Cruise lines’ planned schedules

Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line have multiple cruises scheduled to leave from US ports in September and October. However, each one must still be approved by the CDC before being allowed to depart, with those decisions to be made closer to the embarkation dates.

The CDC has issued a vaccine requirement on cruises leaving from US ports. However, Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, signed an order saying businesses in that state cannot require customers to be vaccinated. The issue was still tied up in courts at press time, with Florida’s law allowed to be enforced while an appeal, filed by Governor DeSantis, is considered by the Supreme Court.

At least one cruise line, Celebrity Cruises, said it will follow the governor’s order and not require that all passengers on its cruises out of Florida be vaccinated, with other lines saying they will follow the CDC’s ruling regardless of Florida’s law.

Possibly because of the uncertainty regarding vaccination requirements, neither Carnival nor Norwegian has scheduled any cruises to leave from Florida until October, with their September cruises all leaving from states that allow the cruise lines to require passengers to be vaccinated.