More Carnival Cruises Announced for Vaccinated Travelers

Fancy going out to sea? Most cruise lines require you to be vaccinated.

Whether you missed your annual cruise experience in 2020 or are saving up credit card travel points to pay for your first time at sea, Carnival Cruise Line has confirmed plans to resume cruises from Galveston, Texas in July. The only catch? All passengers must be fully vaccinated 14 days or more before the start of their journey.

An evolving situation

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have clearly set out the requirements for cruising under their conditional sail order. According to these sketches, 95% of passengers and crew should be fully vaccinated. Some cruise lines – such as Carnival – have decided that 100% of all passengers and crew must be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Carnival Vista is scheduled to resume on July 3 and the Carnival Breeze to accept passengers on July 15. According to Carnival, the cruise line is also targeting the resumption of sailings from Port Miami in July.

The pressure to get started

There are more than 50 cruise lines worldwide, with more than 270 ships carrying passengers around the world. In 2020, when COVID-19 cases broke out aboard overcrowded ships and countries closed their borders, thousands of passengers were stuck at sea. In March, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand banned ships coming from foreign ports.

Cruising is big business. According to KPMG, a global financial audit, tax and advisory service, the industry brought in $34.2 billion in revenue in 2018 alone. In addition, 62% of total revenue came from ticket sales and the other 38% from things like spa treatments, casino gambling and short excursions. And it’s not just the cruise lines that stand out. For example, $2 billion is contributed to Caribbean islands as a result of cruise passenger purchases. For some Caribbean countries that is almost 6% of their GDP. An inability to cruise also affects suppliers, such as those who supply food to cruise lines. Basically, the sooner cruise lines open safely for business, the sooner the money flows back into local economies and businesses.

It doesn’t help that in February 2020, the largest outbreak of COVID-19 outside mainland China occurred on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, owned and operated by Princess Cruises. About 20% of the ship’s population tested positive for COVID-19 and 13 people died as a result. And last week, as cruises resumed from the US, two passengers aboard the Celebrity Millennium, owned by Royal Caribbean Group, tested positive for COVID-19.

For passengers whose trips were canceled due to the pandemic, some cruise lines offered a special deal to keep their businesses afloat. Instead of accepting a cash refund, these passengers could opt for “bonus credits” ranging from 110% to 125% of the booking fee. For example, if they spent $1,000 on a ticket, the cruise line would give them a $1,100 to $1,250 bonus credit toward their next cruise. By March 2020, about 76% of those who got the increased bonus accepted the offer, which makes sense. For dedicated cruisers, a return of 10% to 25% is better than the interest they may have earned depositing their cash repayment into a savings account pending the reopening of cruise lines.

Movement supported by GOP governors — sort of

Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy reports that the company has received support from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbot. It’s worth noting that both Republican governors fought sternly against mask mandates as COVID-19 raged. In addition, according to the Tampa Bay Times, DeSantis’ office tried to hide that DeSantis had received his first vaccination in April, perhaps to appeal to voters who were suspicious of the vaccines. And according to reports from the Texas Tribune, Abbott has banned the use of vaccine passports or other forms of evidence that a person has been vaccinated.

It’s impossible to know how a politician feels about Carnival’s plan to require all passengers to prove they have been vaccinated. Because the CDC’s conditional sailing order requires only 95% of customers to be vaccinated, Carnival goes above and beyond. In fact, Florida is currently suing the CDC to have the federal agency’s guidelines lifted.

Although Royal Caribbean has withdrawn from requiring a vaccination certificate, both Celebrity and Norwegian Cruise Lines say only vaccinated passengers will be allowed on board their upcoming cruises.

Like everything else in society, the cruise industry can come back to life in fits and starts. As new situations arise, cruise lines will look for more efficient ways to deal with them. Meanwhile, cruise enthusiasts can see the light at the end of the tunnel as more cruising opportunities become available.