Starting October 14, Disney Cruise Line will drop the vaccine mandate for all guests and introduce relaxed testing requirements for fully vaccinated guests. Disney Cruise Line is one of the last cruise lines to make these changes.
The new protocols will be introduced on a rolling basis, starting with Disney Wish, and concluding with Disney Magic on November 7. For four out of five ships in the fleet, the changes come right on time for the popular Halloween cruises.
Disney Cruise Line Will No Longer Require Guests to be Fully Vaccinated
Disney Cruise Line has announced a significant change to its COVID-19 protocols, introducing relaxed measures that will allow guests who have not been fully vaccinated to step onboard the Disney cruise ships once again.
Starting on October 14, guests boarding Disney Wish for the 3-night Bahamas cruise from Port Canaveral will be the first group to take advantage of the new protocols.
These protocols include that fully vaccinated guests do not need to provide proof of a negative test result. To be exempt from testing requirements, fully vaccinated guests should still upload their proof of vaccination to the Inspire Diagnostics Safe Passage website by midnight before embarkation day.
Guests who have not been fully vaccinated will be required to provide a COVID-19 test taken one or two days before the sail date. The test may be a medically observed antigen test, rapid or lab-based PCR test, or Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT).
If unvaccinated guests have recently recovered from COVID and can provide appropriate documentation, they will also be exempt from the testing requirement.
Children ages four and younger do not need to be vaccinated, nor do they need to provide a negative test result. Disney Cruise Line does still recommend that all guests get tested before sailing.
If guests are sailing on back-to-back cruises, they will not be required to be tested in between cruises, as long as they are fully vaccinated. Guests without vaccination will be provided a test by Disney Cruise Line.
Step-by-Step Implementation
Disney Cruise Line has not chosen to pick one date to implement the new procedures onboard its ships. Instead, the cruise line will introduce these on a rolling basis across the fleet.
As mentioned, the first vessel where Disney implements the new procedures is Disney Wish on October 14, a 3-day Bahamas cruise to Nassau and Castaway Cay, sailing from Port Canaveral.
On October 15, the procedures will be implemented onboard Disney Dream. Departing from Miami, she will visit the Cayman Islands and Castaway Cay on a 5-night ‘Halloween On The High Seas’ western Caribbean cruise. The same date applies for Disney Fantasy, sailing from Port Canaveral, visiting Tortola, St Thomas, and Castaway Cay.
On October 16, it is Disney Wonder’s turn to implement the new protocols, sailing from San Diego on a 5-night Baja California cruise. Disney Magic will be the last ship to make changes on November 7, sailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The protocol changes come right on time for unvaccinated guests to experience the ever-popular Halloween on the High Seas cruises onboard the Disney ships in October. These cruises feature spooky character encounters and enchanted pumpkin trees.
Other fun experiences include a Mickey Mouse-querade Party, a family costume party where kids can meet their favorite Disney characters, Halloween-themed movies, and even ghostly ship announcements.
