Most Americans have a strong opinion on vaccines -- strong to the point that the topic has caused family rifts and led friends to stop speaking to each other. Some people embraced the vaccines early, others waited, and some got vaccinated only when they absolutely had to. And of course, some Americans either can't get vaccinated or have chosen not to.
Royal Caribbean (RCL), Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL), and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) find their companies in the middle of this debate. None of them want to be. No business wants to make a choice -- or in this case have choices made for them by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- that alienates potential customers.
That's what the three major cruise lines had to do. Under the current voluntary CDC guidelines, 95% of passengers must be vaccinated. Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian all require anyone 12 and older sailing on their ships to be fully vaccinated. (That mandate does not include a booster shot.)
Before boarding all three cruise lines, passengers must show their original vaccination cards. That's a policy some have grudgingly complied with, while others have skipped cruising because of it.
Now, the end of vaccination requirements on cruises could be closer than most people expected.
Image source: Daniel Kline.
When Will Cruise Lines Drop Vaccination Requirements?
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, a physician who serves as chairman of Norwegian Cruise Line's SailSAFE Council, on March 3 spoke on the possibility of cruise lines being able to drop vaccination requirements.
“I think that it’s likely to be a requirement that is in place through this fall and winter,” Gottlieb said, according to a Cruzely report.
“I’m talking more about CDC and the policy environment. I think that the public-health officials -- CDC -- is going to want to see what the epidemiology of this disease is when it gets to a quote, unquote, ‘normal’ state."
Gottlieb noted that the CDC would make the ultimate decision and that the agency needed more data first.
“I think CDC is going to want to see what [that] looks like. We’ll hopefully get our first glimpse of that this year. This is like a transition year. Then they’ll make decisions about whether or not they continue to require vaccines in certain settings," he added.
But Gottlieb does have a timetable in which he expects the agency to act.
“The short answer to the question is: I think this is kind of a springtime thing from a CDC policy standpoint. They are going to want to make a decision around this after we get through another fall and winter with Covid and see if we are truly in an endemic phase with this.”
Cruise Lines Have Tough Covid Rules
Cruise lines have adopted very strong Covid protocols partly because of the CDC and partly because of the optics of an outbreak on a cruise. Royal Caribbean Chief Executive Jason Liberty, during his company's fourth-quarter earnings call, pointed out how well those protocols have been working.
"Since we resumed operations, our goal has been to making cruising one of the safest vacations anywhere in the world while providing an exceptional guest experience," he said.
"We continue to demonstrate that in a very tangible way. As you heard me say, we have carried approximately 1.3 million guests since the restart, with about 2,500 guests testing positive for Covid-19, a positivity rate of 0.19%. This positivity rate is still a small fraction of what it is in society at large, and nearly all cases on board were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms."
The cruise industry has been bending over backward to show the public that cruises are a safe vacation opportunity. That's why Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian will likely let the CDC make the call on vaccinations even if they technically could decide to drop the vaccine requirement on their own.
