Children under 5 Covid vaccination

[Jhondy]

Even if this is the case, the children who ARE vaccinated should be treated that way in regards to testing and masking. My vaccinated kid shouldn't have to test twice beforehand and during the cruise if vaccinated adults are not doing the same thing.

Exactly this!! Idc if they mandate the vaccine for under 5 or not but my 3 yr old will be vaccinated by the time of our cruise and I want her treated as so. I don’t want her having to test 3 times or wear a mask in the kids club and BBB. I purposely made sure we got her vaccine so they’d be done in time for the cruise because I know she will hate being tested and she will not wear a mask for more than five minutes especially if the majority of other kids aren’t. So, I did for her what all other guests have done to not have to do those things.

I will be very upset with Disney if she is not treated as vaccinated(not that Disney cares). I get we will still have fun on the cruise and that we are lucky to even get to go on a cruise but this is DD’s first cruise. I want her to have the best experience possible, just like everyone wants for their kids, and so I got her vaccinated very quickly to help give her experience on the cruise be the best.

 

[Chica1581]

My cruise is NEXT month, so some guidance now would be great.

have you received a response from DCL?

 

[nancipants]

have you received a response from DCL?

Nope. :/

 

[lanejudy]

FYI… I saw a post that DCL has dropped the onboard testing for unvaccinated little ones on the last day. Someone currently onboard. I know we’re hoping that wouldn’t apply to those vaccinated, but it may signal DCL is now thinking about the young ones and ready to update rules.

 

[disneylandlocal]

I’m going to be so angry if my 3 yr olds vaccine doesn’t count and she has to get tested 3 times and wear a mask. One of the reasons I jumped to get the vaccine so fast was because of the cruise and wanting to make the cruise easier for her. Thankfully, we don’t leave till end of October so hopefully things will be updated by then. But this is infuriating

Me too! My doctor recommended we do the Moderna vaccine for our 3 year old and I want her to be considered fully vaccinated by DCL standards for our October cruise. We already got the first dose.

 

[disneylandlocal]

Have they also changed the policy for unvaccinated doing non-DCL port excursions? We prefer to explore ports on our own. On our last cruise our 3 year old was unvaxxed so she had to wear a mask and couldn’t get off ship to explore but it was just a 3 night so no biggy to skip Nassau. It was hard for her to be masked at kids club when her siblings weren’t (imagine explaining that one to a toddler!). She will be fully vaxxed with Moderna at our next cruise and hoping she can be unrestricted the same way as her older siblings.

On the bigger issue of what DCL does, I feel more comfortable with the vaccine requirement but understand it’s a difficult issue and the industry is changing quickly. Either way I wish they would announce a clear policy soon.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Have they also changed the policy for unvaccinated doing non-DCL port excursions? We prefer to explore ports on our own. On our last cruise our 3 year old was unvaxxed so she had to wear a mask and couldn’t get off ship to explore but it was just a 3 night so no biggy to skip Nassau. It was hard for her to be masked at kids club when her siblings weren’t (imagine explaining that one to a toddler!). She will be fully vaxxed with Moderna at our next cruise and hoping she can be unrestricted the same way as her older siblings.

On the bigger issue of what DCL does, I feel more comfortable with the vaccine requirement but understand it’s a difficult issue and the industry is changing quickly. Either way I wish they would announce a clear policy soon.

The port adventure requirement has been gone since May-ish

 

[galacticb]

Another update. I finally did get the vaccine cards approved. It required me to upload the vaccine cards, copy of their vaccine trial participation cards, call safe passage and additionally provide a link to the FDA statement approving vaccines in the <5 year age group in the comments of my submission.

I am not able to 'upload' their antigen test results on the safe passage website, as it does not give me an option for the <5 year children. When I spoke about that to safe passage, they told me to just email it to them when it is done and bring electronic copies to the port just in case. I think I'll plan to bring all of the actual documents with me to port, including the vaccine cards, trial participation cards and the antigen test results. I don't want to take any chances. This took significant effort to push through, so just be prepared if you are in the same situation.

Just curious if you had taken your cruise yet and (if so) how things went at the port. We have a cruise in September and will be in the same situation (except not a trial but a generally completed Moderna vaccine sequence) for our 18 mo and 4 yr old kiddos.

Thanks in advance!

 

[nancipants]

Just curious if you had taken your cruise yet and (if so) how things went at the port. We have a cruise in September and will be in the same situation (except not a trial but a generally completed Moderna vaccine sequence) for our 18 mo and 4 yr old kiddos.

Thanks in advance!

I’ll be cruising at the end of August and my son just had his second shot. He officially becomes “fully vaccinated” the day our Safe Passage opens. So I’ll definitely report what happens with it here.

 

[Cruising Girl]

We did not have an embarkation test the last day for our 23 month old on the MV. That was the day the CDC dropped all recommendations so we got a text saying our appointment for the test was cancelled.

 

[soniam]

FYI… I saw a post that DCL has dropped the onboard testing for unvaccinated little ones on the last day. Someone currently onboard. I know we’re hoping that wouldn’t apply to those vaccinated, but it may signal DCL is now thinking about the young ones and ready to update rules.

As @Cruising Girl said, it was recently dropped. Someone with a child on our Fantasy 9 Night SC (7/21 start) confirmed.

 

[dreamer17555]

I don't want to go off topic, but the reason that most European countries are getting rid of that is because enforcing passports did not really change the outcomes.
Vaccinated (kids or adults) can get and transmit covid, so that won't prevent contamination/spread in the ship. So What I think they will do is to get rid vaccine mandates all together and test both kids and adults before boarding. They might still be negative when boarding when they have the virus (incubation period), so at the end of the day, but that might reduce the likelihood of transmission but does not eliminate).

Covid won't go away, unfortunately. you can't contain a highly contagious respiratory virus.

They are much more likely to drop testing before they are to drop vaccine mandates. Similar to what other cruise ships are doing. Royal is no longer is testing for vaccinated passengers on sailing five days or less

 

[Kidguile]

We have an upcoming Alaska cruise. We plan on using OnPoint for the proctored test. However since our 3 1/3 yr old is unvaccinated - is it correct that we can not use a rapid antigen test to satisfy the DCL pre-cruise testing 3 days prior to sailing? Must be NAAT or PCR ? Is going thru Inspire Diagnostics near the cruise terminal 3 days prior the only option?

 

[Doingitagain]

We have an upcoming Alaska cruise. We plan on using OnPoint for the proctored test. However since our 3 1/3 yr old is unvaccinated - is it correct that we can not use a rapid antigen test to satisfy the DCL pre-cruise testing 3 days prior to sailing? Must be NAAT or PCR ? Is going thru Inspire Diagnostics near the cruise terminal 3 days prior the only option?

The best way to stay on top of this is to review this page https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/why-cruise-disney/experience-updates/us/
and then click on Read More under Covid-19 Testing. Monitor the Last Updated date at the top to see if there are changes. Right now it says:
Guests 4 years of age and under, who are not vaccine-eligible because of age, must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test result (paid for by a parent or guardian). The test must be taken no more than 3 days before the sail date. The test should be a Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT), a rapid PCR test or a lab-based PCR test. Rapid antigen tests are not accepted. This will be the first of 2 tests required for Guests ages 4 and under; the second test will be conducted at the terminal prior to embarkation (paid for by Disney Cruise Line).

If you use Inspire or a Vancouver clinic for the three days prior test, you would have to arrive in Vancouver in time to get the test results and upload them by midnight the night before embarkation. Since we weren't departing until the day before embarkation, we used our local clinic 3 days prior (paid by us) and then Inspire at the port on embarkation day (paid by Disney).

Remember that if you are sailing in Alaska you have to follow both the DCL requirements and the Canada requirements. Canada protocols: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/why-cruise-disney/experience-updates/canada-protocols/
Canada currently requires a pre-embarkation test for unvaccinated passengers the day you get on the ship, before you board.

 

[nancipants]

Nope. :/

Disney FINALLY got back to me via email and said kids under 4 still have the same testing protocols. Nothing mentioned about vaccination status at all. P

I’m super pissed off and gonna fight it when Safe Passage opens. He is fully vaccinated, I should NOT have to test him at the port.

 

[Jhondy]

Disney FINALLY got back to me via email and said kids under 4 still have the same testing protocols. Nothing mentioned about vaccination status at all. P

I’m super pissed off and gonna fight it when Safe Passage opens. He is fully vaccinated, I should NOT have to test him at the port.

That is ridiculous!! There is no reason a fully vaccinated under 5 yr old should be treated any different than other vaccinated guests. Keep us updated on how it goes. My DD goes for her second shot tomorrow. I’m gonna be so pissed if she will still have to test extra and wear a mask the kids club. Luckily, we have till end of October so if they don’t treat the under 5 vaccinated kids the same as the others, hopefully, enough parents of under 5 will complain that it will be changed before we go.

 

[nancipants]

That is ridiculous!! There is no reason a fully vaccinated under 5 yr old should be treated any different than other vaccinated guests. Keep us updated on how it goes. My DD goes for her second shot tomorrow. I’m gonna be so pissed if she will still have to test extra and wear a mask the kids club. Luckily, we have till end of October so if they don’t treat the under 5 vaccinated kids the same as the others, hopefully, enough parents of under 5 will complain that it will be changed before we go.

This entire age group has been treated horribly when it comes to vaccines, so it’s really no surprise.

Good luck to your DD. My son had no reaction to either shot.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

This entire age group has been treated horribly when it comes to vaccines, so it’s really no surprise

Ain't that the truth!!!! Disney needs to get it's sh!t together soon for these kids and families!

 

[nancipants]

I responded to their email:

"Thank you for your response, ___.

I'm disappointed that Disney Cruise Line is not acknowledging that children 6 months to 4 years of age are now eligible to be vaccinated. As my son will be two weeks after his final vaccine shot, he should be treated the same as every other vaccinated guest regarding testing, regardless of age. I sincerely hope this policy is reconsidered."

 

[n2mm]

I responded to their email:

"Thank you for your response, ___.

I'm disappointed that Disney Cruise Line is not acknowledging that children 6 months to 4 years of age are now eligible to be vaccinated. As my son will be two weeks after his final vaccine shot, he should be treated the same as every other vaccinated guest regarding testing, regardless of age. I sincerely hope this policy is reconsidered."

good luck. I totally agree with you. Keep us posted. I’m on the 9/3/22 cruise and some folks are trying to sort it out too. Fully vaxed means fully vaxed no matter what age.