Before the pandemic, the health protocols at the major cruise lines were fairly loose. On some sailings, passengers had to fill out a health form before boarding. You had to answer questions about whether you had any health issues, but it was all on the honor system.

That system may have stopped some super-honest passengers from boarding, but most people won't abandon their vacations because they might be sick. 

Once covid hit, after the long period between March 2020 and July 2021 when no cruise ships were allowed to sail from U.S. ports, the rules got much tougher.

Not only did cruise lines ask passengers to attest to their health by filling out a digital form roughly 24 hours before their sailings. They also added strict rules regarding covid. Both Royal Caribbean (RCL) and Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) required passengers ages 12 and older to be vaccinated and all passengers to take a covid test no more than two days before their sailings.

These tests themselves came with fairly strict rules. They had to be either in-person tests or at-home tests proctored by an online supervisor. 

Now, as both cruise lines get ready to welcome unvaccinated passengers, they have also relaxed their testing standards.

In most cases, vaccinated passengers don't need to test at all. Those rules do vary by port and length of sailing, but for the most part the requirement has been dropped. 

And now, both Royal Caribbean and Carnival have made another key covid-testing change.

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When you take a monitored at-home test before your cruise, the proctor watches every step of the process. This includes scanning the barcode on the test, watching to ensure you properly swab your nose, and then checking to ensure it's actually you when you go over the result.

The system may not be foolproof but it makes cheating difficult. 

Now, both Royal Caribbean and Carnival have decided that starting soon they will allow self-testing with no monitor. Carnival's loyalty ambassador, John Heald, outlined the cruise line's changes on his Facebook page.

In addition to guidelines previously communicated, we are expanding acceptable pre-cruise testing for unvaccinated guests for voyages departing September 6, 2022, and later.

These changes are consistent with what local destinations have advised will be acceptable for arriving cruise guests, and we will continue to work closely with local destinations to protect the health of our guests, crew and the communities we visit.

In addition to lab-administered tests, self-testing is accepted for unvaccinated guests on cruises 15 nights and shorter. •

There are exceptions based on destinations, but for the most part self-testing will be allowed for unvaccinated passengers, and vaccinated passengers won't need to test at all.

Royal Caribbean plans a similar change as of any sailing leaving Sept. 5 or later.

The test you take can be professionally administered by a health professional, such as a doctor or pharmacist, or you can use a home test kit. Home test kits for these sailings are not required to be administered under live video supervision.

You will present the negative test result at the time of boarding. You can show it in the form of a printout, an email, or an app screen from the test provider. Or you can show a picture of your negative home test on your phone, or present the actual negative test itself

Royal Caribbean and Carnival have to balance health concerns, public relations/optics, and the bottom line. They need to sail with as many people as possible on their ships while least appearing to care about the health of their passengers.

Those are tough lines to straddle. Carnival saw a surge in bookings when it welcomed back unvaccinated guests and the same thing likely happened when Royal Caribbean made the same change. Heald's Facebook feed was filled with the question many vaccinated passengers have about allowing self-administered tests.

"How will anyone know if the self-administered test is valid if there is no proctor? Seems like a waste," said Jennifer Hathaway Rose.

"Unsupervised, self-administered tests are complete BS lol. Just tell us y’all don’t care about testing anymore. No one’s gonna stick that thing up their noses if no one’s looking. This is so foolish," said Dymond Blossom.

That feeling, however, was not unanimous as some people simply welcomed a return to normal (or at least close to normal).

"Happy with the updates, let’s keep moving in the right direction. Ready to resume sailing in April, been too long.," Lyn Hammond said.

"To all the unvaxed cruisers, welcome back! We’re finally getting back to normal and I for one (vaxed and boosted) am ready to get back to normal," Kim Pierce shared.