Celebrity Cruises has been at the forefront of the return to cruise:
- It made the first cruise from a North American port when it sailed offshore from St. Maarten;
- It marked the first time American pax could cruise on an ocean ship in Europe when the Celebrity Apex sailed her inaugural voyage from Greece; and
- Perhaps most significantly – it will log the first cruise from a U.S. port since the industry was shut down due to COVID-19, when the Celebrity Edge sails from Fort Lauderdale this weekend.
If the restart of cruising wasn’t already challenging enough, Florida’s ban on requiring any businesses from requiring proof of vaccination is putting cruise lines desperate to set sail again from the biggest cruise state in the U.S. between a rock and a hard place. That’s because the CDC’s Conditional Sail Order requires ships to sail with 98 per cent fully vaccinated crew and 95 per cent fully vaccinated guests in order to qualify for a host of exemptions from burdensome restrictions.
Celebrity President and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo spoke with Cruise Week ahead of this weekend’s landmark sailing. She called the return to cruising – and the incredible amount of attention and pressure on Celebrity being first out of the gate from a U.S. port –“surreal.”
A big part of that pressure and attention on Celebrity comes from navigating what may seem like an impossible tightrope between the two opposing requirements from the state and the CDC.
Following a Florida judge’s ruling in favour of the state’s position, the cruise line has now dropped its requirement that pax show proof of vaccination.
"Ask, But Not Require"
Celebrity has a plan to still meet the CDC's requirements however, and the trick of it may lie in the wording of the law that mandates companies may “ask, but not require” proof of vaccination.
“So we are allowed to ask,” says Perlo. “And if people say, ‘No, I'm not, or I choose not to tell you,’ then that's fine. We treat them as a non-vaccinated guest.”
The CDC gives cruise lines that five per cent wiggle room of unvaccinated guests – which could be from children who are not eligible to be vaccinated, or adults who decline to be vaccinated – or prove it.
“The reality is people that are cruising are vaccinated,” she told Cruise Week, “90 per cent of our guests are telling us they are going to be vaccinated... It's an environment that they want to be in and they want to be vaccinated.”
Celebrity has a simple plan to make sure they meet the CDC’s 95 per cent requirement.
“When we hit the point where we're at 5 per cent unvaccinated, which has not happened yet, we're closing the sailing,” revealed Perlo.
“We're sailing at reduced load factors anyway,” she reminded Cruise Week, adding, "Celebrity said that we were going to sail with a minimum of 95 per cent vaccinated guests. And that is the premise by which our guests booked their cruise, and so we are not going to jeopardize that at all.”
And those choosing not to sail vaccinated are not getting a free pass. On Celebrity’s web site, it declares that, "Guests over 16 years-of-age (over 12 for any sailing on or after 01AUG) who decline or are unable to show proof of vaccination at boarding will be treated as unvaccinated and subject to additional protocols, restrictions, and costs for COVID-19 testing."
An article in USA Today spells out the repercussions of refusing to sail fully vaccinated on Celebrity. Unvaccinated guests must:
- Arrive for embarkation with a negative PCR test taken within the 72-hour period ahead of arrival at the terminal;
- Take an antigen test at the pier;
- Take another antigen test mid-cruise;
- And another antigen test at the end of the cruise;
- Wear masks at all times on board except when eating or drinking;
- Depending on local requirements, unvaccinated passengers may be restricted from disembarking at port calls; and
- Unvaccinated passengers will be restricted to certain seating areas on board in venues such as dining rooms.
It adds that antigen tests are USD $178 and must be paid for by the unvaccinated guest. “Meanwhile,” it says, “vaccinated passengers and passengers under 16 will be free to move about the ship without masks.”
Whether this system will become the standard as other cruise lines resume sailing from Florida ports this summer remains to be seen – but it may be a moot point anyway. The Florida judge's ruling gave the CDC until 02JUL to revise its requirements in its Conditional Sail Order, and if they fail to satisfy the judge, those requirements will become mere suggestions, not legal requirements.
Still, many cruise lines continue to report that their guests want a fully vaccinated cruise environment so even if the CDC no longer legally requires it, most cruise lines will doubtless find a way to ensure their vaccinated guests feel confident they're in a safe, COVID-free environment.
