Grand Princess Visits Hawaii.

The first time in 22 months that a large ship has called on Hawaii.

Carrying only 1188 guests, the ship stopped as part of a 15 day cruise from Los Angeles.

A spokesperson for Princess said, “We are delighted to call again on Hawaii, and our guests are very excited about visiting the Aloha state, and doing so safely.”

The ship's arrival follows extensive negotiations between several cruise lines and health officials in Hawaii. The Hawaii State Department of Transportation (HDOT) Public Information Officer Jai Cunningham said the cruise lines and the state’s agreements, which were finalized recently, require a minimum of 99% of passengers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19:

“These cruise lines realize it’s been 22 months since they’ve been up and running in Hawaiian waters,” Cunningham explained. “They’re very serious about this, and they don’t want to misstep in this because they know that the ball’s in our court. The fact that people were saying that they’ll just be able to get off the boat without testing, absolutely not true. It is not true, they will be tested, or they will have been vaccinated and show their documentation to prove that.”

Other cruise ships scheduled to restart calls in Hawaii in the coming weeks include Carnival Cruise Line‘s Carnival Miracle, Oceania Cruises‘ Insignia and Princess’ Ruby Princess.