Cruise controls
Q: Can I go on a Caribbean cruise if I have not been Covid vaccinated?
Caz
A: lt all depends. Sorry if that’s not helpful, but the rules vary across cruise lines and the destinations en route. P&O Cruises says: “All guests aged 18 years and over need to be fully vaccinated.” That means at least two weeks before travel, and if the first course was more than 270 days before the last day of the cruise, they must have a booster at least a week before departure.
Yet P&O’s sister company, Carnival, promises: “Vaccines and testing no longer required for most cruises. Unvaccinated guests are free to disembark and enjoy their time ashore. However, certain destinations have imposed certain restrictions and we cannot guarantee that more will not be added.”
On a Carnival voyage to destinations with travel restrictions, you will be allowed to board the ship – but you must stay on the vessel at ports of calls with mandatory vaccination rules. At present, in the Caribbean, you need to be vaccinated to be allowed off the ship in Grand Turk (part of the Turks & Caicos, north of Hispaniola) and the Colombian port of Cartagena – which would be a very significant loss, since this is the loveliest Spanish city in the Americas.
Royal Caribbean says testing is required for everyone aged 12 or over on “Cruises from the US and Caribbean with stops in Colombia, Haiti, or Honduras”.
Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Line says: “As government regulations evolve, our health and safety protocols will evolve as needed to ensure compliance. This may mean different protocols from ship to ship based on local requirements.”
Finally, Fred Olsen has some strict rules: “All guests aged 12 and above must be fully vaccinated to join us on board. All guests will need to bring proof of a negative test result, taken within 24 hours of your cruise departure, to show at check-in.
“If you have been in contact with anyone with Covid-19 within seven days prior to your cruise, we are afraid you will not be able to sail with us.”
Given the range of policies and continuing uncertainty, I would not advise anyone who is classed as unvaccinated to book a cruise – especially involving a number of different countries, as Caribbean voyages tend to be.
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