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CDC Lifts COVID-19 Risk Warning for Cruise Travel

It's "an important step forward in recognizing the work we have done to protect our guests," cruise liner Holland America Line said.

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Dan Avery
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Cruise travel has been removed from the CDC's travel health advisory list.

 David Sacks

Two years into the pandemic, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has retired its COVID-19 risk warning for cruise travel.

Shortly after the first cases were detected in the US in March 2020, the agency introduced a Travel Health Notice showing the potential risk of coronavirus transmission on various forms of transport.

In late 2021, as the omicron variant surged, the CDC moved cruise travel to Level 4, its highest-risk category. By February, it had lowered that to Level 3, considered "high" risk, and then Level 2, "moderate" risk.

It remained there until Wednesday, when it was removed from the Travel Health Notice advisory entirely.

While the change doesn't mean there is zero risk of transmission on a cruise, the agency said in a statement that "travelers will make their own risk assessment when choosing to travel on a cruise ship, much like they do in all other travel settings."

Read also: CDC Signs Off on Second COVID Booster for Adults 50 and Up

The Cruise Lines International Association applauded the CDC for removing its Travel Health Notice for cruising.

The industry organization said in a statement that member cruise lines "are sailing today with health measures in place that are unmatched by virtually any other commercial setting."

Gus Antorcha, president of Holland America Line, called the removal "an important step forward in recognizing the work we have done to protect our guests."

The Diamond Princess, a luxury cruise ship operated by Princess Cruises, was sailing the Pacific in February 2020 when cases of COVID-19 were detected on board, forcing the vessel and its passengers and crew to be quarantined off the coast of Japan for two weeks.
Ultimately, 712 of the 3,711 people on board were infected with the virus, with as many as 14 deaths reported.