New State Department Guidelines for Cruises

The US State Department has issued a travel statement regarding cruises. You can read the full statement here.

The pertinent details include the following:

U.S. citizens, particularly travelers with underlying health conditions, should not travel by cruise ship.  CDC notes increased risk of infection of COVID-19 in a cruise ship environment. In order to curb the spread of COVID-19, many countries have implemented strict screening procedures that have denied port entry rights to ships and prevented passengers from disembarking.  In some cases, local authorities have permitted disembarkation but subjected passengers to local quarantine procedures.  While the U.S. government has evacuated some cruise ship passengers in recent weeks, repatriation flights should not be relied upon as an option for U.S. citizens under the potential risk of quarantine by local authorities.  

The site also has a list of what you should do if you still decide to cruise.

Disney’s current policy for cruises coming up between now and May 31, 2020 its that you can change your cruise to a placeholder good for the next year up until the day before the cruise departs. You can read their statement from last week here. It is unknown at this time if Disney will be making additional changes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a new statement from Disney coming out by Monday.

As always, this is a dynamic situation, so more details will be coming in the next days and weeks — stay tuned as we bring you updates when they happen.

Does this change your plans for an upcoming cruise? Let us know in the comments.