Top U.S. cruise lines set to allow passengers without COVID-19 shots on most voyages

Laura Tipka, a vaccinated Boca Raton retiree, was relieved to board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on Monday at PortMiami without having to take a coronavirus test for the first time since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Royal Caribbean and the other major cruise lines are moving to soon allow passengers to board most voyages without COVID-19 shots and relax virus testing rules.

Tipka, an avid cruiser who sails almost every month, said she let her unvaccinated neighbor know she’s going to be able to take a cruise without proof of vaccination.

“I think it’s great that the cruise lines are opening up and getting back to normal,” she said, before boarding Freedom of the Seas for a four-night voyage to the Bahamas.

Starting in early September, all three of the world’s largest cruise lines — Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line — will be allowing passengers on board who haven’t been inoculated, with some exceptions for longer cruises and to adhere to local guidelines in certain ports of call. All three Miami-based cruise companies are continuing to require that unvaccinated people show a negative COVID-19 test before boarding, but are scrapping the requirement for people inoculated against the pandemic disease.

For the American cruise lines, these changes represent the most extensive rollback of public health requirements since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allowed them to resume cruising in U.S. waters in July 2021, after cruise operators were abruptly docked for more than a year due to the pandemic.

After being the source of many COVID-19 outbreaks at the onset of the public health crisis, cruise operators in the past year still had some of the most stringent protocols in the travel and hospitality industries. While restaurants, concert venues, airlines and public transit systems have already dropped mandatory masking and proof of vaccination, cruise lines kept strict public health rules to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Also, the major cruise companies each required crew members to get vaccinated.

As the pandemic wanes, prompting a sales boom in cruise reservations, the close quarters of a cruise ship will be a true test for the industry and many travelers with and without vaccinations who choose to risk contracting the virus while on a cruise vacation.

Carnival said its sales nearly doubled on Aug. 15 — the first business day after announcing that unvaccinated people would be welcomed aboard sailings shorter than 16 nights starting Sept. 6 — compared to bookings the same day in 2019.

Officials of Norwegian, which will permit passengers on all sailings irregardless of vaccination status beginning Sept. 3, told investors in a recent quarterly earnings call that announcement was “an instant catalyst” for a deluge of reservations.

Infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists recognize people’s desire to move on from the pandemic, but are wary of the cruise industry loosening public health protocols.

“It’s adapted to not kill us and to have us go out into crowds so it can spread; that’s what the virus wants, so the cruise ships are cooperating with the virus in a sense,” said Dr. William Greenough, an infectious disease specialist at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who has studied disease outbreaks like influenza and norovirus on cruise ships.

“If I had one recommendation to make though, it would be to test the immunized people. They’re not going to get severely ill but they can spread the virus still, so why take the chance? They should be testing everyone on board.”

Greenough thinks inoculated passengers are fine to go on cruises, but said he would advise people without shots not to sail. He also recommended passengers wear masks indoors on cruises.

Dr. Jessica Justman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, recommended that consumers read COVID-19 protocols carefully and pick cruises in which vaccination and testing for all passengers are still required.

“If you’re going on a cruise where people are unvaccinated and where people aren’t testing before boarding, a potential traveler should think about if they’re willing to get COVID while on vacation,” Justman said. “Who wants to be sick on a cruise ship? You paid good money for that.”

Justman also expressed concerns for crew and medical staff on ships with unvaccinated passengers.

“The vaccine requirement is more, in my opinion, a way of taking some of the medical burden off of the cruise personnel. People who are vaccinated are less likely to have severe illness and need to be evacuated off the ship or have a life-threatening situation,” she said.

Brian Schmitt, a travel agent in Tampa, said consumers are confused about the COVID-19 protocols that vary among cruise lines.

“After the CDC ended their program for cruises in mid-July, it removed the standard for COVID protocols and now the cruise lines are acting individually and removing things at a different pace, creating a lot of confusion among consumers,” Schmitt said. “I’ve had a lot of calls from people who are unvaccinated, or who have someone in their family or friend group who is unvaccinated. I haven’t found anyone who’s said, ‘I don’t want to cruise because there will be unvaccinated people around me.’ ”

Ashley Peterson, a travel blogger who was on a Carnival cruise last year that had people aboard infected by the pandemic disease during the omicron variant surge, also recommended passengers carefully read cruise lines’ policies about what happens if you do test positive for COVID-19 while on the ship.

“We’re in a different place than we were 9 months ago when I cruised, but read the fine print. If you catch COVID, are they covering the quarantine hotel? Or are they just kicking you off the ship?” Peterson said. “Make sure you’re covered, either through the cruise line or through your own travel insurance.”

Back at PortMiami, retiree and veteran cruiser Tipka said she has no hesitation about taking the risk connected to cruising with passengers who opt not to get shots against the coronavirus.

“I got my vaccine and my booster, I’m ready for another booster when it’s recommended for me, so I feel great about cruising,” she said. “It doesn’t bother me to cruise with unvaccinated people.”

New pandemic protocols for South Florida’s biggest cruise lines:

▪ Carnival Cruise Line: Starting Sept. 6, unvaccinated passengers will be allowed on Carnival cruises that are less than 16 days, but they must show a negative antigen virus test taken within three days of cruise departure. Passengers with vaccination proof don’t need a test. Children under age 5 are exempt from all vaccine and testing requirements.

▪ Norwegian Cruise Line : Starting Sept. 3, passengers with no inoculations will be allowed on NCL ships with proof of a negative, medically supervised PCR or antigen test done within 72 hours of boarding. Vaccinated passengers and travelers age 11 or younger don’t need a virus test before cruising.

▪ Royal Caribbean : Starting Sept. 5, cruise ships leaving from U.S. ports will not require vaccination. Although the cruise line will not require proof of vaccination, company officials recommended passengers bring their vaccine cards in case local authorities at ports of call ask for them. Passengers who are not vaccinated must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days before a voyage departs.