Carnival Corp.’s Grand Princess is scheduled to be the first passenger cruise ship to arrive in Hawaii since March 2020.
The 951-foot passenger vessel, which can carry up to 3,100 passengers and a crew of 1,100, is slated to arrive in Honolulu on Sunday, according to Hawaii Department of Transportation spokesman Jai Cunningham.
Remaining port calls in Hawaii include: Nawiliwili, Kauai, on Monday; Hilo on Tuesday; and Kahului, Maui, on Wednesday.
The cruise ship industry has been dry-docked in Hawaii since a no-sail order was issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 13, 2020.
The CDC last year modified its stance with a conditional sail order, which requires an executed agreement with any cruise line prior to resumption of cruise operations to any U.S. port, and also requires cruise operators to show that 95% of crew and passengers on cruise ships arriving to and departing from U.S. ports are be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.
That conditional sail order is set to expire on Jan. 15.
The DOT Harbors Division announced Tuesday the execution of the first port agreements with Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Lines to formalize health and safety protocols for the return of cruise line operations in Hawaii.
“We are pleased that we have secured an agreement and will be advising our guests of our plans to comply with all state and local requirements designed to protect public health,” Carnival spokeswoman AnneMarie Mathews said in a Wednesday email.
The Carnival Miracle is also expected to make in-state port calls this month. The 963-foot vessel, which can carry 2,214 passengers with a crew of 930, is scheduled to depart Long Beach on Sunday.
Its Hawaii port calls include: Honolulu on Jan. 14, Kahului on Jan. 15, Kailua-Kona on Jan. 16, and Hilo on Jan. 17.
The Norwegian Cruise Line vessel Pride of America, which specializes in seven-day Hawaii-only interisland cruises, won’t be making any port calls in Hawaii until at least March 5, Cunningham said.
“Those (port agreements) can be … amended or ended at any time,” Cunningham said. “And right now, any cruise ship that comes to Hawaii has to go into Honolulu Harbor first. Infrastructure-wise, we just found that to be better.”
According to Cunningham, Carnival Corp. has agreed to a 99% vaccination rate among passengers and crew with very limited exceptions to be made, and passengers are subject to Hawaii Safe Travels guidelines before coming ashore. Those include either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours before debarking.
The unvaccinated who are unwilling to undergo testing will have to remain on the vessel, Cunningham said.
“With those port agreements in place, if there’s anyone on board who is sick, those people are not going to be put into our (hospital) system,” he said.
Cunningham added the cruise lines have to either care for passengers who have COVID-19 on board, “or they have to somehow arrange for them to be taken care of somewhere else.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.