Tag Archives: Coronavirus

Singapore’s Cruises to Nowhere to Set Sail in November

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Quantum of the Seas would be the only Royal Caribbean ship with passengers.
FILE PHOTO: Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas. Photo courtesy Kallis Video Production

By Kyunghee Park (Bloomberg) –Two cruise ships will start sailing from Singapore from next month into the open seas and back as the city-state aims to give residents some outlet for their wanderlust amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Genting Cruise Lines’ World Dream and Royal Caribbean International’s Quantum of the Seas will begin round-trip journeys from November and December respectively, the Singapore Tourism Board said in a statement Thursday.

Stringent protocols for cruise operators and passengers to permit the pilot voyages have been established under a CruiseSafe certification program. They include Covid-19 testing of crew and passengers, increased sanitization, fresh air circulating measures, and onboard steps to discourage close contact and intermingling. The boats will sail at a reduced capacity of 50% and the journeys are only open to residents of Singapore.

“This cruise pilot is a valuable opportunity for cruise operators to reinvent the entire cruise experience in order to regain the confidence of passengers,” said Singapore Tourism Board Chief Executive Officer Keith Tan. “Singapore remains committed to supporting and growing cruise tourism in the region.”

The cruise-ship industry globally shut down in March after a series of Covid-19 outbreaks at sea, including one at cruise giant Carnival Corp.’s Diamond Princess off Yokohama, Japan, in February. Even healthy passengers have suffered, as many ports turned ships away for fear of seeding new shore-side outbreaks. Tens of thousands of crew members were trapped on vessels for months.

Singapore is looking at ways to boost its tourism industry, which has been hit hard as the pandemic decimated travel. The outbreak has led to record losses at the nation’s flag carrier Singapore Airlines Ltd. and destroyed traffic at Changi Airport. The government warned earlier this week that Singapore can’t afford to wait a year or two for a vaccine to become widely available.

A bar inside the main lobby of the Genting Dream cruise ship berthed at the Marina Bay Cruise Center in Singapore in 2018.

Genting is offering two- and three-night packages starting Nov. 6. In July, the cruise operator restarted services in Taiwan. Royal Caribbean will operate three- and four-night packages from Dec. 1.

Passengers will need to get tested and submit travel and health declarations before they board. During the trip, they’ll have to wear masks at all times and keep a safe distance of one meter. Tracing tokens or apps will be mandatory outside of cabins.

Crew members that are flying into the city-state will be required to take a test on arrival and another at the end of a 14-day quarantine.

The tourism board said that Singapore is one of the first countries to develop and implement a mandatory audit and certification program for cruise lines. Prior to sailing, all cruise lines out of Singapore must obtain the CruiseSafe certification, which requires assessment by a third-party certification firm.

Genting Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean are in the process of attaining the certification, the board said, adding that Singapore will decide on the next steps for the cruise industry after carefully monitoring the voyages.

To woo customers, Royal Caribbean is offering various flexible terms and conditions, including Covid-19 related onboard medical cost cover of up to S$25,000 ($18,400) per person.

Carnival Corporation confident over long-term cruise demand

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Booking trends for 2021 indicate long-term potential demand for cruising despite sailings having been cancelled since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March.
The glimmer of hope for the struggling sector came from Carnival Corporation despite reporting an average monthly cash burn of between $550 million and $770 million as dozens of ships remain idle, including some off the south coast of Britain.
The world’s largest cruise group has started a phased return to operations with Italian brand Costa and German line Aida.
Other brands and ships are expected to return to service “overtime”.
The initial cruises will continue to operate with adjusted passenger capacity and enhanced health protocols developed with government and health authorities, and guidance from medical and scientific experts.
“Many of the company’s brands source the majority of their guests from the geographical region in which they operate. In the current environment, the company believes this will benefit it in resuming guest cruise operations,” the company said.
But in a business update on Thursday, the corporation said: “Currently, the company is unable to predict when the entire fleet will return to normal operations, and as a result, unable to provide an earnings forecast.
“The pause in guest operations continues to have a material negative impact on all aspects of the company’s business, including the company’s liquidity, financial position and results of operations.”
The company expects to report an unspecified loss for the financial year ending November 30 but has a total of $8.2 billion of cash and “cash equivalents”.
Bookings in the first half of 2021 reflect expectations of phased resumption operations and anticipated itinerary changes.
However, cumulative advance bookings for the second half of 2021 capacity currently available for sale are at the “higher-end” of the historical range.
“The company believes this demonstrates the long-term potential demand for cruising,” the parent of UK brands P&O Cruises and Cunard said.
Pricing on these bookings are lower by “mid-single digits” versus the second half of 2019, reflecting the effect of future cruise credits (FCCs) from previously cancelled cruises being applied.
The company continues to take bookings for both 2021 and 2022.
About 45% of passengers affected by schedule changes have received enhanced FCCs while 55% have requested refunds.
The total customer deposits balance at the end of August was $2.4 billion, the majority of which were FCCs, compared to $2.9 billion at May 31.
“The decline in customer deposits is consistent with previous expectations,” Carnival added.
Cruise capacity
More than half (60%) of bookings taken during the three weeks ended September 20 were new bookings as opposed to FCC re-bookings, despite minimal advertising or marketing.
Future capacity is expected to be “moderated” by the phased re-entry of ships, the removal of older capacity and delays in new ship deliveries.
The company has accelerated the trimming of capacity since the pause in operations with the disposal of 18 ships, ten of which have already left the fleet.
The 18 less efficient ships represent 12% of pre-pause capacity and only 3% of last year’s operating income.
The corporation expects to receive only two of the four ships originally due for delivery this year, including Enchanted Princess which was handed over last week.
The company expects only five of the nine ships originally set for delivery by the end of 2021 to be received by then.
Nine cruise ships and two smaller expedition vessels of the 13 originally scheduled for delivery before the end of the 2022 financial year are expected to be delivered by then.
“Based on the actions taken to date and the scheduled new-build deliveries through 2022, the company’s fleet will be more efficient with a roughly 13% larger average berth size per ship and an average age of 12 years in 2022 versus 13 years, in each case as compared to 2019,” Carnival said.
President and chief executive Arnold Donald said: “We have come full circle from initiating a suspension in the early days of the pandemic, to transitioning the fleet into a pause status, right-sizing our organisation and, now, embarking on the phased resumption of guest operations, underway in two of our world-leading cruise brands, Costa in Italy and Aida in Germany.
“We have accelerated the sale of less efficient ships, enabling us to capitalise on pent up demand on reduced capacity and structurally lower our cost base, while retaining our most cash-generating assets.
“We are taking aggressive actions managing the balance sheet and reducing capacity to position us to weather this disruption and also emerge a leaner, more efficient company, reinforcing our industry-leading position.”

Government commits to testing ‘to open up international travel’

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The launch of a Global Travel Taskforce ‘to open up international travel and boost our business’ has been confirmed.
It will consider how a testing regime for international arrivals could be implemented to boost safe travel to and from the UK, what steps can be taken to facilitate business and leisure travel through testing and non-testing means and how to increase consumer confidence to support the recovery of international travel.


The current rules around the 14-day self-isolation policy remain in place.
The task force was launched in collaboration between the Department for Transport and the Department of Health and Social Care which said they have been working with clinicians, health experts and the private testing sector on the practicalities of testing international arrivals.


They said the next step is to develop an “operationalised approach” to “work at pace with industry on implementation” of testing and to “identify options to reduce the self-isolation period while protecting public health”.
The task force will look at the feasibility of a single test taken after a period of self-isolation, provided by the private sector and at the cost of the passenger.


It will work with medical experts to better understand when a test should be taken based on the progression of the disease and with the private sector to ensure testing for international arrivals does not impact on NHS capacity.


Alternative testing models, including pilots with partner countries to determine whether self-isolation could be undertaken pre-departure, will also be explored.
The taskforce will be jointly chaired by the secretary of state for health, Matt Hancock, and transport secretary Grant Shapps, who first made the announcement via Twitter after a series of newspapers carried the story on Wednesday morning.


In the official announcement, Shapps said: “The current measures at the border have saved lives. Our understanding of the science now means we can intensify efforts to develop options for a testing regime and help reinvigorate our world-leading travel sector.
“This new task force will not only help us move towards safer, smoother international travel as we continue to battle this virus but will also support global connectivity – helping facilitate more covid secure travel whilst protecting the population from imported cases.”
On Twitter, he said: “Following agreement from medical experts, we are moving ahead with the next step to reduce the travel quarantine period by launching the Global Travel Taskforce to open up international travel & boost our businesses.
“The task force will implement a testing regime to reduce the self-isolation period, along with a wide range of other measures to enable travel whilst keeping coronavirus rates down.”

Hancock added: “It is vital we do everything we can to control the spread of the virus and our measures at the borders are designed to help keep the country safe, by preventing imported cases of Covid-19.
“We know how these measures have a significant impact on people’s lives and on the travel and tourism industries, so we are working hard across government to explore ways to open up international travel in a safe way.”
As previously reported, the task force is expected to put forward its initial recommendations next month.