Eighteen cruise brands representing 110 ships have so far officially enrolled in the new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated program for cruise ships operating in U.S. waters.
The CDC’s new color-tracking COVID-19 dashboard went live on Friday night, and shows 18 different operating brands, plus 110 ships that have opted-in.
Companies and Brands:
- Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line (Bahamas Paradise)
- Carnival Corporation (Carnival, Holland, Princess, Seabourn)
- Disney Cruise Line (Disney)
- Genting Hong Kong (Crystal)
- MSC (MSC)
- Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (Norwegian, Oceania, Regent)
- Royal Caribbean Cruises (Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Silversea)
- SeaDream (SeaDream)
- Sycamore Partners (Azamara)
- Viking Cruises (Viking)
- Virgin Voyages (Virgin)
The sign ups include all major ships operating in U.S. waters, and could grow over time as more ships restart in the U.S. going forward.
Of note, the CDC’s color-coding system to track COVID-19 is only applicable to commercial, non-cargo, passenger-carrying ships with the capacity to carry 250 or more passengers and crew with an itinerary that includes an overnight stay onboard or 24-hour stay on board for either passengers or crew (cruise ships) that meet one of the following criteria:
- Foreign-flagged cruise ships currently operating in U.S. waters; or
- Foreign-flagged cruise ships currently operating outside of U.S. waters but planning to return to operation in international, interstate, or intrastate waterways subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; or
- U.S.-flagged cruise ships choosing to participate in CDC’s COVID-19 Program
U.S.-flagged cruise ships may follow CDC’s COVID-19 Program for cruise ships at the cruise ship operator’s discretion, the agency said.
However, U.S.-flagged ships not following this program and operating exclusively in U.S. waterways will not be listed as “Gray” because these ships report cases to state and local jurisdictions., the agency said, noting it cannot confirm the COVID-19 public health measures implemented on cruise ships not listed on CDC’s Cruise Ship Status Dashboard. Therefore, CDC said it does not have information about precautions and interventions, such as mask use, crew testing, or vaccination status for passengers and crew on these ships.
