Though many places are reopening their ports to cruises, Hawaii isn’t one of them. Jai Cunningham, a spokesperson for the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT), said this choice is motivated by safety concerns.
Cunningham also stated that January 2022 is the earliest possible time for resumption of Hawaiian cruises. The exact date of resumption is still uncertain.
In August, another HDOT spokesperson, Shelly Kunishige, said that cruise resumption depended on operators meeting the CDC’s conditional sail order requirements. However, that isn’t the only impediment.
To move forward with cruises, Hawaii will need to broaden its Safe Travels program. The program is not currently structured to accommodate cruise passenger arrivals.
Hawaii’s cruise prohibition has impacted multiple cruise companies. Both Viking Ocean Cruises and UnCruise Adventures have canceled December trips to Hawaiian islands.
Viking had scheduled the Hawaiian cruise trips during a period in which Hawaii allowed them.
Many countries worldwide are lifting COVID-19 restrictions, but some still limit cruise travel. Cruise travel was one of the earliest industries to experience adverse effects from the coronavirus pandemic, and it may be one of the last.
Officials at Carnival Cruise Line are not scheduling any Hawaiian cruises until next year.
Several other companies have already scheduled Hawaiian cruises starting in January. They include the following cruise lines:
- Holland America Line
- Norwegian Cruise Line
- Princess Cruises
- Oceania Cruises
- Carnival
Throughout most of the pandemic, Hawaii has had a comparatively low COVID-19 case rate. However, case rates soared in August 2021, peaking at 1,658 new cases on Aug. 29.
The state has also seen relatively few deaths, with zero average weekly deaths through much of 2021. In contrast, the state recorded 13 COVID-19 deaths on Nov. 4 and 12 deaths on Nov. 7.