When 5-11 year olds are fully vaccinated but it's not required by RCCL yet, how does RCCL categorize them?

[Rosy Season]

3 hours ago, CruiseMelissa said:

 

Agreed, I guess I should have added the question.. what did they do this summer between when the 12+ vaccine was approved and RCCL required it, might help to learn about past practices... 🙂

THIS!  Does anyone know what they did for the 12+ year olds?  How long after it was announced did RCCL mandate vaccines?  I'm concerned about my Nov. 21 cruise.

[Rosy Season]

1 hour ago, AustinCruise said:

May 10,2021

 

Were cruises running during that time?

So there was a gap from May-Aug before the requirement went into place?  The timing of this is awful from a parental perspective because it all falls during school vacations and likely cruises that were planned with children (Thanksgiving, winter holidays etc)

[Rosy Season]

1 hour ago, JMKreno said:

 

 

But, as I mentioned before, this is moot for my family as our youngest will be vaccinated as soon as I can make an appointment in a couple of weeks. 

I will too. Mine is 7 but the concern is that we won't have enough time befor the Nov. 21st sail date.  And I suspect there will be mass chaos to try and get kids in for the shot too.

[smplybcause]

39 minutes ago, CruiseMelissa said:

During that three months, were 12+ treated as vaccinated adults if they were fully vaxxed or not until August when it was a requirement?  You may hold the key to my original question if you have that info 🙃

 

I honestly don't know! I didn't know anyone in the 12-17 age range that cruised then. I don't recall anyone on here mentioning that their 12-17 got to follow vax protocol before Aug if they were already vax. Don't recall seeing any "my 13 year old was vax so no testing at port" posts. 

[smplybcause]

11 minutes ago, Rosy Season said:

THIS!  Does anyone know what they did for the 12+ year olds?  How long after it was announced did RCCL mandate vaccines?  I'm concerned about my Nov. 21 cruise.

 

As stated earlier in the thread 12+ vax was required starting in August. Someone else mentioned 12-17 was approved May 10. So Royal required it less than 3 months after approval...83 days to be precise. 

 

The earliest they could require it is 5 weeks from approval date... which would be first week of Dec give or take. 

 

My bet is the date required will be somewhere between the 83 and 5 weeks. Heavily influenced if any island puts the requirement for 5+.

 

Based on needing 5 weeks to be fully vaccinated I don't see how they could require it for your Nov 21 cruise. 

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, JMKreno said:

This is correct. I think once the vaccines become "widely available" in the US the Bahamas may require this. But, I do not think the cruise lines will willingly do this until they have no choice. 

 

That being said, I think they MIGHT change the access available to unvaccinated kids between 6-11, such as kids club usage (similar to what they do now for vaxxed/unvaxxed). Makes the impact fairly small IMHO.

 

But, as I mentioned before, this is moot for my family as our youngest will be vaccinated as soon as I can make an appointment in a couple of weeks. 

Agree, don't think will be rapid Changed for this young group as others before. Probably in 2022 earliest is my guess

[seabeew]

45 minutes ago, CruiseMelissa said:

During that three months, were 12+ treated as vaccinated adults if they were fully vaxxed or not until August when it was a requirement?  You may hold the key to my original question if you have that info 🙃

I just wrote a long response that vanished. Short answer: a poster called RCCL Fan wrote a long review describing his family’s experience sailing out of Nassau in June.

His 12 year old daughter was fully vaccinated by the time the ship sailed. She was not required receive the antigen test required for unvaccinated kids  during check in at the British Colonial hotel. However someone put a green kid’s club band on her even though she was too old for the kids club. The band was apparently the signal of an unvaccinated child. 
 

Upon entering the ship the family had to argue with four or five different people that their child was vaccinated and didn’t need the band and didn’t need to wear a mask. The representatives all agreed she was vaccinated but thought she needed to wear the mask. The parents finally prevailed. Basically the staff couldn’t justify why she should be could considered be unvaccinated . 

[CruiseMelissa]

1 hour ago, seabeew said:

I just wrote a long response that vanished. Short answer: a poster called RCCL Fan wrote a long review describing his family’s experience sailing out of Nassau in June.

His 12 year old daughter was fully vaccinated by the time the ship sailed. She was not required receive the antigen test required for unvaccinated kids  during check in at the British Colonial hotel. However someone put a green kid’s club band on her even though she was too old for the kids club. The band was apparently the signal of an unvaccinated child. 
 

Upon entering the ship the family had to argue with four or five different people that their child was vaccinated and didn’t need the band and didn’t need to wear a mask. The representatives all agreed she was vaccinated but thought she needed to wear the mask. The parents finally prevailed. Basically the staff couldn’t justify why she should be could considered be unvaccinated . 

Interesting, I really appreciate this, it's exactly the type of info I was looking for.    Between this and previous posters discussing the fact that RCCL has to pay for those embarkation tests so will probably be thrilled to count a fully vaccinated 5-11 year old as such I'm feeling better about our chances that they'll be categorized as vaccinated.  Thanks again and sorry your original message vanished!

[Itchy&Scratchy]

2 hours ago, Rosy Season said:

I will too. Mine is 7 but the concern is that we won't have enough time befor the Nov. 21st sail date.  And I suspect there will be mass chaos to try and get kids in for the shot too.

the vaccines are not expected to be fully approved until the beginning of November. One needs 5 weeks to be fully vaccinated, so there is no way RCI would require the 5-11 crowd to be vaxxed by Nov 21, because that is just not humanly possible.

What sucks is that RCI requires the kids turning 12 right before the cruise to be fully vaxxed or they don't sail. Not humanly possible, so people had to cancel.

Edited October 27, 2021 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Rosy Season]

 

I'll just leave this here.  NCL appears to have done just what I was worried about.  Mandate vaccines for everyone immediately.  

[Itchy&Scratchy]

4 minutes ago, Rosy Season said:

I'll just leave this here.  NCL appears to have done just what I was worried about.  Mandate vaccines for everyone immediately.  

more like allowing kids to sail, if they are vaccinated.

[Rosy Season]

2 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

more like allowing kids to sail, if they are vaccinated.

But not one kid between the ages of 5-11 can meet this criteria for anything that is sailing before feasibly, December 10th if they got the shot tomorrow and then the next one exactly 3 weeks later.

 

So my initial concern is valid:  Anyone with cruises at the end of November will not get to go. Contrary to what people are saying that the lines wouldn’t mandate this so early.

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, Rosy Season said:

But not one kid between the ages of 5-11 can meet this criteria for anything that is sailing before feasibly, December 10th if they got the shot tomorrow and then the next one exactly 3 weeks later.

 

So my initial concern is valid:  Anyone with cruises at the end of November will not get to go. Contrary to what people are saying that the lines wouldn’t mandate this so early.

There are no 5-11 year olds booked on NCL, it’s really not an “apples to apples” comparison. 

[Rosy Season]

33 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

There are no 5-11 year olds booked on NCL, it’s really not an “apples to apples” comparison. 

Doesn’t mean that it can’t/won’t be used as precedent by other lines.  And they clearly put this out today in reference to 5-11 year olds.

 

But I do understand what you’re saying.  It’s still concerning for those of us with cruises booked end of November.

[smokeybandit]

2 hours ago, Rosy Season said:

 

I'll just leave this here.  NCL appears to have done just what I was worried about.  Mandate vaccines for everyone immediately.  

 

They already had the vaccine mandate. I'm not sure why they even sent this out since they're just saying "nothing is changing"

[not-enough-cruising]

30 minutes ago, Rosy Season said:

Doesn’t mean that it can’t/won’t be used as precedent by other lines.  And they clearly put this out today in reference to 5-11 year olds.

 

But I do understand what you’re saying.  It’s still concerning for those of us with cruises booked end of November.

It isn’t a precedent, because they are completely different policies. 
 

Regardless, Royal’s mandate won’t happen for  at least 8-10 weeks from now; they will

get in the holiday sailings first. 

[Rosy Season]

3 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

It isn’t a precedent, because they are completely different policies. 
 

Regardless, Royal’s mandate won’t happen for  at least 8-10 weeks from now; they will

get in the holiday sailings first. 

The precedent being "all vaxxed cruises".  I understand that they don't all operate like that now but there's no guarantee they wouldn't.

 

How do you know that it won't happen for 8-10 weeks?  Was that announced by RCCL?

[vswan]

Since cruising restarted NCL has required all sailing to be fully vaccinated. They never had a policy that allowed unvaccinated children or anyone else who was not vaccinated to cruise at this point - no exceptions.

 

Royal has been using a different model that allows children who are too young to be vaccinated onboard with limitations - testing, where they can go, etc. Going with a % of unvaccinated allowed onboard. When 12+ was approved for vaccination they phased in the vaccination requirements and it took at least 2 months until everything was implemented. Some of the requirements didn't go into effect until August. Not sure when they were approved but know my grandson got his shot in mid-june for his 12th birthday gift and kids were eligible at least several weeks prior to that.

[AustinCruise]

58 minutes ago, Rosy Season said:

The precedent being "all vaxxed cruises".  I understand that they don't all operate like that now but there's no guarantee they wouldn't.

 

How do you know that it won't happen for 8-10 weeks?  Was that announced by RCCL?

No one knows. Royal has said nothing. 
 

I do expect they will wait out the holidays, but no guarantees. Some of it is up to the government of the destination islands!

 

Everyone is just guessing. 

 

[bearette]

I would guess in January of it is available in the next couple days. We are booked for a cruise right before Christmas and we are trying to decide if we want to vaccinate them  right away or wait and see. Myself I was eager and ready to have it, but I am more cautious for my kids so unless a place mandates it I don't think they will require it before the new year. ( but my Crystal ball has been wrong before).

[Rosy Season]

8 hours ago, AustinCruise said:

No one knows. Royal has said nothing. 
 

I do expect they will wait out the holidays, but no guarantees. Some of it is up to the government of the destination islands!

 

Everyone is just guessing. 

 

Exactly.  I won't be convinced until we're boarded on the ship or RCL comes out with a definitive answer.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I am vaccinating my kiddo for his own health. Being able to cruise unimpeded is just a bonus. 🙂

[not-enough-cruising]

12 hours ago, Rosy Season said:

The precedent being "all vaxxed cruises".  I understand that they don't all operate like that now but there's no guarantee they wouldn't.

 

How do you know that it won't happen for 8-10 weeks?  Was that announced by RCCL?

Royal has said all along, and proven with their business decisions, they have no interest in banning a passenger that is age ineligible to be vaccinated. Furthermore, their history in the post Covid world tells you they aren’t going to disrupt Holiday family sailings. 

[Rosy Season]

39 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Royal has said all along, and proven with their business decisions, they have no interest in banning a passenger that is age ineligible to be vaccinated. Furthermore, their history in the post Covid world tells you they aren’t going to disrupt Holiday family sailings. 

Hope you're right.  Fingers crossed.

[KimA75]

3 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I am vaccinating my kiddo for his own health. Being able to cruise unimpeded is just a bonus. 🙂

Exactly.  We booked the first appointment we could to have ours vaccinated in time for December 12.  We are getting them vaccinated anyway, so why not try to use it to our advantage on the cruise.  I am really hoping this will let us get off the ship without a booked excursion...