Travel trade insurance company Trawick International provided a useful snapshot of each major cruise line’s pre-trip health and safety requirements in a TRO webinar last week. The webinar provided information current as of last week, though fast-moving protocols may potentially change tomorrow. The webinar will be posted on TRO’s Webinar Page on Monday afternoon, August 8th.
During the webinar titled Cruising in 2022: Preparing your Clients to Sail, Trawick VP of Trip Cancellation Bailey Foster offered up the following list of requirements for travelers:
Carnival
Unvaccinated guests departing Florida, Texas, South Carolina, or Virginia must show proof of travel insurance during check-in, including a minimum of $100,000 per person in medical coverage and $30,000 in medical evacuation coverage that does not exclude Covid-19.
Vaccine exemptions are limited to a small number of guests (ages five and above) and are capacity-controlled based on the total number of vaccinated guests projected to be on board.
Fully vaccinated guests may use a medically observed self-test.
All unvaccinated guests will be assessed a US$150 per person charge to cover the cost of testing, reporting, and health, and safety screenings.
Celebrity
Starting August 8, unvaccinated guests must test, but vaccinated guests must test only for voyages of six days or longer.
All crew must be vaccinated and boosted.
Disney
All guests 5 and older must be fully vaccinated and tested within 2 days of sailing.
Children ages 4 or less must test at the terminal prior to departure, at Disney’s expense.
All guests must upload proof of vaccination and negative test results by midnight on the day prior to sailing. Those who do not must test at the terminal for a fee of $74 plus tax per person.
Norwegian
All guests 13 and over and all crew must be vaccinated 14 days before departure.
For cruises originating from US ports, vaccinated children under two do not need to test, but those 3-12 must provide a negative test or recovery certificate.
Unvaccinated children 3-12 must provide a negative PCR test and also an additional antigen test at embarkation and disembarkation, at NCL’s expense.
Princess
Princess will allow up to 10% of unvaccinated guests on most sailings on a first-come, first-served basis.
Fully vaccinated travelers over the age of 5 must take an antigen test two days, or a PCR test three days, before departure.
Unvaccinated travelers with prior approval must take an PCR test within three days of departure plus an antigen test at the terminal.
Royal Caribbean
Testing protocols vary by port. For guests sailing from US ports, including Puerto Rico,
On voyages six nights or longer, vaccinated guests must present a negative test taken no more than two days before departure.
Unvaccinated travelers must test for all voyages.
Certificates of recovery are not accepted.
Viking River & Ocean Cruises
All guests and crew must be fully vaccinated 14 days prior to sailing.
Pre-departure testing is highly recommended but not required, unless it is required by the destination. Testing also is mandatory on some ocean voyages on Viking Orion and expedition cruises on Viking Octantis.
Why travel insurance?
Just like for any other sickness, travel insurance covers cancelation due to Covid-19, bankruptcy of suppliers, quarantines, emergency evacuations, and repatriation of remains, Foster said. Even a base plan covers travelers from the time they leave home until they return for anything that is prepaid and non-refundable, including trip cancelation due to sickness or death of the traveler or a family member, traffic accidents on the way to the terminal, hijacking or jury duty.
For travel advisors, Trawick’s online agent portal lets you look up customers, save quotes, set up roster enrollment for groups, build customized brochures with your contact info, and search your commission statement.
“We don’t expect you to be an insurance expert, contact us with any questions or claims if you need to modify a policy or want to determine which policy fits your customer’s trip best,” Foster said.
And remember that all the data on the cruise line requirements are as of the date of the webinar, she noted. The best source for today’s data is always the cruise line’s website.
