Vaccine Requirements for 5-11YO are coming soon to a cruise ship near you

[lovemylab]

14 hours ago, Russ Lomas said:

That should make it very interesting for citizens of other countries booked to cruise after the 14th, because most countries have not yet approved the vaccine for children under 12 years of age.  They are predicting that it will be just before the Christmas break in Canada before 5-11 year olds will be eligible to get their 1st of 2 shots, so they likely will not have their full shot regime anywhere near January 14th.  I am not sure where other countries in the world, other than the US who have already given approval, are currently with approval of the vaccines for children under 12 years of age.

 

My guess is cruiselines won't care and the policy will be enforced.   This won't be any different than how "mixed doses" was being treated until recently.  The cruselines had their own policies in place and if you didn't meet that criteria, you were considered "unvaccinated".  The other option was to cancel.

 

The recommended interval between doses in Canada is 8 weeks, so even if Health Canada does approve it by this week it's going to be impossible for any kids booked in January to meet the rules.  Especially since fully vaccinated means having the 2nd dose 14 days prior.

 

 

 

 

[cruiselvr04]

Royal is a family line.  I'm sure they don't want to lose alot of next summers bookings.  

 

Just off the Adventure. Not alot of of kids on board but of those half had a mask on in the halls and elevators, even the promenade.  I didn't see anyone saying anything to them. We just wore ours and tried to keep our distance.  Lots of adults though too just didn't mask.

 

I'm not against kids. I just think everyone should follow the rules.  Unfortunately too many think  they are above the rules.

[not-enough-cruising]

44 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

Royal is a family line.  I'm sure they don't want to lose alot of next summers bookings.  

 

Just off the Adventure. Not alot of of kids on board but of those half had a mask on in the halls and elevators, even the promenade.  I didn't see anyone saying anything to them. We just wore ours and tried to keep our distance.  Lots of adults though too just didn't mask.

 

I'm not against kids. I just think everyone should follow the rules.  Unfortunately too many think  they are above the rules.

And Disney isn't??

[bajathree]

1 minute ago, not-enough-cruising said:

And Disney isn't??

Was just thinking the same thing.

Edited November 18, 2021 by bajathree

[alwaysflyin]

4 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

And Disney isn't??

RC and Disney are both family oriented but I would argue that they attract different demographics.  Disney cruises tend to be 3-4 times the price of an RC cruise.  At the upper income levels people are more likely to get kids vaccinated than the more regular folks who cruise on RC.  I really don't think that RC will mandate vaccines for those under 12 anytime soon, unless the islands themselves mandate them.  That would be a definite game changer.

[Russ Lomas]

5 hours ago, lovemylab said:

 

My guess is cruiselines won't care and the policy will be enforced.   This won't be any different than how "mixed doses" was being treated until recently.  The cruselines had their own policies in place and if you didn't meet that criteria, you were considered "unvaccinated".  The other option was to cancel.

 

The recommended interval between doses in Canada is 8 weeks, so even if Health Canada does approve it by this week it's going to be impossible for any kids booked in January to meet the rules.  Especially since fully vaccinated means having the 2nd dose 14 days prior.

At least when (if) this happens, on RCCL ships, it will happen after the Christmas/New Year's cruises for those people with children who have not yet had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated.  It would be a real shame for those families to be forced to cancel a family vacation due to a policy change on such short notice when many families travel.

 

By the time most schools have March breaks, there should be ample time for people to hopefully get their children vaccinated (if they chose to do so) so they can sail when the kids are off school in March.  For those who pull their kids out of school in January and February for a cruise, they may encounter issues with this policy.  Just means there will likely be less kids on the ships for those two months if RCCL decides to follow suit and introduce this policy in January.

[jrapps]

44 minutes ago, alwaysflyin said:

RC and Disney are both family oriented but I would argue that they attract different demographics.  Disney cruises tend to be 3-4 times the price of an RC cruise.  At the upper income levels people are more likely to get kids vaccinated than the more regular folks who cruise on RC.  I really don't think that RC will mandate vaccines for those under 12 anytime soon, unless the islands themselves mandate them.  That would be a definite game changer.

Why do you assume they are different demographics? Royal and Disney are my top cruise lines. I do tend to do Royal more often due to price, but we easily cruise at least once on both of them each year (and often more than that).

 

And for price comparison, it really depends what ship you are looking at. A week on an Oasis class ship is not that much different than a week on a Disney ship, definitely not 3x-4x cheaper.

[alwaysflyin]

11 hours ago, jrapps said:

And for price comparison, it really depends what ship you are looking at. A week on an Oasis class ship is not that much different than a week on a Disney ship, definitely not 3x-4x cheaper.

For fun I just did a search on Disney and Royal cruises over the next three months and matched them up by length and embarkation port.  The Disney cruises were typically 2-4 times more expensive.  I couldn't find anything comparable.   There are several articles from this site explaining why Disney is so much more expensive than other lines, including RC. https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2393

 

We can disagree, but I continue to maintain that it's a somewhat different crowd going on Disney vs. RC.

[orville99]

2 hours ago, alwaysflyin said:

We can disagree, but I continue to maintain that it's a somewhat different crowd going on Disney vs. RC.

Being Platinum (top tier) on Disney, and Pinnacle on Royal, we have been on both lines often enough to say that there are no discernible differences in the adult demographics across both lines. Disney tends to attract a "once in a lifetime" family cruiser, and Royal tends to attract more of a "how many cruises do we want to take this year" cruiser.

 

All one has to do is attend one of the welcome back parties to realize that on Disney they rarely can find any returning cruiser with more than 10-15 cruises, and on Royal the average number is more in the high double digit range.

[njkate]

On 11/17/2021 at 6:33 PM, Merion_Mom said:

Princess has already announced this. It's not just Disney.

 

NCL also has the same policy

[njkate]

As long as they decide before my final payment in April. Have a cruise booked to Alaska in July where my 7 year old grandson will be coming. Both my son and daughter in law are vaccinated but the DIL is hemming and hawing about vaccinating the child. She says oh by July this could all be behind us, well sorry Granny (me) who is paying for the cruise plus air fare is not laying out that kind of money in the hopes that by July it will be behind us. Either vaccinate that kid or I'm cancelling

[Maitaivegas]

2 minutes ago, njkate said:

As long as they decide before my final payment in April. Have a cruise booked to Alaska in July where my 7 year old grandson will be coming. Both my son and daughter in law are vaccinated but the DIL is hemming and hawing about vaccinating the child. She says oh by July this could all be behind us, well sorry Granny (me) who is paying for the cruise plus air fare is not laying out that kind of money in the hopes that by July it will be behind us. Either vaccinate that kid or I'm cancelling

I agree with you.

I got the polio and the small pox vaccines as a child and Im still alive .

Edited November 19, 2021 by Maitaivegas

[pyrateslife4me84]

This idea that something family friendly WON’T mandate vaccines is completely backwards. They mandate vaccines BECAUSE they are family friendly and want kids safe. These cruise lines (and Disney World, for that matter) continue to mandate indoor masks to protect kids, who could not be vaccinated. They didn’t maintain indoor masking for careless adults. Now, we have a more effective tool for most children. 
 

Of course they will mandate vaccines. Given the aforementioned trouble kids have keeping masks on, this is how we keep the kids clubs safe. Vaccinate them. They quickly moved the mandate down to age 12 and will move it down further. You literally have the man in charge talking about moving toward 95% of passengers being vaccinated next year. That requires the mandate down to age 5. 
 

Anyone expecting differently is fooling themselves. 

[alwaysflyin]

23 hours ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

This idea that something family friendly WON’T mandate vaccines is completely backwards. They mandate vaccines BECAUSE they are family friendly and want kids safe. These cruise lines (and Disney World, for that matter) continue to mandate indoor masks to protect kids, who could not be vaccinated. They didn’t maintain indoor masking for careless adults. Now, we have a more effective tool for most children. 
 

Of course they will mandate vaccines. Given the aforementioned trouble kids have keeping masks on, this is how we keep the kids clubs safe. Vaccinate them. They quickly moved the mandate down to age 12 and will move it down further. You literally have the man in charge talking about moving toward 95% of passengers being vaccinated next year. That requires the mandate down to age 5. 
 

Anyone expecting differently is fooling themselves. 

Given how little serious impact covid infections have on kids in this age range, it is not about keeping kids safe.  If that were the case kids would have to have flu shots to cruise.  Vaccine mandates for ages 5-11 are about keeping more vulnerable adults on board safer and containing risks of outbreaks on the ship.

[pyrateslife4me84]

1 hour ago, alwaysflyin said:

Given how little serious impact covid infections have on kids in this age range, it is not about keeping kids safe.  If that were the case kids would have to have flu shots to cruise.  Vaccine mandates for ages 5-11 are about keeping more vulnerable adults on board safer and containing risks of outbreaks on the ship.

And yet more kids have died from Covid in the last year than died from any other disease we routinely vaccinate against. 
 

Apparently the cruise lines agree with the idea that 1 dead kid is 1 too many. 

[SidneyHuff1950]

50 minutes ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

And yet more kids have died from Covid in the last year than died from any other disease we routinely vaccinate against. 
 

Apparently the cruise lines agree with the idea that 1 dead kid is 1 too many. 

The absolute risk of a child dying of covid is 2/1,000,000, which is .0002%. The odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime are 1/15,300, which is .065% (rounded). A child is literally 300x more  likely to be struck by lighting in their lives than die of COVID as a child. Though to be fair, a child is 3x  more likely to die of COVID than be struck by lightning in 2021, as the odds of a person being struck in a given year are 1/1,222,000, or .00008 (rounded). With these odds, I am sure you are just as concerned about a child being struck by lightning as you are concerned with them dying of COVID. How much does your portable lightning rod weigh? Are you ensuring that children are practicing lightning safety? Did you buy your children lightning resistant clothes? I am also sure you weigh lightning safety as a high priority when cruising!

 

forgot my sources:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57766717 (Covid: Children's extremely low risk confirmed by study from the University College London, and the Universities of York, Bristol and Liverpool)

https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-odds

Edited November 20, 2021 by SidneyHuff1950
Math is hard in my head at this age

[AustinCruise]

Sadly, I have known two people killed by lightning. Different incidents too. 
 

[SidneyHuff1950]

34 minutes ago, AustinCruise said:

Sadly, I have known two people killed by lightning. Different incidents too. 
 

Sorry to hear that, but with those odds I recommend playing the lottery as you very well may win!

[SidneyHuff1950]

2 hours ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

And yet more kids have died from Covid in the last year than died from any other disease we routinely vaccinate against. 
 

Apparently the cruise lines agree with the idea that 1 dead kid is 1 too many. 

One other thing, you forgot the flu on your chart for some reason. Could it be because it is a much higher number than COVID?

 

> CDC today reported one new seasonal flu-related death in a child that occurred during the 2019-2020 season, bringing the total number of flu deaths in children reported to CDC for last season to 188

 

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/spotlights/2019-2020/2019-20-pediatric-flu-deaths.htm

 

Im curious, I do not see you advocating for mandatory flu shots in your post history even though we vaccinate for it and it clearly kills 3x the number of children COVID does, is there some specific reason for the lack of concern around the flu?

 

[AustinCruise]

28 minutes ago, SidneyHuff1950 said:

Im curious, I do not see you advocating for mandatory flu shots in your post history even though we vaccinate for it and it clearly kills 3x the number of children COVID does, is there some specific reason for the lack of concern around the flu?

i would guess because it doesn’t fill up the hospitals like covid did/does. Enough have some immunity perhaps?

 

40 minutes ago, SidneyHuff1950 said:

Sorry to hear that, but with those odds I recommend playing the lottery as you very well may win!

I’ve tried!  I’ll keep at it 🙂

[ericdetwiler]

On 11/17/2021 at 6:50 PM, BirdTravels said:

Well,,, on Royal, being unvaccinated (or being with an unvaccinated person) excludes you from some shows, you are relegated to the back balcony seating in the theater, restricted from even walking through some venues, restricted from eating in some restaurants, restricted to certain MDRs and times, and restricted to cruise line shoreex only (no exploration of a port). 

Asking for a family member....do you think boosters will be required soon to be fully vaccinated?  He has had complications with his first 2 shots and has a cruise booked in April and is worried that he will need a booster and another possible hospital stay to stay compliant.  

 

Are you all planning to get the booster or gotten the booster?

 

Edited November 21, 2021 by ericdetwiler

[ericdetwiler]

6 hours ago, SidneyHuff1950 said:

The absolute risk of a child dying of covid is 2/1,000,000, which is .0002%. The odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime are 1/15,300, which is .065% (rounded). A child is literally 300x more  likely to be struck by lighting in their lives than die of COVID as a child. Though to be fair, a child is 3x  more likely to die of COVID than be struck by lightning in 2021, as the odds of a person being struck in a given year are 1/1,222,000, or .00008 (rounded). With these odds, I am sure you are just as concerned about a child being struck by lightning as you are concerned with them dying of COVID. How much does your portable lightning rod weigh? Are you ensuring that children are practicing lightning safety? Did you buy your children lightning resistant clothes? I am also sure you weigh lightning safety as a high priority when cruising!

 

forgot my sources:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57766717 (Covid: Children's extremely low risk confirmed by study from the University College London, and the Universities of York, Bristol and Liverpool)

https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-odds

 

Sidney I like your thinking...very logical 😄

[binro01]

8 minutes ago, ericdetwiler said:

Are you all planning to get the booster or gotten the booster?

I have received my booster.

 

With the CDC opening up boosters for all for those 18 and above who had their shots 6 months ago, I'm sure you are going to see a lot of people getting them.

 

I believe we will start to see that become the new requirement soon. My guess is by the new year, you will need to have your booster to board if you are 18 or over.

 

Once my twins turn 18, they will receive their booster. My wife has her booster scheduled this week.

[AustinCruise]

I don’t see boosters being a requirement. 

[deliver42]

They aren't.