Do you know any adult that got an unvaccinated exemption?

[exm]

I know this topic can get derailed quickly. First of all, my wife and I are vaccinated. However, my uncle (brother of my late father-in-law) in his 70s is not. He did have Covid a year ago, but hasn't gotten the shot due to religious reasons (he's a strict catholic). He would love to come cruising with us.

 

I am aware of the RC website with the rules, but I can't see there's a lot of information there:

Religious Requests: For religious accommodation, please describe the nature of your sincerely held religious beliefs, religious practice or observance that conflicts with the vaccination requirement.

 

Question: has anyone successfully applied for this, and if so: can you share what kind of documentation you provided?

 

[futureAG]

Wondering the same.  Cruising in August and 3 of the 25 of us are unvax and do not plan to get it.  1 for health reasons and the other 2 for religious reasons. At a loss of what to do since this cruise was originally planned in 2019 to celebrate the retirement of one of the 3. 

[LGW59]

32 minutes ago, exm said:

I know this topic can get derailed quickly. First of all, my wife and I are vaccinated. However, my uncle (brother of my late father-in-law) in his 70s is not. He did have Covid a year ago, but hasn't gotten the shot due to religious reasons (he's a strict catholic). He would love to come cruising with us.

 

I am aware of the RC website with the rules, but I can't see there's a lot of information there:

Religious Requests: For religious accommodation, please describe the nature of your sincerely held religious beliefs, religious practice or observance that conflicts with the vaccination requirement.

 

Question: has anyone successfully applied for this, and if so: can you share what kind of documentation you provided?

 

I think the religious exemption may be difficult, as the Pope has strongly endorsed vaccines for Catholics.  While I of course do not know this for certain, I believe if your cruise is already 100% paid for you can apply for the exemption but you should do it sooner rather than later as they only allow a small percentage of unvaccinated guests on-board.

[atgood]

@exm 

RCI currently permits up to 10% of unvaccinated passengers, including adults, on their cruises (from the USA at least).  The 10% includes ages 5 years and up.  Each religious accommodation (RA) request is considered individually, and RCI approves the requests on a first come first served basis.  Once the the 10% limit is reached, all subsequent requests are denied.  It doesn’t matter if the individual has previously received an accommodation on a previous cruise as there simply is no more room within the 10% to approve additional requests. Current requests are only being considered for sailings up to July 31, 2022. 

 

For the religious accommodation part of the RA request, the individual seeking the accommodation needs to describe the nature of  his/her sincerely held religious beliefs, religious practice or observance that conflicts with the vaccination requirement.  My suggestion for this part is it should be sincere and not copied pasted from a website.   A letter from a pastor is not needed.  

[atgood]

@exm

Here’s how the process works.  

 

Everything needed for the process of obtaining a religious accommodation can be found at the following link:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/who-should-i-contact-if-a-vaccine-is-contraindicated

 

“Vaccination Accommodations Requests 

Following public health guidance, our ships are highly vaccinated environments. Accordingly, we have adopted operational capacity restrictions that restrict the number of unvaccinated guests we can carry. This means vaccination accommodations are not available on all sailings.  Whenever we grant a vaccination accommodation, we reserve the right to revoke it at any time.

 

Before requesting a vaccination accommodation, there are several things to keep in mind

We are currently only processing requests for vaccination accommodations on deposited, active bookings on sailings through July 31, 2022. Requests for sailings beyond this date will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

As you prepare to submit a request for vaccination accommodation, please:

• Submit your request at least 30 days prior to your cruise departure date or even earlier if possible.

• Be aware that we may not be able to process requests submitted less than 14 days to sailing.

• Be aware that approvals or denials for vaccine accommodation may be issued up to 2 weeks prior to sailing or later.

• Wait for a response to your request before booking travel arrangements such as flights and hotel accommodations. Royal Caribbean is not responsible for any travel-related expenses incurred by you or members of your traveling party should your request be denied.

 

How to submit a vaccination accommodation request

If you believe that you meet the requirements for a vaccination accommodation, please send an email to vaxaccommodations@rccl.com. You can also have your local travel agent or International Representative contact us.

Your initial email to vaxaccommodations@rccl.comshould include the following details:

• The full name of the person who needs the accommodation, as the name appears on their reservation

• Ship Name

• Date of Sailing

• Reservation Number

• Best phone number to reach the requesting guest (or their legal guardian if they are a minor)

• Best email to reach the requesting guest or their guardian, should it be different than the one you are emailing from

Religious Requests: For religious accommodation, please describe the nature of your sincerely held religious beliefs, religious practice or observance that conflicts with the vaccination requirement.

Vaccine accommodation requests should be submitted individually, and will be considered individually. It may be possible for some members of the same travel party to receive an approval and others be denied.

Our receipt of your vaccination accommodation request in no way implies or guarantees an approval.

For sailings departing from or visiting Canada, you must first secure an approval from the Government of Canada and provide evidence of that approval with your request.

 

If your vaccination accommodation request is granted.

Approvals apply only to the sailing for which they were granted and need to be renewed for each new sailing as protocols and operational needs change frequently. Approvals do not imply or guarantee an approval for any future sailings.

Please note that vaccination accommodated guests must adhere to all health protocols and travel requirements for unvaccinated guests as required by the cruise line and at the local, state and national level. 

 

If your vaccination accommodation request is denied

If we are unable to approve your request, you can:

• Change the ship/sail date and submit a new request, if your denial was based on operational capacity.

• Cancel only the unvaccinated guest(s) from the booking, if the remainder of the traveling party still wishes to sail. The unvaccinated guest will receive a full refund after cancellation.

• Cancel the booking that includes the unvaccinated guest and receive a full refund for the booking. Only those guests in the impacted booking are eligible to receive a full refund. Related bookings (family, friends, etc. traveling on another booking) remain subject to the standard cancellation penalty schedule.”

[atgood]

@exm  I haven’t seen RCI mention it lately, but at one point RCI indicated they would require unvaccinated cruisers to have travel insurance which included $250k in emergency travel coverage and $25k in medical coverage. 

[Marie51]

We are booked on a cruise for the end of August. My granddaughter cannot get vaccinated for medical reasons and we submitted all the necessary paperwork including a letter from her doctor at the end of April and still have not heard anything yet. Getting frustrated at this point as the cruise is two months away and we don’t know if we’re going or not.

[atgood]

4 minutes ago, Marie51 said:

We are booked on a cruise for the end of August. My granddaughter cannot get vaccinated for medical reasons and we submitted all the necessary paperwork including a letter from her doctor at the end of April and still have not heard anything yet. Getting frustrated at this point as the cruise is two months away and we don’t know if we’re going or not.

RCI isn’t currently processing requests for August cruises just yet.   No need to get frustrated at this point.  Just let the process work.  

[cured]

2 hours ago, exm said:

I know this topic can get derailed quickly. First of all, my wife and I are vaccinated. However, my uncle (brother of my late father-in-law) in his 70s is not. He did have Covid a year ago, but hasn't gotten the shot due to religious reasons (he's a strict catholic). He would love to come cruising with us.

 

I am aware of the RC website with the rules, but I can't see there's a lot of information there:

Religious Requests: For religious accommodation, please describe the nature of your sincerely held religious beliefs, religious practice or observance that conflicts with the vaccination requirement.

 

Question: has anyone successfully applied for this, and if so: can you share what kind of documentation you provided?

 

Unfortunately, I have been reading on other social media sites numerous complaints that a family's cruise was canceled when their medical exemption was denied within days of sailing.

 

As for a Catholic religious exemption, that is going to be extra hard since Pope Francis said in January  "that getting vaccinated against the coronavirus was a "moral obligation" and denounced how people had been swayed by "baseless information" to refuse one of the most effective measures to save lives."

 

"Frequently people let themselves be influenced by the ideology of the moment, often bolstered by baseless information or poorly documented facts," he said, calling for the adoption of a "reality therapy" to correct this distortion of human reason.

"Vaccines are not a magical means of healing, yet surely they represent, in addition to other treatments that need to be developed, the most reasonable solution for the prevention of the disease," he added."

 

The baseless information he is referring to is that the vaccines are made with aborted fetuses.

 

The Vatican's doctrine office, however, has said it is "morally acceptable" for Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines based on research that used cells derived from aborted fetuses. Francis and Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI have been fully vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech shots.

 

[poocher]

The Catholic Church does not forbid us Catholics from being vaccinated.  Indeed Pope Francis has strongly encouraged getting the vaccine.  So I don’t know how/why one would be eligible for an exemption based on being Catholic, which BTW, I am. And, yes, the Vatican’s Office of Doctrine is the body which interprets Church Doctrine and the Pope, divinely elected by the College of Cardinals, yup his opinion does count.  

Edited June 25, 2022 by poocher

[ReneeFLL]

3 hours ago, exm said:

…He did have Covid a year ago, but hasn't gotten the shot due to religious reasons (he's a strict catholic). He would love to come cruising with us.

Has he not ever been vaccinated for other illnesses? I think a lot of people are trying to use religion as an excuse. I don’t understand the religious belief behind it. Can you or someone please explain it.

 

Edited June 25, 2022 by ReneeFLL

[rudeney]

My understanding is that many people who claim religious reasons for not being vaccinated base that on the fact that tissue from aborted fetuses is used in their production.  I'm not making a political statement one way or the other about it - just that it seems to be the reason for religious exemptions and not some sort of crazy "they are coming for us" type ideas. 

[Charles4515]

Something else to consider is that even if Royal grants an  exemption some ports do not. Even if the the person would not get off the ship they would not be allowed on a cruise that stops in Bermuda or Canada. There may be other ports like that.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Charles4515

[ober134]

3 hours ago, exm said:

I know this topic can get derailed quickly. First of all, my wife and I are vaccinated. However, my uncle (brother of my late father-in-law) in his 70s is not. He did have Covid a year ago, but hasn't gotten the shot due to religious reasons (he's a strict catholic). He would love to come cruising with us.

 

I am aware of the RC website with the rules, but I can't see there's a lot of information there:

Religious Requests: For religious accommodation, please describe the nature of your sincerely held religious beliefs, religious practice or observance that conflicts with the vaccination requirement.

 

Question: has anyone successfully applied for this, and if so: can you share what kind of documentation you provided?

 

I believe the Pope encouraged people to get vaccinated

[smokeybandit]

14 minutes ago, rudeney said:

My understanding is that many people who claim religious reasons for not being vaccinated base that on the fact that tissue from aborted fetuses is used in their production.  

 

People who are concerned with this often don't actually understand what that actually means.

[ober134]

19 minutes ago, rudeney said:

My understanding is that many people who claim religious reasons for not being vaccinated base that on the fact that tissue from aborted fetuses is used in their production.  I'm not making a political statement one way or the other about it - just that it seems to be the reason for religious exemptions and not some sort of crazy "they are coming for us" type ideas. 

If you read the Papal statement on the history of the vaccine development, it is quite informative. And explains the position of The Catholic Church. The vaccine does not contain fetal tissue.

[ober134]

21 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Something else to consider is that even if Royal grants an  exemption some ports do not. Even if the the person would not get off the ship they would not be allowed on a cruise that stops in Bermuda or Canada. There may be other ports like that.

Correct, and those booked together may also be subjected to vaccine rules of the ports visited.

[exm]

Thanks for the replies. I'm reading a lot about the Pope, but my uncle (and again, not me) is part of the Catholic religion that doesn't recognize the modern Catholic religion. He's going to Catholic churches where they preach in Latin (don't shoot the messenger!).

[Seville2Cabo]

7 minutes ago, exm said:

Thanks for the replies. I'm reading a lot about the Pope, but my uncle (and again, not me) is part of the Catholic religion that doesn't recognize the modern Catholic religion. He's going to Catholic churches where they preach in Latin (don't shoot the messenger!).

So I guess he does not take most over the counter meds (as they use the same method) and many other drugs.  

[BND]

Apparently some people who have received other vaccines have all of a sudden decided they need a religious exemption for this one.  That's not how it works.  

[flamingos]

18 minutes ago, exm said:

Thanks for the replies. I'm reading a lot about the Pope, but my uncle (and again, not me) is part of the Catholic religion that doesn't recognize the modern Catholic religion. He's going to Catholic churches where they preach in Latin (don't shoot the messenger!).

 

In that case, I'd say his chances of a religious exemption just went down. 

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

8 minutes ago, flamingos said:

 

In that case, I'd say his chances of a religious exemption just went down. 

Logically it would seem so, wouldn't it? 😉  But I don't think that's necessarily the case here.  The requirements are to "describe the nature of your sincerely held religious beliefs, religious practice or observance that conflicts with the vaccination requirement", so if it qualifies as "sincerely held," it doesn't necessarily have to jive with any dominant world religion or even an officially established one. 

 

It seems like the more pertinent factor is going to be that magic 10% threshold. 

[rudeney]

1 hour ago, ober134 said:

If you read the Papal statement on the history of the vaccine development, it is quite informative. And explains the position of The Catholic Church. The vaccine does not contain fetal tissue.

 

I am not Catholic and I don't follow The Pope (though I have great respect for the religion and its leader).  I wasn't posting to say that the reason is right or wrong or that I agree with it or not - I just posted what I have learned in reading about why many very religious persons won't get vaccinated (and not just COVID - any vaccine).

 

Personally, I get all vaccines recommended except flu.  I never get the flu (or maybe I do and I just think it's a bad cold).  The last few times I got a flu vaccine, I had a bad reaction, so I take my chances with that one.

[BND]

1 minute ago, rudeney said:

 

I am not Catholic and I don't follow The Pope (though I have great respect for the religion and its leader).  I wasn't posting to say that the reason is right or wrong or that I agree with it or not - I just posted what I have learned in reading about why many very religious persons won't get vaccinated (and not just COVID - any vaccine).

 

Personally, I get all vaccines recommended except flu.  I never get the flu (or maybe I do and I just think it's a bad cold).  The last few times I got a flu vaccine, I had a bad reaction, so I take my chances with that one.

Oh, you'd know if you have the flu.  I've never had a cold as bad as the flu the couple of times I had it before getting the vaccine.  Plus, with the flu you get body aches and fever.  Anyway, back on point, very few people have reported being able to get the exemption and others have reported denials.  I don't think being a devout Catholic of any type is going to work.

[CruisingWalter]

5 hours ago, exm said:

I know this topic can get derailed quickly. First of all, my wife and I are vaccinated. However, my uncle (brother of my late father-in-law) in his 70s is not. He did have Covid a year ago, but hasn't gotten the shot due to religious reasons (he's a strict catholic). He would love to come cruising with us.

 

If he's Catholic, the Pope has come out in strong support of the vaccines saying it's a moral obligations for all to get them. “Vaccines are not a magical means of healing, yet surely they represent, in addition to other treatments that need to be developed, the most reasonable solution for the prevention of the disease,” he said. https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20220110/pope-says-getting-covid-vaccine-a-moral-obligation

 

Since the leader of the Catholic religion endorses the vaccines, there's not much to stand on with that request. I do not know of any adults who have gotten a cruise ship exemption, only children. With a small limited amount of unvaccinated passengers available for each cruise, children pretty much take all the available slots.