How Cruise Ships Are Setting Sail During COVID

Nasal swabs, temperature checks, buffet buddies. Welcome to your cruise, ladies and gentlemen. As American cruise lines anticipate opening for business again, they are doing everything they can to reassure prospective passengers that it’s safe to come aboard. It won’t be easy. Coronavirus outbreaks aboard ships last spring imprinted the image of cruises as petri dishes of disease. 

The outbreaks prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a no-sail order last March for ships carrying at least 250 passengers in U.S. waters. On Oct. 31, the order was modified to allow a phased reopening, but many cruise lines continued suspending operations.

“I personally don’t see them starting before spring,” says Sheri Griffiths, owner of CruisetipsTV.com. 

Still, the cruise lines have been busy. Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings consulted medical and scientific experts to develop best practices for safe sailing. U.S. cruise lines are also learning from Asian and European cruises that have already set sail, and the CDC issued its own protocols. 

The cruise industry hasn’t said whether it will require passengers to get the vaccine once it becomes widely available, but some cruise lines are considering it. The chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Frank Del Rio, told Travel Weekly that his company’s lawyers are reviewing the legalities associated with a vaccine mandate for passengers. The vaccine, he says, will be required for the crew.

Expect the Cruise Experience to be Different

Gene Sloan, the cruise and travel writer for The Points Guy website, sailed on the SeaDream 1, which, in November, became the first Caribbean cruise to sail since the pandemic hit. SeaDream 1 holds 112 passengers and was sailing at about half capacity for a seven-day trip. Sloan, who wrote about his experience on The Points Guy website, says he had to take a COVID-19 test within three days of sailing and then again on the day of departure. His temperature also was taken, and his hands, shoes and hand luggage were sprayed with sanitizer.

Nothing was particularly invasive or annoying, he says, and once on board no one was required to wear masks, a decision that was partially reversed a few days later. But the social distancing was a big change. Cruising is “a very social experience,” Sloan says. “People like it because they can meet other people. I had to sit at a little table by myself.”