Canada ended its restrictions on cruise ships after 19 months that the country had been barring large cruise ships from entering its ports.
The official end comes after a decision first announced by Omar Alghabra, Canada’s Minister of Transport, in July 2021. The move, however, is largely ceremonial, as Canada’s cruise season has already mostly concluded for the year.
Canada first announced that it would close its ports to cruise ships in mid-March 2020, when the pandemic started. The ban was later extended through the 2020 cruise season and then in February 2021 for another year.
Nevertheless, despite the restrictions ending, Canada continues to advise citizens against travel aboard cruise ships. Namely, the warning first issued early in the pandemic warns that travelers might find themselves in quarantine situations where Canada would have little diplomatic authority to assist them.
What is more, the government adds that:
It is unlikely that there would be a government-organized repatriation flight to return to Canada in the advent of a COVID-19 outbreak or travelers becoming ill
Responding to the advisory, the travel community is calling on the federal government to end it against cruises following the lifting of the restrictions on international air travel as of October 21.
With the end of the ban in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and China remain the largest cruise markets that are still restricting cruise travel.
In fact, the Australian travel community has been urging the government to relax the cruise restrictions, but the country’s 2021-2022 cruise season has largely been canceled.
In similar fashion, China still restricts international travelers but has allowed some of its domestic cruise ships to continue service.
