In a first ‘all-vaccinated’ cruise plan for major lines, Royal Caribbean has announced a series of cruises calling at ports in Israel, Cyprus and Greece that will require everyone on board 16 and over to be vaccinated.
The three countries have recently signed a free travel agreement among them, and Israel, where the cruises will originate, has among the highest proportion of people vaccinated, with over half already vaccinated. The first cruise is set for May.
Given its itinerary, sailing mostly among Greek islands in the eastern Mediterranean, it’s perhaps appropriate that the ship is Royal Caribbean’s newest, Odyssey of the Seas, named, at a remove, for the Homeric hero Odysseus who spent years cruising those very seas trying to get home.