The UK government has allowed domestic cruises to sail at 50-percent capacity, provided operators have a passenger COVID-19 vaccination policy in place.

Earlier, a limitation of no more than 1,000 passengers or 50-percent capacity (whichever number is lower) was in place for cruise ships since May 17.

Virgin Voyages has already welcomed this news.

“(F)ollowing government advice we can now increase the limits on Sailors on our U.K. Summer Soirée sailings. If you missed out, now is your chance,” wrote Associate Vice President for Virgin Voyages, Shane Lewis-Riley, on Twitter.

Virgin Voyages’s Scarlet Lady will start sailing in the UK from Aug. 6.

MSC Cruises also announced earlier that it will be increasing its passenger capacity on its UK-sailing Virtuosa. Previously allowing both vaccinated and non-vaccinated guests, the Swiss-Italian cruise line has switched to fully-vaccinated sailings from June 29 in order to accommodate more guests.