No one should be aboard a cruise ship without proving they have been vaccinated. Only takes one person to make everyone else sick. Are we forgetting the people who were stuck on ships because of the virus?

*Everyone* will get sick? Are we forgetting that not everyone on the ships got sick back in 2020? Are we forgetting that many people have been vaccinated or do the vaccines lose their effectiveness when you board a ship?

The cruise lines called his bluff and he has to back off with his tail between his legs - because he wanted to look good and tough and he did not think it through. He does NOT want to lose the cruise lines money dropped in Florida. He just fell into a "Cluster ******" of HIS own making!

If an outbreak occurred among the unvaccinated then the boat might not be allowed to dock by some country or even the US. So, then how wonderful would that cruise be??????? The unvaccinated are ALWAYS causing problems for the vaccinated!

Lots of self-absorbed people don't believe they should get vaccinated. I wonder if they would also not reveal they had HIV or other STD (if they were infected) to a sex partner, because it's against their freedom? Two types of freedom - constructive and destructive. I'll always choose constructive freedom.

Unvaccinated people are opening up to the virus, which could mutate, and make the vaccine less than protective for the rest of us, and possibly cause another pandemic. If you refuse to get vaccinated do you still support our military protection? And if so, why?

Most cruise ships fly a foreign flag, so I guess the "America First" crowd won't be cruising. And, if the ship should become infected, should it not dock in the country whose flag it flies?

No petri dish cruising for me.

And you haven't died before. But, in the future, being unvaccinated you MAY die of CV or you may spread it to unvaccinated adults or more terribly ........spread it to children.

but at least 130 million have been vaccinated. so 12000 isn't really that significant. and, most cases are mild or asymptomatic. about 150 people have died but some from other causes than covid.

so count me as person who thinks the vaccine is virtually bullet proof. it's a no brainer to require it for cruising. if a significant number of people are not vaccinated and covid breaks out on the ship you may run into the same problems previous ships with covid outbreaks had...the inability to dock somewhere.

and again, the covid survival rate may be high, but there's no predicting who will get a serious infection. the more unvaccinated people, i.e. possible hosts for the virus, the more chance of variants forming that are more resistant.

I still have my son's school forms required listing his vaccinations so he can attend school. Desantis is just trying to appeal to a certain sector of the population. A great many of us want businesses to require vaccinations.

FL isn’t losing any cruise line business and our Governor doesn’t have his tail between his legs. This is no different than going to MCO to board a flight to somewhere that requires a vaccine where it’s checked before you board, just like a passport is required for overseas travel. None of the airlines have pulled out of FL have they? Most cruise destinations seem to require a vaccine, and when he signed the law in FL about the vaccine passports, cruising wasn’t even allowed by the CDC. All is good and the cruises are heading out of FL next month.

I was on a 2 week S.America/Antarctica cruise when COVID hit. No vaccine, and extremely few on the ship got sick. Two weeks later was on a western Caribbean cruise .... nobody got sick, and we were the last cruise in when they shut the port down. No more ships in or out, but nobody was sick on the ship. It is just an over reaction by the CDC to adhere to the CYA policy.

What part of 95% efficacy do you need explained to you?

Your money, your choice. No one's forcing you to cruise.

This is an important issue to the billions of dollars and thousands of jobs the cruise lines provide for Florida and beyond.

Heck yeah. I only want to cruise on a 100% vaccinated crew and passenger ship. A poll was conducted with 3000 Cruise Critic members and 89% polled said they will only sail on a cruise that has 100% vaccinated crew and passengers. I'm not alone and we all are very willing to provide proof of our vaccination status.

DeSantis needs to save face, that is for sure.

I'm vaccinated and I feel very assured that I have complete protection from Covid and I do not worry at all about being among un-vaccinated people. Chances of me contracting the virus are so small I do not worry at all about it.

What I do worry about, however, is that if vaccine proof is prohibited, there may be a Covid outbreak among un-vaccinated people on my cruise and my cruise vacation is interrupted, ports missed, unable to disembark depending on the percentage of positive cases on board and so forth. There are so many ways a cruise can be negatively impacted.. Another way of negative impact is if un-vaccinated people are on board, safety precautions must be implemented such as masking, distancing and so forth. The only way to have a much better chance of no interruption to the cruise and to experience a cruise like pre-Covid, is to have all persons on board fully vaccinated.

[QUOTE=coffeebean;1953583]Heck yeah. I only want to cruise on a 100% vaccinated crew and passenger ship. A poll was conducted with 3000 Cruise Critic members and 89% polled said they will only sail on a cruise that has 100% vaccinated crew and passengers. I'm not alone and we all are very willing to provide proof of our vaccination status.[/QUOT
Please don;t cruise until you are positive its 100% safe. Half empty ships are so much more enjoyable

Do NOT agree with you on this, at all. Cruise ships are not quite the same as land based businesses. Passengers and crew are "held captive" when out to sea. People can not just up and leave if they feel their health and safety is compromised. Cruise ships, essentially, fall into the same category as prisons, if you will. According to DeSantis' Law, there are certain businesses that can request proof of vaccination in order to enter and prisons are one. Nursing Homes are another just for point of reference. There are others.

There is also the problem that if there are more than 5% un-vaccinated passengers on board then safety protocols must be mandated. This includes masking and distancing. I will not cruise on a ship that mandates masking, distancing and reduced capacity in venues. I'm not alone in this thinking.

DeSantis can ban proof of vaccine in any venue he wishes, just not cruise ships.

All my opinion, of course.

Held captive? At an average of 2500 bucks per person. No one is impressed into the cruising navy.

If a person is willing to offer their vaccine information, there is no violation of HIPAA laws.

There is no HIPAA Law violation to ask anyone if they are vaccinated.

Read about it .........Is It a HIPAA Violation to Ask About a COVID Vaccine? | Health.com

DeSantis is going to have to make an exception to his proof of vaccination ban for Cruise Lines. That is the only way to settle this insanity.

The CDC guidance to go without masks is for VACCINATED passengers. This does not include those who are not vaccinated. Read about it here............

CDC Lifts COVID-19 Testing Requirement for Vaccinated Cruise Passengers | Travel + Leisure

The Covid breakthrough infection rate of fully vaccinated people is 0.009%. Do you realize how truly minimal risk there is? I'm not worried. I feel extremely protected with the Moderna vaccine.

I've been out and about without a mask and loving the freedom I feel. I still mask up if there is a sign on the door if an establishment requires masks. Those are so few and far between now locally, it is nearly like pre-Covid times.

Have fun on those "mixed" cruises which mandate ALL passengers to be masked indoors, distance from others and have limited capacity in their venues. Testing needs to be done also. That is not the cruise experience I'm looking forward to. I will only cruise on ships that offer 100% vaccinated crew and passengers. No masking, no distancing and no limits on venue capacities. No testing needed either unless someone is symptomatic. THAT is the cruise experience I will pay for.

Even the 95/98% cruises may not achieve the percentage required to cruise without the safety protocols. If that percentage is not achieved, guess what? That cruise sails with all those nasty safety protocols in place. Not for me. 100% is the only way for me to go.

The reason for my insistance of 100% vaccinated crew and passengers is not because I do not trust the vaccines. Far, far from that. I do not want my cruise vacation interrupted because of a Covid outbreak of un-vaccinated passengers or crew. Who know what those protocols may be by the time these ships get to sail. I'm not going to find out.

Celebrity Cruise Line has the first cruise scheduled from Ft. Lauderdale with 100% vaccinated crew and passengers and is approved by the CDC. So, there you go.

I was going to say that but I figured Joe must already know that. Right? If not, where has he been since March 2020? I'm sure he is aware we have been dealing with a 100 year Global pandemic. Right? LOL.

No coercion at all. Just enjoy your life living with limitations. There will be more.

Well, someone needs to get that memo to DeSantis. Just a few days ago, he was still spouting off that "cruise lines are NOT exempt" from his vaccine passport ban. DeSantis has also claimed he is going to fine the cruise lines $5000 per person if they are requested to show proof of vaccine. Get a clue.

You were very lucky but I'm sure you already know that.

You obviously don’t understand the issue.

The Governor has pushed a new law through that would not allow cruises to leave Florida ports that are following the CDC guidelines. The exception to the law being worked by the Governor would allow cruise lines to require passenger vaccinations.

He has to do this to save face and permit the cruises to start up again. Otherwise, the cruises would NOT be heading out of Florida next month.

Alternatively, the Federal Govt could tell the Governor to keep his nose out of the cruise business as it falls under Federal jurisdiction.

You don't have to decide whether or not to patronize them. If you don't vaccinate, they won't let you in anyway, so problem solved. Live is grand when you don't have to make decisions.

Seems like you're making some assumptions.

They will let me in. The ball/choice is in my court. Will the loss of my business hurt them? Possibly not but you never know.

If you refuse to show proof of vaccination at a place that requires it, the decision to patronize it will be removed from you. It is THEIR decision. You can comply, or you can not get what you were hoping to get. It's your loss, not theirs. There are plenty of people who are fully vaccinated who will be grateful to enjoy a cruise where they don't have to worry that the guy coughing next to them at the bar is going to cause the ship to have to turn around to unload a corpse.

We were also on a cruise to the Western Caribbean and had a wonderful time. People were happy, carefree and having fun. We were eating in the dining rooms and attending the shows. The ports were beautiful and we saw lots of passengers from other ships in the ports, as well. No one was worried about COVID, not even a little bit. No one was getting sick that we saw, either. Not long after we returned home they shut down the port. Crazy.

I am NOT going to cruise if there are mask or vaccine mandates. Forget that. It is a total overreaction by the CDC.

I am aware of the article. So are unvaccinated people going to be wearing tattoos on their foreheads or be distinguished somehow on the ships? I don’t think so, and don’t expect to see masks on cruises. For those who are concerned, they shouldn’t cruise.

Is he letting airlines fly people to places that require vaccines where that needs to be provided before boarding here in FL? This is no different, and at the time the law was signed there was no cruising, thus there was no specific mention of them. Their are exceptions such as air travel and it will be the same for cruise ships. All will be fine, and the first ship leaves out of FL this month.

You never know what the future may bring so there may be an opportunity for you to cruise with no vaccine and no masks in the distant future. Enjoy land vacations in the meantime.

The tattoo remark is not appreciated.

At this point in time, it looks as though the CDC will require masking and distancing on cruises that have greater than 5% un-vaccinated passengers and greater than 2% un-vaccinated crew. On these cruises, ALL passengers, vaccinated or not, will have to wear masks so no need for a way to identify the un-vaccinated. All passengers will have to adhere to the restrictive protocols.

DeSantis has made public statements that he will not make an exception for cruise lines to request proof of vaccination. He has backed himself into a corner and will have to save face somehow to allow these cruise lines to operate according to CDC guidelines.

That doesn’t sound like much fun. Many won’t cruise until that changes so it looks like the cruise industry is still in trouble.

We will cruise to/from destinations that have no mask/vaccine requirement. If that limits the places that we can travel to, then so be it. I do not want to go to places that would require such restrictions. Vacations are supposed to be carefree, enjoyable and fun. But feel free to work on that mask tan line if that's your idea of a good time.