Child Vaccine Exemption denied - Horizon Nov 21

[gizbug]

Got an email today from Carnival saying my 5 yr old  and 1 1/2 yr old were denied the exemption.

Getting a full refund for the cruise.  Wife was P.O'd.

Terrible system they have going. The "right" thing to do would have been the refund and offer maybe 10% off a future cruise.  Not the case.

Needless to say, probably be the last time I book with this cruise line.  Now I have 4 weeks to find/book another vacation.

Cheers, Carnival!

 

[ninjacat123]

I'm sorry that happened to you.  I hope you can another option for the time that you need it.  Best of luck!!

[IntrepidFromDC]

I agree with you a full refund "plus something" would have been the "Carnival Way" that I'm used to experiencing and hearing about.  Sorry it didn't happen to you and really sorry your exemption was denied.  Nothing worse than having a vacation the whole family is excited about cancelled.  I hope you give Carnival another try and you are happily surprised.  Maybe when the kid's clubs open back up?

[Jamman54]

So sorry this happened to you. In my opinion cruising with the little ones right now is really not a good option. With the Kid's clubs being closed, not being allowed off the ship unless on a "bubble" tour, just doesn't seem like fun. Until more time passes, and the little ones can be vaccinated, I would hold off booking a cruise. Again, I'm very sorry, and hope you will be able to book another type of vacation on short notice and have some great family time together. 

[Cap'n Ron]

Check out Royal Caribbean, they aren’t doing the exemption process.  We switched to Oasis of the Seas due to great rates and they have the kids’ club open.  We booked Thanksgiving week and there should still be availability.  I’m sorry that you were denied an exemption.  Good luck and hope you find something that works for your family!

[K_e_short]

I would like to point out some of the positives

 

1 - You learnt about this denial a month before your cruise. According to the contract you made with Carnival they only had to tell you 14 days ahead of time

 

2 - You are getting your money back and not stuck with a FCC

 

I totally get not being able to cruise. We are all on this website because we are obsessed with cruising.

 

You do know you could have removed your child from the booking and not had to cancel right? So in fact Carnival didn't cancel you, you chose to go the route of cancelling.

 

As others have said there are other cruise lines that accept children. This has been said before but I'm not sure why people are so brand loyal when the brand they are loyal to doesn't give them what they want.

 

 

[gizbug]

1 hour ago, Cap'n Ron said:

Check out Royal Caribbean, they aren’t doing the exemption process.  We switched to Oasis of the Seas due to great rates and they have the kids’ club open.  We booked Thanksgiving week and there should still be availability.  I’m sorry that you were denied an exemption.  Good luck and hope you find something that works for your family!

In the process of booking on Allure of the Seas. Thanks for the suggestion!

[llarsen]

I feel for you.

We are in a stressful situation with this process right now...

 

We have 27 family members flying in from back east to CA for Nov 4 cruise out of Long Beach.

I submitted Vaccine Exemptions Sept 3 for our 2 grandchildren 9&11, booked Bubble tours, ordered items from Gift Shop, have Checked In for our cruise...and still no answer on Vaccine Exemption Approval! My nephew submitted his Exemption request last week and received it within 24hrs!

 

Our travel agent and I have spent hours on the phone trying to find out who handles this. We have been told there is no way to contact that department, that we will eventually hear from them and if we don't to make sure we cancel within 24hrs before sailing or we will not even get a cruise credit!

 

This system is extremely flawed and stressful! 

 

Can I ask what your sail date was for your cruise?

14 hours ago, gizbug said:

Got an email today from Carnival saying my 5 yr old  and 1 1/2 yr old were denied the exemption.

Getting a full refund for the cruise.  Wife was P.O'd.

Terrible system they have going. The "right" thing to do would have been the refund and offer maybe 10% off a future cruise.  Not the case.

Needless to say, probably be the last time I book with this cruise line.  Now I have 4 weeks to find/book another vacation.

Cheers, Carnival!

 

 

[K_e_short]

50 minutes ago, llarsen said:

Our travel agent and I have spent hours on the phone trying to find out who handles this. We have been told there is no way to contact that department, that we will eventually hear from them and if we don't to make sure we cancel within 24hrs before sailing or we will not even get a cruise credit!

 

This system is extremely flawed and stressful! 

 

 

 

I feel like your TA has given you the wrong information. If you read the Carnival website it says:

 

If you are an unvaccinated guest, your reservation is not considered confirmed unless you receive an approved exemption, which will be issued within 14 days of sailing. Any unvaccinated guests whose exemptions are approved will be required to review and agree to all the restrictions and protocols listed above prior to boarding the ship.

If we are unable to approve the request, guests will have the option to cancel the unvaccinated guest(s) from a reservation, move to a future sailing date or cancel with a full refund to the original form of payment. Unfortunately, we cannot assist with expenses related to a denied exemption request, and guests assume all risks related to non-refundable travel costs (i.e., air fare, hotel).

 

Others on here have messaged John Heald on Facebook or simply redid the exemption form to get a response.

 

[tallnthensome]

That is a thanksgiving cruise . Probably lots of unvaccinated kids on that cruise . There were probably too many to give exemptions to and stay within the 90% vaccination threshold. 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

16 hours ago, gizbug said:

Got an email today from Carnival saying my 5 yr old  and 1 1/2 yr old were denied the exemption.

Getting a full refund for the cruise.  Wife was P.O'd.

Terrible system they have going. The "right" thing to do would have been the refund and offer maybe 10% off a future cruise.  Not the case.

Needless to say, probably be the last time I book with this cruise line.  Now I have 4 weeks to find/book another vacation.

Cheers, Carnival!

 

Why were you denied? 5 year old and up can get the vaccine shot.

[BlerkOne]

26 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

That is a thanksgiving cruise . Probably lots of unvaccinated kids on that cruise . There were probably too many to give exemptions to and stay within the 90% vaccination threshold. 

95%+. A max of 5% unvaxxed.

[BoozinCroozin]

17 hours ago, gizbug said:

Got an email today from Carnival saying my 5 yr old  and 1 1/2 yr old were denied the exemption.

Getting a full refund for the cruise.  Wife was P.O'd.

Terrible system they have going. The "right" thing to do would have been the refund and offer maybe 10% off a future cruise.  Not the case.

Needless to say, probably be the last time I book with this cruise line.  Now I have 4 weeks to find/book another vacation.

Cheers, Carnival!

 

I am not sure which part of the whole process you didn't understand. It has been clear from the start. Carnival made it very clear that they were approving less than 5% to account for no-shows. Being this is over Thanksgiving, it was the next big cruise time for families. Groups are going to get priority over individuals. There were going to be a large number not getting approved. Just wait through. There will be people approved that will get a denial email in about 2-3 weeks because the numbers aren't looking good.

 

I feel for you though, but this is all on you. You are just mad because you got the short-end of the stick. Its unfortunate, but people are going to be denied. I am waiting for my cruise group to be the same way. There are a large number still waiting for Nov 20. They are even mad because there is only 1 port with bubble tours. There are 3 bubble tours at the port. 2 are horrible and the one decent one is almost sold out. I think it was limited to 50 total people. If you figure families, that is about 12-15 cabins out of maybe 50. The others not getting that one will be stuck on the ship for an 8-night cruise, no kids clubs, and limited activities for them. Believe me, it could be worse not being denied.

[tallnthensome]

1 hour ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Why were you denied? 5 year old and up can get the vaccine shot.

No they can't.  Not yet ....

[Cap'n Ron]

6 hours ago, gizbug said:

In the process of booking on Allure of the Seas. Thanks for the suggestion!

Awesome, hope you all have a great time!  It’s our first time on Royal and really looking forward to trying Oasis.

[sanger727]

4 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

No they can't.  Not yet ....

And even if they could, they couldn’t get fully vaccinated with a two dose shot in 4 weeks.

[llarsen]

8 hours ago, K_e_short said:

If we are unable to approve the request, guests will have the option to cancel the unvaccinated guest(s) from a reservation, move to a future sailing date or cancel with a full refund to the original form of payment. Unfortunately, we cannot assist with expenses related to a denied exemption request, and guests assume all risks related to non-refundable travel costs (i.e., air fare, hotel).

 

Others on here have messaged John Heald on Facebook or simply redid the exemption form to get a response.

 

It was a Carnival employee who said to call and cancel the day before if we do not hear anything by then, because if we show up at the pier without the Approval, the kids will not sail and we would not receive a cruise credit.

It doesn't surprise me if this is false info.

You cannot edit or resubmit the Exemption Request form once submitted. It's just one more thing about this process that doesn't make any sense.

 

[Stick93]

Its not worth booking a cruise if you are not sure you will get on. I have two kids that are not vaccinated because of age and I won't be booking anything. There should be a different way of possibly checking or proving immunity for the kids - but that's just an opinion. Carnival is free to do whatever they want -

[ray98]

Ehhhhh.....you can't get mad for something that they were 100% upfront in letting you know that could happen which they notified 2 weeks sooner than required.  I avoided the holiday cruises because I know school is out and there will be more children competing for those exemptions.  

[mondello]

23 hours ago, llarsen said:

I feel for you.

 

Can I ask what your sail date was for your cruise?

 

OP's cruise date was Nov. 21/Thanksgiving cruise.

[mpdog42]

13 hours ago, Stick93 said:

Its not worth booking a cruise if you are not sure you will get on. I have two kids that are not vaccinated because of age and I won't be booking anything. There should be a different way of possibly checking or proving immunity for the kids - but that's just an opinion. Carnival is free to do whatever they want -

and people with Kids are free to tell the Cruise Lines to stick it...

[Stick93]

3 hours ago, mpdog42 said:

and people with Kids are free to tell the Cruise Lines to stick it...

You have to assume that they are running out of people to book as the prices have come down from the highs. As families can no long go away as some point they may have to bend a bit.

I have told the cruise lines to stick it as I have not booked a cruise with them or anyone else with my family. I usually do 2 family cruises a year - but will sit it out until things change. I am not against any vaccine or mandate and I don't plan to yell or scream at anyone who believes this is wonderful.

 

 I have gone on a few excellent land based trips and have not been upset. 

[mpdog42]

On 10/24/2021 at 11:01 AM, Stick93 said:

You have to assume that they are running out of people to book as the prices have come down from the highs. As families can no long go away as some point they may have to bend a bit.

I have told the cruise lines to stick it as I have not booked a cruise with them or anyone else with my family. I usually do 2 family cruises a year - but will sit it out until things change. I am not against any vaccine or mandate and I don't plan to yell or scream at anyone who believes this is wonderful.

 

 I have gone on a few excellent land based trips and have not been upset. 

Sounds like a plan, Glad you have some great land based trips!!

[pc_load_letter]

On 10/22/2021 at 6:07 PM, Jamman54 said:

So sorry this happened to you. In my opinion cruising with the little ones right now is really not a good option. With the Kid's clubs being closed, not being allowed off the ship unless on a "bubble" tour, just doesn't seem like fun. Until more time passes, and the little ones can be vaccinated, I would hold off booking a cruise. Again, I'm very sorry, and hope you will be able to book another type of vacation on short notice and have some great family time together. 

 

Yeah, the kids clubs being closed would be a deal breaker for me. Why even go on a cruise with kids then? Granted some of the ships have water areas etc but in four weeks it's going to be even colder.

 

Sorry this happened OP but perhaps a Disney cruise?

[pc_load_letter]

On 10/23/2021 at 5:15 PM, llarsen said:

It was a Carnival employee who said to call and cancel the day before if we do not hear anything by then, because if we show up at the pier without the Approval, the kids will not sail and we would not receive a cruise credit.

It doesn't surprise me if this is false info.

You cannot edit or resubmit the Exemption Request form once submitted. It's just one more thing about this process that doesn't make any sense.

 

 

I'm sorry but why are you risking a 27 person cruise on your grandkids?

 

I am consistently flabbergasted by posts on here of people planning family vacations with kids, grandparents, large groups, only to be surprised when the process on XYZ cruise line is perhaps not user friendly, not clearly laid out, or just flat out dumb.

 

As I said above, who wants to go on a cruise when kids clubs are closed. Geez, just wait a few months or find a line that is open (Thankfully they figured out RCL could accommodate them)

 

I dunno, while it's not common, I am weekly reading posts from someone who has such and such problem with testing, booking, itineraries, the cruise itself. The wife and I are just not cruising right now because that doesn't sound like fun to us. Sure, cruises have been going fine, but I'd rather wait it out.

 

I work in IT and I never use new software right out of the gate. You let the early adopters work out the problems. I feel the same for cruising right now. I can wait. It sucks, but I can wait.

Edited October 25, 2021 by pc_load_letter