Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Cruises

Royal Caribbean gets CDC approval for test cruises with volunteer passengers this summer

The cruise company is the first to get clearance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct mock cruises with volunteer passengers beginning in June

By Jeanette Settembre Fox News
Published
close
CDC implements strict health protocols for cruise ship voyages Video

CDC implements strict health protocols for cruise ship voyages

As the CDC implements new health protocols for the cruise ship industry, financial hardships haunt them as well; Phil Keating reports.

All aboard – Royal Caribbean is now cleared for test cruises. 

The cruise company is the first to get clearance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct mock cruises with volunteer passengers beginning in June more than a year after an industry-wide shut down during the pandemic. It positions them closer to resuming for business. 

Freedom of the seas in Labadee

Passengers ages 16 and up must be fully vaccinated with all COVID-19 vaccine doses administered at least 14 days before sailing onboard Royal Caribbean.  (iStock)

Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas ship, based in Miami, will start up the test cruises on June 20, the first time a cruise ship has set sail out of the U.S. since the pandemic hit last March. 

Passengers ages 16 and up must be fully vaccinated with all COVID-19 vaccine doses administered at least 14 days before sailing onboard Royal Caribbean. And all U.S. travelers age 12 must be fully vaccinated to travel beginning Aug. 1, according to the company’s Healthy Sail Panel. 

CREW MEMBERS ON ROYAL CARIBBEAN'S U.S.-BOUND SHIP TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 

Cruise operators must adhere to the CDC’s Condition Sailing Order, which requires passengers on board the simulated cruises to agree to a health screening to check of symptoms of COVID-19 and show proof that they are not at risk for contracting a severe illness if they are exposed to COVID-19. Participants must also agree to be tested for the virus between 3 to 5 days after the cruise.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

The CDC guidance was put in place in October replacing its no-sail ban with new health and safety protocols cruise operators must follow to ensure passenger and crew member safety onboard ships to resume voyages and mitigate the spread of COVID-19.