It’s time to catch up on all the latest big cruise news, especially now that cruise lines are starting to ease vaccine and testing requirements. Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean have all released major updates, along with developments on rock slips and cancellations.
Cruise news update
We’ve had a busy week of sailing news and as expected, protocols are beginning to ease even further. Carnival Cruise Line has finally announced that it will be opening up to unvaccinated guests, which we will review later in the post. Princess Cruises is dropping the vaccine mandate for most cruises, Royal Caribbean is dropping vaccine requirements from select home ports, and pre-cruise testing is being dropped from two other Carnival-owned brands.
We’ve also got the latest on the rockslide in Skagway, which is affecting cruises, and news of cruise cancellations due to staff shortages.
Princess Cruises relaxes vaccine requirement
We start with Princess Cruises, who announced on Friday that it is removing the vaccine requirement for most cruises and eliminating pre-cruise testing for vaccinated guests.
Starting September 6, vaccinated guests sailing on a cruise of less than 16 days will no longer need to be tested before boarding. They simply need to upload proof of their vaccination to the OceanReady app.
Unvaccinated guests or those who do not provide proof of vaccination on those itineraries will only need to self-test within three days of sailing and upload proof of a negative test before boarding on the Oceanready app.
The new guidelines are for all cruises where government requirements allow the cruise line to implement these guidelines. Exceptions are cruises sailing to and/or from Canada, Greece and Australia.
Royal Caribbean Protocol Updates
In the past week, Royal Caribbean announced a further relaxation of its protocols waiving the vaccine requirements on select sailings from September 5, 2022. This relief applies to departures from Los Angeles in California, Galveston in Texas, New Orleans in Louisiana and sailings in Europe.
This now means that regardless of vaccination status, guests can sail on select cruises as long as they meet any testing requirements.
For cruises from Galveston and New Orleans visiting Grand Cayman, only passengers who show a valid vaccination record may disembark. On select European cruises, unvaccinated guests will need to take an on-board test to be allowed ashore in Greece or Spain.
Visitors will still have to follow pre-cruise testing requirements. For departures five nights or less from Los Angeles and Galveston, unvaccinated guests age 2 and older must show a negative test result to sail. Vaccinated guests, regardless of age, no longer need to test for shorter cruises.
For cruises of six nights or more, all guests age 2 and older must submit a negative test result obtained within three days prior to departure.
The test requirements for European voyages are unchanged. Royal Caribbean is finalizing testing for departures from New Orleans.
What is noticeably missing are Eastern Caribbean cruises. Royal Caribbean said it was working with local governments in the Eastern Caribbean to harmonize vaccination requirements for more itineraries. So keep an eye out as further changes may be on the way.
Princess sailing cancellations
Princess Cruises has been is forced to cancel a limited number of trips for The Diamond Princess cruise ship, which includes departures from San Diego, California. It comes as the cruise line is dealing with labor shortages as occupancy levels rise across its ships.
That means the cruise line has canceled a total of 11 voyages for her The Diamond Princess out of San Diego, from September 1, 2022 to November 13, 2022.
The Princess wants to ensure that the guest experience on board remains exceptional and by canceling voyages, she allows more time to increase crew levels.
The good news is that guests have the option of an alternate voyage that departs in 2022 or 2023, but departs from Los Angeles, California, instead of San Diego.
The ship has already been on hiatus for more than two years, and before the announced cancellations, the ship was scheduled to resume guest sailings on September 1, 2022, from San Diego. This included that first five-night trip with visits to San Francisco in California and Ensenada in Mexico.
The ship’s first return trip will now depart San Diego on November 13 on a seven-night itinerary.
Skagway Rockslides Impact Cruises
Another rock slide adjacent to the popular White Pass Railroad Dock in Skagway, Alaska, has caused damage and led to the complete closure of the port, which is expected to remain closed for the rest of the 2022 cruise season.
The most recent rockslide was on Friday, August 5, following a slide just two days earlier on August 3. Both slides caused damage to the White Pass Railroad dock, and the last slide caused significant damage to shipping containers located along the length of the dock. .
With just two months left in the Alaska cruise season, Princess Cruises is dropping Skagway from the next 10 itineraries. This is due to the closure of the berth forward of the White Pass Railroad Dock, the only permanent berth for the cruise line’s Royal-class ships, the largest ships in Princess Cruises’ fleet.
Instead of calling at Skagway, each cruise will substitute a different port of call in Alaska. Affected cruises include Princess Magnificent, which will call at Icy Strait Point. Also, the line’s newest ship, Discovery Princess will do the same.
The Princess Royal will now visit Haines instead of Skagway for the August 16th and August 30th sailings.
Discovery Princess will visit Sitka rather than Skagway on sailings that will depart on August 11, September 8 and September 22, as will The Princess Royal sailing on September 13.
Carnival removes the vaccine requirement
It’s been a long-awaited day for the many cruise brands owned by Carnival, including Carnival Cruise Line, which will remove the requirements for cruises.
Beginning with departures on September 6, 2022, vaccinated guests no longer have to undergo a pre-cruise test to sail. However, guests will still need to show proof that they are fully vaccinated.
Carnival is also making a major change to its vaccination requirements, which will open up cruises to more guests. Unvaccinated guests will be permitted to travel on a cruise and will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination prior to a cruise. However, this does not apply to cruises within Australia or voyages of 16 nights or longer.
Unvaccinated guests or those who choose not to show proof of vaccination will still need a negative PCR or antigen test result obtained within three days prior to departure.
Carnival also says that for those guests who have a pending vaccine exemption application and are awaiting a response, that reservation is confirmed as long as the cruise departs on or after September 6 and does not visit Canada, Bermuda, Australia or if the Voyage lasts 16 night or more.
P&O Cruises and Cunard Drop Testing
Cunard Line and P&O Cruises are easing their requirements for sailings from September 6, 2022, but only on shorter cruises where government regulations allow. At some ports of embarkation, stricter local guidelines will still apply.
For both lines, testing for fully vaccinated passengers will become “highly recommended” rather than “required” as of Tuesday, September 6.
Only on longer, more “complex” cruises will guests still be required to present a negative antigen or PCR test to be allowed to board. While the exact details of what constitutes a “complex” cruise have yet to be clarified, stricter requirements are likely to apply to itineraries of 16 nights or longer, as well as some vacation cruises.
Regions with stricter local protocols, currently including Canada and Australia, still require testing, and guests booked on those cruises will be notified of their exact cruise travel requirements.
To continue to ensure the health and wellbeing of guests and crew, both Cunard Line and P&O Cruises still require all guests aged 16 and over to be fully vaccinated at least 14 days prior to departure. Crew members will also continue to be fully vaccinated and regularly tested.
More Cruise Titles
It wasn’t just a busy week of sailing news, but an important week with all the claim relief. We also have other news that may interest you, including a port cancellation for a Norwegian Cruise Line ship, Disney Cruise Line on the road to recovery mainly because of its newest ship, a updated business by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, a The main point for the Carnival Cruise LineVirgin Voyages it is shortening port time on the itineraries, enough investments occurring at the Port of Galveston for cruises and cargo more news.
