Child Turning 5 Right before Scheduled Cruise

[drew4sports]

We have a cruise booked for next year and will be taking our currently 4 year old son. He turns 5 years old just 3 weeks before the cruise which means it will be impossible for him to be fully vaccinated. I contacted Disney multiple times and have received mixed answers on (1) whether he will even be allowed to board, (2) if allowed to board, whether he will be allowed to fully participate in activities with other 5-12 year olds, and (3) where the official policy on this for Disney is. I would hate to get to the port and be denied boarding.
One cast member wouldn’t even give me an answer since she did not know what the policy was but another told me my son would be allowed to board but wasn’t sure on whether he would be allowed to fully participate in activities. Is anyone else running into this issue? I am leaning towards moving our cruise to a later date but my son is already looking forward to the cruise. Thoughts?

 

[MomOTwins]

What is the sail date?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I would move the cruise.

 

[Peaseblossom36]

When next year? If it’s later next year I would hold off and see what happens, if it’s earlier in the year I would definitely move it.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

(1) whether he will even be allowed to board, (2) if allowed to board,

From the DCL website:

Currently, Disney Cruise Line continues to require all vaccine-eligible Guests (based on US eligibility requirements) to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as defined by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at the time of sailing. This will be a requirement for all Guests (US and international) ages 5 and up for sailings beginning on or after January 13, 2022.

Depending on when your cruise is, he may or may not be allowed to actually board. Sorry, don't know what that means regarding participation in the club.

 

[drew4sports]

What is the sail date?

Jan 13 (the exact date the vaccine requirement goes into effect)

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Jan 13 (the exact date the vaccine requirement goes into effect)

Well, I'd say he won't be able to cruise then.

 

[lanejudy]

I don’t know if it’s officially posted anywhere, but DCL has been allowing a grace period for kids turning 12 within 5 weeks of the cruise. I heard that would be extended to new 5-yr-olds once the new rule takes effect in January.

 

[Narcoossee11]

You will need to move the date. No changes to policy for a Winter sail date . Maybe a summer date but no way winter.
This same situation happened earlier this year with preteens and parents needed to modify sailing.

Hopefully a new date will work.

 

[Kwami]

I don’t know if it’s officially posted anywhere, but DCL has been allowing a grace period for kids turning 12 within 5 weeks of the cruise. I heard that would be extended to new 5-yr-olds once the new rule takes effect in January.

DCL did the same thing for the 12+ group. At first, there were no exceptions, but then DCL modified the policy to allow a 5-week grace period for kids that turned 12 close to departure. I expect that they'll continue this for the 5+ group, especially since we don't know of any ports actually requiring them to be vaccinated, yet.

 

[drew4sports]

I don’t know if it’s officially posted anywhere, but DCL has been allowing a grace period for kids turning 12 within 5 weeks of the cruise. I heard that would be extended to new 5-yr-olds once the new rule takes effect in January.

This is what the 2nd Disney cruise line cast member I talked to told me. However, he was not able to point me to an official policy and wasn’t sure if my son would be allowed to fully participate in activities. Do you have any experience with the 5 week grace period? Do you think he will be able to fully participate in activities (mainly thinking of kids clubs)?

 

[lanejudy]

Do you have any experience with the 5 week grace period? Do you think he will be able to fully participate in activities (mainly thinking of kids clubs)?

I don’t have first-hand experience but I do know the grace period has definitely been in effect for 12-yr-olds. Like I said, I don’t know if it’s posted anywhere, though.

As for participating in the Club/Lab - I can’t see why not. 3-4 yr olds will still be there unvaccinated. DCL has not used tighter age groupings for years so I’d be surprised if that started now.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

We are in the same predicament- embark 2 days after 5th birthday.
I trust the 5 week grace window exists. I do not however know how annoying it will be and can’t find anyone whose actually used it besides ‘my travel agent had someone’

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I don’t have first-hand experience but I do know the grace period has definitely been in effect for 12-yr-olds. Like I said, I don’t know if it’s posted anywhere, though.

As for participating in the Club/Lab - I can’t see why not. 3-4 yr olds will still be there unvaccinated. DCL has not used tighter age groupings for years so I’d be surprised if that started now.

Unless that gets announced as a change. I could see them dividing it up and having specific times for 3-4s.

 

[TreeFalls]

I'd also call your pediatrician and see about starting the vaccine series a few weeks before his birthday.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'd also call your pediatrician and see about starting the vaccine series a few weeks before his birthday.

I don't know that they could do that. The vaccine isn't approved (emergency use) for under 5 year olds. Yes, a technicality, but it is what it is.

 

[TreeFalls]

I don't know that they could do that. The vaccine isn't approved (emergency use) for under 5 year olds. Yes, a technicality, but it is what it is.

Some doctors did it off label for 11 year olds when it was approved down to 12... but I do know that the fda and cdc spoke out against off label use, so I'm not sure where it currently stands. I think it's worth a phone call if they were planning to vaccinate anyway.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Some doctors did it off label for 11 year olds when it was approved down to 12... but I do know that the fda and cdc spoke out against off label use, so I'm not sure where it currently stands. I think it's worth a phone call if they were planning to vaccinate anyway.

Off label use usually means that,, while it might be alright for a doctor to prescribe something not in line with the authorized use, the doctor has no legal protections if something goes wrong.

 

[Kwami]

Off label use usually means that,, while it might be alright for a doctor to prescribe something not in line with the authorized use, the doctor has no legal protections if something goes wrong.

Extra risky when the drug only has an EUA and hasn't been approved for sale by the FDA. That's like off-off-label. So far, only Pfizer has been approved for sale in the US, but only for adults.

 

[anneeb]

I'd also call your pediatrician and see about starting the vaccine series a few weeks before his birthday.

I'm a pediatrician. We cannot do this. The federal government owns the vaccine and we have to apply through our state health department to be authorized to recieve shipments of the vaccine and administer them. When Pfizer recieved full approval and we started getting requests for off-label use for younger kids we recieved a flurry of warnings from the health department that if we did so we would have our status as a vaccine site revoked. We also are not covered by the vaccine adverse events fund (the federal fund which is essentially malpractice coverage for vaccines) if we give doses for ages outside the EUA. Criminal charges for theft were brought against a pharmacist who knowingly gave several vaccine doses under age 12. Finally, doses under 5 are expected to be considerably smaller than the 5-11 dose. So even if a child is only a few weeks from age 5 the recommended dose will be lower.