Disney Cruise Line had to delay plans to perform a test sailing of Disney Dream from Port Canaveral because of COVID-19 test results.
The ship was set to perform a two-night sailing leaving Tuesday as part of the line’s efforts to receive a conditional sailing certificate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An official statement from the cruise line said because of inconsistent test results submitted before sailing, it will have to push the attempt to a later date.
“We are delaying our simulation cruise due to a small number of inconsistent COVID-19 test results, which are considered positive by the CDC,” according to the statement. “The rigorous health and safety protocols we have in place helped us identify the situation, though the test results were ultimately negative.”
It’s not the first time a cruise line had to delay because of COVID testing results. Royal Caribbean was planning to sail its new ship Odyssey of the Seas from Port Everglades on July 3, but had to reschedule to the end of July after several of its crew received positive COVID-19 tests earlier in June.
Crews from several lines including Disney received vaccinations in Port Canaveral, and plans for most are to sail with 100% vaccinated crew.
For Disney, though, vaccine requirements for passengers were not part of its business plan, opting to attempt a simulated sailing as part of the CDC’s conditional sail order. An alternative is for a line to sail with at least 98% crew and 95% passengers fully vaccinated.
But since there is no vaccine even available for children under the age of 12, lines like Disney would not have been able to meet the CDC’s threshold.
The ship would have been the first to sail from Port Canaveral, even though it was just with volunteer passengers. Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas was the first major cruise ship from any U.S. port to sail on a simulated voyage last week when it took 650 passengers to its private island Coco Cay and back from PortMiami. That ship now plans to sail with paying customers on July 2.
Its sister line Celebrity Cruises, though, which had more than 95% passengers vaccinated, sailed with the first real passengers from Port Everglades on Saturday, becoming the first return to business from any U.S. port by a major cruise line since the coronavirus pandemic shut the industry down in March 2020.
Even though Disney has yet to reschedule its simulated sailing, it could as of July 18 be able to work around the CDC’s conditional sail order since a federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction against the CDC from enforcing it in Florida.
With CDC rules in place or not, Disney has been working to amp its COVID-19 safety protocols to ensure a safe voyage.
Disney Dream last sailed out of Port Canaveral on March 9, 2020. The cruise line bases both Dream and Disney Fantasy at the Central Florida port, and currently have all revenue sailings of those two ships canceled into early August.
It plans to sail Disney Magic on some short voyages in the United Kingdom from July-September. Those sailings are for UK residents only, with vaccines required for those 18 and older. Disney Wonder is based on the west coast, but has no sailings available through mid-July.
