These Caribbean Islands Are On The CDC’s ‘Do Not Travel’ ListHere’s How Cruise Lines Navigate Covid’s Murky Waters – Forbes

A cruise ship plies the waters near Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas.

Its getting harder to find a Caribbean cruise itinerary that doesnt include a stop on the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Do Not Travel list. Over the past few weeks, the list of popular Caribbean cruise ports given the CDCs dreaded Level 4 designation has ballooned.

The CDC uses a four-level system to alert travelers to health threats around the world. Countries with a Level 4 travel health notice are deemed to have a very high risk of Covid-19 with a Do Not Travel recommendation for Americans.

The Caribbean islands at Level 4 now include: Aruba, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Barts, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Martin/Sint Maarten and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Its an understatement to say that cruise lines and Caribbean nations share a common interest in navigating the murky waters of the Covid pandemic together. The North American cruise market is dominated by the easily accessible Caribbean, Bahamas, and Bermuda.

Likewise, cruising plays an outsized and growing role in the regions tourism. In 2019, nearly 12 million people visited the Caribbean on a cruise ship, roughly double the 6.2 million recorded in 2010.

Despite rising Covid transmission rates, cruises lines have kept popular Caribbean islands on their itineraries by nimbly adapting their protocols to stay in line with both the CDC guidance and ever-changing restrictions in host countries. Caribbean destinations and cruise lines started working together in summer 2020 to develop a universal set of guidelines for resumption of cruise travelacross the Caribbean, Mexico and the Americas, says a Royal Caribbean spokesperson.

The CDC recommends that both passengers and crew be vaccinatedbefore boarding a ship, and says vaccinated passengers can generally go masklessandexplore portson their own. These days, cruise ships are overwhelmingly filled with travelers age 12 and up who are fully vaccinated. A few cruise lines require all guests to be fully vaccinated before boarding without exceptions. Others allow unvaccinated passengers for certain cruises but then subject them to strict masking and testing policies as well as restricted shore excursions. These protocols also typically apply to children under 12.

When the CDC issues a Do Not Travel travel health notice, cruise lines have several tools in their toolboxes, says Chris Gray Faust, managing editor at CruiseCritic.com, a Tripadvisor-owned cruise review site.

The first option is to make a substitution to an itinerary. If Covid spikes in a country and it shuts down to cruising, the cruise line will find another port, says Faust, pointing to the Cayman Islands as an example of a destination that is closed to tourists.

But rather than ban cruise ships outright, its far more likely that a country with a spike in Covid transmissions would tighten its regulations. In that case, cruise lines adjust their protocols to adhere to the new rules. For instance, when the Bahamas recently mandated that only fully vaccinated cruise ships could stop at its ports, cruise lines were compelled to change how they process passengers on Bahamian itineraries sailing out of Florida. Previously, most cruise lines had not asked passengers sailing from Florida for proof of vaccination, due to Governor Ron DeSantis much-hyped but unpopular ban on vaccine passports.

The Bahamas mandate essentially forced Royal Caribbean to bring its vaccine policy for cruises departing from Florida to the Bahamas in line with its own policy for sailings departing from all other U.S. ports, says a Royal Caribbean spokesperson. Travelers unable to show proof of vaccination will beunable to sail. There is an exception is for kids under 12, who are ineligible to be vaccinated, and must provide a negative test result at boarding and follow certain health and safety protocols.

Passengers age 12 and up must prove they are fully vaccinated to visit Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas.

Similarly, Carnival Cruise Line and Disney Cruise Line now require that passengers age 12 and up sailing from Florida to the Bahamas must show proof of vaccination, with an exception for younger children, who must be tested and adhere to masking policies.

Norwegian Cruise Line takes an even stronger stance, requiring that all passengers, regardless of age, must be fully vaccinated prior to sailing from any port to all destinations. This policy will remain in place at least until the end of 2021. Last month, a U.S. judge ruled that Norwegian can require passengers to show proof of vaccination status before boarding a ship, agreeing with the cruise line that Floridas law jeopardizes public health and is an unconstitutional infringement on Norwegian's rights. Virgin Voyages also requires all passengers to be fully vaccinated.

A third way that cruise lines adapt to a heightened risk of Covid-19 is by changing how they handle shore excursions in a specific port of call. Faust saw this firsthand on a recent Viking Ocean Cruise in Europe. In the countries that are at Level 4, they restricted shore excursions to ship-sponsored bubble excursions, and in places where the CDC rating was lower than 4, passengers were allowed to explore on their own, she said.

Passengers on bubble excursions explore a port as part of a guided tour with others from the same ship, while passengers exploring a destination on their own must still follow that country's protocols. For example, a country might require that visitors show proof of vaccination to dine indoors.

Caribbean islands currently at Level 3, which means high risk of Covid-19, include: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Turks and Caicos. Many Caribbean itineraries also include stops in Mexico, which is also at Level 3.

Its absolutely crucial for cruisers to realize that protocols differ from cruise line to cruise line, said Faust, which means travelers need to do their homework before booking and then be prepared for protocols to change on the fly. Our advice to cruisers during this time is to be very flexible, said Faust, and to realize that when you sign up to the cruise, some destinations and itineraries may end up changing due to the pandemic.

Link:

These Caribbean Islands Are On The CDC's 'Do Not Travel' ListHere's How Cruise Lines Navigate Covid's Murky Waters - Forbes