Princess Not Doing Test Cruises

[Syracusefan44]

Watching a Princess webinar now and it was announced that there will not being any test cruises since they are going out with fully vaccinated crew & passengers (there will be limited exceptions for religious or medical

reasons in compliance with the CDC mandates). They made this decision based on their demographics and the fact that the majority of past passengers will be vaccinated.

 

It also sounds like they are going to use the new Health Status feature on the app to upload your COVID19 vaccine information.

 

The representatives from Princess, Holland America, and Seabourne also stated that if a cruise is visiting a port of call requiring visitors to be vaccinated then all passengers must be vaccinated.

 

Basically the law passed by DeSantis is irrelevant because unvaccinated passengers will not be allowed onboard if one of the ports of call require COVID19 vaccines. 

Edited June 3, 2021 by Syracusefan44

[pompeii]

Just for the Alaska sailings this year, or for all?

Edited June 3, 2021 by pompeii

[mellon1]

1 hour ago, Syracusefan44 said:

Watching a Princess webinar now and it was announced that there will not being any test cruises since they are going out with fully vaccinated crew & passengers (there will be limited exceptions for religious or medical

reasons in compliance with the CDC mandates). They made this decision based on their demographics and the fact that the majority of past passengers will be vaccinated.

 

It also sounds like they are going to use the new Health Status feature on the app to upload your COVID19 vaccine information.

 

The representatives from Princess, Holland America, and Seabourne also stated that if a cruise is visiting a port of call requiring visitors to be vaccinated then all passengers must be vaccinated.

 

Basically the law passed by DeSantis is irrelevant because unvaccinated passengers will not be allowed onboard if one of the ports of call require COVID19 vaccines. 

YEAAAAAHHHHHH!  All for everyone having the vaccines onboard...means no masks then.

[Syracusefan44]

17 minutes ago, pompeii said:

Just for the Alaska sailings this year, or for all?

Based upon what was said it seemed that based on the Princess “demographics” they have decided to do it for all sailings.  

[Tak8]

Solid decision.

[PaperSniper4]

1 hour ago, Syracusefan44 said:

Based upon what was said it seemed that based on the Princess “demographics” they have decided to do it for all sailings.  

This is VERY good news for my family! Do you have a link, I don't know what nothin' about no webinar. 🤔

 

The only info I could find on duckduck for Princess webinar was a link to facebook, to which I do not subscribe. I was hoping that good news (IMHO) would pop up elsewhere, but perhaps it is to early.

Edited June 3, 2021 by PaperSniper4

[kiwimum]

For Princess there will be unvaccinated individuals on board.  Children under 12,

medical and religious reasons.   Children can (could) be booked online.   Definitely capacity controlled.   Holland and Seabourn are 100% vaccinated.

if you attempt to book an Alaskan cruise, enter the child’s name and it comes up unavailable, means capacity has been reached.   We had the issue when booking but did find a sailing that had not reached capacity.  Princess is also maintaining a waitlist for those unable to obtain a booking with children.  

[srpilo]

I hope this is a bonified story, as I will NOT be sailing on any non-vaccinated cruise for the forseeable future. The thought of having un-vaccinated passenger restrictions & protocols onboard is a HUGE deal breaker

 

fingers crossed... 

[kiwimum]

This is the link to the webinar held this morning.   Forward to around 14 minutes for the discussion.
 

https://www.facebook.com/PrincessVPSales/videos/204644091382978/

 

This could all change when the CDC comes out with their final guidelines on sailing.

Edited June 3, 2021 by kiwimum

[pompeii]

12 hours ago, kiwimum said:

This is the link to the webinar held this morning.   Forward to around 14 minutes for the discussion.
 

https://www.facebook.com/PrincessVPSales/videos/204644091382978/

 

This could all change when the CDC comes out with their final guidelines on sailing.

I watched the webinar yesterday and from what I saw, currently Princess is requiring vaccines only on Alaska cruises.  At about 10 minutes in, they answer the question "Are guests required to be fully vaccinated?" and basically Princess says yes for Alaska, wait and see for the rest.  

[PaperSniper4]

12 hours ago, kiwimum said:

This is the link to the webinar held this morning.   Forward to around 14 minutes for the discussion.
 

https://www.facebook.com/PrincessVPSales/videos/204644091382978/

 

This could all change when the CDC comes out with their final guidelines on sailing.

Does anyone have a source other than facebook for those who do not use that media?

 

And has anyone heard anything about Carnival following suite? I understand there will not be 100% vaccinated crew and passengers on board, but 95% would be much better than the 40-50% that I had been apprehensively expecting.

 

Doug

[PaperSniper4]

Just now, pompeii said:

I watched the webinar yesterday and from what I saw, currently Princess is requiring vaccines only on Alaska cruises.  At about 10 minutes in, they answer the question "Are guests required to be fully vaccinated?" and basically Princess says yes for Alaska, wait and see for the rest.  

Dang' it....That's why I prefer to get non-facebook <etc> links to such information......... 😟

 

I'm sure there will be lots of changes before this fall.....hopefully all in a positive direction. From what I have recently read here, most cruisers would prefer that fellow passengers and crew be vaccinated.  I take that to mean that the cruise ship market wants to move in the direction of more vaccinations for both crew and passengers. I know there will always be some exceptions, and I can live with 5-10% not being vaccinated for those. I would very much like not to be required to wear a mask nearly every where onboard, and I am more than willing to determine for myself where and when I will wear one.

 

Disclosure: My family has chosen to be vaccinated. We have no young children among us. We also have no one who would cruise without the jabs for any other reason. So our wants and needs may be different from yours.....but apparently by far the majority of cruisers agree with me, which is why I THINK the cruise lines will eventually require vaccines as a general rule. 😎

[caribill]

19 hours ago, pompeii said:

I watched the webinar yesterday and from what I saw, currently Princess is requiring vaccines only on Alaska cruises.  At about 10 minutes in, they answer the question "Are guests required to be fully vaccinated?" and basically Princess says yes for Alaska, wait and see for the rest.  

 

The "Seacations" that Princess is selling in the UK requires 100% of passengers to be vaccinated., no exceptions.

[dog]

23 hours ago, pompeii said:

I watched the webinar yesterday and from what I saw, currently Princess is requiring vaccines only on Alaska cruises.  At about 10 minutes in, they answer the question "Are guests required to be fully vaccinated?" and basically Princess says yes for Alaska, wait and see for the rest.  

Obviously they were referring to cruise from US ports. CDC 

[PaperSniper4]

19 minutes ago, dog said:

Obviously they were referring to cruise from US ports. CDC 

Is it your interpretation all Princess departures from all US ports would require vaccinations? I don't understand what you meant....IMO that would be great, since we are booked on USA departures with Alaska (via Canada) not on the itinerary.

 

I suspect that by the time my family cruises, there will be many, many changes to virus related rules, regulations and restrictions; all of which hopefully will return us to the near "normal" of the 2018 cruising experience.😎

 

Doug

[pompeii]

50 minutes ago, dog said:

Obviously they were referring to cruise from US ports. CDC 

 

27 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Is it your interpretation all Princess departures from all US ports would require vaccinations? I don't understand what you meant....IMO that would be great, since we are booked on USA departures with Alaska (via Canada) not on the itinerary.

Princess clearly said fully vaxxed for 2021 Alaska cruises only at this time.  He went on to say wait and see for "California or Florida or elsewhere."  Holland and Seabourne both said ALL their 2021 departures will require passengers to be fully vaccinated, no matter where they depart.  The Princess guy was clearly surprised to find out that they did not have the same policy as Princess.

[caribill]

6 hours ago, pompeii said:

 

Princess clearly said fully vaxxed for 2021 Alaska cruises only at this time.  He went on to say wait and see for "California or Florida or elsewhere."  Holland and Seabourne both said ALL their 2021 departures will require passengers to be fully vaccinated, no matter where they depart.  The Princess guy was clearly surprised to find out that they did not have the same policy as Princess.

Proves that each brand is truly run separately. Even Princess and HAL which are both under Jan.

[Travlin grrl]

I can hardly wait until the first people sail and their reviews!

[Jemnibabe]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

Proves that each brand is truly run separately. Even Princess and HAL which are both under Jan.

And now Royal Caribbean has caved under DeSantis and is not requiring or even asking about vaccinations.  Thoughts?  Do you think Princess will follow suit?

 

Judy from SW Florida

[deliver42]

I hope not. I've already posted os Royal's Facebook page that I won't be sailing with them anymore. I' Emerald, but with them groveling at DeSantis, I'm done.

[nreeder]

In the video, while the Princess rep didn’t say that beyond this Summer’s Alaska cruises which will require vaccination, that all future Princess Cruises would require vaccination.  As someone else mentioned above, he was surprised that Holland American and Seaborne will require vaccinations.  However—he did say that Princess isn’t planning any “test cruises”.  That implies something.  CDC says you have to do “test cruises” if you are planning on having mixed vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers on board.  If you don’t do “test cruises” it implies that you are going to require 95% of passengers to be vaccinated as specified by the CDC.  So it was kind of “speaks with forked tongue” as on one side he didn’t say all vaccinated, but he did also say no test cruises.  Go figure!

Norm

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Jemnibabe said:

And now Royal Caribbean has caved under DeSantis and is not requiring or even asking about vaccinations.  Thoughts?  Do you think Princess will follow suit?

 

Judy from SW Florida

 

As nreeder points out, that would require test cruises.

 

But beyond that, if they do not have 95% of passengers and crew vaccinated, there will be CDC imposed rules on mask wearing, social distancing, testing requited, etc.

 

So I do not think Princess will follow.

 

There have certainly been a number of posts on this forum by posters saying things such as will not cruise on a ship with many unvaccinated passengers, will not sail on a ship where mask wearing is required much of the time, etc.

 

A ship with at least 95% of vaccinated people will have very few rules on mask wearing and social distancing.

 

 

29 minutes ago, nreeder said:

CDC says you have to do “test cruises” if you are planning on having mixed vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers on board.  If you don’t do “test cruises” it implies that you are going to require 95% of passengers to be vaccinated as specified by the CDC.  So it was kind of “speaks with forked tongue” as on one side he didn’t say all vaccinated, but he did also say no test cruises.  Go figure!

 

 

I think the CDC rules that require the test cruises are for the current no sail order that is scheduled to expire November 1.

 

We have no idea what the CDC will require, if anything, for cruises after November 1.

[ChutChut]

On 6/3/2021 at 1:38 PM, Syracusefan44 said:

Watching a Princess webinar now and it was announced that there will not being any test cruises since they are going out with fully vaccinated crew & passengers (there will be limited exceptions for religious or medical

reasons in compliance with the CDC mandates). They made this decision based on their demographics and the fact that the majority of past passengers will be vaccinated.

 

It also sounds like they are going to use the new Health Status feature on the app to upload your COVID19 vaccine information.

 

The representatives from Princess, Holland America, and Seabourne also stated that if a cruise is visiting a port of call requiring visitors to be vaccinated then all passengers must be vaccinated.

 

Basically the law passed by DeSantis is irrelevant because unvaccinated passengers will not be allowed onboard if one of the ports of call require COVID19 vaccines. 

DeSantis didn't "pass" the law - the FL legislature did - and it's not "irrelevant." It's the LAW unless a court invalidates it. If Princess wants to ignore it, that's a $5,000 fine times the number of paxs on each sailing requiring vaccine verification out of FL.

[caribill]

5 hours ago, ChutChut said:

DeSantis didn't "pass" the law - the FL legislature did - and it's not "irrelevant." It's the LAW unless a court invalidates it. If Princess wants to ignore it, that's a $5,000 fine times the number of paxs on each sailing requiring vaccine verification out of FL.

 

I wonder what the CDC penalty is for sailing without verifying 95% of the passengers have been fully vaccinated.

[Ombud]

9 hours ago, ChutChut said:

DeSantis didn't "pass" the law - the FL legislature did - and it's not "irrelevant." It's the LAW unless a court invalidates it. If Princess wants to ignore it, that's a $5,000 fine times the number of paxs on each sailing requiring vaccine verification out of FL.

Princess can ignore it by skipping Florida and sailing Alaska, Washington, California, Hawaii, and Mexico. There is another ocean.