Celebrity Cruises is no longer requiring passengers to show proof of vaccination on voyages out of Florida.
The cruise company now only recommends that passengers 16 years and older be vaccinated.
Celebrity updated its travel requirements webpage to specify that Florida passengers “who decline or are unable to show proof of vaccination at boarding will be treated as unvaccinated and subject to additional protocols, restrictions and costs for COVID-19 testing."
The change aligns Celebrity with a new Florida law, which bans businesses from asking customers for proof of vaccination. A federal judge essentially upheld the law in a preliminary injunction issued last week.
The ruling, which came in the state’s legal challenge to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's authority, takes effect July 18.
The CDC issued conditional sailing requirements for cruise lines to resume revenue sailings. The state claimed the CDC was overreaching its authority when it required ships to either execute a simulated voyage to test health protocols or mandate that 95 percent of the eligible passengers were vaccinated against COVID-19.
Celebrity previously received approval from the CDC for its Celebrity Edge to sail through the vaccination mandate.
The Celebrity Edge is scheduled to sail Saturday out of Port Everglades, the first scheduled U.S. revenue cruise in 15 months. The industry was shut down in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Celebrity’s parent company, Miami-based Royal Caribbean, went away from the vaccination mandate earlier this month. Celebrity completed its first test cruise on Tuesday and is awaiting CDC feedback.
Another Celebrity ship, the Millennium, recently sailed out of St. Marteen and two passengers test positive for COVID-19 during required end-of-cruise testing. The individuals were asymptomatic, placed in isolation and monitored by the ship’s medical team.
