As of right now, cruising is making a triumphant return in the United States. Major cruise lines are hitting the water once again, and although their capacities may be reduced, the demand is as high as ever. It’s an exciting thing to see after such a long period of waiting and worry. But while things are seeming normal again for American cruises to some regions, other countries are less excited about inviting in American travelers. Australia is one of them. Their ban on American cruise ships has been in place for nearly a year now, and we’re not sure there’s an end in sight.
The travel ban
In case you didn’t know, it’s basically impossible for an American citizen to travel to Australia right now. Their borders have been locked down hard since the early days of the pandemic. While the Australian government’s website seems to imply that vaccinated travelers may be allowed into the continent in the future, they explicitly state that “vaccination status does not currently determine or influence the outcome of a travel exemption request.” That means that, despite the fact that many US cruise ships currently require guests to be vaccinated, cruises to Australia are still not allowed simply based on their overall border laws.
Cruises in Australia
It’s clear that American travelers won’t be heading out on an Australian cruise vacation any time soon. But what about domestic cruises in the area? Are those happening? Unfortunately not. The continent announced on June 12th that they would extend their ban on all cruise travel until September 2021. In a sense, this is pretty much what happened last year. Worldwide cases cooled down in the summer, and sources started to speculate that Australia may allow cruises once more. September 2020 then rolled around and they pushed back the ban even further, and that led us to where we are today. The situation is obviously different now with vaccines, but the odds still aren’t in the cruise industry’s favor. While you can still book Australian cruises with major cruise lines like Princess and Royal Caribbean , most of the dates are in 2022 and beyond. The fact that the cruise lines aren’t confident for a 2021 Australia season says a lot about the prospects.
If the pandemic’s impact on the cruise industry has taught us anything, it’s that anything can happen. Australia may continue pushing the travel ban back, or things could snap back to normal sooner than any of us are imagining. We’ll keep our fingers crossed. But hey, you could always book an Australian cruise for cheap in the meantime.