A more than seven-month-long ban on cruising in U.S. waters ends this weekend, paving the way for a return to sailing during the pandemic, but would-be vacationers shouldn't expect an immediate restart in San Diego or anywhere else, given new requirements imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Among the requirements spelled out by the CDC: Ship owners must test all passengers and crew at the start and end of all voyages, which are limited to seven days. It also will initially require mock voyages with volunteers playing the role of passengers to test cruise lines' ability to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
In mid-March, the CDC ordered cruise ships to stop sailing to U.S. ports because several outbreaks convinced officials that the vessels were potential cauldrons of infection. The order was renewed a few times, with the latest renewal set to expire today, the agency announced Friday.
The no-sail plan will be replaced with a phased plan for resuming cruising that it is calling a Framework for Conditional Sailing Order.
To resume carrying passengers, the companies have to demonstrate they have procedures for testing, quarantining and isolating passengers and crew. They will have to build test labs on all ships, and make their own arrangements to isolate or quarantine passengers on shore if needed.
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All of this will take time, possibly months, a CDC spokesman said.
The latest news comes even as the CDC continues to warn about the increased potential for spreading the virus on board cruise ships. Its new plan for allowing for a return to sailing, though, should help ease concerns about promoting increased infection, the CDC says.
"This framework provides a pathway to resume safe and responsible sailing. It will mitigate the risk of covid-19 outbreaks on ships and prevent passengers and crew from seeding outbreaks at ports and in the communities where they live," said CDC Director Robert Redfield. "CDC and the cruise industry have a shared goal to protect crew, passengers, and communities and will continue to work together to ensure that all necessary public health procedures are in place before cruise ships begin sailing with passengers."
In San Diego, most sailings have been postponed through November. Holland America, which is based there during the fall-to-spring cruise season, has so far canceled roughly half its originally planned 47 cruises, and its first sailing still on the books is not until Dec. 19. Carnival, which has canceled 16 of its 34 cruise calls out of San Diego, isn't showing any voyages until January, and Disney Cruise Line, which has cut 12 of its 27 scheduled calls, isn't back on the San Diego schedule until March.
"It is too soon to say how soon sailing could resume in San Diego," said the Port of San Diego's Adam Deaton. "Our next steps will be to coordinate with Holland America and Carnival on their plans, as they are the first few cruises on our schedule. Currently, our first scheduled cruise is Dec. 19 with Holland America's Koningsdam. If any cruise lines request to conduct test sailings in San Diego, we will coordinate with all relevant federal, state and local agencies."
To date, there has been a net loss of 60 cruise calls in San Diego because of the pandemic, according to Deaton. With an expected reduction in passenger capacity once cruises resume, the Port of San Diego is expecting 264,000 fewer passengers going through San Diego, a decline of nearly 60%.
The CDC developed the new cruise criteria with input from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, an agency spokesperson said.
The health agency said it could force limits on passenger capacity, but the framework doesn't spell out specifics.
The original no-sail order was influenced by an outbreak on the Diamond Princess early this year, which resulted in more than 700 people testing positive and nine reported deaths. At least 159 were infected on the Grand Princess, including eight who died.
Information for this article was contributed by Lori Weisberg of The San Diego Union-Tribune and by Mike Stobbe of The Associated Press.