Disney Cruise Line announced today that it will require all eligible passengers on Bahamian cruises to be vaccinated against Covid-19 due to government regulations in the Bahamas, as other cruise lines have already done.
The vaccine mandate will affect all of Disney Cruise Line’s current U.S. cruise ship sailings, since its two ships sailing now out of Florida are only traveling to the Bahamas. A third ship is sailing out of the United Kingdom and is unaffected by the mandate.
How Disney and other cruise lines’ vaccine mandates will square with a Florida law that prohibits companies from requiring proof of vaccination is unknown at this point. Florida law currently prohibits cruise lines from mandating vaccines on ships sailing from the state’s ports, with the cruise lines potentially subject to a $5,000 fine per instance. A federal judge has given Norwegian Cruise Line clearance to impose a vaccine mandate on its cruises, but the ruling applies only to that cruise line and not the others that are now imposing their own requirements. Prior to its vaccine mandate announcement, Disney Cruise Line was in compliance with the state law by recommending but not requiring vaccines. There has been no comment from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office in response to the new cruise ship vaccine mandates.
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