On April 2, 2021, the CDC finally
released phase two of the Conditional Sailing Order (CSO). It has been five months since the CDC released phase one; while there are a total of five phases the cruise lines will need to work through before they are allowed to sail with guests once again.
We look at why the process is taking so long, what the cruise lines have done so far, and what they will need to do in the upcoming period to enable cruises to start up again.
Phase 1: Mass Testing and Lab Capacity Building
Phase one could and should have been a relatively short phase, as this step only includes some basic procedures. However, several factors ensured the phase took longer than anyone in the cruise industry had expected.
Covid-19 Live Updates: Some U.S. Colleges Will Require Vaccinations in the Fall
Last Updated
April 5, 2021, 5:48 p.m. ETApril 5, 2021, 5:48 p.m. ET
Walgreens acknowledges it hadn’t been following U.S. guidance on timing between Pfizer vaccine doses and will start scheduling them three weeks apart. Everyone in New Jersey aged 16 and over will soon be eligible for vaccines.
Here’s what you need to know:
Cornell University is requiring all students who will be on campus in the fall of 2021 to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Students walked through Ho Plaza on the Cornell campus in Ithaca, N.Y., before the school switched to online instruction last spring.Credit.Heather Ainsworth for The New York Times
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., parent company to Norwegian Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises, announced Monday that it would require all passengers and crew on its ships to be 100% vaccinated two weeks before boarding. That one-two punch is ironclad, Frank Del Rio, the company s president and CEO, told USA TODAY on Monday, pointing to the new vaccination requirement and health and safety protocols the company has said will be implemented on board. No one can argue that being on a cruise ship under those conditions is not the safest place on Earth.
The requirement comes on the heels of additional guidance for cruise ships released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday as part of its Framework for Conditional Sailing Order, initially published in October, which is meant to help guide cruise lines as they return to sailing.