CDC says cruises could resume in July if majority of crew members, passengers are fully vaccinated

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. — The cruise industry may be able to resume voyages in the U.S. starting in July if they meet certain criteria set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The cruise industry has been on hold for the past year due to the CDC’s conditional sailing order.

The CDC wrote suggests that with mitigation measures, cruises that had been halted because of the COVID-19 pandemic could resume by mid-summer.

READ: ‘Florida’s fighting back’: DeSantis demands cruises be able to sail, announces lawsuit against CDC, federal government

The CDC has announced five key clarifications for its framework for conditional sailing order:

If a ship has fully vaccinated 98% of its crew and 95% of its passengers it can bypass a simulated voyage.
The CDC has also reduced the time to respond to applications for simulated voyages to 5 days.
The agency has updated its testing and quarantine requirements.
Cruise ship operators may enter into multi-port agreements.
And if necessary, the CDC has provided local passengers the ability to quarantine at home if they are within driving distance.

READ: Disney Cruise Line unveils newest ship, the Disney Wish

John Murray, the CEO of Port Canaveral, said is ships are ready to sail from Port Canaveral in mid-July, they will have the staffing ready to serve them.

“I’m optimistic that we may be on a pathway forward at this point and its exciting,” Murray said. “As I’ve already said this is the best news I’ve heard since March 1 last year when they shut everything down.”

READ: Disney Cruise Line announces more cancelations

Murray said the port had already begun re-hiring some of its staff before the CDC’s announcement on Thursday.

Recently, Florida and Alaska have filed lawsuits against the CDC to lift their conditional sailing order and allow ships to cruise out of U.S. ports.

READ: DeSantis asks CDC to lift order keeping Florida’s passenger cruise industry in limbo

Breaking Overnight:
CDC sends letter to cruise industry that sailings could start again out of US ports mid-July.
98% of crew/95% of passengers must be vaccinated.
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