With cruise lines starting to experience an increase in demand due to loosening of COVID-19 rules, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian set to no longer restrict trips based on vaccination status,
The cruise companies stated this week that starting on September 3 for NCL and starting on September 5 for Carnival and Royal Caribbean, almost all U.S.-based trips will be available for booking to unvaccinated passengers. Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Celebrity Cruises, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas have all advertised similar positions.
The need for vaccinations is still in place for sailings to Bermuda or Canada.
For any sailing that is less than 10 nights, Royal Caribbean passengers who are immunized won’t be required to complete a pre-cruise test. Prior to now, cruise lines had restricted it to voyages lasting fewer than five nights. The restriction for Carnival will increase to 15 nights or fewer. For passengers who have received a vaccination, NCL will not demand pre-cruise testing on any trip.
No matter the length of the voyage, all three lines still demand testing for unvaccinated passengers three days prior to boarding. However, Royal will start accepting outcomes from examinations that are self-administered at home.
Most European cruises let unvaccinated passengers to board, however transatlantic flights as well as overseas departure ports like Australia and Singapore have vaccination requirements.
After the U.S. lifted its pre-cruise testing requirements for travelers who had received vaccinations in July, Virgin Voyages did the same. The COVID-19 monitoring program was discontinued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It also allowed some travelers who had never had vaccinations to board ships.
However, the majority of Disney Cruise Line and MSC Cruises are still bound by past immunization requirements.
All MSC Cruises passengers must be fully immunized if they are 12 years of age or older, but starting on August 29, the pre-cruise testing requirement is waived for sailings of five nights or fewer. Ages 2 to 11 unvaccinated children will still require pre-cruise testing. Similar procedures are still in effect for Virgin Voyages and Silversea Cruises.
Beginning on September 2 for sailings from U.S. and Canadian ports, Disney Cruise Line will remove its vaccination age restriction. The vaccination age threshold, which had previously been set at 5, will now be raised to 12 and up.
All visitors must still present documentation proving they underwent negative COVID-19 testing two days or less prior to sailing or submit to a test prior to boarding at the cruise terminal. Passengers are liable for the fees associated with on-site testing. Even while the cruise line covers the cost of the on-site test for unvaccinated passengers, they are still required to do it within three days and at the terminal.
After the pandemic broke out in March 2020, the cruise industry was shut down for about a year and a half, with multiple outbreaks centered on cruise ships. In an effort to get cruise lines back in operation and out from under the CDC’s no-sail order, the industry collaborated with the CDC to devise a number of safety precautions.
The first ships sailed from American ports in the summer of 2021, and it took the cruise lines until the beginning of spring 2022 to put the majority of their fleets back into operation.