Carnival Cruise Line became the latest cruise line to lift precruise testing on short cruises following the sunsetting of the CDC's Cruise Ship Covid Program.
Effective for embarkations on or after August 4, Carnival dropped precruise testing for fully vaccinated passengers on cruises of five nights or fewer. Precruise testing for itineraries of six nights or longer can be conducted three days prior to departure.
For unvaccinated guests, there will be no in-terminal testing on the day of departure, but they must provide proof of a negative result of a lab-administered or supervised, self-administered rapid Covid test taken within three of embarkation.
Carnival said more changes would be announced shortly and are subject to any requirements of destinations on the itinerary.
The decision comes one day after Royal Caribbean Group dropped pre-embarkation testing for cruises of five days or fewer for vaccinated passengers, starting Aug. 8, to all the cruise lines in the group: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity and Silversea.