CDC update

[LACruiser88]

1 hour ago, SportsFanatic said:

So if I’m reading this correctly, through 2021 children that are under 12 are not allowed to go on a cruise with Princess?

IMO this will be dependent as to when kids under 12 are able to be vaccinated.  We are hoping this happens before mid-November, as we have our 7 yr old granddaughter booked on a cruise at the end of December.   

 

Our daughter is a physician and a Public Health Specialist, she has advised that the approval for kids 5 to 11 yrs old will happen "soon."  The key here is how "soon?"

Edited August 29, 2021 by LACruiser88

[Kay S]

14 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

 

 

Our daughter is a physician and a Public Health Specialist, she has advised that the approval for kids 5 to 11 yrs old will happen "soon."  The key here is how "soon?"

Oh I hope!  My granddaughter has already had a breakout and quarantine in her elementary school.  I wonder if this is how nervous our parents were before the advent of the polio vaccine.  

[cr8tiv1]

5 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

Not a typo…unvaccinated require a PCR test within 3 days of embarkation & then before boarding the ship plus 24 hours before disembarkation & pay $150 for the 2 tests administered by Princess.

 

Guests who received a vaccination exemption are still required to take a negative PCR test within 3 days prior to embarkation and will be tested again in the terminal prior to boarding the ship and again within 24 hours of debarkation (for itineraries five days or longer). Please note – only pre-travel PCR tests (and not Antigen tests) are accepted for unvaccinated tests. Unvaccinated guests will continue to be charged $150 per person for testing and administration.

 

Wait, What?, Hold on....Why is there even wording for unvaccinated?  I thought ALL of Princess cruises for 2021 were for vaccinated passengers ONLY.  When did I miss something?

[nocl]

46 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

IMO this will be dependent as to when kids under 12 are able to be vaccinated.  We are hoping this happens before mid-November, as we have our 7 yr old granddaughter booked on a cruise at the end of December.   

 

Our daughter is a physician and a Public Health Specialist, she has advised that the approval for kids 5 to 11 yrs old will happen "soon."  The key here is how "soon?"

The FDA requested Pfizer and Moderna to expand the size of their clinical trials in that age group.  That may delay things from the anticipated September/October anticipated time frame for requesting an EUA for that age group.

[nocl]

5 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Wait, What?, Hold on....Why is there even wording for unvaccinated?  I thought ALL of Princess cruises for 2021 were for vaccinated passengers ONLY.  When did I miss something?

The requirements depend upon the location of the cruise.  The Alaska cruises are vaccinated only.  Requirements might be different for other locations/countries.

[SportsFanatic]

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

IMO this will be dependent as to when kids under 12 are able to be vaccinated.  We are hoping this happens before mid-November, as we have our 7 yr old granddaughter booked on a cruise at the end of December.   

 

Our daughter is a physician and a Public Health Specialist, she has advised that the approval for kids 5 to 11 yrs old will happen "soon."  The key here is how "soon?"

Oh my granddaughter is three so I don’t think she’s going to be able to be vaccinated. My dilemma is if I should switch to Royal Caribbean or stay with Princess.  since princess seems to not be allowing any unvaccinated people to cruise , I should probably switch but then again it could change, who knows what’s going to happen. Just when you thought everything was improving, three steps back. 

[memoak]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Wait, What?, Hold on....Why is there even wording for unvaccinated?  I thought ALL of Princess cruises for 2021 were for vaccinated passengers ONLY.  When did I miss something?

There will be a few people who qualify for a medical or religious exemption. They will have be tested twice and wear a mask everywhere.  At least that is how I read it

[TinaLee]

6 minutes ago, SportsFanatic said:

Oh my granddaughter is three so I don’t think she’s going to be able to be vaccinated. My dilemma is if I should switch to Royal Caribbean or stay with Princess.  since princess seems to not be allowing any unvaccinated people to cruise , I should probably switch but then again it could change, who knows what’s going to happen. Just when you thought everything was improving, three steps back. 

You probably need to look closely at what a cruise with smaller children will look like. I've seen several families reporting that they went on RCCL expecting things to be like the old days, but children's areas were closed (most of the children's programs), families traveling with small children had to do a ship's excursion or they couldn't leave the ship, and any areas that were for "vaccinated only" could not be accessed by the parents or families if they were traveling with unvaccinated children. I'd definitely do some research on families cruising now. 

 

[Thrak]

 

This is perfect for us. There are 3 Quest Diagnostics locations in our town and one is quite close. (I can drive to it in less than 10 minutes and I can walk it in half an hour.) We use it for all our lab needs. If they still have these restrictions when we finally sail we will be all set. Of course, by the time we sail they may well have completely different strictures in place.

[Astro Flyer]

17 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

This is perfect for us. There are 3 Quest Diagnostics locations in our town and one is quite close. (I can drive to it in less than 10 minutes and I can walk it in half an hour.) We use it for all our lab needs. If they still have these restrictions when we finally sail we will be all set. Of course, by the time we sail they may well have completely different strictures in place.

I have 2 Quest locations nearby in my city but when I check the Quest webpage for this program the closest participating location is over an hour away in Palmdale. Checking for NorCal locations only Suisin City, Mountain View and 2 in Sacramento show as participating in this program.

 

https://patient.questdiagnostics.com/no-cost-covid-test

 

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by Astro Flyer

[Thrak]

3 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

I have 2 Quest locations nearby in my city but when I check the Quest webpage for this program the closest participating location is over an hour away in Palmdale. Checking for NorCal locations only Suisin City, SF and 2 in Sacramento show as participating in this program.

 

https://patient.questdiagnostics.com/no-cost-covid-test

 

 

Well isn't that a kick in the head! Sounds poorly planned and implemented. Ah, well. Not cruising that soon anyway. Thanks for the info though, its quite helpful and likely of advantage to lots of folks.

[Astro Flyer]

1 minute ago, Thrak said:

Well isn't that a kick in the head! Sounds poorly planned and implemented.

Yes, a kick in the head & unfortunately is useless to many of us with so few participating Quest locations.

[Thrak]

6 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Yes, a kick in the head & unfortunately is useless to many of us with so few participating Quest locations.

 

Ah, but it makes such a gratifying sound byte or propaganda blurb for the Marketing Department! 🤢

[Steelers36]

11 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Ah, but it makes such a gratifying sound byte or propaganda blurb for the Marketing Department! 🤢

Yes, and much like "If you like your Traditional Dining, you can keep your Traditional Dining".  

 

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

This is perfect for us. There are 3 Quest Diagnostics locations in our town and one is quite close. (I can drive to it in less than 10 minutes and I can walk it in half an hour.) We use it for all our lab needs. If they still have these restrictions when we finally sail we will be all set. Of course, by the time we sail they may well have completely different strictures in place.

Let us know if it works for you.  There is a Quest about a half mile from me, but they don't participate in the free program.  I think you are a bit too far away for a quick trip to Palmdale, but they have four participating centers there.  This smells like just another Princess marketing knee-jerk designed to shut up the critics so they can scramble for a real solution.

 

I would be very interested to know if anyone will be able to take advantage of this Quest deal.

[cr8tiv1]

Quest wanted too much information just for me to check if a test was available.  Closest lab is an hour away.  Guess I am not "taking advantage" of Princess' grand gesture.  

[starboardcruiser]

31 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Quest wanted too much information just for me to check if a test was available.  Closest lab is an hour away.  Guess I am not "taking advantage" of Princess' grand gesture.  

I gave them all of my information because there is a site about 30 minutes away and I got my hopes up. All that to find that there is no availability at any of the sites (the other two sites are approximately an hour away), plus the closest site (and one of the others) is limited to testing for people with symptoms--that would have been helpful to know at the start. I'm grateful someone mentioned the observed home tests because I'm certainly struggling to get a rapid test nearby at a reasonable price.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Quest web site says they have about 2000 locations in the USA, so it looks like 25% of them are not participating in this program,

 

 

[ontheweb]

13 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

IMO this will be dependent as to when kids under 12 are able to be vaccinated.  We are hoping this happens before mid-November, as we have our 7 yr old granddaughter booked on a cruise at the end of December.   

 

Our daughter is a physician and a Public Health Specialist, she has advised that the approval for kids 5 to 11 yrs old will happen "soon."  The key here is how "soon?"

Even after approval of the vaccine for younger children it will take some amount of time for them to be eligible as fully vaccinated as the definition of fully vaccinated is 2 weeks after the second shot.

[Jemnibabe]

8 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

Yes, a kick in the head & unfortunately is useless to many of us with so few participating Quest locations.

Can't you get the same deal at your Walgreens or CVS?  I have here in Florida

 

Judy in SW Florida

[SargassoPirate]

I am getting tired of the unvaccinated dictating how the rest of us live.  

[1965]

1 hour ago, SargassoPirate said:

I am getting tired of the unvaccinated dictating how the rest of us live.  

AMEN!!!

[SargassoPirate]

46 minutes ago, 1965 said:

AMEN!!!

Requiring tests for vaccinated people is belt and suspenders.  I have pressed the CDC for the science behind that and they don't have any studies to back it up.

 

 

[Cruise Raider]

16 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Wait, What?, Hold on....Why is there even wording for unvaccinated?  I thought ALL of Princess cruises for 2021 were for vaccinated passengers ONLY.  When did I miss something?

 

There are exemptions made for those that cannot receive the vaccine for medical or religious reasons.  I think the number is up to 2% or 5% in accordance with CDC guidelines.  These passengers are accepted on a case by case basis only and have to adhere to stricter requirements such as masking (probably outside as well as inside), only taking cruise line sponsored excursions, etc.  

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by Cruise Raider

[Astro Flyer]

4 hours ago, Jemnibabe said:

Can't you get the same deal at your Walgreens or CVS?  I have here in Florida

 

Judy in SW Florida

We’re scheduled for a PCR test through our health plan & will now need to move it back by a day due to the new CDC regulations. I’ll research those drug store options just in case our results take longer. My health plan tests take about 24 hours to get results but if the surge results in a delay need to have a backup plan.