Every public college in California plans to continue remote learning at least through the summer session to stem the coronavirus outbreak, except one. The Cal Maritime Academy in Vallejo could start face-to-face classes in late May.

In addition, the small campus nestled up against the Carquinez Bridge hopes to continue its annual summer training cruise, sending about 350 students and staff on a 62-day trip despite a 100-day ban on commercial cruises issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The trip, part of a graduation requirement for cadets, could leave as soon as June despite virus outbreaks aboard cruise ships and naval vessels making international headlines.

On Friday, school president Thomas Cropper sent a letter to the campus lauding the efforts by its COVID-19 task force and academic leadership team to get approval by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office for a “limited” reopening of the campus for face-to-face instruction to complete the spring semester.

“This decision was run through the Chancellor’s Office and various internal entities of the Governor’s office, including the State Department of Public Health, who provided additional guidance consistent with our current plan,” Cropper wrote. “I know this offers us the opportunity to get seniors to graduation and to keep the rest of the Corps of Cadets on track to a timely graduation.”

But a Cal Maritime faculty member who spoke to The Chronicle criticized the decision.

“The president is dead set for the ship to go to sea over the summer,” said the faculty member, who asked to be anonymous because they were not authorized to speak to the media. “The training ship is smaller and closer quarters than a cruise ship. Some parts have 30 kids per berthing area. And nobody on campus has talked about a contingency if someone gets sick aboard the ship.”

The Chronicle agreed to withhold the name of the source, in accordance with its anonymous sources policy.

That decision was unique among the 10 University of California campuses, 114 community colleges and 22 Cal State universities. None of those colleges plan to open campuses for face-to-face classes this summer, let alone spring semester. Some campuses, on a limited basis, have allowed training to continue for first responders — police, fire and frontline health care workers — using social distancing guidelines, said Paul Feist, vice chancellor of communications and marketing for California’s community college system.

“The CSU Maritime Academy trains merchant marines, and the maritime workforce is required for shipping and logistics,” said Newsom press secretary Jesse Melgar. “The administration has provided conditions that must be met for the Academy to resume limited in-person instruction for 513 merchant marine officer cadets after May 10, including strict, unique health and safety guidelines. ... This is the only academy of its kind in the state and does not serve as a precedent for other colleges or universities in California.”

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Bob Arp, Cal Maritine’s vice president for university advancement, said the uniqueness of the 900-cadet campus allowed for the exemption.

“We’re providing essential workers to an essential workforce,” Arp said. “Being a maritime academy, much of the curriculum can only be completed face to face.”

About 400 members of the student body completed online learning over the past month. But more than 500 students need face-to-face instruction — such as small-boat handling — to graduate or receive Coast Guard licensing. Those courses can’t be taught digitally, Arp said.

Arp said the dates for face-to-face-instruction resumption are flexible, but would start no earlier than May 20. Because only half the campus would be returning, cadets would be housed in their own rooms, receive food deliveries to their dorms and medical screenings. In-person classes would be taught with social distancing, and in the event that is not possible, students would be required to wear protective gear.

The CDC announced on April 9 that its no-sail order for cruise ships would extend to 100 days, ending July 18. The order came after high-profile cases of coronavirus outbreaks at sea, including 10 cruise ships and an infected U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.

“The measures we are taking today to stop the spread of COVID-19 are necessary to protect Americans, and we will continue to provide critical public health guidance to the industry to limit the impacts of COVID-19 on its workforce throughout the remainder of this pandemic,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said at the time.

Arp said the training ship Golden Bear is exempt from the no-sail order, and safety precautions have been put into place.

“We’re not a commercial cruise ship, we’re classified as a training ship,” he said. “We fall under a very different protocol.”

Arp said the cruise was tentative with no set date and the crew would be quarantined for seven days on the ship in dock before sailing. The cruise would be required to travel within a day’s sail of a U.S. port, and the school is working to find testing for everyone before they board.

On April 1, in a video address to cadets, Cropper said the cruise was a priority if done safely: “I’m saying when, not if, that is our mind-set and that is our intention.”

But the Golden Bear is more susceptible to virus spread than a cruise ship, the faculty member said, because the berthing rooms are not isolated and the quarters are tighter.

“Of course, they’ll say that training ships are exempt, and are not cruise ships,” the staff member said. “But the virus doesn’t know the difference.”

The Vallejo school is one of seven maritime academies in the country, two in New York, and one each in Massachusetts, Maine, Texas and Michigan. Those institutions are also weighing decisions on whether to sail this summer.

Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni