Carnival Cruise Line announced it was shifting two COVID-19 policies this month, one that will require more mask wearing and another that will ask all passengers for a negative antigen test before boarding.
The mask policy, which goes into effect on Aug. 7, calls for all passengers, whether vaccinated or not, to wear a mask while on board in interior spaces aboard its ships.
“In line with other major corporations such as Disney, McDonald’s and Las Vegas and all the other places, we have to be careful, and we have to get this right, and we will continue to make whatever changes we need to in order for the fun to continue,” said Carnival brand ambassador John Heald, who is on the line’s new ship Mardi Gras that left Port Canaveral on Saturday for its debut voyage.
He said the company will require all guests age 2 and older to wear masks in interior public areas like the elevators, the casino, standing in line for dinner and while shopping, for instance.
“Of course if you’re outdoors in the sun, or using the slides and all that kind of stuff, of course not, but these are things that we have to do,” Heald said during a Facebook live video. “This is a time to be careful. It’s a time to be cautious.”
The testing policy, which will go into effect on Aug. 14, requires a negative antigen test, which is a rapid test, within three days of sailing in order to board the ship. A negative PCR test will suffice as well, but the antigen test is easier to get within the three-day requirement.
“I know that this is something that possibly is going to be a little displeasing. Of course it is,” Heald said. “What you’re all thinking of course is, ‘Why are we doing this?’ Well we’re doing it very simply because we have to keep cruising going, and this is what we have to do, and we’re going to ask for your understanding. We are going to ask for you to protect yourself, and to protect other people.”
The cruise industry was shut down as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in early 2020, and only within the last six weeks have cruise lines begun to sail again from U.S. ports.
Mardi Gras became the first ship with paying customers to sail from Port Canaveral with three more ships on tap this weekend while other ships have sailed from Miami and Port Everglades as well as Texas and Alaska.
Lines such as Carnival that have earned their conditional sailing certificate from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by attesting that they will sail with at least 95% vaccinated customers face a growing dilemma from the more infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 that is expanding its reach around the world.
The variant can be spread by those who have been vaccinated, and the CDC recently recommended that those living in high-infection areas, whether vaccinated or not, wear masks in an effort to stem its spread.
The recommendation has led to places such as Disney to shift their mask-wearing policy.
Since the CDC’s rules for mostly vaccinated cruises did not require the lines’ vaccinated passengers to prove they were free of COVID-19 ahead of the cruise, but only prove they had been vaccinated, the cruise line’s implementation of the antigen test may help stem some of the potential spread that could take place on board.
Unvaccinated guests are allowed on Carnival ships to some degree, such as children under 12 who aren’t eligible for the vaccine, but the cruise line limits the number to stay within the CDC parameters. For any unvaccinated person that is eligible for the vaccine, the line requires they pay for the testing both before the sailing and before disembarking as well as a travel insurance requirement.
“It is not forever. This is just now so we can keep cruising going,” Heald said. “We’re going to do everything we can to get this right and we need your help.”
