Royal follow Carnival PLEASE!

[wayne_trisha]

14 hours ago, hal2008 said:

Why wud you test at CVS.

PCR tests are no longer needed for many months now 

 

Tests are free.

Monitored testing is 15 USD

 

Home testing is lot less hassel than going through TSA line or even effort to do online checking 

 

But this is not about any cost or effort involved, correct? 

 

 

 

 

Where are you getting free tests these days?

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

20 minutes ago, dmfleischmann said:

That would be fine!!  But when I called RC, they stated that vaccine is still required at this point.  We sail out of Miami. 

Direct from Royals web site.

Vaccine Guidance

Travelers of any vaccination status can cruise on select US sailings and all European sailings starting September 5^th.

[Another_Critic]

2 hours ago, wayne_trisha said:

Where are you getting free tests these days?

https://special.usps.com/testkits (free) + $15 to $20 proctor fee.

[hal2008]

3 hours ago, wayne_trisha said:

Where are you getting free tests these days?

In addition to suggestion by Another_Critic above, most private health insurance plan will cover 8 tests per month per person through prescription part of the coverage.

 

1. With 3 days given to test, it is easy to do test in comfort of your home/hotel. It is less hassle than overdone TSA screening.

2. If fear of testing positive is forcing people to be careful in the week/10 days before the cruise, then the test requirement is actually doing the job from the public health point of view

3. False positive - Highly unlikely - in fact almost rare - to get false positive with antigen test. And if you indeed believe that you are that rare category of false positive, no one stops you from doing second test.  In fact. the biggest uselessness of these tests is that with BA.5, you get false negative easily.

 

Testing will most likely go away soon as Cruise lines dont care much about public health perspective. But until then if people are indeed more careful because they are scared about testing positive then unintentionally, testing requirement is doing its job :))

 

[Finnsmom13]

23 minutes ago, hal2008 said:

In addition to suggestion by Another_Critic above, most private health insurance plan will cover 8 tests per month per person through prescription part of the coverage.

 

1. With 3 days given to test, it is easy to do test in comfort of your home/hotel. It is less hassle than overdone TSA screening.

2. If fear of testing positive is forcing people to be careful in the week/10 days before the cruise, then the test requirement is actually doing the job from the public health point of view

3. False positive - Highly unlikely - in fact almost rare - to get false positive with antigen test. And if you indeed believe that you are that rare category of false positive, no one stops you from doing second test.  In fact. the biggest uselessness of these tests is that with BA.5, you get false negative easily.

 

Testing will most likely go away soon as Cruise lines dont care much about public health perspective. But until then if people are indeed more careful because they are scared about testing positive then unintentionally, testing requirement is doing its job :))

 

But this leaves open fact that once they test the being careful goes right out the window

Most fly dine shop etc 3 days leading up to

I live my life the same every day regardless bc there is no knowing when or where you may get it

I traveled 3 times in 2021 never got it ended up catching it from normal daily errands 

[Finnsmom13]

Grand cayman and Bermuda both dropped the jab!

[Rusty_lock]

Just saw that.  The only common cruise destination left is Canada.  Royal really needs to drop their vaccine requirement.

[Charles4515]

26 minutes ago, Rusty_lock said:

Just saw that.  The only common cruise destination left is Canada.  Royal really needs to drop their vaccine requirement.

The Bahamas requires cruise passengers to be vaccinated. Carnival is skating over that or betting that it will change in September. Royal is being more honest and say they are discussing with the eastern Caribbean governments their requirements. 
 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by Charles4515

[CrusingGolfers]

Trying to figure all this out since its a clear as mud. Currently booked on Independence going to Nassau and CC in November. Called today to try to figure out the Vax requirements for my wife and kids. They couldn't answer my questions and just extended my final payment a week. 

 

Bahamas is requiring vax so if my kids aren't can they not leave the ship in Bahamas? The rep I spoke to literally couldn't answer any question I had so its a bit concerning haha. What is the current mandates for ships and Bahamas right now? We cruise in November so I assume it changes 15 times between now and then.

 

Everything I read on the website says no vax required and everyone needs to test pre cruise. The rep couldn't even answer those questions! 

[Charles4515]

10 minutes ago, CrusingGolfers said:

Trying to figure all this out since its a clear as mud. Currently booked on Independence going to Nassau and CC in November. Called today to try to figure out the Vax requirements for my wife and kids. They couldn't answer my questions and just extended my final payment a week. 

 

Bahamas is requiring vax so if my kids aren't can they not leave the ship in Bahamas? The rep I spoke to literally couldn't answer any question I had so its a bit concerning haha. What is the current mandates for ships and Bahamas right now? We cruise in November so I assume it changes 15 times between now and then.

 

Everything I read on the website says no vax required and everyone needs to test pre cruise. The rep couldn't even answer those questions! 

It is on the Bahamas website that cruise passengers as of now must be vaccinated. It is bit hard to find but it is there. Of course there could be a change before November. It could change before September. Royal says they are in discussions with the islands that require vaccination. That is what Carnival is betting on. Would you rather Royal be deceptive and put the onus on you like Carnival and NCL?

Edited August 21, 2022 by Charles4515

[CrusingGolfers]

1 minute ago, Charles4515 said:

It is on the Bahamas website that cruise passengers as of now must be vaccinated. It is bit hard to find but it is there. Of course there could be a change before November. It could change before September. That is what Carnival is betting on. Would you rather Royal be deceptive and put the onus on you like Carnival and NCL?

Ok that makes sense. They couldn't give me answers on this and when I started digging after I got off the phone I found things like this. They extended my final payment as my kids wouldn't be able to go to the Bahamas. However they didn't tell me that on the phone. I will keep an eye on this now that I'm aware over the next week. Thank you! 

[not-enough-cruising]

On 8/19/2022 at 9:51 AM, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Direct from Royals web site.

Vaccine Guidance

Travelers of any vaccination status can cruise on select US sailings and all European sailings starting September 5^th.

Florida embarkations are not included in the “select sailings”

[Finnsmom13]

40 minutes ago, CrusingGolfers said:

Trying to figure all this out since its a clear as mud. Currently booked on Independence going to Nassau and CC in November. Called today to try to figure out the Vax requirements for my wife and kids. They couldn't answer my questions and just extended my final payment a week. 

 

Bahamas is requiring vax so if my kids aren't can they not leave the ship in Bahamas? The rep I spoke to literally couldn't answer any question I had so its a bit concerning haha. What is the current mandates for ships and Bahamas right now? We cruise in November so I assume it changes 15 times between now and then.

 

Everything I read on the website says no vax required and everyone needs to test pre cruise. The rep couldn't even answer those questions! 

Doesn't help that the Bahamas are extra difficult in that there is a diff set of rules and air which makes ZERO sense 

[Rusty_lock]

13 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

It is on the Bahamas website that cruise passengers as of now must be vaccinated. It is bit hard to find but it is there. Of course there could be a change before November. It could change before September. Royal says they are in discussions with the islands that require vaccination. That is what Carnival is betting on. Would you rather Royal be deceptive and put the onus on you like Carnival and NCL?

The Bahamas travel website says that that is outdated information.

 

[Finnsmom13]

1 minute ago, Rusty_lock said:

The Bahamas travel website says that that is outdated information.

 

I just chatted with agents as well they said the same only testing required

[Rusty_lock]

I went back and asked the same question again this time making sure to clarify specifically and it appears that vaccination is no longer required for the Bahamas at all whether you arrive by air or sea.  Their messaging appears to be very consistent on this matter.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by Rusty_lock

[Williamsburgcruiser]

This whole issue is becoming annoying.   

 

1- get rid of the testing.  If you are vaccinated,  covid should be a bothersome cold.

 

2- if you want to require people to be vaccinated to get off the ship in your port, fine.  Cruise lines know who us and who isn't,  so they can police that.

 

Let's be adults. make informed decisions about our travel,  and health,  and get back to living our lives. 

 

My opinion. 

[Finnsmom13]

Finally amazing news!!!! Time to cruise again!!!!!!

[Finnsmom13]

[dmfleischmann]

45 minutes ago, Finnsmom13 said:

Yay!!!

 

[Charles4515]

20 hours ago, Rusty_lock said:

I went back and asked the same question again this time making sure to clarify specifically and it appears that vaccination is no longer required for the Bahamas at all whether you arrive by air or sea.  Their messaging appears to be very consistent on this matter.

 

 

 

 

 

Your chat agent was wrong. The Bahamas was requiring vaccination for cruise passengers. The Bahamas only indicated today that after discussions with cruise lines, which is what Royal said they were doing, that the vaccination requirement is going away.

 

Enjoy your covid testing if you are unvaccinated......😀

 

 

https://thenassauguardian.com/govt-to-change-covid-19-entry-requirements-for-cruise-passengers/

 

 

[Lane Hog]

On 8/18/2022 at 7:13 PM, hal2008 said:

Why wud you test at CVS.

PCR tests are no longer needed for many months now 

 

Tests are free.

Monitored testing is 15 USD

 

Home testing is lot less hassel than going through TSA line or even effort to do online checking 

 

But this is not about any cost or effort involved, correct? 

Glad you're so "helpful"...   

TSA is nothing for those of us with Precheck.  I'd take 100 trips thru TSA vs. doing proctored testing with a toddler.  I'd rather go to a physical site and wait offsite for the results.

Regardless, it's a dumb requirement to keep for a four hour visit to Victoria in the evening hours when we probably won't even leave the ship.  But Covidian theology dictates otherwise...

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

happy for this. 

Testing
Pre-cruise
Unvaccinated guests aged 5 and older must present a negative COVID-19 test result taken within 3 days of our sail date. Vaccinated guests, regardless of age, no longer need to test for sailing lengths of 9 nights or less.

[hal2008]

On 8/22/2022 at 2:49 PM, Lane Hog said:

Glad you're so "helpful"...   

TSA is nothing for those of us with Precheck.  I'd take 100 trips thru TSA vs. doing proctored testing with a toddler.  I'd rather go to a physical site and wait offsite for the results.

Regardless, it's a dumb requirement to keep for a four hour visit to Victoria in the evening hours when we probably won't even leave the ship.  But Covidian theology dictates otherwise...

 

Do you want to get into competition for listing out what you label as "dumb requirements" that US expects from Canadians and other foreigners?

 

These are well publicized rules known in quite advance and cruise lines are just following those policies.  Proctored testing with a normal behaving toddler is not as challenging as proctors encountered so far are extremely polite and patient folks. 

 

Btw, there is no compulsion to take sailings that involve Canadian port.   Much cheaper to stay home glued to that  "news" channel.