The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the U.S. Department of State have quietly issued updates to their travel recommendations in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Raising the warning level to 3, “avoid nonessential travel,” appears to cover all vacation types, including what I would label “land travel” to destinations such as Cancun as well as cruises. However, as usual, the recommendation seems to actually apply only to cruises, which is cause for both hope and frustration.

Hope because we can travel to a number of destinations, frustration because it seems like the government is trying to make the cruise industry the scapegoat. The CDC specifically lists cruising as a dangerous activity, even though cruises, specifically Costa, CroisiEurope, Hurtigruten, and MSC among others, have been operating safely in Europe.

Read: CDC Update: CDC.gov

The State Department piling on isn’t helping the situation by leading with a headline designed to scare people out of booking cruises before clarifying that it’s warnings are mostly pointed at guests in what we know are the at-risk groups. It’s certainly valid for those guests to use caution before deciding to cruise. Everyone can take steps to reduce the risk of catching Covid — everywhere, not only on a cruise ship — like maintaining a safe distance, wearing a mask, and washing hands.

Fair or not, with this update specifically pointing to Covid-19 being a big problem on cruise ships, it’s difficult to imagine the current no sail order being lifted at the end of October. Cruise lines have been making news with their confidence in being back in the water soon; however, these statements seem to be nothing more than posturing.

While it seems the cruise industry may be on hold for a while, I firmly believe now is the best time to book one for 2021-2022 while booking your next vacation at a resort either in the United States or one of the foreign destinations welcoming guests. Use my contact form or call 844-483-6669 for unbiased information, advice, and assistance with your next vacation.