WASHINGTON--The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said people should avoid travelling on cruise ships regardless of their vaccination status, as daily COVID-19 cases in the country climb to record highs due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
The move delivers another blow to the cruise industry that had just started returning to the seas in June after a months-long suspension of voyages caused by the pandemic.
The CDC on Thursday raised its COVID-19 travel health notice level for cruise ships to its highest warning level, citing reports of COVID-19 outbreaks on cruises. The health agency has investigated and is still probing into COVID-19 cases on more than 90 ships. It starts scrutiny if 0.10% or more passengers on guest voyages test positive for COVID-19.
Shares in Carnival Corp, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd and Royal Caribbean Group reversed course to fall about 1% after the travel advisory from the CDC.
"The decision by the CDC to raise the travel level for cruise is particularly perplexing considering that cases identified on cruise ships consistently make up a very slim minority of the total population onboard," the Cruise Lines International Association said.
Norwegian Cruise, meanwhile, said it believed guests on its ships were better protected from contracting COVID-19 than in any other general population setting. The company and Carnival said the CDC's decision had not impacted scheduled itineraries.
The CDC said passengers already on cruise ships should get tested three to five days after their trip ends, and self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days.
The Omicron variant also continued to impact air travel. Total flight cancellations within, into, or out of the United States stood at more than 1,180, with over 10,300 flights delayed as of 14:37 ET, data from flight-tracking website FlightAware.com showed.
Royal Caribbean Group said on Thursday it was grappling with a drop in bookings and a rise in cancellations as COVID-19 cases surge in the United States, driven by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
Since the Celebrity Cruises parent resumed operations from U.S. ports in June, the company's cruise ships have ferried 1.1 million passengers, with 1,745 people testing positive for COVID-19 and 41 being hospitalized. "Our case count has spiked, but the level of severity is significantly milder," Royal Caribbean's chief medical officer, Calvin Johnson, said.
The company said load factors for sailings in the first half of 2022 remain below historical levels, although it said the recent disruption was not as severe as that experienced during the Delta variant wave earlier this year. Royal Caribbean shares rose nearly 2% in early morning trade as it said bookings for the second half of 2022 continue to be within historical ranges.
Some cruise liners recently had to hold off on disembarking passengers due to active COVID-19 cases on board, or to bring in more workers as a precautionary measure. Royal Caribbean said on Thursday it was seeing disruptions at some destinations and that it had cancelled or "significantly modified" 16 destination calls out of 331.
The company also said disruptions brought on by the Omicron variant and its impact on labour availability were hurting its ability to offer some onboard services.
