVID-19 exposure to be tested 3-5 days after exposure and to wear a mask in public indoor settings for 14 days or until they receive a negative test result."

Your first PCR test may indeed be negative because the viral load can still be too low to register a positive PCR test. That is why it the CDC recommends testing asymptomatic individuals 3-5 days after exposure. I've had several asymptomatic patients and associates who initially tested negative and then in 3-5 days re-tested positive. Please consult your physician and wear a mask in public indoor settings until you get the second test result. I truly hope that you remain free of this awful virus and have a safe journey home.

Edited August 11, 2021 by keokukjoe

[keokukjoe]

Just received this email from Atlas. FINALLY they are requiring vaccinations.

Dear Guests,

 

Thank you very much for choosing Atlas Ocean Voyages. Our staff and crew look forward to welcoming you aboard for your once-in-a-lifetime, luxe-adventure voyage.

 

Please be informed that Atlas Ocean Voyages is requiring proof of Covid vaccination from all guests, beginning with World Navigator’s October 4, 2021, voyage. We are adjusting our mandatory vaccination requirement in order to meet the ever-changing local destinations’ Covid protocols and best ensure an uninterrupted and safe guest experience.

 

We request all guests to upload into MyAtlas, in advance, a valid certificate detailing that you have completed your vaccination at least 14 days prior to embarkation. You can access MyAtlas via www.AtlasOceanVoyages.com under the Booked Guests tab or click here.

 

If you haven’t already, please register and create your personal MyAtlas account prior to embarkation. All you need is your first name, e-mail address and your Guest/Loyalty ID Number. This information can be found on your cruise confirmation statement or can also be obtained from one of our Voyage Specialists by calling 1.844.44.ATLAS (28527).

 

Your safety and health, and that of fellow guests and our crew, is our top priority and we continue to monitor the ever-changing international travel requirements.

 

Thank you.

 

Sincerely,

Atlas Ocean Voyages