habitatnal

Ponant has updated their website to remove vaccination/testing requirements for Australia. I guess Viking is the only cruise line that hasn’t gotten the memo. It looks like China has dropped requirements as well so the chance of anyone going on a cruise with requirements is now very low.

Silversea no longer requires vaccinations for Australia. Ponant cruises still lists Australia as requiring vaccination/testing. The interesting thing is the Tasmanian government website says that they are updating guidelines for cruising so maybe that is why some cruise lines were slow to update their policies. https://www.health.tas.gov.au/health-topics/coronavirus-covid-19/guidance-and-resources/best-practice-guidelines#cruise-ships

The interesting thing is that Carnival is selling a cruise that leaves on October 31st going to Hobart and there is nothing on the Carnival website that indicates that there are any cruises with restrictions. If there truly are restrictions there will be many upset people because they weren’t told about them when booking.

What I don’t get is Carnival and Princess have not said anything about requiring the vaccine/testing in Tasmania. Carnival has a ship that is going to Tasmania in October and I would not be happy if I learned that there were requirements after Carnival said that there weren’t. From what I can see online the Tasmanian Government has not said that vaccines/tests are required for cruising. If I am wrong I would love to see the source. I know the requirements have only been gone for about a month but has there been a dramatic rise in cases, hospitalizations or deaths?

Have you heard anything from NCL? When I emailed them they didn’t respond.

I emailed them yesterday but I have not heard back.

Disney has dropped testing and vaccination requirements. I think NCL will drop the protocols soon.

I don’t understand how NCL can sail around the world with no protocols but they won’t drop them for Australia. Do you have a good email address for NCL? I couldn’t find one.

It sounds like someone needs to tell Disney and NCL that the protocols are truly dropped. NCL still has requirements on their website. I doubt Carnival or Princess have access to different information than NCL or Disney does.

I am also active on the Disney message boards. Someone on that message board said that they called Disney Cruise Line. Disney told them that the reason why they have not taken down the requirement to be vaccinated/tested is because not all the Australian states have dropped the protocols. I was under the impression that all of the Australian states did drop the protocols. Has anyone heard that certain states haven’t agreed to drop the cruise protocols?

Did this cruise go to Australia at all? I’m assuming that is why you were asked to provide proof of vaccination and a negative test. Going forward I assume that all cruises except ones maybe going to Mainland China will have no pre-boarding protocols. Cruising really hasn’t fully restarted in China but I know that major brands will start sailing there in the early spring. China did drop the requirement to test before flying into their country so who knows how they will feel in a few months.

If you look at the FAQs on this website it says that testing has been dropped. https://www.pocruises.com.au/plan/know-before-you-go/healthy-cruising

That makes sense. I have filled out a form like that for cruises in the US.

So what you are saying is you might have to fill out a survey saying you are negative and you took a test within 24 hours?

It looks like according to the media release that you posted, pre-cruise testing has been dropped in NSW. I would hope all the Australian states drop pre-cruise testing because it would be confusing to passengers and the cruise lines to have different protocols depending on where your cruise leaves from in Australia.