Guests sailing to Bermuda on a Carnival cruise for the next few weeks will need to continue to complete the country’s travel authorization form and pay additional fees.
The requirement, first implemented in 2021, will now be required at least through the June 16 sailing of Carnival Magic and the June 19 sailing of Carnival Legend.
Bermuda Requirement Remains in Place
The “Travel Authorization” application to visit Bermuda includes a $40 per person fee, which must be paid prior to cruise embarkation, regardless of when the ship visits Bermuda. The application also includes information about the guest’s pre-arrival COVID-19 test and vaccination records.
The fee must be paid via Visa or Mastercard, as no other payment methods are accepted at this time. Carnival Cruise Line brand ambassador John Heald addressed the Bermuda fees in a recent “coffee” live chat on Facebook.
“We, as an industry, and it’s not just us, it’s every cruise line, we have been working with the Bermudan government to try and negotiate away from this actual fee,” Heald said, “but it’s not been something that the industry has been successful in.”
At this time, four upcoming Carnival cruises are impacted by this fee:
- May 22 – Carnival Legend
- May 26 – Carnival Magic
- June 16 – Carnival Magic
- June 19 – Carnival Legend
“It’s not our rule, it’s not something that we want, and we understand the extra bit of frustration,” Heald said.
The fee must be paid by all passengers over the age of 2, regardless of whether or not the passengers will be getting off the ship in Bermuda for a shore excursion or individual exploration of the port.
“If you don’t, it will hold you up at embarkation because you will have to do it there,” Heald clarified.
Guests booked on the upcoming impacted cruises will be emailed reminders to take care of the registration and fee before arriving at the cruise port.
Guests should not wait until the last minute to complete the form and pay the fee, as website outages may cause delays in processing the form, and guests must receive approval before their cruise embarkation.
The Spirit-class Carnival Legend is currently sailing from Baltimore, offering Eastern Caribbean, Bahamas, and Bermuda itineraries, while the Dream-class Carnival Magic is currently sailing from Norfolk, Virginia.
Carnival Magic will reposition to New York in mid-June, and her first sailing from her summer homeport is the 4-night June 16 Bermuda sailing where this fee is required.
Why More Fees?
This Travel Authorization fee is in addition to the typical port fees and taxes cruise passengers pay. Standard taxes and fees, however, are added to guests’ cruise fare when booking a vacation, while this fee must be paid independently and is not handled through the cruise line.
The fee, which was first implemented as a COVID-19 mitigation measure to ensure Bermuda travelers were vaccinated and had a negative test result before arrival into the country, does not pay for any further testing, quarantine assistance, or other actions, but is being considered an extra tax by some travelers.
Instead, the costs only help support the travel authorization website, hotline, and employees necessary to process applications. Some officials have already begun to call for the removal of the form and the fee, believing it to be an unnecessary obstacle for travelers and potentially causing visitors to choose other destinations instead.
At this time, the fee continues to be required, and cruise travelers should check with their cruise line for updates as their sailing to Bermuda approaches.
In addition to Carnival Cruise Line, other lines making calls to Bermuda in the next few weeks include Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
