The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevent on Monday ended its COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships.
“New guidance for cruise ships to mitigate and manage COVID-19 transmission will be available in the coming days,” the CDC said in a statement on its website.
While no guidance was immediately available, this would point to cruise line’s being able to set their own vaccination and testing rules for ships operating or calling in U.S. ports.
The CDC will also reportedly stop tracking COVID-19 cases on cruise ships, having launched a dashboard earlier this year.
The CDC’s Program for Cruise Ships replaced the previous Conditional Sail Order, which went through multiple revisions that led to the industry’s 2021 restart in North America. That Order had replaced the original No Sail Order that was issued in March 2020.