Cruise lines around the world continue to ease up on their COVID-19 restrictions, opening the way for unvaccinated passengers to enjoy the excitement of big ship vacations once again.
Royal Caribbean International
Royal Caribbean International announced new protocols in response to the industry’s changes: starting Sept. 5 the cruise line will welcome all guests—unvaccinated and vaccinated—to sail.
The new guidelines are:
- Unvaccinated guests can cruise with negative results from any commercially available test, including self-tests.
- No testing is required for vaccinated guests sailing on cruises that are nine nights or less.
- For all sailings, guests 5 years old and younger have no vaccine or testing requirements.
- On sailings of 10-plus nights, guests–vaccinated or unvaccinated – must provide a negative test within three days of their sailing date.
Note: Due to local regulations, sailings to or from Australia, Bermuda, Canada or Singapore still require guests to be vaccinated.
For more information, visit royalcaribbean.com.
Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity Cruises joins other members of the cruise line industry by dropping vaccination requirements and simplifying testing guidelines.
Beginning Sept. 5, 2022, all guests, regardless of vaccination status, departing on most sailings from the U.S. and Europe can now cruise as long as they meet local testing requirements to board. Celebrity Cruises will also now accept any commercially available test, including unsupervised self-tests, in many destinations.
“A new world is waiting and I’m thrilled to now more closely align our operations with the rest of the travel industry and open up opportunities for everyone to explore, once again,” said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises, in a press statement. “Travel is making its grand comeback and we’re looking forward to the continued momentum from consumers around the world.”
New pre-boarding testing requirements for the U.S. and Europe include:
- Fully vaccinated guests no longer need to test to board sailings from the U.S. that are nine nights or less (excluding sailings that visit Canada and Bermuda).
- A negative test result from a simple, unsupervised and self-administered test will be accepted for all sailings (excluding sailings that visit Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Greece or New Zealand).
- Children under 5 years of age sailing from the U.S. and guests under 12 years of age sailing from Europe do not need to test prior to boarding.
Note: Sailings to and from ports in Canada, Australia and New Zealand still require all guests ages 12 and up to be fully vaccinated to sail in keeping with country requirements. Galapagos cruises require guests ages three and older to be vaccinated.
For more information, visit celebritycruises.com.
