P&O Cruises suspends pre-departure testing on Iona

By Linsey McNeill
22/06/2022
Home » P&O Cruises suspends pre-departure testing on Iona

Some guests on P&O Cruises this summer will no longer need to take a pre-departure COVID test.

The cruise line has temporarily removed testing on selected departures during June and July.

It is the first Carnival cruise line to remove testing on any of its ships and the move follows a similar decision announced by Viking Cruises for non-US departures last week.

Which P&O Cruises have dropped COVID tests?

Guests departing on five Iona cruises during the rest of June and throughout July will no longer need to take a pre-departure tes.

The cruises are all from Southampton between 25 June and 23 July. They leave on 25 June 25, 2 July, 9 July , 16 July, and 23 July.

They are all short, round-trip cruises to Norway.

Guests who have not been fully vaccinated will still need to take a pre-departure test.

Why is P&O Cruises temporarily dropping COVID tests?

In a statement, P&O said: “As the health protocols for Covid-19 continue to evolve across the world, P&O Cruises has changed its policy on Iona to remove the pre-departure testing for all guests. 

“As a result, while all guests 12 years and over are still required to be fully vaccinated and those 16 years and over also need to have had a booster, all guests travelling on the following five cruise holidays – G220 June 25, 2022; G221 July 2, 2022; G222 July 9, 2022; G223 July 16, 2022 and G224 July 23 2022 – will no longer need to purchase or take an antigen test prior to boarding the ship. 

“For the moment, the removal of testing requirement will only be on these five cruises but should this be extended then we will advise guests as necessary.”

It is believed that, if successful and the cruise line doesn’t see a significant outbreak of COVID onboard these cruises, it could drop testing on other cruises.

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