In short, Gottlieb sees a transition from government-imposed rules on isolation/quarantine to the expectation that people take personal responsibility. In addition, all guests, age 18 and older, who are more than 6 months past the last dose of their initial vaccine series must be boosted (if eligible) in order to sail: Other cruises have limited space for vaccine exempt guests through December 2022. These cruises feature spooky character encounters and enchanted pumpkin trees. Royal Caribbean said, We are working with local governments in the Eastern Caribbean to align on vaccination requirements for more itineraries. The CDC will now classify ships with a 90% or higher vaccination rate as "highly vaccinated". For the sailings from California, Louisiana, Texas and Europe, Royal Caribbean passengers won't need to show documentation of vaccination but the line will ask for vaccination status atcheck-in and recommended travelers carry their vaccination cards in case authorities or businesses in destinations ask to see those. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has lowered the travel advisory for cruise ships, indicating the agency thinks conditions have slightly improved from late last year. Reason is an American libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. Check with Seabourn for protocols on your specific sailing. Given this realization, and how vocal some potential customers and cruise lines have been about such remaining restrictions, cruise lines were already starting to lift testing requirements even before the aforementioned CDC news. Im talking more about CDC and the policy environment. Advertiser Disclosure: Some links to credit cards and other products on this website will earn an affiliate commission. Paragliders record never-before-seen footage of world's second-tallest mountain, Elizabeth Holmes has 2nd child as prison sentence looms, Dozens of sharks swarm fishing boat in feeding frenzy off Louisiana coast, video shows, Death of man found near stores on Ladys Island Tuesday ruled suicide, Oneil Cruz hits first homer but Pirates walked off by Tigers, Why coyote confrontations are up in Hudson Valley, and what to do if you're approached, Bryan Kohberger's Pennsylvania warrants unsealed. Copyright 2023. Saga was the first major cruise line to implement this vaccination policy. At the end of May, Celebrity Cruises' sibling brand Royal Caribbean announced a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all guests. Cruise-specific travel insurance is recommended on both Australian domestic cruises and international cruises. The new protocols will be introduced on a rolling basis, starting with Disney Wish, and concluding with Disney Magic on November 7. Some cruise lines already let children and a select few customers travel unvaccinated. In all cases, the protocols may vary on a particular sailing if the destination has different rules than the . His expectation is that more companies will soon remove pre-cruise COVID-19 testing, as local regulations allow. This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Covid-19 guidance will soon become optional for many cruise ship lines. Carnival Cruises no longer requires that passengers get vaccinated against COVID-19 for most voyages of less than 16 days, the company announced on Friday. For departures five nights or less out of Los Angeles and Galveston, unvaccinated guests aged 2 and over must show a negative test result to sail. All travelers who are 12 and older must be fully vaccinated. Articles are of a general nature and should not be relied upon for individual circumstances. Whats notably missing are Eastern Caribbean cruises, such as those that sail to the Bahamas. Lines and paragraphs break automatically. The same date applies for Disney Fantasy, sailing from Port Canaveral, visiting Tortola, St Thomas, and Castaway Cay. The CDC used that power to stop all cruises from U.S. ports from March 2020 through July 2021. The CDC will likely recommend COVID-19 vaccination for congregate settings like cruises through this fall and winter, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, advisor to Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, said Thursday. He has close to three decades of experience in journalism leading numerous investigations and long-form journalism projects for the OC Weekly and other publications. Gottlieb noted that the CDC would make the ultimate decision and that the agency needed more data first. Royal Caribbean is finalizing the testing for departures out of New Orleans. CDC drops risk advisory for cruise ship travel, 2 years into the COVID pandemic : Coronavirus Updates While the agency has lifted its travel health notice two years after putting it in place . Well hopefully get our first glimpse of that this year. This site is for entertainment purposes only. We respect that every guest has choices, and regardless of your vaccination status, we have amazing vacations for you to enjoy, reads the lines CruiseHealth page. The CDC's mask mandate for public transportation runs untilMarch 18, and Gottlieb thinks the agency will extend it by two or three weeks but give a definitive end date. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited. "Gov. Since the start, it's been our aim to provide the latest cruise news covering all the major cruise lines. That could change. This positivity rate is still a small fraction of what it is in society at large, and nearly all cases on board were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms.". For sailings from Southampton, Ravenna and Civitavecchia, and Amsterdam, vaccinated travelers must present a negative COVID test taken within two days before embarking, while unvaccinated travelers must test negative within one day of sailing. "The booster vaccine is causing the most challenges for my agency as far as clients not wanting to get an additional booster shot in order to sail in some parts of the world requiring this, Martindale said. Unvaccinated guests are welcome on most voyages. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has removed its "cruise ship travel health notice" after two years of warning travellers about COVID-19 infections linked to boarding a cruise ship. Disney Cruise Line becomes one of the final major lines to remove the vaccine mandate, along with relaxing testing requirements. If guests are sailing on back-to-back cruises, they will not be required to be tested in between cruises, as long as they are fully vaccinated. Please view our privacy policy for details about the information we share with our partners. Copyright 2023. I think that its likely to be a requirement that is in place through this fall and winter, Gottlieb said, according to a Cruzely report. These 3 major cruise lines are set to lift mask mandates as COVID cases drop. The nightmare cruises of spring 2020 are back as Omicron sends passenger case rates soaring. Disney Cruise Line will be changing its vaccine and testing requirements beginning September 2 for all cruises departing from ports in the United States and Canada. I think CDC is going to want to see what [that] looks like. If unvaccinated guests have recently recovered from COVID and can provide appropriate documentation, they will also be exempt from the testing requirement. Some cruise lines already let children and a select few customers travel unvaccinated. Registered in England and Wales. Oct 26, 2021, 4:08 AM. Subscribe to the Long Beach Post's daily eALERT and get the best local news in the city delivered to your inbox. We'll send you a weekly newsletter to your inbox. When it comes to the select European cruises, unvaccinated guests will have to take a test onboard to be allowed ashore in Greece or Spain. Now, the end of vaccination requirements on cruises could be closer than most people expected. Cruise Hive was established back in 2008 and among the earliest blogs in the industry. Since 2009, Cruise Radio has provided the latest cruise news and industry analysis through informative articles, videos, and weekly podcasts. As of July 14, Princess Cruises is beginning to more openly welcome unvaccinated passengers. Royal Caribbean released a further update to its protocols on Wednesday, which will go into effect in September 2022. This content has not been approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. On most sailings, kids and teens ages 17 and under do not have a vaccine requirement. Each sailing is unvaxxed capacity-controlled based on the total number of vaccinated guests projected to be on board. Yet the CDC is poised to loosen the industry's Covid leash, saying cruise lines are now positioned to . The test may be a medically observed antigen test, rapid or lab-based PCR test, or Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT). Royal Caribbean said in a letter to travel agents, Here at Royal Caribbean, you can trust we will continue to prioritize the health and safety of our guests, crew, and the communities we visit. The 10% rule remains in effect for cruising leaving the United States. Disney Cruise Line adheres to local laws, regulations and protocols in place at all homeports and ports of call . Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited. If so, vaccination may be a tool to keep around, like annual flu shots. Disney Cruise Line has not chosen to pick one date to implement the new procedures onboard its ships. This was the same . The rules will vary by port, but an awful lot of sailings would be covered simply by adopting this rule change. April 5, 2021. Disney Cruise Line has announced a significant change to its COVID-19 protocols, introducing relaxed measures that will allow guests who have not been fully vaccinated to step onboard the Disney cruise ships once again. By maximizing miles and points, cheap deals, sales, backpacking, and couchsurfing Rocky has traveled to 75 countries and still counting. When it comes to cruises that are six nights or more, all guests aged 2 and over must present a negative test result taken within three days before departure. Earlier this week, Carnival and Norwegian cruise lines relaxed their mask rules as well. 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