We make sure cruisers are fully prepared for their cruise vacation with tips on ships and ports. Cruises 6 days or more: All guests are required to take an official COVID-19 test before boarding. The options available to unvaccinated guests continue to expand. Fully-vaccinated . Starting September 3, 2022, Norwegian Cruise Line Parent company is adjusting the required pre-cruise testing and vaccination protocols for all cruises, with the new guidelines taking effect September 3, 2022. The vaccine-mandate reversal is the latest update in a heated battle between cruise lines and the state, which has banned vaccine passports. You can keep up with her on Instagram at @IAmSarahJaneB. Apr 12, 2022 10:20 AM EDT. As you heard me say, we have carried approximately 1.3 million guests since the restart, with about 2,500 guests testing positive for Covid-19, a positivity rate of 0.19%. Before boarding all three . abruptly stopped any covid-related regulation. Here's why. 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.". With that in mind, we've put together this list of cruise lines allowing unvaccinated guests to sail, as well as what the other lines currently require regarding vaccinations. "[Cruises] still trade, unfortunately, at a significant discount to land-based vacations. But there's a catch: Unvaccinated passengers - or those unwilling to show proof of the vaccine - will face onboard restrictions, extra COVID-19 tests, and additional costs, according to the cruise line. For the time being, cruise lines are mostly holding strong to their vaccine mandates, but another subset of travelers is hoping those will eventually go away, too. Copyright 2023. Clients are booking now and into the future, and he believes the cruise lines are mostly getting back to normal operations and looking at long-term planning. Guests who have not been fully vaccinated will be required to provide a COVID-19 test taken one or two days before the sail date. Now, the official termination of the CDC program is only accelerating the elimination of testing among other lines. Carnival allows unvaccinated guests to return to sailing. These cruises feature spooky character encounters and enchanted pumpkin trees. That means three pillars of the government's made-in-Canada COVID-19 vaccine procurement strategy have failed or could soon fail. Unvaccinated passengers or those who do not provide proof of vaccination must present the results of a negative PCR or antigen test taken within three days of embarkation, the company announced. Norwegian Cruise lines is just a one cruise lines which has updated their requirements for cruises this fall. Guests of . The cruise line has announced a further easing of its protocols by dropping the vaccine requirements on select sailings from September 5, 2022. There are also excursion rules and limited capacity. This means $178 worth of COVID-19 tests, strict mask requirements, seating restrictions in areas like theaters and casinos, and the possibility of not being able to go ashore, depending on local restrictions. The changes are nuanced, depending on embarkation ports and destinations and, in some cases, by cruise length, and vary by . "We would object to it," DeSantis said in response to a question from a reporter about such mandates. 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 . The cruise line also noted that children under 5 will not need to receive a vaccine exemption to sail under the new COVID-19 program, and passengers can expect "additional flexibility" in pre . Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. Eventually, those rules were loosened and the CDC's program became voluntary, and now, the federal agency has abruptly stopped any covid-related regulation or tracking of the cruise industry. 2023 TheStreet, Inc. All rights reserved. As of July 14, Princess Cruises is beginning to more openly welcome unvaccinated passengers. Lines and paragraphs break automatically. Since the start, it's been our aim to provide the latest cruise news covering all the major cruise lines. . Since the start, it's been our aim to provide the latest cruise news covering all the major cruise lines. 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. Carnival, the largest cruise operator in the world, operates three vessels out of Long Beach. Currently, guests with a certificate of recovery within 90 days of travel are welcome to cruise. THURSDAY, March 31, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A two-year advisory that warned Americans against going on cruises has been dropped by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cruises visiting Greece require a supervised test. 'One-way masking works,' Gottlieb said, provided it's a high-quality mask like an N95. Unvaccinated guests are welcome to sail on all voyages except for those in Australia or some that are 16 nights or longer. Disney Cruise Line adheres to local laws, regulations and protocols in place at all homeports and ports of call . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. All guests must be vaccinated to sail with Viking. 2023 TheStreet, Inc. All rights reserved. Cruise-specific travel insurance is recommended on both Australian domestic cruises and international cruises. Make sure you choose a travel insurance policy that covers you for cruising, and any activities you do on shore. Gottlieb surmised US public health officials may take a decision on vaccination mandatesin springtime 2023,after the country gets through another fall and winter to see if COVID enters the endemic phase. We finally got to a place that brings us much closer to where the rest of society is in terms of freedom to operate responsibly," the CEO said, according to a Travel Weekly article. Pre-cruise testing is no longer required, except for cruises to Canada, Bermuda, Greece and Australia (per local guidelines), and on voyages 16 nights or longer. These new guidelines apply to itineraries from all departure ports except where government regulations and protocols may vary like Canada, Greece and Australia. Since September 6, passengers on itineraries that are 16 nights or less, and who show proof . Guests will still need to follow the pre-cruise testing requirements. Now, the end of vaccination requirements on cruises could be closer than most people expected. This is like a transition year. The protocol changes come right on time for unvaccinated guests to experience the ever-popular Halloween on the High Seas cruises onboard the Disney ships in October. Unvaccinated children under 5 do not require pre-cruise testing. Disney Magic will be the last ship to make changes on November 7, sailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico. If you are taking a cruise and still need a rapid Covid-19 antigen test, try Azova for a inexpensive effective option. Unvaccinated guests are welcome on most voyages, except for those that visit destinations where local regulations vary, including Australia. By maximizing miles and points, cheap deals, sales, backpacking, and couchsurfing Rocky has traveled to 75 countries and still counting. 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. To date, the biggest group to confirm it will likely extend its 100 percent vaccination policy into . For cruises of five or fewer nights from Los Angeles, vaccinated passengers won't need to test for COVID. Find an update to carnival covid-19 requirements here. That's what the three major cruise lines had to do. The vaccination policy for Cunard passengers remains the same. ", "Companies doing business in Florida, including Celebrity Cruises, should immediately cease to impose such discriminatory policies upon individuals," Christina Pushaw, DeSantis' press secretary, told Insider in an email in May. . Now that is being further expanded as cruise lines try to return to normal. Starting Sept. 6, vaccinated travelers on cruises under16 days will no longer have to test before embarking and only need to upload proof of vaccination while getting OceanReady. Under the new rules, Unvaccinated passengers ages 12 and older must still present a medically supervised negative PCR or antigen test taken no more than 72 hoursbefore sailing. Vaccinated passengers still must present a medically supervised negative covid antigen or rapid pcr test before sailing. April 5, 2021. He joined the Post in May 2021. Most Americans have a strong opinion on vaccines -- strong to the point that the topic has caused family rifts and led friends to stop speaking to each other. All new vaccination and testing policies remainsubject to local destination regulations, according to the company. 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. On shorter cruises that . Rocky started blogging on his own website When Doublewides Fly to share information about flying around the world on a dime. Its important to note if the cruise line has a limit of unvaccinated guests. The CDC has allowed cruise ships to operate with conditions since October 2020, requiring masks onboard and vaccinations or testing of passengers and crew, among other safety precautions. Before boarding all three cruise lines, passengers must show their original vaccination cards. The new guidelines effect NCL, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas. The test may be a medically observed antigen test, rapid or lab-based PCR test, or Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT). (That mandate does not include a booster shot.) All Contents Copyright 2022 Cruise Radio, Inc. | Website Designed by Insider Perks, Inc. Get the real facts delivered straight to your inbox, with trustworthy cruise related news. Norwegian Cruise shares tumble about 6% after the company's adjusted loss per share and adjusted Ebitda loss were worse than analysts expected in the fourth quarter. If so, vaccination may be a tool to keep around, like annual flu shots. Ron DeSantis' office called the cruise line's vaccine mandate "discriminatory. In all cases, the protocols may vary on a particular sailing if the destination has different rules than the . Shes been on 10 cruises and counting, and her favorite onboard activities include trying out the water slides, spending time in the spas thermal suite, eating lots of food, and attending the love & marriage show. Family cruises will be a bit easier in Europe now as Celebrity Cruises has become the first line to drop the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement for guests under the age of 18. That includes having proof of vaccination, getting tested before your trip, and wearing masks indoors. Some safety measures will stay in place, which Transport Canada noted was in line with U.S. requirements. 32. Cruise travel's CDC status has come a long way in the past few months. NBC 6's Ryan Nelson reports on Norwegian Cruise Line dropping its COVID-19 testing requirement. The Bahamas, for example recently changed its covid testing rules opening up the possibility that many Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian cruises that stop there could change the rules for those sailings. it was clearly supposed to reward people for getting vaccinated, but there's no mechanism to know if people are vaccinated, so everyone could go without masks without immediate consequence. Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian all require anyone 12 and older sailing on their ships to be fully vaccinated. Starting Sept 3, 2022, Unvaccinated Guests are welcome to cruise with no capacity limits. The industry is still recovering and working under a patchwork of regulations. I think CDC is going to want to see what [that] looks like. 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. Celebrity'highly recommended' vaccination although it won't be required for these trips. But that's what travel in general is, and people are used to that. And one month later, the state passed a law to ban vaccine passports starting July 1. Be sure to familiarize your self, or reach out and Im happy to help find you a cruise that meets you and your family needs. Share. Check the cruise lines websites for the most up-to-date information.). 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. Some cruise lines already let children and a select few customers travel unvaccinated. The new protocols will be introduced on a rolling basis, starting with Disney Wish, and concluding with Disney Magic on November 7. This announcement is the most significant to date, and is another step to greater consumer confidence in travel. For the time being, cruise lines are mostly holding strong to their vaccine mandates, but another subset of travelers is hoping those will eventually go away, too. Anne Kalosh | Aug 12, 2022. "In addition to eliminating the mandatory Bahamas Travel Health Visa, the Government of The Bahamas announced today that fully vaccinated travelers will no longer be required to submit to pre-travel COVID-19 testing to enter the country," the Bahamas Ministry of tourism shared in a press release. The cruise line has dropped all pre-cruise testing for sailings less than 6 nights. There will be no pre-cruise testing for vaccinated travelers on cruisesup to 15 nights, with the exception of full Panama Canal transits, trans-ocean and other special itineraries. And of course, some Americans either can't get vaccinated or have chosen not to. The following voyages require guests, age 12 and older, to be fully vaccinated. The cruise industry is also being affected by the change in requirements as ship passengers will no longer need to have pre-boarding COVID tests, be vaccinated, or use ArriveCAN, the agency said. Unvaccinated guests are welcome to sail on all voyages, except for itineraries that feature destinations that continue to require vaccinations. The CDC will now classify ships with a 90% or higher vaccination rate as "highly vaccinated". 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. These new requirements apply to voyages from all ports except those in Canada, Bermuda, Greece and Australia, where government regulations still require vaccinations. Cruise lines have adopted very strong Covid protocols partly because of the CDC and partly because of the optics of an outbreak on a cruise. Unvaccinated guests are welcome on most voyages. 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