The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered its threshold for cruise ships to meet a “highly vaccinated” status.
On May 5, 2022, the CDC reevaluated and lowered the cruise ship vaccination status thresholds from 95 percent to 90 percent of passengers under the COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships.
Cruise lines with ships of any vaccination classification that opted into the COVID-19 program must share the vaccination status of each vessel with the CDC.
The agency posts the information on its website along with the ship’s color status, which indicates the number of COVID-19 cases reported on board.
The agency also clarified its isolation cabin requirements for ships.
Negative air pressure, for example, will no longer be required for isolation cabins. But predetermined cabins for isolation purposes must be in a separate area from the rest of the cabins.
While the CDC advises passengers to be vaccinated before boarding a cruise ship, it no longer warns against taking a cruise because of the COVID-19 risk.
In late March, the health agency dropped its risk assessment of cruise travel after more than two years of warning travelers against the dangers of contracting COVID-19 on a cruise amid the pandemic.
The removal of the notice didn’t mean that the agency considered the activity to be without any risk.
