CDC Lowers Covid Treat Level for Cruising

As we approach the resumption of sailing from U.S. ports of call, the CDC has lowered the threat level for vaccinated guests and provided recommendations for all travelers. 

Key Information for Cruise Ship Travelers Who Are Not Fully Vaccinated 

• CDC recommends that people who are not fully vaccinated avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises, worldwide. Since the virus spreads more easily between people in close quarters aboard ships, the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is high. It is especially important that people who are not fully vaccinated with an increased risk of severe illness avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises. 
• Cruise passengers who are not fully vaccinated are more likely to get COVID-19, which spreads person-to-person, and outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported on cruise ships. 
• People who decide to go on a cruise should get tested 1–3 days before their trip and 3–5 days after their trip. 
• In addition to testing, passengers who are not fully vaccinated should self-quarantine for 7 days after cruise travel, even if they test negative. If they do not get tested, they should self-quarantine for 10 days after cruise travel. 
• See recommendations for cruise ship travelers.

There still is no outcome on the battle between Florida and the CDC regarding requirements for vaccinations.  That suit is still pending.  Also, there is no clear answer on how cruise lines will be able to enforce the current vaccination requirement with the ban in Florida for businesses to require vaccines.  Celebrity Edge sails June 26th, so we should know soon.

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Vaccination Role in Cruise Restart

 Crew & Passenger Vaccinations

In CDC's recent letter to the cruise lines, they outlined necessary procedures to resume sailing from U.S. ports of call.  One of the options has cruise lines and passengers scrambling, if they want to move up the timeline for the resumption of operations.

One of the conditions is for the cruise ship to sail with 98% of the crew vaccinated and 95% of the passengers also vaccinated.  What that would mean is all adults 18+ would be vaccinated and the 5% would consist of children who have yet to be allowed access to vaccines in most states.

Without meeting these conditions, the cruise line would need to perform test cruises and petition the CDC to grant them permission to sail after successfully completing those cruises.   The CDC would have 5 days to respond (down from 30 to 60 in original plans).

Vaccinating Crew

As you can imagine that it is no small task, to get tens of thousands of crew, who live all over the world, vaccinated to meet this requirement.   

Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley said "It is going to be extremely important that our crew are vaccinated," in an April 30 Facebook post. 

 He went on to say "We are working to help make this possible and have been assured vaccine availability will significantly improve in the coming weeks and months globally," Bayley wrote. "I encourage all crew to get vaccinated at home if possible and to be guided by their national health authority."

Ports Helping

PortMiami is among U.S. ports that have stepped up to help provide vaccinations to crew coming from ships docked in their port.   Navigator Captain Angel Oviol (pictured above) was among crew vaccinated this week in the PortMiami. 

Port Canaveral is another Florida port that is making arrangements, via cooperation among a local healthcare center, the fire department and cruise ship medical personnel, to provide up to 1,000 vaccines a day to crew members and shoreside and waterside support workers.

Florida Governor Sending Mixed Signals 

Governor Ron DeSantis appears to want cruising to resume out of Florida ports of call.  He sued the CDC and the Biden administration to get cruising started immediately. The suit asks the court to “set aside the CDC’s unlawful actions and hold that cruises should be allowed to operate with reasonable safety protocols.” 

“We don’t believe the federal government has the right to mothball a major industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data,” DeSantis said in a news conference at Miami’s seaport. He went on to say, “I think we have a good chance for success.” 

One of the safety protocols, at least for initial sailings, is to have fully vaccinated crew and passengers. Governor Ron DeSantis Signed Landmark Legislation, Senate Bill (SB) 2006, to ban vaccine passports and stem government overreach. The legislation codifies the prohibition of COVID-19 vaccine passports. Governor DeSantis enacted this prohibition through an executive order last month, blocking any business or government entity from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

On one hand he wants to get cruising started immediately, but it appears this legislation would block the cruise line for requiring proof of vaccination.  Without that proof they will be unable to satisfy the CDC requirement for speeding up the resumption of sailing.

There is more positive news regarding vaccines coming out of Florida legislations:

A Florida Public Health Advisory approved by Governor Ron DeSantis and the state's surgeon general and issued on April 29 that expands vaccine eligibility to include "individuals who are in the state for purpose of providing goods or services for the benefit of residents and visitors of the state of Florida."

PortMiami and Port Canaveral were therefore able to provide the vaccinations to the crew under this health advisory, which the governor approved.

All eyes are on the Florida State Capital to see how these actions play out and help or hinder the resumption of cruising out of Florida.  The lines have stated that they will move more ships if this isn't sorted out soon.  Florida stands to lose more jobs and millions of dollars in revenue if the cruising pause continues.  Hopefully this won't require the courts to get further involved; doing so would only further delay things.

We continue to monitor all our travel providers current plans and requirements for travel which they plan to implement.  Follow us on any of our social media platforms to stay informed.

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Grateful on National Travel Advisor Day

Today is National Travel Advisor Day and we are proud to be part of this incredible industry! 

A special thank you to all our loyal customers for entrusting us to plan their memorable vacations! Now is the time to plan and book your next vacation!  

Expressing My Gratitude

As a small business owner, we are grateful that we've been able to "weather the storm" during this pandemic and continue providing a service to our guests.   

As we look around our village and surrounding area, we see other small businesses that weren't as fortunate.   Many will never return.

Many of you had trips booked last year and had those plans put on hold.   You've taken Future Cruise Credits, or expressed your intentions to rebook when travel resumes, allowing me to continue providing you with my expert advice to plan your memorable trip.  Our trips too, including our National Conference, have been rescheduled.

We have fantastic travel partners that we work with that have also stood by us during the pandemic and provided us with timely updates and tools so that we could properly guide you in your planning.

Just today, we attended the 55th webinar with Royal Caribbean, who also expressed their gratitude for our loyalty, and expressed the reasons why they see the Travel Advisors as a critical component to their successfully resuming operations.   

Both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises have announced resumption of operations starting in June and July with some sailings hopefully beginning out of U.S. ports by July.  

Keeping passengers, crew, and destinations safe is critical to the resumption and continuing operations.   

As your Travel Advisor, we will have the answers, or be able to get them for you, that will allow you to book a vacation with confidence.  This is not the time you want to be going it alone.  Besides, we'll have access to special deals not available to the general public.

Other cruise lines are also making announcements as they work out details with the CDC.  Our job is to stay on top of all these changes, and provide you with details about requirements and documents for the cruise lines as well as the destinations visited.   These requirements are very fluid, requiring that we constantly monitor the situation.

Our Ask to You

We were there for our clients when the pandemic shut the world down.  We are very optimistic that the travel industry recovery has begun.  At the same time, health and safety of our guests remains our number one priority, and if we wouldn't feel safe ourselves, we will tell you.

Our services are provided to you free of charge - our travel partners pay us a commission when you travel.  So we have a favor to ask of you...

Please consult with us when your thoughts turn to resuming travel.   We can help with cruises, land trips, resort stays, etc.   We'll help you find the perfect vacation for your current situation, explain all the necessary steps before, during, and after your trip, and answer all questions you may have.

Also, when you hear friends, family, and co-workers considering a trip - please share our contact information with them, and encourage them to use a travel advisor.   Finally, we will recommend travel insurance be taken on any trip, so include that in your budgets.  Some destinations will require their own insurance as well, which we will advise you on as needed.

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CDC Committed to Summer Cruising

 

click images to enlarge

Updated May 5, 2021

CDC Issues Phases 2B and 3 of the Conditional Sailing Order (Read CDC release including Technical Instructions for phases)

Below is a high level summary of the update.  Note that cruise lines can speed up the process by sailing with crew 98% vaccinated and passengers 95% vaccinated (which basically means children under 18 aren't vaccinated but adults are).

CDC Committed to Cruise Resumption in Summertime

In today's trade briefing with Celebrity Cruises, we were told about the latest update from the CDC regarding the resumption of cruises out of the United States.  The news is very promising.

In a letter to the cruise industry, CDC on Wednesday covered five parts of the phased approach to the safe resumption of cruises out of the U.S.  

Test Cruises

The phased Conditional Sail Order (CSO) had provisions for "test cruises" before a cruise line could begin revenue sailings.  The cruise line would submit plans and results of their test cruises and the CDC would respond in 30/60 days.   They have reduced the requirement to a 5 day response and furthermore removed the need for test cruises if the following vaccination policy is in place.

Vaccinations

While the CDC can't mandate vaccinations, they are highly recommended and the cruise lines plan to implement the requirement in order to speed up the process of resumption of cruising.  The requirements shown in the chart above are for 98% of the crew to be vaccinated and 95% of the guests.  In Celebrity Cruises case, the crew will be 100% vaccinated and they will be requiring guests 18 or over be vaccinated, so they will be able to meet the 95% requirement.

Crew Travel

There is a color code in the CSO which comes into play for crew embarking on a vessel.  We won't go into details here since this is internal to cruise line operations and not of concern to passengers. The new rules makes it easier for cruise line operations.

Port Support

The CSO calls for the cruise lines to have contingency plans in place in the event there is an outbreak of cases onboard a ship, which is highly unlikely.  The update from the CDC allows nearby ports to work together to provide the necessary capacities that are required.

Returning Home

Royal Caribbean Group, the parent company for Celebrity Cruises, has already have 150,000 passengers sail successfully this year.  There were a total of 7 cases of COVID-19 among all those passengers.  There was no disruption, unlike the problems that happened in the early days of the pandemic before much was known about the disease.

What happens if a passenger tests positive for COVID-19 and must leave the ship?   How do they return home?

If they are local to the port, they can simply drive home.  If they need to fly home, the airline has rules which require quarantine.  They will be quarantined in a local hotel and then allowed to fly home after that period expires.   Your airline or travel professional can help you understand this requirement.

What Will Cruise Experience be Like

Celebrity Cruises (and others) are striving to make the cruise experience as good or better than pre-COVID-19.  The crew are very anxious to get back to work, and will go out of their way to make your voyage a great experience.   Here are just a few ways that this will occur:

• The ships will be operating at 50-60% capacity, while the crew is at 100%, meaning more crew to assist you
• Additional show performances will be added to allow for social distancing, meaning less crowds
• You'll still be able to enjoy a buffet meal, but the crew will serve you instead of you picking out the food yourself, meaning you won't have someone's grubby hands in your food
• Shore excursions may be limited to those offered by the cruise line (depending on the requirements imposed by the ports visited - this is still a work in progres)
• You'll still be able to relax in the spa and enjoy other ship amenities
• In accordance with CDC guidance, other safety measures, including COVID testing, mask use and social distancing will remain important on ships, regardless of whether passengers are vaccinated
• Any COVID-19 testing required onboard (embarkation / disembarkation) will be handled by the cruise line (rules may vary based on destination and cruise line - consult your travel professional).

Traveling This Summer & Beyond

Speaking of  "beyond".  Besides this exciting news from the CDC, Celebrity Cruises unveiled their newest Edge-class ship Celebrity Beyond which will begin sailing one year from now.  In addition, there are several options to sail out of non-U.S. ports of call starting this June.  

Celebrity Cruises Itineraries

Celebrity Cruises has partnered with medical and scientific advisors from their Healthy Sail Panel, Global Head of Public Health and Chief Medical Officer; and local health and government authorities to guide them in the development of their protocols. These measures include reduced capacities, enhanced cleaning and sanitation. and physical distancing. For more information see Announcing our Return to Sailing.

We are also committed to a safe resumption of travel, not just cruising.  We participate in weekly update calls with all our travel partners so that we can bring you the very latest information to help you plan you return to travel.  Please see our Travel Safety Program.

We will be conducting virtual information sessions.  If you'd like to be on our mailing list please contact us.

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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.

Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat