Yellow Fever Vaccine requirements for Roatan confusion!

[trebor900]

I have asked Viking about this, but their information is a little vague and I wondering if anyone on here's done similar and can point us in the right direction.  We are on the Panama Canal and Central America cruise in November this year.  This was originally visiting Roatan prior to Panama, but the itinerary has since been reversed and we will now visit Panama prior to Roatan. The entry requirements for Roatan state:

 

Yellow fever vaccination certificate required for travellers aged between 1 and 60 years arriving from countries with risk of yellow fever transmission, and for travellers having transited for more than 12 hours through an airport of a country with risk of yellow fever transmission.

 

To be fair Panama City and the canal area are not classed as at risk from Yellow Fever, but I assume Roatan will ignore this.

 

My question is, I am 60 years old and the Yellow Fever vaccine is not recommended to those over the age of 60, unless visiting High Risk areas, so I am not keen to have the vaccine unless absolutely necessary.  Will Roatan just accept the fact that I am over 60 and allow entry or will they still require an exemption certificate.  Indeed will they accept an exemption certificate?  Annoyingly my wife will be 60 just after we return, so assume she will need to get vaccine.

 

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

[Mackdogmolly]

I am on a similar itinerary in October and am in my 70s, so following this with interest. From what I can see, Honduras recommends the vaccine, but doesn’t require it. Would love to hear the experience of others. My local infectious disease clinic told me to check with my PCP about a certificate of exemption. I have an appointment anyway in August, so will check with her then.

[Meander Ingwa]

consult a travel doctor or pharmacist they have access to the latest advisories 

 

CDC guidance and information is here

 

 https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel

[CDNPolar]

You have to consult your travel doctor, but, I have been on the Panama Viking cruise, and been to Roatan twice in the past.  Vaccination not required.

 

Where you are going on the cruise and the excursions you are going to take, you are not in the high risk areas.

 

I would also think, that if this were a REQUIRED shot for the cruise, Viking would let you know that or 90% of people would show up without it.

 

We travel to many parts of the world where this kind of threat is there, but when you get into the travel advisory web sites and sites like the CDC, you find that it is mostly in rural areas, and away from cities and for people that are going for extended stays.

 

Often the country is highlighted as a risk, but not specifically where you are travelling to.  Argentina for instance, parts of the country are a risk, but if you are just travelling to Buenos Aires, you are not at risk.

 

Not that you will ever be 100% without risk, but...  Personally, my opinion, you have nothing to worry about.

[whitbob]

We are also on a Panama to Florida cruise later this year.  Initially we were told the Yellow Fever vaccination was required if traveling through Panama before Honduras.  Cruises going north to south did not require, as it was a requirement for Honduras when arriving from countries where Yellow Fever was a risk.  Last November we received this email from Viking announcing the vaccination was now optional.

 

I believe there is a thread here on CC about this if going back to summer/fall on 2022.  This was the last communication that we received from Viking on the subject.  The number is below for questions.
 

 

 

Dear Viking Guest, Thank you for choosing Viking for your upcoming Classic Panama Canal Passage voyage. We would like to take a moment to advise you of an update to a travel requirement we previously communicated to you. Honduras has revised its Yellow Fever vaccination requirement for travelers who visit Panama or South America prior to arrival in Honduras. A Yellow Fever vaccination is no longer required to enter Honduras. However, we recommend you consider a Yellow Fever vaccination ahead of your travels in the region. Should you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact your Travel Advisor or call us at  1-855-300-3970, Sunday - Saturday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, PT.  We look forward to welcoming you aboard and wish you a wonderful journey. Sincerely, Viking

 

[trebor900]

11 minutes ago, whitbob said:

We are also on a Panama to Florida cruise later this year.  Initially we were told the Yellow Fever vaccination was required if traveling through Panama before Honduras.  Cruises going north to south did not require, as it was a requirement for Honduras when arriving from countries where Yellow Fever was a risk.  Last November we received this email from Viking announcing the vaccination was now optional.

 

I believe there is a thread here on CC about this if going back to summer/fall on 2022.  This was the last communication that we received from Viking on the subject.  The number is below for questions.
 

 

 

Dear Viking Guest, Thank you for choosing Viking for your upcoming Classic Panama Canal Passage voyage. We would like to take a moment to advise you of an update to a travel requirement we previously communicated to you. Honduras has revised its Yellow Fever vaccination requirement for travelers who visit Panama or South America prior to arrival in Honduras. A Yellow Fever vaccination is no longer required to enter Honduras. However, we recommend you consider a Yellow Fever vaccination ahead of your travels in the region. Should you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact your Travel Advisor or call us at  1-855-300-3970, Sunday - Saturday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, PT.  We look forward to welcoming you aboard and wish you a wonderful journey. Sincerely, Viking

 

Thank you, this makes more sense.  The Travel Requirements section on MVJ originally mentioned about having the vaccine if calling on Panama first, but then stated "this is not a requirement to call on Honduras" which was a little confusing.  This section now only has Covid 19 travel requirements and all other info has been taken out.  Once again thanks👍😁

[DeSaxMan13]

On 6/25/2023 at 7:54 AM, whitbob said:

We are also on a Panama to Florida cruise later this year.  Initially we were told the Yellow Fever vaccination was required if traveling through Panama before Honduras.  Cruises going north to south did not require, as it was a requirement for Honduras when arriving from countries where Yellow Fever was a risk.  Last November we received this email from Viking announcing the vaccination was now optional.

 

I believe there is a thread here on CC about this if going back to summer/fall on 2022.  This was the last communication that we received from Viking on the subject.  The number is below for questions.
 

 

 

Dear Viking Guest, Thank you for choosing Viking for your upcoming Classic Panama Canal Passage voyage. We would like to take a moment to advise you of an update to a travel requirement we previously communicated to you. Honduras has revised its Yellow Fever vaccination requirement for travelers who visit Panama or South America prior to arrival in Honduras. A Yellow Fever vaccination is no longer required to enter Honduras. However, we recommend you consider a Yellow Fever vaccination ahead of your travels in the region. Should you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact your Travel Advisor or call us at  1-855-300-3970, Sunday - Saturday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, PT.  We look forward to welcoming you aboard and wish you a wonderful journey. Sincerely, Viking

 

I'm going Panama to Florida in a few weeks with a stop at Roatan after Panama. I'm assuming that the requirement for yellow fever vaccination ended up not being required after all then? The CDC site still shows it required for ages up to 59 if coming from Panama but it doesn't sound like that affects cruises?

[whitbob]

1 hour ago, DeSaxMan13 said:

I'm going Panama to Florida in a few weeks with a stop at Roatan after Panama. I'm assuming that the requirement for yellow fever vaccination ended up not being required after all then? The CDC site still shows it required for ages up to 59 if coming from Panama but it doesn't sound like that affects cruises?

Hopefully if others have new information about the YF vaccination for this cruise they will respond.  We have not received any updates from Viking since the Nov 2022 letter I posted.  Also, nothing new has been published in MVJ.   We reviewed the CDC travel vaccine website and interpreted that a YF vaccine is not required for us to enter Roatan (both over 60).  Further the CDC Travel advisory for Panama does not suggest the YF vaccine is needed unless traveling outside of the Canal Zone.  

 

 

 

 

[island lady]

Gosh I hope not....going to be there in two days!   No restrictions have been forwarded to us.  Have been there many times over the years.  But indeed the "marsh mosquitos" will descend upon you very quickly should you wander around in the mangrove swamp areas.  

 

Use bug repellent and stay away from the Mangroves.  

[CDNPolar]

I am just looking at the Canadian government site that I use for all travel requirements.

 

Roatan is listed as not required.

 

Panama is listed as recommended.

 

Generally speaking, and this is just my opinion of what I have read in the past, that vaccines like Yellow Fever are required if you are going deep into rural or jungle areas of the country.  Not necessarily for a one day cruise excursion.  

 

We went to both of these last year and our doctor said no requirement for Yellow Fever for these countries, but that was last year.

 

I would also suspect that the cruise line is going to alert you - even though this is your responsibility - as they don't want to deny boarding or disembarkation if you don't have the required shots.

[SM77]

I asked this question about the Yellow Fever vaccination being required in September and Viking called me back and said that it was not required for Roatan even if we are traveling from Panama, going north on the cruise.  We are both over 60 and have heard the Yellow Fever vaccination was not recommended for those over 60.  To be sure I contacted a local specialty pharmacy that does administer the Yellow Fever vaccination and they said that they give it to a number of travelers who are over 60.  However, most of those travelers were headed to Africa, not Central America.  I decided not to stress over it anymore and made sure I'm bringing heavy duty insect repellent.

[island lady]

We are there now...so far we are surviving.  😄 

[RayinOKC]

On 11/9/2023 at 7:14 AM, island lady said:

We are there now...so far we are surviving.  😄 

I hope you had fun- we are going Nov 2024=  wow what a lot of cruises you have on your signature