This week there was some welcome news from Celebrity Cruises. During a webinar for the travel community with Dondra Ritzenthaler, Senior Vice President Sales for Celebrity Cruises, the cruise line announced several relaxed measures for ship cruises in the Caribbean, UK and Greece.
Actions include loose action for masks and land go, messages about successive cruises, and much more. However, Ritzenthaler also announced that Celebrity will only sail with vaccinated guests who are required to provide evidence or who must provide evidence that they cannot be vaccinated.
Bring back to the ships relaxed
The webinar showed some significant developments from Celebrity Cruises. Guests who would like to sign up for a cruise on the Celebrity ships feel that masks are not needed inside or outside the ship as long as guests are vaccinated at a safe distance from others on board.
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The rules for guests who are not vaccinated have also been relaxed as the cruise line now states that guests are only required to wear masks during transportation (i.e., from room to bar, restaurant, etc.), when guests are seated they don’t have to wear one Wear a mask, nor do guests need to wear a mask when they are outdoors.
The CDC announcement last week The fact that masks should always be worn, even between bites during meals, caused a stir, but this tour was relaxed for vaccinated passengers. The news from Celebrity will no doubt be welcome news to many and in line with CDC for vaccinated guests.
The second major announcement comes as Celebrity has now abolished mandatory tours of ports of call for fully vaccinated guests. However, you should still follow local guidelines which may require otherwise. This means that guests are no longer restricted in ports of call and are likely to be able to walk around town in the places ships visit.
Finally, the cruise line now also enables guests to book successive cruises on board the ships. What was previously not possible due to the rules and regulations. Guests can now have two or more cruises aboard the ship as long as they pass a rapid antigen test.
Photo credit: DimaBerlin / Shutterstock
Ready, set, sail
Charles Sylvia, Vice President Industry & Trade Relations at CLIA, attended the interview in the webinar and made it clear that the Ready Set Sail campaign had a huge impact. A few months ago, CLIA started the campaign and asked cruise fans to write to their representatives and press it to allow the cruises to restart.
According to Charles Sylvia, the campaign was a success:
“All of the progress we are seeing on the CDC and the cruise lines in discussions with the CDC are a direct result of the Ready Set Sail campaign. All of the people who have written or called, those who enjoy sailing, everyone who has reached out to Congress have led to the open lines of communication we now have with the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC. ”
Cruise ships will make their own rules, safety first
Charles Sylvia also gave some insight into how Governor DeSantis’ lawsuit against the CDC and mandate against a vaccination certificate are affecting the cruise industry.
Sylvia believes the lawsuits will have little impact on cruises and crossings that take place in the near future or later. Simply because the dishes move too slowly to make any difference. With regard to the vaccination mandate, Charles Sylvia said the following:
“Of course, Governor DeSantis is an advocate of cruises from Florida. This situation will be resolved. The headline here is that the cruise industry will not be affected, solutions will be found. When the order is converted into logs, solutions are found. As soon as guests enter a ship, however, they are in international territory. “
The message there is clear. While the governor can set rules for the coast, the cruise lines will set their own rules. Something repeated by the Vice President of Sales for Celebrity Cruises:
“I’m honest, we will be doing vaccinated guests no matter what. The reason for this is because we want to be so smart and safe and want to make sure that every guest who comes on board knows that there is herd immunity on board the ships as 95% of the ship needs to be vaccinated. “
It looks like Celebrity Cruises are working towards a fully vaccinated cruise experience, although there will be room for unvaccinated individuals and minors.
The fact that the cruise line is poised to take a step towards a significant relaxation of the mask mandate and shore excursion mandate is encouraging, to say the least, to return to normal as soon as possible.
