Anyone Denied Exemption Letter for Child under 12

[twinkster]

We have a cruise booked November 20th on Sunrise...me, my 13 year old and my 11 year old.  11 Year old is obviously not vaccinated.  Carnival told me to call within 14 days of cruise to see if we can get the vaccine exemption letter.  Has anyone here been denied the letter and had to cancel/reschedule their cruise?  Just trying to see if it's common to get denied or if most/all kids under 12 have currently been approved (I know current trends can always change, but curious how many people aren't getting the vaccine exemption letter for their kiddos).  We are also going over a Holiday so know that there could possibly be more kids and therefor a higher chance of getting denied due to capacity.

[Jamesatgsu]

People have been denied them. Traveling over Thanksgiving break figures to have more kids than usual, and they'll be limited to 5% (really below that to give them a margin for error).

 

Have you filled out the exemption application online yet?

 

https://www.carnival.com/vaccine-exemption-submission

[5xGrandma]

We had the 11/21/21 Thanksgiving cruise all set to go, My granddaughter who turns 12 on Nov 12 and because there is not enough time to get the 2nd shot before the cruise we tried to get an exception.

  Carnival cancelled our cruise and did NOT inform us. We found out by accident, still no note e-mail or anything,

We have been refunded the cruise cost but not any extras we had purchased.  Customer was no help at all.

Edited September 29, 2021 by 5xGrandma

[gtalum]

We requested an exemption for our 7 year old on the Thanksgiving week Mardi gras cruise as soon as the form became available.  We were granted the exemption within days.

[PSU2LSU]

We requested an exemption for my 10 year old for a channukah cruise and it was approved right away. My PVP had me fill it out the day I booked. 

[K_e_short]

3 hours ago, 5xGrandma said:

We had the 11/21/21 Thanksgiving cruise all set to go, My granddaughter who turns 12 on Nov 12 and because there is not enough time to get the 2nd shot before the cruise we tried to get an exception.

  Carnival cancelled our cruise and did NOT inform us. We found out by accident, still no note e-mail or anything,

We have been refunded the cruise cost but not any extras we had purchased.  Customer was no help at all.

 

I had to cancel a cruise due to not being vaccinated.

 

The FunShops refund goes through differently and may take longer.

 

I think that is what you mean when you say "extras." 

 

I was told up to 8 weeks for a refund.

[llarsen]

Twinkster...We have 2 unvaccinated grandchildren traveling with us Nov for a family reunion cruise. We submitted the Exemption Form right away but have not heard anything yet.

Did you fill out the Questionnaire yet for each party member? 

It asks: if you are vaccinated or if you are unvaccinated and have exemption letter or if you are unvaccinated and have no exemption letter.

We filled it out for all of us (vaccinated) but have not filled it out for the grandchildren because we are waiting for the approval.

But wondering if we should be submitting it saying they are unvaccinated and do not have exemption letter... yet?

Have you filled it out for your kids yet?

 

[BoozinCroozin]

It is a first come first served approach. From what I have seen, Carnival will approve X amount quickly. The rest are left in limbo until about 2 weeks until the cruise to see how many more can be approved. You can pretty much guarantee if you are 12 or older and not vaccinated you will be denied. Most ports are requiring it now. 

 

Just a rough example, we are on a Thanksgiving cruise. Assuming the 70% capacity puts the cruise at 3,000 passengers. Carnival will probably allow 4% unvaccinated leaving the total exemptions at 120. They probably approved 90-100 of those quickly. The remainder are waiting until around November 10 to find out.

[twinkster]

Thank you all for your comments. They are all helpful.  I did fill out on my "manage my booking" that two of us are vaccinated and one is unvaccinated with no exemption letter.  I was not aware of the form, so thank you to Jamesatgsu for the link. I've filled it out, but as we are only 50 days away, we will probably have to be in the group that won't hear back until 14 days prior to the cruise.  We do have back up plans in case we don't get the exemption letter, but were/are looking forward to cruising again.  Fingers crossed.

[Jamesatgsu]

5 hours ago, llarsen said:

Twinkster...We have 2 unvaccinated grandchildren traveling with us Nov for a family reunion cruise. We submitted the Exemption Form right away but have not heard anything yet.

Did you fill out the Questionnaire yet for each party member? 

It asks: if you are vaccinated or if you are unvaccinated and have exemption letter or if you are unvaccinated and have no exemption letter.

We filled it out for all of us (vaccinated) but have not filled it out for the grandchildren because we are waiting for the approval.

But wondering if we should be submitting it saying they are unvaccinated and do not have exemption letter... yet?

Have you filled it out for your kids yet?

 

I did the same, but when other people started getting approvals and I hadn't, I decided to answer the question for my younger son. We got an email of acceptance like an hour later for his exemption. It does let you change the answer later if needed. Downside is they will automatically cancel you if your exemption isn't approved, and I know on my Mardi Gras cruise November 20th, they sent a denial letter to somebody already saying they've filled their capacity (which seems surprising given you can still book the cruise) which said their cruise would be cancelled and refunded. No options for changing party or rescheduling mentioned.

 

My 11 year old was vaccinated in the trial, but it doesn't qualify until Pfizer gets emergency authorization. I would have been pissed to get cancelled given the odds are highly likely that authorization will come before the cruise. Still glad I got the exemption just in case, but sucks that it might have been available for someone else. 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Jamesatgsu said:

I did the same, but when other people started getting approvals and I hadn't, I decided to answer the question for my younger son. We got an email of acceptance like an hour later for his exemption. It does let you change the answer later if needed. Downside is they will automatically cancel you if your exemption isn't approved, and I know on my Mardi Gras cruise November 20th, they sent a denial letter to somebody already saying they've filled their capacity (which seems surprising given you can still book the cruise) which said their cruise would be cancelled and refunded. No options for changing party or rescheduling mentioned.

 

My 11 year old was vaccinated in the trial, but it doesn't qualify until Pfizer gets emergency authorization. I would have been pissed to get cancelled given the odds are highly likely that authorization will come before the cruise. Still glad I got the exemption just in case, but sucks that it might have been available for someone else. 

I would like to thank you (for I assume giving permission) and your son for being in that trial. Hopefully, especially because DW is an elementary art teacher and deals with so many young people, the Pfizer approval for 5-11 year olds comes very soon.

[bstel]

Family of 4 sailing this weekend (10/3) on Pride out of Baltimore.  2 kids under 12.  We booked on 9/24 (really late) which was within the 14 day window, since we got one of those last minute casino free room offers.  Filled out the online form and had our approval about 24hours later.  I was thinking we would be denied since they would have filled the remaining slots of the 5% at the 14 day mark, so that tells me the demand by unvaccinated really isn't there.

[tytanbri]

1 hour ago, bstel said:

Family of 4 sailing this weekend (10/3) on Pride out of Baltimore.  2 kids under 12.  We booked on 9/24 (really late) which was within the 14 day window, since we got one of those last minute casino free room offers.  Filled out the online form and had our approval about 24hours later.  I was thinking we would be denied since they would have filled the remaining slots of the 5% at the 14 day mark, so that tells me the demand by unvaccinated really isn't there.

The demand is probably really low now due to school being in session. 

[AtSeaWithChris]

On 9/30/2021 at 9:49 AM, llarsen said:

Twinkster...We have 2 unvaccinated grandchildren traveling with us Nov for a family reunion cruise. We submitted the Exemption Form right away but have not heard anything yet.

Did you fill out the Questionnaire yet for each party member? 

It asks: if you are vaccinated or if you are unvaccinated and have exemption letter or if you are unvaccinated and have no exemption letter.

We filled it out for all of us (vaccinated) but have not filled it out for the grandchildren because we are waiting for the approval.

But wondering if we should be submitting it saying they are unvaccinated and do not have exemption letter... yet?

Have you filled it out for your kids yet?

 

A friend of mine just found his child’s exemption letter in his junk folder from a month ago. 

[BoozinCroozin]

With kids in school, there are fewer kids on ships. I think denials will be more limited now than before. Thanksgiving, XMas, and New Years cruise will see a larger number of denials coming. 

[sailingships]

On 9/30/2021 at 10:49 AM, llarsen said:

But wondering if we should be submitting it saying they are unvaccinated and do not have exemption letter... yet?

Have you filled it out for your kids yet?

 

Yes and when you get the letter with the link to apply for an exemption fill it out right away.

[CruiseMGM]

Our family (3 cabins) cruise isn't until April, does anyone know when we can/should request an exemption letter for the youngest in our party (8 y.o.)? First Carnival cruise, thank you for any insights!

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, CruiseMGM said:

Our family (3 cabins) cruise isn't until April, does anyone know when we can/should request an exemption letter for the youngest in our party (8 y.o.)? First Carnival cruise, thank you for any insights!

Hopefullly, well before March there will be an approved vaccine for 5-12 year olds.🤞

[bstel]

6 hours ago, CruiseMGM said:

Our family (3 cabins) cruise isn't until April, does anyone know when we can/should request an exemption letter for the youngest in our party (8 y.o.)? First Carnival cruise, thank you for any insights!

by current rules, you are supposed to submit your exemption request within 48 hrs of booking.  not sure if there is a penalty or not.  But Carnival wont finalize their list until 14 days before sailing.  But vaccines for kids 5-11 will probably be available by then so the rules will most likely change.

[diesteldorf]

Hello, 

 

We are cruising at the end of November.  Everyone in my party is fully vaccinated except my 3-year-old niece.

 

My brother submitted the exception request  over 1 week ago, by going here:  https://www.carnival.com/vaccine-exemption-submission

 

I know they don't always notify you until 2 weeks before sailing, but is the notification normally by email?

 

More importantly, my brother said he didn't receive any confirmation or verification that his exemption was received.  Is that normal?

 

I would hate to wait until 1-2 weeks before sailing to find out the exemption request was never received.

 

Any feedback or advice is appreciated.

 

 

[BoozinCroozin]

Just attempt to submit it again. It will tell you if it was already submitted.

 

The issue is they don't know how many are going until check-in Even then, they only know the potential number. They will approve less than 5% to cover no-shows. With Carnival's typical ~70% capacity, you can expect about 120 exceptions per cruise. Of those 120, I would guess 90-100 were granted for the Thanksgiving cruises already. Those waiting are probably already in a pecking order who gets them first. I know a bunch in our cruise group have received them and an equal number have not. I have a feeling there will be quite a bit of complaining come Thanksgiving and XMas time with how unfair it was.

[diesteldorf]

39 minutes ago, BoozinCroozin said:

Just attempt to submit it again. It will tell you if it was already submitted.

 

The issue is they don't know how many are going until check-in Even then, they only know the potential number. They will approve less than 5% to cover no-shows. With Carnival's typical ~70% capacity, you can expect about 120 exceptions per cruise. Of those 120, I would guess 90-100 were granted for the Thanksgiving cruises already. Those waiting are probably already in a pecking order who gets them first. I know a bunch in our cruise group have received them and an equal number have not. I have a feeling there will be quite a bit of complaining come Thanksgiving and XMas time with how unfair it was.

Thanks.  We actually board on November 29, so I am hoping it helps that our cruise is after Thanksgiving.

[diesteldorf]

My brother received an alert that a previous submission was already received.  Then, an hour later, we received confirmation that the exemption had been approved.

[x lindsay x]

I never got the link for the exemption form directly from Carnival. A person in the cruise FB group passed it along to me after saying that her child had been approved. It took a little less than a week for me to get the approval letter. I was concerned since most people were saying they got word in 24 hours, that was not my case. Be patient, it could be a yes, just not as fast as others are reporting. 

[llarsen]

We sail Nov 4 and still have not received exemption letter for our 2 grandsons 😞