Cruise lines can skip test sailings if they attest that 98% of crew
and 95% of passengers will be fully vaccinated, the CDC told cruise
lines in a letter Wednesday night in which it committed to a mid-July
restart from the U.S.
The CDC said the change was the result of twice-weekly meetings with
cruise lines over the past month. The CDC's current Conditional Sailing
Order (CSO) mandates trial sailing prior to commercial ones in order to
test Covid-19 mitigation protocols. The lines would then have to apply
for a certificate to sail 60 days prior to launching passenger cruises.
"We remain committed to the resumption of passenger operations in the
United States following the requirements in the CSO by midsummer,
which aligns with the goals announced by many major cruise lines," the
letter said.
For lines that intend to go forward with the simulated voyages, the
CDC on Wednesday said it would now review and respond to applications
for those voyages within five days, instead of 60 days. "This puts
cruise ships closer to open-water sailing sooner," the CDC said.
Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley said that as far as
Royal understands, "As soon as you have your port plan ready you can
submit your request to cruise, and they will respond within five days.
You can see the timeline and process has improved quite significantly.
"Fundamentally they are two pathways," to the resumption of cruising, Bayley said of the latest guidance, adding that the one that meets the CDC's threshold for vaccinated crew and passengers, "is a faster route."
The mid-July timeline is because of the time it will take to return crew to the ship and complete the crew vaccination process.
"This commitment to mid-July is looking very realistic based on what we saw last night," Bayley said.
The CDC also loosened requirements for passenger and crew testing and
quarantine. One the first passenger voyages out of the U.S., fully
vaccinated passengers can take a rapid test upon embarkation instead of a
PCR test, the CDC said, and can quarantine at home if they live within
driving distance.
CLIA's senior vice president of global strategic communications, Anne
Madison, said CLIA was "encouraged by the communication with the CDC."
It is reviewing the latest information, but "we see this as positive
progression," she said.
"Importantly, we see this as a demonstrated commitment to having
constructive dialogue, which is key to restarting cruising as we have
seen with other governments and health authorities around the world,"
Madison said. "There's still plenty of work to be done to achieve our
mutual goal of sailings from U.S. ports this summer . The movement we're
seeing through the communication that has been happening of late also
shows that the voices of community leaders and the wider cruise
community have been heard, and we're very grateful for that."