The Cruising Restart just hit a hurdle!!

These cruise lines relaunched cruising in 2020 - and some voyages have already been hit by outbreaks of COVID-19! This has happened aboard Hurtigruten’s cruise ship Roald Amundsen, with crew and passengers testing positive to COVID-19! Hurtigruten is a Norwegian cruise line – and in order to recommence cruising, Hurtigruten implemented a variety of measures – put in place to assist with social distancing. This included sailing with a reduced capacity – as well as enhanced cleaning practices, modified food service, health declaration forms and having the crew undertake the WHO’s COVID-19 course covering hygiene procedures – full details are on their website which I’ve linked in the description box below. But despite these efforts, up to 40 people aboard the Roald Amundsen, one of the Hurtigruten ships that had re entered service, have tested positive with COVID-19. Hurtigruten says the other 122 crew have tested negative for the virus (https://bit.ly/31g2qjJ). This is a huge blow for cruising, and this incident has catapulted cruising back into the media spotlight - with countless news outlets across multiple countries reporting on the situation. In a statement on their website, Hurtigruten say they are working to take care of their guests and crew (https://bit.ly/3fszxFU) with the 209 travellers from the ship’s first voyage, and 178 from the second trip needing to self-quarantine. Hurtigruten has cancelled future cruises – including their planned round-Britain cruises, scheduled for later this year. Meanwhile, one passenger aboard the Paul Ganguin cruise ship has also tested positive for COVID-19, bringing that ship’s Pacific itinerary to a grinding halt. The 154m long cruise ship has docked at Papette, in French Polynesia, while passengers aboard the ship were confined to their cabins after the coronavirus case was identified. Carnival Corporation’s AIDA cruise lines were planning to restart cruising with large ships this month. AIDA had made headlines in recent weeks, as several crew were diagnosed with COVID prior to the cruise line taking on board any passengers. But the company had still planned to resume cruising in August. However, while the AIDA cruise brand is German-based, the AIDA cruise ships are flagged in Italy…. And the Italian authorities have not provided clearance permission for the ships to resume passenger voyages… If this seems a bit confusing – in a nutshell, the cruise ship has to abide by the rules of the nation where it is flagged – which in this case means AIDA needs permission from Italy to resume voyages. As a result, cruises aboard AIDAperla and AIDAmar have been cancelled, which is another huge PR blow to the industry - though with what’s going on at Hurtigruten and Paul Ganguin, perhaps its for the best. In other news, Greece reopened its cruising market in August. Open ports include popular cruising destinations such as Piraeus, Rhodes, Volos, and Corfu. Again, this reopening has taken place before any effective vaccine is available, with the success of cruises reliant on cruise lines to implement health and safety protocols aboard. MSC has shown some interest in resuming voyages, while TUI– which already have Mein Schiff 2 in service – are popular in Greece. In contrast, many jurisdictions remain closed to cruise ships – including local voyages in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia – to name just a few. In fact, some regions have gone so far as to ban cruise ships from local waters entirely – such as Australia where the cruise ban remains in place. What do you think? Has Cruising resumed too soon? Image References: Ref 1: Hurtigruten Ship - Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) - CC BY SA 4.0 https://bit.ly/39IseIZ Ref 2: Hurtigruten Ship - JoachimKohler-HB - CC BY SA 4.0 https://bit.ly/2CY1KHM Ref 3: Paul Gauguin Anchored - Balou46 - CC BY SA 4.0 https://bit.ly/3gqVIO5 Ref 4: Paul Gauguin - OLRICK98 - CC BY SA 3.0 https://bit.ly/2Pm6kSz Ref 5: AIDAMar - Sebaso - CC BY SA 4.0 https://bit.ly/3gqV4QF All other pics Chris Frame / Rachelle Cross. John Delaney's Twitter Message: https://bit.ly/30qWsNS Hurtigruten Website: https://www.hurtigruten.com.au/practical-information/health-and-safety/ #cruisenews #cruiseship #cruiseline