Since cruise travel has restarted this year, I have been on half a dozen sailings, and in this emerging post-pandemic world, each one has differed in its approach to health and safety. Mindful of my fellow San Diego, Calif.-based colleague and friend, David Swanson’s well-reasoned opinion piece about cruising during this time, I thought I would offer an alternative perspective to the notion that no cruise should embark “untested, unvaccinated and unmasked.”
Currently, there are lines that will only sail with both passengers and crew fully vaccinated, as well as frequently masked and tested. As I discussed in a recent article, Windstar Cruises is one of them.
Since I traveled with UnCruise Adventures earlier this year, the line has reintroduced mandatory masks onboard in response to cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant.
In my experience, Viking’s protocols have been the strictest — and one could argue for good reason as a suspected case was detected on our first of two voyages around Iceland. The line requires daily testing — more than any other line — plus vaccinations and masks indoors while moving about the ship, in elevators and on tour buses.
However strict these approaches are, they are not the only way forward for the cruise industry, as is proven daily by many successful alternative operations. Other cruise lines do not require 100% vaccination of passengers, nor masking onboard, thus offering the freedom and choice some advisors’ clients need in order to choose to travel again.
However strict these approaches are, they are not the only way forward for the cruise industry, as is proven daily by many successful alternative operations.
What’s more, these lines remain in compliance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) requirements under the agency’s Conditional Sailing Order, which allows ships to sail domestically with 95% of guests vaccinated. (Foreign regulations for cruising can differ.)
At this time, most lines require all guests 12 and older to be vaccinated, but they do allow 5% capacity for younger children who have not yet been given the green light for safe inoculation.
Mixed vaccine sailings offer traveling families an opportunity to continue cruising, but such sailings may come with the caveat that guests must wear face coverings to an extent.
Onboard Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras, for example, I had the flexibility to remove my mask outside and inside when moving about the ship (with the exception of riding in the elevators). Otherwise, I had to wear a mask when entering restaurants, as well as in shops, the casino and busy entertainment venues unless eating or drinking.
In my opinion, it’s Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. brands — Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises — that are hitting the sweet spot for convenience and comfort, while still upholding safety.
Operating under the corporation’s Sail Safe panel of experts — which includes Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — guests must be 100% vaccinated (eliminating young children temporarily) and are tested immediately before boarding. This procedure goes beyond the CDC’s requirements.
It’s very easy to say that no cruise should include 'untested, unvaccinated and unmasked' passengers, but in fact the situation is much more nuanced than that.
Requiring 100% vaccination, and testing during the tightest of windows, provides such a safe environment that masks and physical distancing are no longer required onboard. The resulting experience — as I witnessed firsthand on the Norwegian Encore in Alaska this season — is a marvelous return to normal cruise travel.
It’s very easy to say that no cruise should include “untested, unvaccinated and unmasked” passengers, but in fact the situation is much more nuanced than that. Clients have an array of options that satisfy their personal preferences, while keeping themselves safe.
