Posted on 01/26/2021 5:20:51 PM PST by Capt. Tom
Last week British cruise line Saga Cruises announced they would require all guests to be vaccinated before being allowed onboard one of their ships. As a cruise line that caters exclusively to guests 50 years old and over, this can be seen as a reasonable requirement. But what about the three major cruise lines?
Once we finally get back to cruising, will Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Line require guests to be vaccinated?
So far, none of them have made any commitments towards a requirement, but that’s not saying the cruise lines are not looking at implementing it. Cruise Hive is ready take a look at what is fast becoming a hot issue for many cruise fans.
Carnival Cruise Line Carnival Cruise Line has been pretty clear on the subject so far. It is too early to make any decisions. Both John Heald, Carnival’s brand ambassador, and Donald Arnold, the Carnival Corporation CEO, have commented on the subject in recent days.
As for Carnival Cruise Line, in particular, John Heald reacted in his own typical style:
“Let me say that I have no idea if the cruise industry will ever require proof of vaccination to sail. And even if this does become the rule, I am sure that there is somewhere in the world a batch of brand new fake immunity certificates ready to roll off the presses.”
Donald Arnold has said the same during the conference call for investors last week. The Carnival Corp. CEO mentioned it is too early for any decisions to be made, citing that distribution has not ramped up to full speed yet.
It seems it will be a while yet before Carnival announces any decisions regarding mandatory vaccinations for its passengers.
Royal Caribbean
The second-largest cruise company, which owns major cruise brands such as Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, has been pretty quiet on the subject.
In an interview with Porthole Cruise magazine, Richard D. Fain mentioned the decision would be made by the healthy sail panel set up by the cruise line, together with Norwegian Cruise Line.
“The purpose of the panel is to advise us on things like that. Exactly how are we going to require it? Are we going to just use it as an adjunct? I think all of that is going to come out reasonably soon. We have the experts, and we’ll let them guide us.”
It seems then that Royal Caribbean is not handling it as a business decision but a health call. It could be that Royal Caribbean decides, if the healthy sail panel says so, that the vaccine will be required onboard, but not decision has yet been made.
Norwegian Cruise Line Frank Del Rio has been outspoken on the subject of COVID-19 vaccines. He has said he would require crew members to be vaccinated at a minimum, and the company is investigating the legality of requiring guests to be vaccinated.
Del Rio said the following last month: “It’s too early to tell whether we have the legal standing to mandate that you take a vaccine to come onboard — lawyers are looking at it as we speak. But there is talk beginning to emerge from different corners of the travel industry, the airlines as well, of requiring some kind of immunity passport demonstrating that you’ve had the virus or been vaccinated so that you are good to go.”
For Norwegian Cruise Line, you could expect they would be implementing something of a mandate that requires vaccination, though the situation continues to evolve and their stance could change.
Can a Cruise Line Legally Make Me Get a Vaccine?
Yes, cruise lines likely have legal standing to require guests, and crew, to be vaccinated before they cruise.
Cruise lines would likely be required to offer refunds to anyone that is refused boarding based on a vaccination requirement if the guest had booked their travel before the requirement was made official. This would be something that would likely not sit well with the cruise lines after a full year of having virtually no income during the pandemic shutdown.
Stay tuned in the next few weeks as it could be expected that the cruise lines will be making decisions on the subject soon. These decisions will both give clarity to guests who want to cruise and give people enough time to get a shot if a mandatory vaccination requirement does come into play for future cruise vacations.
Cruise Lines appear to be on the verge of having to deal with vaccinations to move forward. Also required vaccinations may hurt their bottom line.
Lots of pros and cons about this subject. And with the press just looking for any covid cases onboard they have a fine line to sail.
As time marches on the 3 big Cruise Lines debts just keep growing -Tom
No kids or families on board.
The vaccine requirements are ridiculous especially for someone who has had COVID already.
I’d be on a cruise right now if Covid hadn’t come about.
IF my wife and I are going to take any cruise, it will be on Holland-America or we won’t cruise.
Funny that cruise lines NOW are discussing ick being passed from passenger to passenger when the gay guys have been over populating the hot tubs and pools for years. I dunno — just seems ironic, hypocritical, or something.
I would not go cruising right now, still too much craziness.
Maybe short the stock...
Saw this....
US ‘Actively Looking’ at Mandating COVID-19 Testing for Domestic Air Travel
https://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/1007349/18
Saw this....
US ‘Actively Looking’ at Mandating COVID-19 Testing for Domestic Air Travel
https://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/1007349/18
I would have just gotten off B2B the Mardi Gras last Saturday...
I booked the 1st day in Jan 2019 so I got a great cabin, price and nice OBC...
SOB
Shoot that rules me out. Darn.
My physician has instructed me to NOT get the China Virus vaccine because of a medical condition I have and not enough is known about the vaccine's impact on people like me.
If Norwegian demands vaccination to cruise, does that mean I'm screwed out of my half of the more than $6,000 I paid to go to Alaska via them with my GF? They refused to refund me in mid 2020 when our cruise was cancelled.
This is getting to be lawsuit territory against Norwegian if so.
You won't get an argument from MERC on that statement. -Tom
"Vaccine manufacturer Merck has abandoned development of two coronavirus vaccines, saying that after extensive research it was concluded that the shots offered less protection than just contracting the virus itself and developing antibodies."
The latest Covid 19 and the latest influenza vaccines will be required to sail, as well as proof of immunity via an antibody test.
Same here. Typically we go twice a year.
Our cruise with Mark Steyn, Conrad Black et al was postponed from October 2020 to October 2021. Sure hope it happens.
And we would be on a Southern Caribbean Cruise this week were it not for Covid.
Instead, we remain in the frigid DC area with a bumbling, corrupt “President” a few miles away.
Yes. We feel exactly the same way. We have been going on HA for over 20 years. My father was a travel agent and for years said it was the way to go. I always poo-pooed it thinking it was a bunch of drunk people with Kathy Lee Gifford singing at a piano. Then for his 70th Birthday, he took the family on a Holland America Cruise ... we loved it and have been going couple of times a year ever since.
Not the sea going meat market that those other lines are, in my honest opinion.
Solid AI> Cruises x10 imo.
Try Sandals, Secrets or Couples. You’ll never do a cruise ship again
Yes it is, if not more so, plus bad publicity
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