Now that the CDC lifted the regulations requiring cruises sail with only vaccinated passengers, some lines are still implementing this draconian policy.
It is time to boycott all cruise lines that require vaccines to sail.
https://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-facebok-twitter-for-royal-caribbean-cruise-boycott-2021-3
Shortly after the cruising giant announced these new “fully vaccinated” sailings on Facebook, the comment section was set alight. While some Facebook commenters praised the vaccine mandate, others voiced their concerns and announced a personal boycott of the cruise line.
Jennifer Lindquist, a former Royal Caribbean customer, doesn’t agree with any vaccine, face masks, and social distancing mandates, and told Insider “social distancing ruins the entire cruise experience,” in an interview over Facebook messenger.
“We will not be getting the vaccine anytime soon, if ever,” she said. “I do not agree with a company making it mandatory for their employees to be vaccinated with an experimental vaccine.”
“I’ll spend my vacation time and money elsewhere,” Facebook user Crysti Horne said in a comment.
Full article here
Royal Caribbean says boycott of the cruise line after it announced fully vaccinated cruises is based on a ‘misconception’
- Royal Caribbean and its Celebrity Cruises brand have announced five fully vaccinated summer cruises.
- The announcement of these summer cruises has stirred up calls to boycott Royal Caribbean.
- However, Royal Caribbean has not announced a sweeping vaccine mandate for all its future guests.
Throughout March (2021), Royal Caribbean has announced a string of “fully vaccinated” cruises for this summer. While these vaccine mandates have delighted some eager travelers, they’ve also ignited calls from Twitter and Facebook users to boycott the cruise line.
However, these boycott demands have been based on a “misconception,” according to a Royal Caribbean spokesperson.
On March 19, Royal Caribbean International uploaded a Facebook post about its new seven-night summer cruises from the Bahamas aboard its Adventure of the Seas ship. These trips, set to sail from June to August, will be cruising with a vaccine mandate: all crew members and adult guests must be vaccinated against COVID-19, while passengers under 18-years-old must test negative for the virus.
“The vaccines are clearly a game-changer for all of us, and with the number of vaccinations and their impact growing rapidly, we believe starting with cruises for vaccinated adult guests and crew is the right choice,” Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, said in the press release announcing the new sailings. “As we move forward, we expect this requirement and other measures will inevitably evolve over time.”
Shortly after the cruising giant announced these new “fully vaccinated” sailings on Facebook, the comment section was set alight. While some Facebook commenters praised the vaccine mandate, others voiced their concerns and announced a personal boycott of the cruise line.
“I’ll spend my vacation time and money elsewhere,” Facebook user Crysti Horne said in a comment.
Other Facebook users like Jenny Mayer have called the vaccine mandate discriminatory.
A day after Royal Caribbean’s comment section spiraled into a vaccine debate, Simone Gold — a doctor, vocal COVID-19 vaccine critic, and attendee of the January Capitol insurrection — announced she would be boycotting Royal Caribbean as well.
—Dr. Simone Gold (@drsimonegold) March 20, 2021
The post has since been retweeted over 2,400 times and liked by over 8,500 Twitter users, and echoes the anti-(COVID MANDATE) vaccination sentiment other people on the social media site have been feeling relative to major cruise lines.
Jennifer Lindquist, a former Royal Caribbean customer, doesn’t agree with any vaccine, face masks, and social distancing mandates, and told Insider “social distancing ruins the entire cruise experience,” in an interview over Facebook messenger.
“We will not be getting the vaccine anytime soon, if ever,” she said. “I do not agree with a company making it mandatory for their employees to be vaccinated with an experimental vaccine.”
However, many of these Facebook comments and tweets have seemingly been based on a glaring mistake: Royal Caribbean never implemented a company-wide COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all of its future guests. BUT IT DID THIS LATER…..
Ironically, its Quantum of the Seas ship already resumed sailing in Singapore in December, without a vaccine mandate.
“The misconception is that all of the cruises will be vaccinated, and that decision has not been made yet,” a Royal Caribbean spokesperson told Insider in an interview. “If you look at the countries that are doing fully vaccinated cruises, it’s mandatory by the government. We want to set sail, and that’s part of the deal to cruise again.”
Royal Caribbean currently has several health protocols in place ahead of its major return to sailing. These include social distancing, mask-wearing, and robust testing and quarantining guidelines for crew members.
But in regards to vaccines, Royal Caribbean – including its Celebrity Cruises brand — has only announced five “fully vaccinated” summer cruises so far. While crew members are required to be vaccinated before sailings return, the cruise giant has not implemented a sweeping COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all its future guests.
“We’re following the science and medical advice, and we want to do what’s best for our passengers and crew and obviously the communities that we visit as well,” the Royal Caribbean spokesperson said.
On Cruises That Allow Them, the Unvaccinated Are Second-Class Citizens
A way forward has emerged for some cruise companies. And few people are happy about it.
Royal Caribbean’s 4,275-passenger Freedom of the Seas has restarted sailings from Miami to the Bahamas with two classes of passengers on board—those who’ve been vaccinated against Covid-19, and those who have not. Jabbed guests, identified with special wristbands, get full run of the ship; those unprotected from the virus won’t even be able to walk into the sushi bar, casino, or spa.
Freedom is the first ship to depart the U.S. without a vaccination requirement, and it’s also the first to depart from the nation’s cruise capital of Miami. For all the city’s influence on the cruising industry, it’s also proved to be a difficult place to restart business, given that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has barred businesses from requiring vaccine cards.
“The cruise experience benefits from being impromptu,” says Jukka Laitamaki, a tourism marketing expert and professor at the NYU School of Professional Studies Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality. Cruisers are typically free to hang out where they want, do what they want to do, and make friends. But unvaccinated cruisers on Freedom will find much of that restricted.
“It is the cruise lines’ worst nightmare to have to have separate areas for the vaccinated and unvaccinated,” Laitamaki says.
The system has proved necessary. Even on cruises with strict Covid-19 vaccine requirements for adults, issues have already cropped up. In late June, Royal had to pay to repatriate two unvaccinated teenagers who tested positive—and their families—from the Bahamas. Sister line Celebrity also had an incident of two asymptomatic guests testing positive on a sailing from St. Maarten. (Remember, you can still carry the coronavirus even when vaccinated.)
Two-Class System
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s rules for cruise companies require lines to enforce mask-wearing and social distancing when unvaccinated cruisers are on board. But companies have some discretion about the finer points.
Royal Caribbean’s list of restrictions for Freedom, issued in mid-June, is a long one. It applies to all sailings on the ship in July—and likely to four other ships the line plans to launch from Florida this summer, with capacities of up to 6,680 passengers.
Those with a hole punched in their SeaPass—indicating that they haven’t been jabbed or declined to show a vaccine card—will be segregated to one deck of the main dining room and will be banned from some of the better, more intimate for-a-fee dining venues. (That includes families with unvaccinated kids, too, so long as they’re sticking together.) Off limits will be the popular maritime-themed Schooner Bar pub and Viking Crown nightclub, the casino, art auctions, and the indoor Solarium pool and bar. Gatherings such as the 1970s-themed party will be open only to vaccinated guests. If you aren’t immunized and want to see a show, you’ll sit in a segregated area in the back of the theater. And you can only use the gym during specified hours.
At least for now, mask wearing is required indoors (but not outdoors) of everyone on board Freedom when not eating or drinking—though some venues that are only open to vaccinated guests will be able to nix the rule.
The trip will cost more for unvaccinated guests, too. Anyone over the age of 12 who doesn’t voluntarily show proof of vaccine will have to provide a negative result from a Covid-19 PCR test taken within three days of departure. They’ll also have to pay for a second test at the pier and a third upon disembarking on the last day—totaling $136 or $178 per person, depending on the sailing.
In addition, Royal is requiring unvaccinated travelers leaving from Florida to purchase travel insurance—at least $25,000 per person for medical expense coverage and $50,000 per person for medical evacuation—from Aug. 1 through the end of 2021. On a one-week cruise, this can add $200 or more to the combined fare of an unvaccinated family of four.
And that’s just on the ship. Each port of call has its own constantly changing rules, some requiring guests without immunity to stay on board or limit themselves to select shore excursions.
Economic Impact
For cruise lines, which have already lost billions of dollars in the pandemic and are just getting back to business, the two-class system may have an impact on the revenue stream. Onboard spending accounted for 28.3% of Royal Caribbean’s total revenue in 2019, according to Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Brian Egger. If there are many unvaccinated passengers, those figures may end up suppressed.
So far that’s not the case. Only 7% of the passengers on the first Freedom cruise are unvaccinated, and most are kids. At that rate, onboard spending losses may tap out at about $50,000—a drop in the bucket on a ship that, say, rakes in $1.5 million per trip. Mark Tamis, senior vice president of hotel operations for Royal, said lost revenue didn’t even enter into the equation.
But the line is currently only sailing at 40% capacity to allow for social distancing and put new health protocols to the test—with plans to ramp up capacity throughout the summer. What’s more, immunized guests may not want to co-mingle with the un-jabbed, potentially hampering ticket sales or driving cancellations, which have been high since Royal announced its protocol.
“The people who are not vaccinated don’t want restrictions,” says Mindy Breitman, a travel adviser with Cruise Planners, who has been busy fielding cancellation requests. “And the people who are vaccinated don’t want to wear masks because of the non-vaxed on board,” she says.
Executives Sound Off
Both cruisers and cruise executives agree that a vaccine requirement would be the ideal way to go. THAT IS A HUGE LIE The CDC recommends at least 95% of passengers and crew be vaccinated. And in fact both Royal’s sister line Celebrity Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line are appearing to put DeSantis’s decree to the test, with carefully worded policies that boil down to vaccine requirements for anyone on board.
In places like Alaska and Galveston, Texas, where they’ve been given the choice, major cruise lines have also only allowed inoculated guests on board—making exceptions only for children. Norwegian Cruise Line says its ships only will sail with vaccinated passengers through October. And all the lines are aiming for 100% crew vaccinations.
Richard Fain, chairman of Royal Caribbean Cruises, parent of both Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, has said repeatedly that he’d prefer that all guests get the jab—adding that surveys show that more than 90% of the line’s customers are vaccinated. ANOTHER LIE Micky Arison, chairman of Carnival Corp. (parent company of brands such as Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, and Holland America Line), has taken to Twitter to urge vaccines.
Cruisers don’t need much persuading. Most are showing a strong desire to sail with other vaxed passengers A LIE AGAIN—a survey of 5,000 readers of the popular website Cruise Critic found last month that 89% would cruise if vaccines are a requirement. BULLSHIT (or, more people are morons than expected)
But there has also been some pushback. When Mike Bayley, president and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean, explained policies for unvaccinated guests on Facebook recently, the hundreds of responses he received included both applause and vitriol from opponents espousing anti-vax rhetoric. WHAT KIND OF A F….ING SENTENCE IS THIS? ANTI-VAX RHETORIC? REALLY?
“My only request is please share your opinion or comments in a polite way,” Bayley said in a follow-up. “If you could read some messages I have received! It’s scary!” AND PEOPLE ARE FED UP, SO IT WILL ONLY GET MORE RIDICULOUS