The largest cruise companies in the world announced this week that they are easing COVID testing requirements on some voyages that last less than a week.
Both CCL-Carnival Cruise Line and RCG-Royal Caribbean Group said they had made the changes in response to the end of the CDC-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID cruise program earlier this month.
Starting Thursday, July 28, Carnival announced that fully vaccinated passengers would not need to take a COVID test before boarding if the voyage is 5 nights or fewer. For sailings 6 nights/longer, travelers still need to test, but the tests can be done 3 days before the departure.
Unvaccinated passengers still must present proof of a negative COVID test, administered by a lab/supervised as a self-test within 3 days of boarding, the line said. Testing on the day of departure in cruise port terminals will not be required.
Carnival said more changes would be announced shortly and all changes were subject to any requirements of destinations on the itinerary.
The announcement followed a similar one from Royal Caribbean on Thursday.