Late last week, Disney Cruise Line made the decision to postpone the June 29th simulation cruise aboard the Disney Dream following inconsistent test results. Today, the news became public hitting the paper with the following statement from an unnamed Disney Cruise Line offical published in the Orlando Sentinel article.
“We are delaying our simulation cruise due to a small number of inconsistent COVID-19 test results, which are considered positive by the CDC,” according to the statement. “The rigorous health and safety protocols we have in place helped us identify the situation, though the test results were ultimately negative.”
Disney Cruise Line delays test sail from Port Canaveral by Richard Tribou
At this time, Disney Cruise Line has NOT made any further public statements regarding the simulation cruises. However, ABC News published the following statement from Disney Cruise Line.
The Disney Dream had been scheduled to set sail Tuesday from Port Canaveral, Florida, with 300 employees who had volunteered for the “simulation” cruise. But the trip was postponed until next month, pending approvals, because a small number of employees had inconsistent results for COVID-19, “which is considered positive by the CDC.”
Disney delays test cruise over ‘inconsistent’ virus results – ABC News
It is worth pointing out, pending further action by the CDC, there CDC’s Conditional Sail Order rules will become just recommendations mid-July following a recent ruling in favor of the State of Florida against the CDC’s shutdown of the cruise industry in the state.
Yikes….
False positives are positive, inconsistencies are positive, well done cdc, way to iron fist and strong arm the cruise industry… cannot wait til July 18th….
Think DCL did the right thing here. Why give CDC anything to use against them. Perhaps DCL will just wait till the restrictions expire (hopefully very soon) and then go full sail.
I’m done with the CDC.
Get up on board with Carnival, on the mardi gras in August instead of the Fantasy
Once the CDC gave the all clear for fully vaccinated passengers to sail it was the first sign that the conditional sail order was beginning to wind down.
The safety protocols established by the CDC have either been followed or exceeded by each cruise line. Each cruise line is proceeding cautiously which so far means requiring vaccinations, requiring masks regardless of vaccination status, restricting certain venues to vaccinated passengers only, etc. As such, passengers will now be at the mercy of each cruise line, the protocols they establish and the protocols of each country a ship visits.
The CDC isn’t their primary concern. With Florida now ranking sixth among states where Covid is spreading the fastest, their concern is the potential for outbreaks and the negative impact and publicity that could potentially follow.
This is the problem with using a rapid testing protocol. Rapid tests are known for false positives.
Also, anyone who has had covid can test positive for many weeks even months though they are no longer sick or contagious.
The CDC still has until submit “a narrower injunction” by July 2 “to further safeguard the public’s health while this action pends. If they do, then the process starts again.
This does not look good for my Oct cruise…. I really hope they start to extent the credit must sail date of sept of 2022. But I do want to use it and not lose.
They’re not using rapid tests for crew onboard. PCR Tests are required.
No vaccine for Younger Children, they are part of the 95%. DCL can’t achieve a majority of immunized passengers since a high percentage of passengers are children. DCL will be a more risky cruise for the foreseeable future until vaccines are available and safe for younger children.
I imagine all of the cruise lines are having back channel communications with the CDC and they’re being told to expect the CSO to expire July 18 as per the injunction. Likely the reason why DCL isn’t going to bother with any test cruises since after July 18 they can do whatever they want.
I had the same thought but, on the plus side, I can apply that amount to next years cruise. Yeah, I know, not the same but I’m working with what I’ve got.
Other cruise lines are still scheduling Test Cruises so this doesn’t jive with the rest of the industry. Royal just announced today that the Oasis of the Seas is doing a test cruise on August 22-28, 2021. If back channel discussions would lead then to think there was no need for a test cruise, this wouldn’t be scheduled at all.
John, I hope you are correct!! ❤️
CDC given injunction on 6/28 to come up with different regulations now by July 19 was previously due by 7/2/2021.
Vinnie – can you post a link? I’ve searched and searched and see no mention of the change in dates.
J – that sailing and many more were likely scheduled long ago. Unless something major happens then the CSO will expire on July 18 and all of those will get rescheduled as actual cruises, not test sailings.
The injunction still stands along with the July 2nd deadline for a narrower scope. The July 19th deadline is for the boarder lawsuit. They still won the injunction. An injunction is nothing more than a judge saying they believe that a party will win a lawsuit.
J – Just noticed that Oasis of the Seas is out of New Jersey. That would explain it. From what I understand the injunction only impacts cruising out of FL on July 18. Cruising out of anywhere else will require cruise lines to sail under the CSO until Oct 31 unless the CDC decides to do something different. FL can sail after July 18 under whatever rules the cruise lines decide upon.
Here is the story link:
https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/legal-regulatory/judge-grants-cdc-more-time-respond-floridas-cruise-lawsuit
https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/legal-regulatory/judge-grants-cdc-more-time-respond-floridas-cruise-lawsuit
link doesn’t seem to post…
Seatrade Cruise site: Article: Judge Grants CDC More Time to Respond to Floridas Cruise Lawsuit with revised regulation (time extended past July 2nd)
Thanks Vinnie. One of the reasons this is not getting almost any press is because “This is related to the underlying lawsuit; the July 2 deadline for responding to the preliminary injunction still stands.” The CDC still has only until tomorrow to address the injunction.
That’s really good news then; new CDC regulations aren’t on the horizon. Smooth sailing ahead in August!
UpdatedJuly 6 information on CDC’s responds to CSO injunction (Florida suit):
https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/legal-regulatory/cdc-warns-lifting-cruise-line-covid-rules-could-put-us-risk
What does this mean is you have an august cruise booked on the dream