Carnival Cruise Line has announced that it is adjusting certain protocols to reflect the lifting of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) requirements for the U.S. cruise industry.
The cruise line says it remains committed to the health and safety of its guests, crew and the communities it serves. These changes will be made in phases, with the first of these updates effective on Thursday, August 4, 2022 and focused on short cruise itineraries of five nights or fewer.
More changes will be announced shortly and all changes are subject to any requirements of destinations on the itinerary.
Effective for embarkations on or after Thursday, August 4, there will be no pre-cruise testing for fully vaccinated guests booked on cruises with itineraries five nights or less. Pre-cruise testing for itineraries six nights or longer can be conducted three days before departure. There will be no in-terminal testing for unvaccinated guests on day of departure, but all unvaccinated guests ages two and older must provide proof of a negative result of a lab-administered or supervised self-administered antigen COVID test taken within three days before embarkation.
Guests should continue to carefully review all pre-cruise communications and refer to the "Have Fun. Be Safe." page on Carnival.com for more information.
Earlier, Virgin Voyages had removed pre-embarkation testing for European Union sailings from July 24, and for United States sailings from July 27. Azamara, too, scrapped its COVID-19 pre-embarkation testing requirement starting July 25, 2022, excluding ports where it is still required in accordance with country regulations.
The CDC had officially ended its pandemic-era program of regulations and restrictions for cruise ships sailing from U.S. ports from July 18.
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