Bahamas requiring vaccines for cruise passengers
Cruise lines that seek to bring passengers to the Bahamas, even private islands, will only be allowed if all their passengers 12 and older are vaccinated after the country updated its emergency COVID-19 declaration.
The update signed by Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis on Thursday will not allow cruise ships to port without sending over a manifest of its crew and passengers and their vaccine status.
The order, which goes into effect Sept. 3 and lasts until Nov. 1., does allow for unvaccinated passengers or crew that have a medical excuse.
Nearly every line sailing from Florida has made visits to the Bahamas key to their business restart plans.
In addition to possible stops in Nassau, Royal Caribbean makes stops to its private island Coco Cay, Disney Cruise Line to Castaway Cay, Carnival to Half Moon and Princess Cays, Norwegian to Great Stirrup Cay and MSC Cruises to Ocean Cay — MSC Marine Reserve.
Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and MSC Cruises updated their guidance by Friday to say their 12-and-older passengers need to be vaccinated as of Sept. 3. Norwegian Cruise Line already had the requirement in place.
Disney Cruise Line has yet to make any updates, and for now, Carnival Cruise Line is not announcing any changes, according to brand ambassador John Heald addressing the subject in a Facebook live video Friday morning.
“Please don’t worry. Nothing has changed. If it were to change, we would tell you. So please don’t think because you’ve read something that you can’t get off the ship or we’re not going there, if there are any changes to anything, we’ll tell you,” Heald said. “At the moment, you have nothing to do, nothing to worry about and we will always keep you informed.”
The Bahamas order puts another wrinkle in the ongoing plans of cruise lines to return to business that have also been trying to navigate a new Florida law pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that would fine any company $5,000 per instance if they require proof of vaccination.
Cruise lines already had put in vaccination requirements for its 12-and-older passengers when sailing from the U.S. for everywhere but Florida because of the law.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which runs NCL, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas, took the state to court over the law and a federal judge granted an injunction against Florida from it. The move allowed NCL to make its first voyage from a Florida port this past Sunday with its vaccine requirement while the overall case continues to be heard. The state has appealed the injunction.
Other cruise lines, though, are not automatically absolved of the threat of fines from the law without an expansion of the ruling.
Even though initially cruise lines such as Celebrity and Carnival had stated they were limiting voyages to only those who were vaccinated, the Florida law forced them to pivot, opening up bookings to those who were unvaccinated as well. The push to sail with mostly vaccinated passengers was spurred by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s conditional sail order that would only grant ships permission to sail with either a guarantee of at least 95% vaccinated passengers or if they successfully performed a simulated sailing to prove out COVID-19 safety protocols.
Lines that wanted to get right back to business as quickly as possible such as NCL, Carnival and Celebrity, opted for the vaccinated passenger guarantee, only to face the hurdle of Florida’s law.