Disney Cruise Line could soon be returning to the high seas and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that it will let the current no-sail order expire at the end of the month and it will be replaced with a “Conditional Sailing Order.”
The no-sail order expires Saturday. The new conditional order will remain in effect until either Nov. 1, 2021, the expiration of the Department of Health and Human Services’ declaration of a public health emergency or when CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield decides to end it.
Disney officials announced that all cruises would be canceled through at least Dec. 6 which gives them time as cruise lines will have to prove to the CDC that its COVID-19 protocols are effective before they will be allowed to sail with passengers.
The new order establishes a framework that will help the industry implement safety measures that will enable it to resume operations in U.S. waters in a phased approach, the CDC said in a statement. Before restarting passenger operations in any commercial form, the companies will face tests from the CDC on how safe their protocols are, the agency said.
The first phase will include virus testing for all crew members and ensuring operators have safety measures in place for testing locations on ships. Later phases will include simulated voyages to test safety measures and the risk of COVID-19.
“This framework provides a pathway to resume safe and responsible sailing,” Redfield said in a statement. “It will mitigate the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks on ships and prevent passengers and crew from seeding outbreaks at ports and in the communities where they live.”
The CDC originally issued a no-sail order for cruise ships in U.S. waters on March 14 after hundreds of coronavirus infections and several Covid-19 deaths were reported onboard ships with outbreaks across the world. The CDC previously said “that cruise ship travel exacerbates the global spread of Covid-19” in justifying the order.
Port Canaveral recently reported a $18 million loss for this budget year due to halted cruise operations.