Angry about O accepting unvaxed passengers?

[Flatbush Flyer]

Are you as displeased as I am with NCLH’s recent decision to allow unvaccinated passengers onboard Oceania ships?  From the recent posts here, it looks like a good prediction of a significant number of unhappy O regulars. 

Well, there is something you can do about it right now, today. Let the new O CEO know if your upset. If, like me, you recently received the official announcement about this vastly premature decision (NO - Covid is not yet an endemic nor is it as harmless as so many ill-informed folks believe) from O, let the new CEO Howard Sherman know about it.

 

You can write a letter to Howard Sherman at O’s corporate headquarters:

 

Howard Sherman, President & CEO

Oceania Cruises

7665 Corporate Center Drive

Miami, FL 33126 USA

 

I don’t have his direct email address yet (though, if it follows the norm at O, it would be HSHERMAN@OCEANIACRUISES.COM).

 

Calling will probably get you the run-around. But, if you’re willing to do a bit of research, you can probably get fairly close to his direct office line (or, at least, his admin. asst.) by contacting Chris Elliott, the syndicated travel writer and ombudsman. His crew at non-profit Elliott Advocacy (elliott.org) are amazing when you need to get to someone who can actually do something. (No cost for this service AND it works).

 

I could provide a stock letter but I’m not a big fan of that tactic since his admin. assistant would probably stop reading after the first repetitive handful. So, I suggest you first state your past positive experience with O, along with your O Club status and what future O plans you have/had - that is, until this misguided decision to allow unvaxed passengers onboard. BTW, if you happen to be a medical or other health professional, identify yourself and consider adding a citation or two (no more) to justify your upset.

 

NOTE: This exact strategy worked several years ago when O announced that vaping would be allowed with less restrictions. The outpouring of unhappy customers got that decision reversed in less than a week. 
 

While I expect that the certain jump in onboard Covid cases in the very near future will see the decision reversed by early 2024 and then flip flopped with every major spike and bad press, this is no time to just sit by. 
 

It would also help tremendously to impress upon your TAs to do the same thing - particularly if they are among O’s “preferred partners.” We, as passengers, may be mere rounding errors in O’s daily bottom line. But, they represent millions in revenue.

 

Best of luck with whatever you do to stop this lunacy.

[njhorseman]

Perhaps it would be better to write to FDR, or write to both. This decision was made at the corporate level as have the NCLH COVID protocols from day one, with only minor differences for the individual cruise lines to accommodate the nuances of their operations. 

I'm sure the subsidiary CEOs had their input but in the end the corporate executive office is calling the shots.

[Flatbush Flyer]

Just now, njhorseman said:

Perhaps it would be better to write to FDR, or write to both. This decision was made at the corporate level as have the NCLH COVID protocols from day one, with only minor differences for the individual cruise lines to accommodate the nuances of their operations. 

I'm sure the subsidiary CEOs had their input but in the end the corporate executive office is calling the shots.

True- FDR is worth a shot as well. 
That said, Sherman is new in this particular job and that’s always a good time to pressure someone when you are in a position to lose nothing. 

 

FDR has always treated O differently- it’s his baby and it’s success while not following the crowd got him the NCLH top spot.

If nothing else, catalyzing a discussion (even a five minute one) between Sherman and FDR may make a decision reversal easier to do when the Covid numbers spike as a result of the lesser restrictions. 

[njhorseman]

24 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

True- FDR is worth a shot as well. 
That said, Sherman is new in this particular job and that’s always a good time to pressure someone when you are in a position to lose nothing. 

 

FDR has always treated O differently- it’s his baby and it’s success while not following the crowd got him the NCLH top spot.

If nothing else, catalyzing a discussion (even a five minute one) between Sherman and FDR may make a decision reversal easier to do when the Covid numbers spike as a result of the lesser restrictions. 

You do realize that this decision was made once NCLH knew their quarterly financials were going to be far worse than anticipated. They even postponed the release and conference call to today, undoubtedly to give them time to come up with something spectacular to boost bookings quickly. This no doubt will boost NCL bookings...and NCL is the 800 pound gorilla on the NCLH balance sheet.

[Robjame]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Are you as displeased as I am with NCLH’s recent decision to allow unvaccinated passengers onboard Oceania ships?

As the unvaccinated will have undergone pre-cruise testing, what is your concern?

[Flatbush Flyer]

19 minutes ago, Robjame said:

As the unvaccinated will have undergone pre-cruise testing, what is your concern?

With vax AND testing, Covid carriers at embarkation were kept to a minimum. Adding masking and social distancing once onboard as well as occasional additional testing (at least to meet local requirements) helped keep transmission low.

Eliminating all but pre-Cruise testing will certainly increase positive infection rates onboard. On the recently completed ATW (of which we did the final two segments, the Covid rate at the start of the cruise was at or near zero for at least a month when O restrictions were at their peak. As masking/testing became more lax, the rate increased until approx. 50% of full ATW passengers had Covid.

 

Now weakening the restrictive dragnet that ha shown to stop a significant degree of transmission in multiple ways (i.e.,  vax + test) will only hasten that transmission.

 

If you still disagree: Why then is O still requiring all crew to be vaxxed, tested and masked? It’s solely to protect their Human Resources investment. Shouldn’t they also protect their passengers? 

[LNielsen]

No. 

[Robjame]

18 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

With vax AND testing, Covid carriers at embarkation were kept to a minimum. Adding masking and social distancing once onboard as well as occasional additional testing (at least to meet local requirements) helped keep transmission low.

Eliminating all but pre-Cruise testing will certainly increase positive infection rates onboard. On the recently completed ATW (of which we did the final two segments, the Covid rate at the start of the cruise was at or near zero for at least a month when O restrictions were at their peak. As masking/testing became more lax, the rate increased until approx. 50% of full ATW passengers had Covid.

 

Now weakening the restrictive dragnet that ha shown to stop a significant degree of transmission in multiple ways (i.e.,  vax + test) will only hasten that transmission.

I agree with all you have said. None of it has anything to do with pre-cruise tested unvaccinated cruisers.

 

As per the crew, they have the most contact with the most passengers and are therefore the most likely to be in contact with a Covid individual.

[sunlover12]

It's probably not going to stop me from cruising but I would prefer that all guests be vaccinated. Perhaps this is a financial decision that NCL has made.  I wouldn't feel comfortable being in an elevator with an unvaccinated, unmasked passenger nor sitting at the same table with them in the dining room. I guess this means we'll be doing mostly two-top dining on our October cruise. 

 

I'm also following what Royal Caribbean is doing because I have a January cruise with them booked. They are still requiring all guests 12 and over to be vaccinated. That does not look to be changing. The only change they have recently made is that if the cruise is less than 6 days, passengers do not have to be tested to board the ship.  My cruise is longer than that so I'm required to be vaccinated and tested.  I am fine with that.  Maybe their financial bottom line is better than NCL's, but I really don't know. 

[ShopperfiendTO]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Eliminating all but pre-Cruise testing will certainly increase positive infection rates onboard. On the recently completed ATW (of which we did the final two segments, the Covid rate at the start of the cruise was at or near zero for at least a month when O restrictions were at their peak. As masking/testing became more lax, the rate increased until approx. 50% of full ATW passengers had Covid.

 

That is scary.  Thanks for making this known (assuming it's true). 

 

I wonder why no ATW passenger on that cruise has posted anything on this (unless I missed it)?

Edited August 9, 2022 by ShopperfiendTO

[Guest ldtr]

While I can see why they would want to apply this change to NCL, not sure if it is wise for them to also apply it to Oceania.  Primarily because the Oceania demographics tend to be older and offer many longer cruises to more remote destinations (areas where medical care might be limited. 

 

With NCL you have considerably younger demographics, cruises tend to be shorter to more mainstream locations. I would have expected them to make the change with NCL first and then potentially extend it to Oceania later.  Oceania also seems to be doing rather well in bookings with the current practices, at least according to the number of cruises I have been checking that are waitlisted only.

 

Writing letters will probably not have much impact, unless you accompany the letters with canceled bookings.

[ebeluga]

Just when the next version of vaccine is around the corner, this change of policy of allowing unvaxed with no limit is premature.  My opinion only - will be cancelling my cruise as I do not want my cruise to have a higher probability to be disrupted to evac some unvax pax who had fallen seriously ill on the ship.

Edited August 9, 2022 by ebeluga

[Vineyard View]

Oceania has been on my radar for next year - along with two other lines. With this announcement they are now off my radar. I realize that my two person vote not to book won’t impact them one iota, and that I am not a long time Oceania cruiser but would rather be a first time, but I will not at this point cruise on a line that waives vax requirements. Thank you for letting us know n

[WESTEAST]

There is a live post by Cruise Critic Chris who is onboard the Marina Aug. 7th cruise that has press people and Oceania executives onboard namely, Oceania President and CEO Howard Sherman and Senior VP Franco Semeraro.  Felt it was timely to include a post about our displeasure in the new O policy of accepting non-vaccinated guests (with negative test) and asked if she would bring forward this point to Mr. Sherman and Semeraro - see post #31 https://boards.cruisecritic.com/profile/999882-cruise-critic-chris/.  Hopefully, we will see a response.

 

[njhorseman]

47 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Oceania has been on my radar for next year - along with two other lines. With this announcement they are now off my radar. I realize that my two person vote not to book won’t impact them one iota, and that I am not a long time Oceania cruiser but would rather be a first time, but I will not at this point cruise on a line that waives vax requirements. Thank you for letting us know n

Don't be too shocked if every cruise line is off your radar for next year.

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, ShopperfiendTO said:

 

That is scary.  Thanks for making this known (assuming it's true). 

 

I wonder why no ATW passenger on that cruise has posted anything on this (unless I missed it)?

Actually, in the ATW roll call, there were quite a few post regarding the growing infection rate amongst the full timers.

[Vineyard View]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

Don't be too shocked if every cruise line is off your radar for next year.

You may be correct, but I sure hope not. Time will tell 

[SkystheLimit]

There's just no way to know what people are not vaccinated in the general public.  So, in many ways we may be exposing ourselves every day if we leave our cocoons.  Are you concerned that you will contract covid or are you concerned that a non-vaccinated passenger might contract covid and cause inconvenience to all because of a serious illness? We were on a cruise in June where everyone was required to be vaccinated and tested prior to embarkation.  In spite of being double vaccinated, double boosted, and masking I still acquired covid.  The other 3 in the group(not all boosted) including my spouse never got sick--thankfully. Very few countries now require vaccination or testing for entry.  Not to say it is right but it is what it is.  Cruise lines one by one are following suit.  

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by SkystheLimit

[Vineyard View]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

1 minute ago, SkystheLimit said:

There's just no way to know what people are not vaccinated in the general public.  So, in many ways we may be exposing ourselves every day if we leave our cocoons.  Are you concerned that you will contract covid or are you concerned that a non-vaccinated passenger might contract covid and cause inconvenience to all because of a serious illness? We were on a cruise in June where everyone was required to be vaccinated and tested prior to embarkation.  In spite of being double vaccinated, double boosted, and masking I still acquired covid.  The other 3 in the group(not all boosted) including my spouse never got sick--thankfully. Very few countries now require vaccination or testing for entry.  Not to say it right but it is what it is.  Cruise lines one by one are following suit.  

 

When I am not on a ship I have more control in my environment and choices. For instance, I can choose to eat outdoors at restaurants, which I always do. I can walk in fresh air in parks. I can make decisions about the number of people I wish to be around by choosing the places/experiences I go. Just examples that obviously do not eliminate the possibility of becoming ill, and certainly knowing some people are not vaccinated. It’s just my way of reducing the opportunity.
On a ship many of those choices are not there. It is a more enclosed environment,  and i personally feel that the more safety measures to counteract or reduce chances of Covid, the better - including required vaccines. JMHO. If the cruise lines all choose to follow this path, we will likely sit it out for a bit, do land travel, and then make a better informed decision based on the outcomes of those actions/new and more lenient rules. Maybe the impact won’t be so great. I have no idea. I just know my own comfort zone. 

[SkystheLimit]

2 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

 

I understand but at this point and going forward I think the choice may be not to go on a ship.  Sad but possibly true.

 

[Vineyard View]

Could be that is true for a while. And that would be very sad. 

[SkystheLimit]

1 minute ago, Vineyard View said:

Could be that is true for a while. And that would be very sad. 

Yes it is.

[PhD-iva]

1 hour ago, SkystheLimit said:

I understand but at this point and going forward I think the choice may be not to go on a ship.  Sad but possibly true.

 

I’m also wondering what type of travel might be better going forward. Probably group travel via land would be similar to the petrie dish that is cruising…..

Any suggestions, besides completely individual solo travel….l?

[Vineyard View]

Solo travel for us. It would be the direction we would take. But that may not work for you. There are small group companies I have seen but I really do not know anything about them. 

[Nol2929]

Question...In our Province over 83% of the population is fully vaccinated and it is the vaccinated that are now spreading the virus,  so do I need to be overly worried if someone is vaccinated or not??

 

We are triple vaccinated but from what Im now reading  is that my Pfizer vaccinations were designed for the Delta variation of Covid and have very little effect on Omicron prevention.  So again being vaccinated or not may have little to do with me getting Covid, however being vaccinated appears to greatly reduce the severity of the symptoms. 

 

Possibly CDC and the cruise lines are saying that this is now going to spread with or without vaccinations? 

 

Fortunately, at least in our area, the symptoms for the vast majority of Omicron cases is very mild cold like symptoms.