Other Vaccination Requirements For Cruises
While the pandemic has made most of us equate vaccine with Covid-19, depending on where you travel, protecting your health by getting or boosting vaccinations for things hepatitis, yellow fever and other diseases may be required or recommended.
Because you may visit multiple locations on a cruise, you need to know the requirements for all your ports of call. And, some cruise stops may then trigger requirements for ports of call later in the trip.
For instance, a Panama Canal cruise making a stop in Colombia triggers vaccine requirements for ports later in the itinerary. Those requirements would not be necessary on the same cruise without a stop in Colombia.
Again, your cruise company will have the details you need based on your specific itinerary.
Other sources include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Travelers Health site that maintains up-to-date information on current health situations around the world, general healthy travel tips and help in finding a travel health clinic.
You can also work with a local travel medicine clinic to determine what vaccinations or preventative measures are recommended based on your itinerary. Using the searchable directory at the International Society of Travel Medicinecan connect you with a provider based on your location or specific needs.When you book an appointment with a travel medicine clinic, theyll ask you for your specific itinerary and vaccination history, and can usually provide any necessary vaccines on-site.
Cruise Lines With Heavy Restrictions
The following cruise lines still require all passengers to be vaccinated and exclude unvaccinated travelers.
- AmaWaterways:This river cruise line still currently requires all passengers to be vaccinated in order to cruise with them, although their official site states they hope to remove rules in 2023.
- Cunard Line:All guests over the age of 18 are required to show proof of vaccination and a booster shot. Unvaccinated passengers between the ages of 5 and 17 are required to submit a negative test prior to departure.
- Viking: This river cruise line enforces a strict vaccine and booster policy and periodically tests guests once they are onboard.
Cruise Lines With Some Restrictions
These cruise lines allow unvaccinated guests but still have some form of testing requirement in place for those who elected to pass on the vaccine.
- Carnival Cruise Line: Vaccines and testing are no longer required, with the exception of the few destinations that still require it. However, one major exception to note is that for cruises of 16 nights or longer, vaccines are still required for all passengers.
- Holland America Line: Unvaccinated guests must submit a negative test taken within 3 days of departure. For cruises of 16 nights or longer, all guests must be vaccinated and provide a negative test.
- MSC Cruises:Vaccines are no longer required, but unvaccinated guests are required to show proof of a negative COVID test prior to departure on some sailings.
Don’t Miss: Best Cruise For Family Of 5
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Inc
The three cruise lines under NCLH have also made amendments to their testing and vaccination policies.
Norwegian Cruise Line announced a large easing of vaccination requirements, effective August 11: all guests 12 and up will be required to either provide proof of full vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test result.
There will be, of course, some itineraries with different rules, due to specific destinations requirements, like Greece, Canada and Bermuda, which continue to require fully vaccinated guests.
Beginning September 3, Oceania Cruises will no longer require vaccinated travelers to test prior to embarkation. Unvaccinated travelers will be able to sail with a recently administered negative COVID-19 test result, with some exclusions.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises will also amend its testing and vaccination requirements beginning September 3. Fully vaccinated guests will no longer need to provide negative COVID-19 tests, while unvaccinated guests will be allowed onboard provided they test negative ahead of embarkation .
Travelers will also undergo a pre-embarkation health screening.
Do You Need The Covid Shot To Take A Disney Cruise
Disney Cruise Line itself no longer requires vaccinations just to board its cruise ships. The cruise line advises that Full vaccination not required but highly recommended.
Though there is no direct requirement from the cruise line to be immunized, travelers must always ensure they meet any governmental requirements in order to board the ship or to disembark at a particular port-of-call during the cruise. Some countries may have regulations that are more strict than those onboard the ship itself.
Recommended Reading: What Are The Top 10 Cruise Lines
What Does Fully Vaccinated Mean
It seems most cruise lines are following the CDCs definition of fully vaccinated, which means two weeks have passed since your second shot of Pfizer or Moderna, or since your one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot. Its possible a cruise line may accept one shot of a viral vector vaccine, such as AstraZeneca, and one shot of an mRNA vaccine, but this practice of mixing for a COVID-19 vaccine primary series isnt authorized yet in the US.
Some cruise lines, such as Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, accept vaccines recommended or approved by the World Health Organization as well as the CDC. This includes vaccines such as AstraZeneca and Sinovac. See the full list of vaccines approved by the WHO here.
Bottom line: If youve been vaccinated against COVID-19 outside of the US, check with your cruise line to make sure they accept your vaccine before putting any money down. Its also important to know that while all adults in the US are now eligible for boosters, the definition of fully vaccinated hasnt changed and you dont need an extra shot to be considered fully vaccinated.
All guests, regardless of vaccination status, should expect to be tested for COVID-19 prior to boarding a cruise ship.
The Current Rules On River Cruise Lines
At present most river lines, including AmaWaterways, Avalon, Emerald Cruises, Scenic, Tauck, Uniworld and Viking, require passengers to be fully vaccinated. The only exception is A-Rosa where there is no longer any obligation to provide proof of vaccination. However, the line recommends passengers carry out a self-test before boarding.
Pre-boarding testing for other lines is mainly dependent on the current requirements in the country of embarkation and passengers should check with their line prior to travel.
Read Also: When Do Alaska Cruises Run
Do Disney Cruises Require Vaccinations
For the past few years, travel requirements for vaccinations, masking, and COVID-19 testing seem to have been a moving target. Requirements seemed to change almost weekly, and its been easy to become a bit confused about whether Disney Cruises require vaccinations, COVID-19 testing, or masks.
Among all the types of vacations, cruises can be especially confusing in this regard. For example, a U.S. citizen taking an Alaskan Cruise with Disney typically flies from a U.S. airport to a Canadian airport, boards a Bahamian-registered ship at a Canadian port, visits several U.S. ports of call , then returns to a Canadian port before flying back to the U.S. via a Canadian airport.
So lets try to sort out all of the requirements. Fortunately, theyve gotten markedly simpler over the past few months.
Note: Information in this article is accurate as of November 7, 2022. Be sure to check your official Disney Cruise documentation or Disney Cruise Lines Know Before You Go website to ensure youre up-to-date on the latest regulations regarding your sailing. Also, please note that the information article generally refers to requirements for U.S. Citizens traveling from a U.S. port those who are citizens of or who are sailing from another country should ensure theyre aware of any applicable requirements.
Carnival Cruise Lines Covid Requirements
Carnival allows unvaccinated guests to return to sailing. All unvaccinated guests ages 2 and older are required to receive a lab-administered PCR or antigen test up to 3 days before sailing. The following voyages require guests, age 12 and older, to be fully vaccinated. In addition, all guests, age 18 and older, who are more than 6 months past the last dose of their initial vaccine series must be boosted in order to sail:
- Carnival Pride® and Carnival Celebration Europe All 2022 departures
- Carnival Splendor® 23-day Carnival Journey September 6, 2022
- Carnival Spirit® 16-day Carnival Journey September 20, 2022
Other cruises have limited space for vaccine exempt guests through December 2022. Vaccine exemptions are limited to a small number of guests who are over age 5. Each sailing is unvaxxed capacity-controlled based on the total number of vaccinated guests projected to be on board. Children under five are not required to apply for a vaccine exemption. However, they must still follow requirements for unvaccinated guests, including pre-cruise and onboard testing. Requests are not guaranteed and will be processed after the booking is paid in full, in sailing date order, and once we have finalized the estimated vaccinated guest count.
Vaccinated passengers still must present a medically supervised negative covid antigen or rapid pcr test before sailing.
Also Check: Cruise To New York City
Read Also: Which Cruise Ship Is The Most Luxurious
Carnival Corporation & Plc
Carnival Corporations cruise lines have amended their own vaccine and testing requirements.
Carnival Cruise Line amended its requirements for a second time on August 24, going into effect for sailings beginning on September 6. Fully vaccinated guests on cruises 16 nights or less no longer need to test, while unvaccinated guests over the age of five can cruise as long as they provide a recent negative COVID-19 test result. Self-tests without medical supervision are now welcome on most cruises, except those in destinations that require other requirements, like in Fiji or Bermuda.
There may be restrictions or exceptions to both rules depending on specific destinations.
Princess Cruises will make it easier for travelers to meet its testing and vaccination requirements beginning September 6. Like Carnival, guests taking a Princess Cruise sailing under 16 nights long will only need to provide proof of full vaccination, while unvaccinated guests are required to test and upload proof of their result prior to embarkation.
As always, there are countries where all guests will be required to be vaccinated and even provide COVID-19 tests before entering, like Canada, Greece and Australia. Guests booking these cruises will be notified of the requirements.
Children aged four and under do not need to adhere to any of the above rules.
Grand Circle Cruise Line
Where they sail: Grand Circle Cruise Line sails small ships and river cruises all over the world, including an extensive list of European itineraries. The company plans to start sailing again in August, including to Greece, Turkey, and Italy.
Who needs the vaccine: All guests and crew are required to be fully vaccinated with the booster shot.
What other safety measures are in place: All ships have been equipped with High Efficiency Particular Air filters and buffets have been eliminated. The cruise line states some itineraries will require proof of a negative COVID-19 test prior to travel, and that instructors will be sent out 30 days prior to travel.
Find out more: Grand Circle Cruise Line
Also Check: Juneau Cruise Ship Schedule 2022
Many Cruise Lines Have Rolled Back Testing Rules
Royal Caribbean Group, parent company of Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity, also rolled back its testing requirements this month, following the end of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships. The company requires vaccinated passengers to take a test only on sailings six nights or longer, but testing is still required for unvaccinated passengers on all sailings.
Many other cruise line operators and brands made similar protocol changes, including Carnival Cruise Line and MSC Cruises.
First-time cruisers:3 things to know before stepping foot on the ship
Major Cruise Line Drops Vaccine Requirement From Us Ports
- Publish date: Jul 22, 2022 5:26 PM EDT
As the cruise industry has made its way back from its covid-related March 2020 through July 2021 closure, a lot of people have put off cruising until it returned to normal. Thats a relative word, however, as your normal and my normal may not be the same.
Some people waited to cruise until masks were no longer required while others wont step onboard until every covid-related protocol goes away. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control stopped tracking the presence of covid on ships and issued a new set of guidelines for the cruise industry. These included recommendations that ships continue to require pre-cruise testing and for passengers to be vaccinated.
Heres what the CDC currently recommends when it comes to vaccines.
CDC recommends all eligible travelers be up-to-date with their COVID-19 vaccines. In addition to the protection COVID-19 vaccines provide to individual travelers in preventing severe illness or death from COVID-19, having a high proportion of travelers on board who are up to date with COVID-19 vaccines reduces the likelihood that cruise ships medical centers are overwhelmed by cases of COVID-19.
The guidance also makes it clear that 90% is what a high proportion of travelers means. That number has come down from 95% and it was generally believed to be a number to account for kids too young to get vaccinated to be onboard.
Shutterstock
Also Check: Is There All Inclusive Cruises
Recommended Reading: What Is There To Do On An Alaskan Cruise
Royal Caribbean Vaccine Policy
As of September 5, 2022, Royal Caribbean will no longer require passengers to be vaccinated to sail if departing from ports in California, Louisiana, and Texas. As well, no vaccine will be required if sailing from Europe. No special request or exemption is need to sail unvaccinated.
Cruises from Florida and other ports of departure will still require the shot for those 12 and older in order to sail for the time being. According to Royal Caribbeans website, the cruise line is working with local governments in the Eastern Caribbean to align on vaccination requirements for more itineraries.
As well, even if not required, Royal Caribbean asks that you still bring proof of vaccination to your cruise.
A Guide To Every Major Cruise Line’s Health Requirements For Safe Sailing
Travel + LeisureT+L
Cruise lines have shifted their requirements for passengers, making cruising accessible to practically everyone. Many popular cruise lines have eliminated the vaccine and pre-embarkation test as the industry is beginning to shift away from mandatory vaccines and testing.
The changes began shortly after the CDC ended a pandemic-era policy of publicly displaying COVID-19 cases onboard, different cruise lines to the public in July 2022. For those looking to check current COVID-19 trends onboard the CDC urges direct contact with the cruise line, and the organization will continue to monitor and offer guidelines to ships.
Below, we break down each line’s list of regulations to sail as well as what travelers need to know to plan.
Recommended Reading: Holland America Alaska Cruises 2023
What Cruise Lines Need To Admit To Unvaccinated Passengers
Unvaccinated cruises passengers must wear masks, while vaccinated passengers dont.
getty
As the major cruise lines prepare to relaunch from U.S. ports this summer, they have not yet been as frank with unvaccinated passengers as they need to be about how their cruise experience will stack up next to that of their vaccinated cruise mates.
Royal Caribbean made headlines a week ago when it announced that it would begin sailing from Florida in early July with ships where vaccinations would be recommended but not required. Guests are strongly recommended to set sail fully vaccinated, if they are eligible, said Royal Caribbeans news release. Those who are unvaccinated or unable to verify vaccination will be required to undergo testing and follow other protocols, which will be announced at a later date.
Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, : For Freedom, Odyssey, Allure, Symphony and sailing out of Florida ports in July and August we are strongly recommending all guests eligible for vaccines are fully vaccinated. We expect approximately 90 percent of our guests will be vaccinated. Guests who choose not to be vaccinated or not willing to verify vaccination will be subject to testing and additional health protocols which will be at their expense.
Despite Floridas law, Norwegian Cruise Line is also insisting it will require everyone on board its ships to be fully inoculated against Covid-19.
Which Cruise Lines Have A Covid Vaccine Requirement
Find out which cruise lines require guests or crew to be vaccinated before being allowed to go on a cruise.
More and more cruise lines are now taking up the need for cruise passengers to be vaccinated. Well keep track of this growing list of cruise lines that have issued a vaccine mandate for passengers and even crew members.
Dont Miss: What Are The 4 Disney Cruise Ships
You May Like: What Is The Most Expensive Cruise Line
Msc Cruises Vaccine Policy
MSC is a popular choice for passengers looking for relatively affordable fares. The cruise line has a limited but growing presence in the U.S., with cruises from Florida and New York.
MSCs policy toward vaccination for sailing from the United States is that while kids under 12 years old are allowed to sail unvaccinated, those older than that must have the shot.
However, the cruise line did recently relax testing requirements for vaccinated passengers, with a reference that vaccine rules could also drop sometime in the future:
MSC Cruises will continue to monitor pandemic conditions and port requirements outside of the U.S., with a goal to relax testing and vaccination protocols to open cruising to all guests, while prioritizing the health and safety of its guests, crew and destinations.
You can view MSCs latest policies here.
What To Know Before You Cruise
Vaccine and pretrip testing requirements can be confusing, especially if you are cruising internationally. Cruise lines have their own rules countries have their own rules. And the rules are constantly changing.
Before your trip, you will need to review your cruise lines health and safety protocols. You may be required to arrive at your ship with a negative COVID-19 test result in hand or not. And you may have to be vaccinated or not. Depending on the cruise line, fully vaccinated can mean having received the original series at least 14 days prior to your cruise, or the original series plus a booster shot.
In you are an unvaccinated adult, some cruise lines will now let you sail, others will not. If you are allowed onboard, you will need to be tested precruise, which is required for unvaccinated children as well.
Also Check: How Much Is The Average Cruise Per Person