The cruise industry is still very much on hold, with no U.S.-based cruises scheduled before late spring and even those dates tentative, but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening behind the scenes.
The Centers for Disease Control holds the key to approval to resume operations under a Framework for Conditional Sailing that it issued last October 31; it covers all operations through November 1, 2021. While no ships have been cleared to take on passengers, the good news is that of 64 large ships covered by the orders, 56 are rated green and only 8 are red.
Green means that the ship has completed all its paperwork and has approved plans for health and safety, have no crewmembers with any Covid-like illness onboard in the past four weeks, and must quarantine any embarking crew members. In Green status, crews can board and crew facilities can be opened. Ships with Red status have missed one or more of the requirements and are not allowed to board new crew, and must keep existing crew members isolated.
In essence, Green means that once the go-ahead is given for sailing, test cruises with volunteer passengers can start, although no details of what CDC requires on test cruises has been released. The 64 ships are listed here. Many familiar names are missing because the list only covers ships that are presently in U.S. waters.
