All Four Disney Cruise Ships Are Being Investigated By CDC For COVID Numbers

Over the past few weeks, the Omicron variant has taken hold in not only the United States but around the world. The new variant is highly transmissible, and those who have been both vaccinated and boosted have found themselves also becoming infected — although almost all of those cases seem to be mild. One place where a virus like COVID can thrive is on cruise ships, and many of them have been experiencing a drastic increase in positivity rates, with some being unable to dock at ports due to the number of positive cases on board. The island of St. Thomas has even told cruise ship Guests that they may not disembark when they reach the island as St. Thomas officials try to stop the spread of the virus.

Credit : Disney

Unfortunately, even a magical cruise ship run by Disney is not immune to the COVID-19 virus. Disney Cruise Line — like most cruise ships — have been seeing an increase in their COVID numbers and must report those numbers to the Centers for Disease Control. If the numbers are high enough, the CDC will step in and investigate to see what is going on. Currently, two Disney cruise ships are being investigated, and two have already been investigated but are still under observation by the CDC.

Credit: Disney Cruise Line

The Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy have both been investigated by the CDC for the number of Guests who have tested positive and the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder are currently being investigated. These investigations do not mean that the ship has done anything wrong, but the CDC is merely making sure that all safety precautions are being followed and Disney is doing everything they can to keep Guests safe.

Credit: CDC

Right now, all four Disney Cruise Line ships fall into the “yellow ship criteria”, meaning that there have been cases reported in .10% of passengers, or at least one member of the crew has tested positive for COVID.

Here is more information on the CDC’s “yellow ship criteria” that Disney — and many other ships — have fallen into, via the CDC website:

Yellow Ship Criteria

• Ship is at or above CDC’s investigation threshold:
  • Restricted Voyages:
    • Cases reported in 0.10% or more of passengers (e.g., if 6500* passengers on board, CDC’s investigation threshold is met if there are 7 or more cases among passengers occurring during the previous 7 days), or
      • This percentage includes passenger cases occurring within 5 days of disembarkation that CDC was notified of by state or local health departments.
    • One or more cases reported in crew.
  • Simulated Voyages:
    • Cases reported in 1.5% or more of passengers, or
    • Cases reported in 1.0% or more of crew.
  • Ships with Crew Only (i.e., not yet submitted requests for simulated voyages or applications for restricted voyages, pending CDC approval, or sailing at a later date).
    • Cases reported in 1.0% or more of crew.

Credit: Disney

The “yellow ship criteria” is the second-highest level of ship criteria. Ships that are seeing so many cases that the onboard medical staff could become overwhelmed will enter the “red tier” category, and then the CDC will step in and work directly with the ship. Beginning in January, Disney Cruise Line will require all Guests aged 5 and older to be vaccinated before they are allowed to board. Guests under 4 will be required to take a COVID test and receive a negative result before they are allowed to board.

Do you feel safe going on a cruise at this time? Or are you waiting to take your Disney cruise?