Cruise Lines Lifting Testing Protocols

Covid-19 Rapid Testing

The image on the right may look familiar to many of you who have cruised during 2022.   It is the Abbot Labs self-test kit accepted by the majority of cruise lines as a valid proctored rapid test.

While there hasn't been any formal declaration of an end to the pandemic, there have been some positive trends which has prompted the cruise lines to relax some of their Covid-19 protocols.   The latest round of updates includes the lifting of testing requirements with certain exceptions.

We just returned from our Transatlantic cruise on Celebrity Beyond.  This image was actually captured when we did our pre-cruise test at the airport.

Our particular cruise was one of the exceptions requiring passengers to be fully vaccinated, and to have a proctored PCR or Antigen test with negative results presented in order to board the ship.

Here are the latest updates from the cruise lines regarding testing requirements.   It is best to consult your cruise lines' health and safety page prior to sailing as requirements fluctuate frequently.

Royal Caribbean and Disney have announced that they are lifting testing protocols for sailings departing from the United States with some exceptions. Check out all the details below.

Royal Caribbean

Summary  
Royal Caribbean has already made the decision to welcome all guests, regardless of vaccination status, onboard their itineraries. Now, effective November 2, 2022, travelers on U.S., Barbados, or Singapore sailings — regardless of vaccination status — will no longer require pre-departure testing, with a few exclusions outlined below.  

 What You Need To Know

 Vaccination Recommended:

• We recommend that guests be fully vaccinated and boostered against COVID‐19.
• While vaccination is not required, we kindly ask guests disclose their status during check-in.

 Testing: 

• Effective November 2, 2022, all travelers — regardless of vaccination status — will no longer require pre-departure testing.
• Exclusions apply to sailings to Colombia, Haiti, Honduras, Transatlantic and Australia sailings.
• The Barbados Customs & Immigration form is no longer required for entry into Barbados.

 U.S. & Barbados Departures visiting Colombia, Haiti, & Honduras: 

• All unvaccinated guests ages 12 years and older must present a negative COVID-19 test result taken within 3 days prior to sailing.
• Fully vaccinated guests and guests ages 11 years and younger are exempt from this test.

 Resources

• Sailing Information FAQ
• Healthy Cruising

Disney Cruise Line

 Statement

Beginning November 14, 2022, for sailings departing from the United States, Disney Cruise Line will no longer require Guests (regardless of vaccination status) to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test prior to sailing. Disney Cruise Line continues to highly recommend that all Guests be fully vaccinated and encourages unvaccinated Guests to take a COVID-19 test two days prior to sailing.

 Resources

• Disney Cruise Line Health & Safety Policies
• Know Before You Go 

Celebrity Cruise Line

Celebrity Cruise Line has announced that they are lifting testing protocols for sailings departing from the United States with some exceptions. Check out all the details below. 

Statement  

Beginning with departures on November 2, 2022: All travelers, regardless of vaccination status, are welcome to cruise with us and will no longer be required to provide proof of pre-departure testing, except for specific sailings where vaccination or testing are required by law.

What You Need to Know

Exceptions currently include:

• Bermuda Itineraries
• Galapagos Itineraries
• Australia New Zealand Itineraries
• Transatlantic/Transpacific Crossings
• Select Caribbean Itineraries (those visiting Labadee and Grand Turk)
• Select Central and South America Itineraries (those visiting Roatan and Cartagena)

 Resources

• Healthy at Sea
• FAQs
• Country Travel Requirements 

Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival Cruise Line has updated their pre-cruise testing protocols. Please see the details below.

Statement

Carnival Cruise Line is informing guests and travel agents of additional updates to its pre-cruise testing protocols for guests on voyages 15 nights or less. These changes are consistent with the evolving public health guidelines and will be acceptable for arriving cruise guests effective immediately. Vaccines, proof of vaccination, and testing for unvaccinated guests are no longer required on cruises of 15 nights or less. However, Carnival encourages all guests 5 years and older to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines, when eligible, carry proof of vaccination, and get tested before embarkation.

What You Need to Know

• Cruises of 15 nights or less: Although not required for either vaccinated or unvaccinated guests, Carnival encourages all guests 5 years and older to take a pre-cruise test within three days of their cruise.
• Cruises of 16 nights or more: Guests age 5 years and older have to present a PCR or antigen test taken within 3 days before sailing (unsupervised self-tests are not accepted).
• A VeriFLY pass is no longer necessary for check-in.

Resources

• Have Fun. Be Safe.

 

Princess Cruises

Princess Cruise Lines has lifted all protocols for most voyages.

Statement

Beginning October 21, protocols to cruising have been lifted. This means that for most voyages there are no longer vaccination or testing requirements. This applies to itineraries to all destinations except where government regulations may vary like Australia and on a few enhanced guidelines voyages that have their own vaccination and testing requirements.

Resources

• Important Cruise Details
• Vaccination & testing requirements
• Enhanced guidelines voyages
• FAQs

 

Bermuda

Bermuda has announced that they will no longer require testing for cruise passengers beginning October 25, 2022. Health insurance requirements will remain the same.

 Please be mindful that at this time, not all cruise lines websites are updated with the below information. It is important to continue referencing the cruise line websites for specific health and safety guidelines.

Statement

All Cruise travellers arriving October 25, 2022, onwards will no longer require a pre-travel test, arrival test or a day 4 test. Unvaccinated non-resident travellers will still be required to upload valid proof of travel health insurance to enter Bermuda. 
 

Resources

• Apply for a Bermuda Travel Authorisation
• Click here for Bermuda’s definition of fully vaccinated
• Click here for the requirements for valid proof of travel health insurance
• Click here for the requirements for a valid pre-travel test.

Norwegian Cruise Line

Today, Norwegian Cruise Line announced it will eliminate COVID-19 requirements …

 What You Need To Know

• Norwegian Cruise Line announced that it has updated its global health and safety protocols by removing all COVID-19 requirements effective October 4, 2022 including:
• Testing
• Masking  
• Vaccination
• With the easing of the Cruise Line’s health and safety protocols, NCL will continue to follow the travel guidelines as required by the destinations it visits.
• Please see the resources below for more detailed information about the country requirements.

Resources

• Cruise Travel Requirements by Country
• For more information about the required travel documentation they will need for their NCL voyage – www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/cruise-travel-documents 
• Sail Safe

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Earth Day 2022 - Travel and You

 Happy Earth Day 2022
April 22nd

Invest in Our Planet

Now is the time to preserve and protect our health, our families, our livelihoods… together, we must Invest In Our Planet.

There is still time to solve the climate crisis, but it's going to take all of us!

We love cruising the world's oceans and waterways.  It is one of the most enjoyable ways to explore the earth.  In order to continue doing so, we need to protect the oceans and our land for generations to come.  Each of you can help make a difference in the future of Mother Earth.

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day events in more than 193 countries are now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network.

Earth Day Network’s mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Earth Day 2022 is dedicated to raise awareness about what each of us does, and how we do it, which has a huge ripple effect on our ecosystems, and on the pace of corporate and government action.

Environmentally Conscious Vacation Experiences

Did you know that Cruise Lines offer an environmentally conscious vacation experience? 

CLIA Cruise Line Members lead, invest, and collaborate to minimize their ships’ impact on the environment.

CLIA ocean-going cruise lines are pursuing net carbon neutral cruising by 2050 across the global fleet.

Fueling the future 

The immediate future includes the introduction of alternate fuels in support of the IMO goal to achieve zero emissions. 

Cruise lines are at the forefront in developing responsible environmental practices, leading by example for the world’s shipping industry.  Learn more on CLIA website.  

Celebrity Beyond, which sails in just a few more days, is the first in the fleet to be LNG powered.  Royal Caribbean has 3 ships on order which will be powered by LNG.   Carnival Mardi Gras is already sailing.  As mentioned many more are to come.  Congratulations to the cruise lines which are taking this important measures to protect the future.

Lighthouse Project Trees4Travel Partnership 

The Globus family of brands Lighthouse Project is focused on three, give-back categories: 

• Planet: The Globus family of brands makes every effort to conserve and preserve in each destination visited. To protect waterways and wildlife and shine a light on organizations that do the same. 
• People: The Globus family of brands is dedicated to protecting, respecting and supporting the extraordinary communities of the world as well as improving the individual lives within them. The measure of success? – The megawatt smiles we see along the way. 
• Places: The parks, palaces, museums and monuments we enjoy today are the result of previous generations passionately committed to preservation. By way of the Lighthouse Project, the Globus family of brands aims to pay it forward so that future generations can enjoy the same glorious places to relax, renew and reflect. 

To offset travel’s carbon emissions @globusfamily is donating trees to be planted on behalf of every Avalon Waterways guest in 2022.  They area also inviting their guests to be involved.

For more information about the Globus family of brands’ Lighthouse Project, visit each company Web site at Globus, Cosmos, Avalon Waterways, Monograms. For more information about Trees4Travel, visit Trees4Travel.

Help End Plastic Pollution by finding out how many plastic items you consume every year 

and make a PLEDGE to reduce the amount.

Additional Resources:

 (click on the image to enlarge)

U.S. EPA | Earth Day

National Geographic for Kids

4Ocean Earth Day

A Global Concern

When we were in Southeast Asia before the pandemic we toured Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.  These signs underscore the need to take action to protect our environment.  We encourage you to start your education on this Earth Day 2022, and take steps to conserve and recycle during your vacations and daily lives.  

Thank you to CLIA, Participating Cruise Lines, EPA, Earth Day Network and their sponsors for efforts to educate and make changes necessary for sustainability.  And thank YOU for doing your part.  

We must work together to protect endangered and threatened species: bees, coral reefs, elephants, giraffes, insects, whales and more.

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Ship Size Does Matter - Now More Than Ever

	vs.
Length=1184 feet    Capacity=5518		Length=361 feet     Capacity=128

(Updated 10/19/2021)

What's Your Preference?

Do you prefer the large ocean-going ships, the more initiate river cruise ships, or something in between?  Now more than ever, factoring in the concerns around health safety as cruising resumes,  ship type and size is one of the key factors in vacation planning.

On the left is Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas and on the right is Avalon Waterways Artistry II. Just to give you an additional sense of scale, the first cruise ship we went on in the 80s was Carnival Celebration which weighed in around 37,500 GTs. At the time, that was one of the largest vessels in Carnival Cruise Line's fleet. The Symphony is over 6 times heavier (228,081 GT) than the Celebration and Artistry II weighing in at a fraction  of either vessel (2022 GT).

Ocean-going Ships Come In Many Sizes

In our post last year, Size Does Matter - They Come In Many Sizes, we showed a picture of Oasis of the Seas next to Grandeur of the Seas.  We also compared Oasis-class ships with the Eifel Tower, Statue of Liberty, and Boeing 747 airplanes to give you a sense of scale.

Ocean-going vessels have continued to get larger over time.  For passengers seeking new innovations at sea, this was good news, because the larger the canvas, the more diverse the onboard actives can be. Of course, the larger the ship, the higher the price tag, but with increased capacity, there are more passengers to share the weekly cost of operation.   Wait times for embarkation and other activities can fluctuate with ship size, but most lines have found measures to overcome the increased capacity.

River Cruise Ship Size

Traditional European size river cruise vessels are about the same size (excluding the double-wide AMA vessels).  Some might be slightly longer (like the Viking River longboats) but they are built to sail under centuries’ old bridges and squeeze between 12-meter-wide locks. The Avalon Waterways Artistry II shown here has a capacity of 128 passengers and 37 crew.  

Ship Size and COVID-19

As we begin to emerge from the COVID-19 cruise suspensions, passengers will need to consider several factors when planning their next travel adventure.   Are they comfortable on a ship that holds 5000 passengers or would one that holds 150 passengers be more appealing to them?   Of course, capacities will be reduced, per the guidelines that CLIA is recommending to member cruise lines, but the proportional differences remain the same.

Another consideration will be the size of the ship and available space for social distancing.   On one of the large cruise ships, there's a lot more public areas that can be utilized, allowing for greater social distancing.   With smaller capacity, even things like the theater can have protocols implemented to accommodate the new guidelines.

The larger the ship, the more area that needs to be kept sanitary by the crew.  Conversely, with smaller footprint, the more likely that public areas will have been used and surfaces exposed to potential germs.

Of course, this is nothing new as cruise lines have always taken measures to keep their passengers and crew safe as possible by implementing vessel sanitation.   I'd be more comfortable on a ship than on a plane for example as ships are constantly cleaning, while a plane is only cleaned once they get to their destination.

Ocean-going vessels will have increased medical capacity onboard, based on the CLIA guidelines. River cruise ships may not have additional staff, but they can pull into the next town should additional care be needed, while the cruise ship might need to wait for a helicopter or Coast Guard vessel to provide additional aide.   Size of vessels constrict the amount of space utilized for any purpose.

Summary

One important take away is that size is just one factor when planning your cruise vacation, but it is an important one. Take advantage of the expertise among cruise specialists in deciding the right ship for you and your traveling partners. The last thing you'd want would be to be expecting a ship the size of Grandeur of the Seas and step out of your cab to find Oasis of the Seas in front of you at the pier. 

No matter what size you are looking for, you'll find a ship in one of the cruise line's fleets that meets your needs. They come in many sizes, shapes, and with many different attractions. Personally, the fun is in selecting the ship you want to try next and enjoying everything it has to offer once you start your cruise vacation.

 

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Cruise lines are offering special promotions and pricing on popular cruises to encourage consumers to plan their next cruise vacation now. We'll be featuring promotions on our website and social media.

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I recently completed extensive training and have become Travel Safety Verified. As your dedicated Travel Advisor, your safety is our priority, and it's our job to ensure you have the necessary information you need to give you confidence and peace of mind when making your future travel plans. Click the link to review our Travel Safety program with valuable resources that will answer many of your questions.

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