The Carnival Liberty cruise ship is seen after docking so crew members can get the COVID-19 vaccine at Port Canaveral, the first U.S. port to sponsor the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to dock workers and ship crew members.
Paul Hennessy | LightRakete | Getty Images
carnival said Tuesday that the majority of its ships’ itineraries remained unchanged despite a surge in cases of the variant Omicron coronavirus, which threatened to block a recovery in the cruise industry.
However, the world’s largest cruise operator said that some ports of destination are reviewing their protocols and processes due to the fast-moving new variant.
Many passengers and media reports, including those from CNN and Euronews, said authorities in some ports in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico and Mexico have not allowed passengers to disembark from cruise lines carrying active Covid-19 cases.
“Looks like my cruise this Friday is a cruise to nowhere,” one Reddit user wrote on a Royal Caribbean forum late Monday.
Carnival said Monday it would find an alternative destination in the event that it is forced to cancel a port.
royal caribbean did not respond to a Reuters request for comment while Norwegian Cruise Line declined to comment.
“The cruise line’s response to the significant spike in Covid-19 cases caused by the surge in Omicron has been largely successful,” said James Walker, a Miami-based maritime attorney.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also identified more than 85 cruise ships with Covid-19 cases on board, the agency said on Tuesday.
A ship in Carnival’s Cunard unit is one of the ships The CDC is investigating Covid-19 cases on board.
On Monday, the CDC announced that 68 ships with Covid-19 cases had reached the threshold for an investigation.
The Omicron variant has raised concerns that U.S. health officials may reinstate a temporary cruise ban just months after U.S. cruise lines resume operations.
