CDC Changes Cruise Ship Guidelines, Here’s What You Need To Know Before Sailing

After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) issued a No Sail Order in March as a safety precaution for cruise ships, the ban was lifted on Friday.

The CDC announced the cruise ship ban will be replaced with a less restrictive “Conditional Sailing Order.”

The new “Conditional Sailing Order” will remain in effect until Nov. 1, 2021, unless it is ended by the CDC Director, CNBC reports.

Before cruise companies allow their ships to set sail, they will be tasked with completing a number of phases, which will consist of testing and implementing safety measures to meet the CDC’s safety standards.

“This framework provides a pathway to resume safe and responsible sailing,” Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, said in a statement.

“It will mitigate the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks on ships and prevent passengers and crew from seeding outbreaks at ports and in the communities where they live.”

The announcement from the CDC will apply to cruise ships with the capacity to carry at least 250 passengers, CNN reports.

While all cruise lines will have to be approved by the CDC to resume business, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line have hired some of the top epidemiologists and former U.S. health officials to help them create a public health proposal.

As a part of the phases necessary to resume business, cruise lines must show they are properly social distancing, testing, quarantining, and isolating.

Later phases will consist of “mock voyages,” which will be done with volunteers acting as passengers to test the cruise line’s crew and safety strategies that have been put in place.

Upon meeting all expectations, the companies will be allowed to sail with real passengers.