Just one week after a travel advisory against cruising by the CDC, 242 cruise ships across 68 brands will operate globally this month. According to data compiled by Cruise Industry News that is the highest number of sailings since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For January Royal Caribbean tops the list with 20 vessels, Carnival will operate 17 ships and MSC Cruises will operate 13 ships.

The CDC raised its cruise travel warning to the highest level as COVID-19 last week as cases continue to spike on cruise ships amid the spread of the Omicron variant. The agency is now investigating over 90 ships, including vessels operated by Disney, MSC Cruises, Carnival, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean.

In the last two weeks of December 2021, cruise ships reported over 5,000 COVID-19 cases a huge increase over the number reported at the beginning of the month.