will cruise lines lift vaccine mandate
More travelers will soon be able to book a cruise when Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. becomes the first cruise company to drop vaccination requirements starting Sept. 3, 2022. Royal Caribbean Group which owns Silverseas and Celebrity is hinting at unvaccinated cruises later this year. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. 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. Its important to note if the cruise line has a limit of unvaccinated guests. The cruise line is working with the ports and says it will share information to travel agents and guests as it becomes available. The new protocols will be introduced on a rolling basis, starting with Disney Wish, and concluding with Disney Magic on November 7. The vaccine-mandate reversal is the latest update in a heated battle between cruise lines and the state, which has banned vaccine passports. "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 . Del Rio asked where this policy may be heading? Now nursing homes are pushing to lift the vaccination mandate altogether. RELATED: NCLH Drops COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements, Welcomes Everyone to Sail. Azamara. The parent company of Norwegian Cruise Line says passengers are still splurging on luxury trips. First and foremost, it's . Children ages four and younger do not need to be vaccinated, nor do they need to provide a negative test result. Before boarding all three cruise lines, passengers must show their original vaccination cards. Unvaccinated guests are welcome to sail on most voyages, except for itineraries that feature destinations with local regulations that may continue to require vaccination including Australia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued long-awaited technical guidance for cruise lines on Friday, bringing them one step closer to sailing again in United States . The vaccination policy for Cunard passengers remains the same. On shorter cruises that . Cruises visiting Greece require a supervised test. Vaccinated guests, regardless of age, no longer need to test for the shorter sailings. Reason is an American libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. Margaritaville at Seas vaccinated guests will no longer be required to undergo testing prior to boarding, making it quicker and easier than ever to escape to paradise.. What You Need to Know About Norwegian Cruise Lines Premium+ Drink Package, 12 Things to Know Before Sailing Royal Caribbean, Carnival Drops Pre-Cruise Testing & Vaccination Requirements, NCLH Drops COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements, Welcomes Everyone to Sail, Cruise News Recap | Week of February 5, 2023, Philippines Welcomes First International Cruise Ship in Three Years, Pre-Cruise Entertainment Reservations Now Available on Norwegian Cruise Line. Whats notably missing are Eastern Caribbean cruises, such as those that sail to the Bahamas. We highly recommend that all Guests become fully vaccinated before sailing and encourage unvaccinated Guests to take a COVID-19 test 2 days prior to their cruise. If this is the case, you still need a negative test or be vaccinated. He joined the Post in May 2021. We know you like itthats why youre here. webpage. The rules will vary by port, but an awful lot of sailings would be covered simply by adopting this rule change. 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. - As of July 25, 2022, the line no longer requires pre-cruise testing unless . Vaccination Requirements: While all guests 12 and up are required to be fully vaccinated, children ages 5-11 may be unvaccinated with approval from the cruise line. The mass market of Unvaccinated cruises are not back yet. This easing applies to certain departures out of Los Angeles in California, Galveston in Texas, New Orleans in Louisiana, and cruises in Europe. Carnivals 50th anniversary sailabration kicks off in Long Beach. Unvaccinated guests are welcome to sail on all voyages, except for those to or from Australia and on transatlantic and transpacific cruises. All new vaccination and testing policies remainsubject to local destination regulations, according to the company. Anne Kalosh | Aug 12, 2022. Since then, cruise lines can make their own rules and manage the monitoring of Covid-19 on cruise ships on their own. (Note: Since the initial announcement, the CDC has released new guidance for cruise ships on the mitigation and management of the virus. Gottlieb,a former FDA commissioner and Pfizer board member, who also co-chaired the Healthy Sail Panel, spoke in an NCLH briefing for travel partners and media. If you have a question or would like to make a press inquiry, please contact: Scott Mackenzie We will always have to be in compliance with the destinations. Coronavirus. This announcement is the most significant to date, and is another step to greater consumer confidence in travel. Antibody tests are not accepted. The 10% rule remains in effect for cruising leaving the United States. Starting October 14, Disney Cruise Line will drop the vaccine mandate for all guests and introduce relaxed testing requirements for fully vaccinated guests. 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The options available to unvaccinated guests continue to expand. 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. Check with Carnival for specific cruise requirements. On July 18, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the elimination of its COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships sailing in U.S. waters, a first-of-its-kind move that would allow each individual cruise line to manage its own COVID-19 mitigation programs. 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. Unvaccinated guests are welcome to sail on all voyages, except for itineraries that feature destinations that continue to require vaccinations. Starting March 11, 2023, proof of vaccination for sailings to or from Europe will no longer be required. (Note: This . Those 16 and older must be vaccinated. by Rocky HoranLast updated October 26, 2022. Then theyll make decisions about whether or not they continue to require vaccines in certain settings," he added. Cruise lines and Florida have been in a heated standoff over vaccine passports. 2023 TheStreet, Inc. All rights reserved. Princess Cruises removed its vaccine requirement for most voyages of less than 16 days and adjusted testing requirements. Cruise planners call for Baltic 'reimagining,' sustainability support, Natalya Leahy succeeds Josh Leibowitz as Seabourn president, Carnival Corp. & plc arranges new forward starting $2.1b credit facility, Former Genting Hong Kong ship World Dream reported sold to Cruise Saudi, Port Canaveral overtook Miami as world's busiest cruise port in 2022 (updated), NCLH issues $250m 9.75% notes, amended Apollo deal has option for up to $650m notes, Court temporarily blocks Crystal/A&K from employing Lira, using Silversea info, reduced isolation/quarantine times for highly vaccinated ships, Allowed HTML tags: . 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. 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. I think CDC is going to want to see what [that] looks like. All Rights Reserved. This news comes as the cruise industry starts to relax its protocols and aligns with other travel sectors, such as flights. For those who are unvaccinated, pre-embarkation testing is required. Copyright 2023 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. Despite passenger numbers rebounding post-pandemic, the company posted an annual net loss of $2.27 billion. Travel Codex is owned by Travel Codex, LLC. Unvaccinated passengers ages 12 and older must present a medically supervised negative PCR or antigen test taken no more than 72 hoursbefore sailing. . Cruise Lines Relax COVID Testing and Vaccination Policies For trips shorter than six days, vaccinated passengers will no longer need to obtain a negative test result before boarding. 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. To be exempt from testing requirements, fully vaccinated guests should still upload their proof of vaccination to the Inspire Diagnostics Safe Passage website by midnight before embarkation day. This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Cruise Hive was established back in 2008 and among the earliest blogs in the industry. Unvaccinated travelers, or those who do not provide proof of vaccination, will need to self-test within three days before embarking and upload proof of a negative test. Seatrade Cruise News is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC. Informa Markets, a trading division of Informa PLC. However, with cruises providing notoriously great value for money, there's little worry from the cruise lines. Now, more cruise lines are dropping Covid vaccine and precruise Covid testing requirements. "We're going to announce very . Keep in mind the world is one world but not one place. Carnival Cruise Line will require testing for vaccinated passengers only on trips 16 nights or longer or where local rules mandate it, such as on sailings to Canada and Bermuda, starting on Sept . Two Summer Itineraries Modified for Disney Cruise Ship, Passenger Accused of Using Stolen Credit Cards for Royal Caribbean Cruise, Royal Caribbean Makes Major Updates for Loyal Guests, Holland America Line Gears Up For Alaska Travel Expo. Passengers on cruises 16 nights or longer, or sailing on full Panama Canal transits, trans-ocean and other specific itineraries, need to take a supervised test within three days before embarking. 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. Unvaccinated guests are welcome on most voyages. "We continue to demonstrate that in a very tangible way. Copyright 2023. In late July the CDC relaxed Covid requirements for the cruise industry. On October 15, the procedures will be implemented onboard Disney Dream. On 5 April, the proposal was amended to lift the age threshold to 60 years. They are going to want to make a decision around this after we get through another fall and winter with Covid and see if we are truly in an endemic phase with this.. This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. 2023 TheStreet, Inc. All rights reserved. What other safety measures are in place: Ocean Cruise guests will be required to get tested for COVID-19 in the terminal. Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. And every destination has its own thing. Some cruise lines already let children and a select few customers travel unvaccinated. "The fact is we were being held, and we felt unfairly, to a different standard: a zero-risk standard relative to the rest of the travel and leisure sector and the rest of society. The unvaccinated, or those who do not provide proof of vaccination, must present a negative test taken within three days before embarking. Children 11 and under are no longer required to be vaccinated. On most sailings, kids and teens ages 17 and under do not have a vaccine requirement. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Guests without vaccination will be provided a test by Disney Cruise Line. What Is It Like to Travel to Saudi Arabia. The cruise line has announced a further easing of its protocols by dropping the vaccine requirements on select sailings from September 5, 2022. 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. Disney Cruise Line does still recommend that all guests get tested before sailing. Receive full access to our market insights, commentary, newsletters, breaking news alerts, and more. Sign Up for Our Monthly Cruise Newsletter. Here's why. Copyright 2023. Earlier this week, Carnival and Norwegian cruise lines relaxed their mask rules as well. The NCL covid rules are among the most flexible for unvaccinated passengers on cruises leaving the United States. 301 Route 17 N, Suite 1150, Rutherford, NJ 07070 USA | Telephone:(201) 902-2000. On May 5, 2022, the CDC reevaluated and lowered the cruise ship vaccination status thresholds from 95 percent to 90 percent of passengers under the COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships. 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 . Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian all require anyone 12 and older sailing on their ships to be fully vaccinated. The same date applies for Disney Fantasy, sailing from Port Canaveral, visiting Tortola, St Thomas, and Castaway Cay. (That mandate does not include a booster shot.) The news about the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)] removing the COVID-19 Programfor CruiseShipsis the mostpositive indication yet that we are moving further away from the pandemic, said Brad Tolkin, co-chairman and CEO for World Travel Holdings. Vacation cruising has nearly returned to normal. 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. Anthony Pignataro is an investigative reporter and editor for the Long Beach Post. And, even when that ban was lifted, the cruise lines had to operate under a strict set of rules that no other industry had to follow. Because cruise lines sail nearly all of their ships from United States ports under foreign flags, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had much more control over the cruise industry than any other travel or entertainment business. Unvaccinated guests are welcome to sail on all voyages except for those in Australia or some that are 16 nights or longer. Royal Caribbean's Celebrity Cruises rolled back its COVID-19-vaccine mandate for Florida cruises. From Sept. 5, Royal Caribbean International will no longer require COVID-19 vaccination for cruises from California, Louisiana, Texas and Europe. This site does not include all card companies or credit card offers available in the marketplace. What to Know About Riding on the Alaska Railroad, Katmandu Park Punta Cana Is Opening March 15, 14 of the Best New Cruise Ships Launching in 2023, The Top Hotels in Mexico for a Romantic Getaway. I'm looking forward to cruising again,' he said. COVID-19 cruise cover varies depending on the provider. Advertiser Disclosure: Some links to credit cards and other products on this website will earn an affiliate commission. Children 5 and under are not . Seatrade Cruise News is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC. 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will cruise lines lift vaccine mandate