The CDC released some pretty big news on October 25th. It seems that there is now a planned end date for the Conditional Sailing Order (CSO). The history of the CSO, despite being relatively new, is already quite storied. It has been one of the biggest roadblocks to the cruise industry’s restart for a while now. It has received both praise and criticism, and it has acted as a major symbol of the current state of the industry. Read on to hear all the details about when it’s going to end and what will happen before and after.
The history of the CSO
When the pandemic first began and it was clear that travelling posed a health risk to the public, the CDC quickly enacted a No Sail Order. This lasted for a few months before it was transformed into the Conditional Sailing Order in November 2020. At the time, this was seen as a major improvement. The CSO essentially stated that cruises could begin sailing again as long as they adhered to a certain set of standards. These standards were to be tested on simulated voyages with volunteer passengers. Unfortunately for cruise lines excited to get back into business, this process moved incredibly slowly. Vaccine distribution ended up allowing a restart far faster than the simulated voyages ever could.
The CSO now
As of right now, the CSO is still active. However, it has had new rules introduced since it was created. As part of the order, cruise lines can now skip simulated voyages as long as they have a majority of guests and crew members fully vaccinated. Simulated voyages have fallen off the radar since then, and the CSO has basically become a sort of vaccine mandate for cruise ships. This will continue to be the case until January 15th, 2022.
The end of the order
After January 15th, the CDC is set to move the CSO to a voluntary order. That means that cruise lines can choose to adhere to the rules if they wish. However, they will not be required to. It is possible it could end earlier, however, if the Secretary of Health and Human Services declares that COVID-19 is no longer a health emergency. (That would be nice, eh?) Once the order transitions to being voluntary, the CDC will help out willing cruise lines in assuring safe travels for their guests.
What do we think of this? We’re not getting excited just yet. The end of the CSO will open up many doors for the industry, but the past two years have taught us that unpredictable things can happen in this industry. It would be great for cruise lines to be able to operate without restrictions, but we’ll wait until the time comes to see if that actually happens or not. Our main wish is that everyone can travel while being as safe as possible.