Cruise ships have posed a major problem during the coronavirus crisis over the past couple of weeks. It seems like we have seen ship after ship with major outbreaks leaving hundreds of people sick and we have also seen dozens of deaths.
Then to make matters worse, the aftermath has involved logistical hurdles to get the cruise ships docked and there have been a lot of disagreements over how and when passengers should be allowed to disembark from the ships.
In short, cruise ship travel has had its challenges to say the least.
But there is going to be another challenge awaiting people disembarking from cruise ships because there are now new strict restrictions for cruise passengers disembarking cruises.
The US Department of Homeland Security and CDC will now restrict cruise ship passengers and crew arriving in the US from boarding domestic commercial flights and from using public transportation.
All passengers are also being told to wear masks from the time that they are leaving the cruise ship until they reach their final destination, including during ground travel. (These masks or face coverings will be provided by the cruise ship.)
These restrictions will apply even if the passengers are not showing symptoms and they will also require a mandatory 14 day quarantine once the passengers arrive in their final destination.
Passengers will still be able to use chartered or private transportation, however.
The new regulations also put a lot of responsibility on the cruise ships to arrange for medical treatment, such as transportation to hospitals. They also have to help arrange the transportation for all passengers.
If you have been following the drama with all of the cruise ships, these new rules come as no surprise.
Basically, I see these as a response to all of the disagreements regarding where cruise ships with sick passengers should be able to land and how the treatment for sick passengers should be administered and worked out with hospitals.
Personally, I like seeing so much responsibility being put on the cruise lines since they were the ones who decided to launch these cruises. Believe it or not, cruise ships were leaving as late as March 15 that were affected.
According to the US Coast Guard, these new rules will affect 114 cruise ships that are carrying approximately 93,000 people that are in or near US ports and waters.
Here is a list of the affected ships over the past couple of months:
| Ship name | Voyage Start Date | Voyage End Date |
|---|---|---|
| Carnival Imagination | 5-Mar | 8-Mar |
| Carnival Valor | 29-Feb | 5-Mar |
| Carnival Valor | 5-Mar | 9-Mar |
| Carnival Valor | 9-Mar | 14-Mar |
| Carnival Vista | 15-Feb | 22-Feb |
| Carnival Vista | 29-Feb | 7-Mar |
| Celebrity Infinity | 5-Mar | 9-Mar |
| Celebrity Eclipse* | 2-Mar | 30-Mar |
| Celebrity Reflection | 13-Mar | 17-Mar |
| Celebrity Summit | 29-Feb | 7-Mar |
| Crown Princess | 6-Mar | 16-Mar |
| Disney Wonder | 28-Feb | 2-Mar |
| Disney Wonder* | 6-Mar | 20-Mar |
| Grand Celebration | 22-Feb | 24-Feb |
| Grand Princess | 11-Feb | 21-Feb |
| Grand Princess* | 21-Feb | 7-Mar |
| MSC Meraviglia | 1-Mar | 8-Mar |
| Norwegian Bliss* | 1-Mar | 8-Mar |
| Norwegian Bliss | 8-Mar | 15-Mar |
| Norwegian Breakaway | 29-Feb | 7-Mar |
| Norwegian Breakaway* | 7-Mar | 14-Mar |
| Norwegian Pride of America* | 29-Feb | 7-Mar |
| Oceania Riviera* | 26-Feb | 11-Mar |
| RCCL Explorer of Seas | 8-Mar | 15-Mar |
| RCCL Liberty of the Seas* | 15-Mar | 29-Mar |
| RCCL Majesty of the Seas* | 29-Feb | 7-Mar |
| RCCL Oasis of the Seas* | 8-Mar | 15-Mar |
| RCCL Symphony of the Seas* | 7-Mar | 14-Mar |
*CDC was notified about COVID-19-positive travelers who had symptoms while on board these ships.
For all other ships, CDC was notified about travelers who had symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19 within 14 days after disembarking. Since these travelers’ symptoms began after the voyage, the traveler might have contracted COVID-19 during the voyage; however, other sources of transmission after the voyage cannot be ruled out.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
There’s a bunch of asterics in your chart, but they are undefined. What do they mean?
Also, someone on, for example, Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas returned on March 7. We’re WELL out of the 14 day period for that cruise, and most of the others listed as well.
This post is simply anti-cruise sensationalism and posted just for clicks. Shameful.
I added information regarding the asterisk. I’ve been writing about these stories related to the cruises and following them very closely over the past few weeks and so it was natural for me to follow up with this development that more or less concludes the issues that those articles talked about. I’m not anti-cruise but I am anti-putting lives in danger by negligently sending out the ships. In my opinion we knew plenty by March that suggested these ships should not go out.