Full Vaccination Required Ages 5+ Starting 1/13/22

[Frozencleo]

I would get that confirmed directly from DCL.

She said she had a 12 year client who was able to sail after turning 12 a week before the sail date. Good enough for me right now.

 

[mousefan73]

Not that easy though. Because if you are already PIF you only have until December 1 to cancel or reschedule without penalty. A lot of us have rescheduled old cruises and we’ve been PIF for well over a year at this point.

We cruise in March 2022 and 5-11 yo vaccines are not yet approved where we live. But now I get 13 days to take a gamble on whether they will be approved AND rolled out in time to satisfy the DCL requirement.

I am 100% in favor of the requirement but I do think they should have given more time or at least provided a testing exemption for passengers who do not yet have access to the vaccine.

I was referring to the person who is sailing in Aug22, but you are right.. those with sailings coming up soon are in a different situation.

 

[StarSeven7]

Not that easy though. Because if you are already PIF you only have until December 1 to cancel or reschedule without penalty. A lot of us have rescheduled old cruises and we’ve been PIF for well over a year at this point.

We cruise in March 2022 and 5-11 yo vaccines are not yet approved where we live. But now I get 13 days to take a gamble on whether they will be approved AND rolled out in time to satisfy the DCL requirement.

I am 100% in favor of the requirement but I do think they should have given more time or at least provided a testing exemption for passengers who do not yet have access to the vaccine.

I know they haven't officially been approved yet in Canada, but they're basically telling us that they're going to be approved. My public health site already has a link for booking vaccinations for 5-11 year olds (obviously it's not active yet) and the top doctor in Ontario is telling us we will be vaccinating kids by the end of November. I did see that it said most likely 8 weeks apart which surprised me. I think you would still be ok with a March 2022 cruise so if it were me, which it's obviously not! - I would take the risk and assume my kids will be vaccinated by then!

 

[seasalt81]

This is actually not true, I just asked my travel agent about it, as we will have a kid turning 5 less than two weeks before a cruise we have booked. She told me that if they turn 5 within 5 weeks of the sail date, they are exempt from the vaccine requirement and will be treated like an unvaccinated 4 year old (so, test 3 days before). She told me this is the current policy in place for 12 year olds turning 12 within 5 weeks of sailing, although it’s not on the know before you go website or anything.

Ok good to know. I just know when we were sailing in September when the new mandates when into place, that's not what we were told. We were told that the requirements were due to the port regulations and there were no exemptions. Good news for families with kids close to the cut off if things have changed.

 

[tvguy]

As with airlines, cruise companies need to adhere to the entry requirements of those countries they sail. Many cruise destinations require this or most assume will in the future when opening ports Ex. Canada and my gut feeling is Hawaii will too in order to allow cruise ships to dock. Most island destinations have limited health resources and this is driving aspect.

Very well put. And the entry requirements keep changing. I think DCL is just trying to have a broad policy to cover any possible changes in their ports rules. Look at the issues ships going through the Panama Canal have had in the past two and a half weeks. The testing requirement changed for some ships AFTER they were enroute to the canal and they got delayed a day. Mind you the testing requirement ONLY was for the staff on the bridge of the ship, what, like 12-20 people, to protect the Panamanian Pilot coming on board. 1,000+ people on a ship impacted to reduce the risk of exposure to 1 person.
Hawaii, I have no idea. I get it, cruise ships are a tiny part of their tourism industry, so they aren't in a hurry to reopen. Last I saw most cruises lines aren't even thinking about a possible reopening in Hawaii until April 2022. And Australia, some government official sparked a flurry of speculation when he said cruising could restart in time for Christmas. And the cruise lines said they need 3-4 months notice to get ships staffed, docking permits secured, food ordered before they can resume. He retracted the statement the next day.

 

[Alan1972]

Does Disney have a medical exemption policy? I had thought when I read the most recent Bahamas order extension it allowed medical exemption, but I may be wrong in my recollection?

no exemptions,Disney knows people lie.

 

[lorenni]

I know they haven't officially been approved yet in Canada, but they're basically telling us that they're going to be approved. My public health site already has a link for booking vaccinations for 5-11 year olds (obviously it's not active yet) and the top doctor in Ontario is telling us we will be vaccinating kids by the end of November. I did see that it said most likely 8 weeks apart which surprised me. I think you would still be ok with a March 2022 cruise so if it were me, which it's obviously not! - I would take the risk and assume my kids will be vaccinated by then!

In the GTA they’ve already announced the neighbourhoods that will get rolled out first and ours is not on the list. So it will be at least December and maybe January. If they go 8 weeks between shots we could be scr*Wed for a March break cruise.

How I am supposed to juggle that by December 1 is beyond me. And the thought of telling kiddo that his cruise is postponed for a third time is…

 

[lorenni]

I know they haven't officially been approved yet in Canada, but they're basically telling us that they're going to be approved. My public health site already has a link for booking vaccinations for 5-11 year olds (obviously it's not active yet) and the top doctor in Ontario is telling us we will be vaccinating kids by the end of November. I did see that it said most likely 8 weeks apart which surprised me. I think you would still be ok with a March 2022 cruise so if it were me, which it's obviously not! - I would take the risk and assume my kids will be vaccinated by then!

Also - where are you able to sign up? Are you in Ontario? Would love this info. Tnx!

 

[lanejudy]

I am curious if any experts out there know if the UK ONE dose is from the dosage amount the same as 2 doses US? Anotherwards the UK kids get all at once and the US get it split up over two??

Based on this website, under "How is Corminaty Used" section, it would appear the approved dosing for ages 12+ in EU is 2 doses. Is the UK having supply issues that they would have restricted the teens to just 1 dose?

 

[Kemaro24]

Any thoughts on how they will handle kids that turn 5 just before their actual sail date and won't have the time to be considered fully vaccinated?

I am in this exact situation with one of my kids that turns 5 on Jan 10th…we sail on the 15th. My TA called Disney this is what she said:
Hi, I just confirmed with Disney Cruise Line that if your child is turning 5 within 5 weeks of embarkation they are to follow pre-testing protocols.

Sorry for the delayed response, this was something I wanted to verify with them directly to make sure we had the latest information.

Thanks, should be a great cruise!

 

[Kemaro24]

She said she had a 12 year client who was able to sail after turning 12 a week before the sail date. Good enough for me right now.

I have a son turning 5 the week we cruise, my TA called Disney today and said the same thing you said:
Hi, I just confirmed with Disney Cruise Line that if your child is turning 5 within 5 weeks of embarkation they are to follow pre-testing protocols.

Sorry for the delayed response, this was something I wanted to verify with them directly to make sure we had the latest information.

Thanks, should be a great cruise!

 

[jrapps]

This is Fantastic news. Very proud of DCL right now. I hope Royal and others follow this. My next 3 cruises sadly are not Disney but this would definitely get me to book another one sooner

 

[pearljammer]

Very sad to hear this. Looks like we will be cancelling our cruise!

Agreed, Cancelling All. Won’t sail until such restrictions are lifted.

 

[lanejudy]

This is actually not true

It WAS true. When the vaccine mandate first came out DCL had zero leniency for those who turned 12 shortly before the cruise. Several families were caught in the middle and had to reschedule or cancel (DCL did relax the cancellation policy for those caught in this situation.) A couple of weeks later, they did change to allow a 5-week grace period after the birthday.

 

[StarSeven7]

Also - where are you able to sign up? Are you in Ontario? Would love this info. Tnx!

I’m in Ontario, we can’t sign up yet but they have the link there and when you click on it it gives you vaccine info and says they will add booking as soon as it’s approved.

 

[Sykes]

This is really interesting... From what I read, it's coming from a Bahamian mandate, but the UK (Bahamian "parent territory") hasn't even approved a 5-12 vaccine for their own children. As a matter of fact, UK is much slower in recommending vaccination of their sub-18 group at all.

Huh? The Bahamas has been a sovereign nation since 1973. It's part of the Commonwealth of Nations, but that would be like calling the UK the "parent territory" of Australia and Canada.

 

[sabrecmc]

Very glad to hear this! Hopefully, it means some things like the kids clubs can get closer to normal. As much as I’m tired of the Bahamas, kudos to them on this one. We don’t sail until July 2022, so a lot can change, but it is heartening to see.

 

[BebopBaloo]

Like I said before, island nations have limited medical facilities. Grand Cayman I believe used to have over 2 million cruise pax a year. That's between 5-6 thousand a day. The low chances of even a tiny number needing medical care would most likely overwhelme their facilities.

Like I said, I respect Disney following port rules.

 

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[lorenni]

Huh? The Bahamas has been a sovereign nation since 1973. It's part of the Commonwealth of Nations, but that would be like calling the UK the "parent territory" of Australia and Canada.

I mean technically Queen Elizabeth is still the queen of Canada. But they don’t get to make any decisions for us!