Tag Archives: Covid-19

A Promising 2021 for Limassol Cruise Terminal

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Cruising is back to DP World Limassol’s Cruise Terminal, said its Commercial Manager Lazaros Charalambous.

“Cruises are going strong until October 2021,” he told Cruise Industry News.

Royal Caribbean, Celestyal, Seabourn, Azamara and Celebrity have all either already returned or are about to return to Cyprus with their ships this summer.

“Moreover, cruise lines have been taking the necessary steps to ensure that COVID-19 does not spread to their cruise ships, with many requiring passengers to be vaccinated or hold a negative PCR test. This has boosted the morale of cruise lovers, who have been itching to get back to the seas for some time now,” said Charalambous.

He added that the Cyprus government has prepared and announced a “rigorous health protocol for cruises, which will add to the momentum of the industry.”

“As it comes to the year 2022, I believe that demand will continue to increase, as more passengers will be vaccinated and keener than ever to travel. I strongly believe that (Cyprus) has great potential to further develop the cruise sector and attract many more cruise lines and passengers,” Charalambous noted. “Cyprus’ stakeholders, including DP World Limassol, are hard at work to promote the safe conduct of cruise tourism and successfully seize the opportunity of the widespread reshuffling happening in the cruising industry because of the pandemic, with a view to establishing the Limassol port as a major cruise hub in the Eastern Mediterranean.”

According to him, DP World Limassol operates a strict environmental policy in an effort to reduce its footprint as much as possible.

“We use energy-efficient processes and products, regularly monitor and seek to improve energy efficiency across our operations, while we have adopted an ‘impact and sustainability’ and recycling policy throughout our business. At the global level, DP World aims to reduce its output per unit of movement by increasing efficiency and promoting clean energy, with the ultimate goal being to create a zero-emission supply chain across our networks,” Charalambous said.

The port also tries to forge partnerships with local organizations and boost its community engagement.

“We regularly join forces with the local municipality as well as civil society organizations like CYMEPA, to carry out a series of activities such as beach clean-ups, supporting them in their efforts to make Limassol a greener city. Our aim is to help Cyprus achieve its sustainability targets by investing in the port’s equipment, digitization and automation. Such investments, boost the port’s efficiency and resilience, helping it reduce its environmental footprint,” Charalambous said.

The port is always assessing the best international practices while monitoring its own facilities to identify areas for improvement, he explained. “Most recently, we opened two duty-free shops within the terminal, providing exclusive offers on luxury items and a comfortable shopping experience. We have (also) upgraded our check-in equipment, and we are working with the local authorities to improve the overall efficiency of the terminal,” explained Charalambous.

He said that he believes that the pandemic has presented the port industry with “an opportunity to embrace digitization and automation.”

“DP World has always heavily invested in state-of-the-art digital equipment and is continuously introducing innovations in terminal operations that boost resilience and automation, thereby allowing us to evolve and enhance the services we offer our customers. Indicatively, at DP World Limassol, we have introduced digital payment solutions, while this past February, we launched the new ZODIAC cloud-based Terminal Operating System (TOS). The migration into ZODIAC TOS was a big milestone for us at DP World Limassol,” he said.

“The new system helps us reduce maintenance costs and improve productivity, while it connects all supply chain participants through a single integrated platform, which provides real-time information on vessel, yard, gate and rail movements,” Charalambous added.

P&O Australia Announces Plan for Vaccination Only Policy

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P&O Cruises Australia has announced its plan to re-start operations with voyages for vaccinated guests and crew.

President of P&O Cruises Australia Sture Myrmell said governments were linking society returning to normal to sufficient numbers of Australians being vaccinated for COVID-19, according to a statement. 

“P&O Cruises is the longest-serving cruise line in the country with a proud 90 year history of sailing from Australia, and we want to do our bit to get this country back up and running again,” Myrmell said.

“Governments have been connecting vaccination rates to plans to end lockdowns, border restrictions and, ultimately, re-opening Australia. In addition, our research shows that the vast majority of our guests want to cruise with other vaccinated Australians.

“P&O’s vaccination policy is an indication tht everything possible is being done to support the resumption of cruising in a way that provides further reassurance for our guests and the authorities that public health and wellbeing are our top priority.

“We expect that P&O’s vaccination only policy for guests and crew would provide further reassurance for local authorities in working with the sector in developing protocols for resuming domestic cruise holidays,” Myrmell said.

“We anticipate this policy will be in place until governments and public health authorities advise the broader community it has achieved the required public health outcomes and/or provides direction on public health management in the post-vaccination phase.”

Myrmell said the imperative to resume cruise operations in Australia has never been greater.

“In the past 15 months, more than $6 billion in economic activity linked to cruising in Australia has been wiped along with the livelihoods of suppliers including farmers, technical support services, tour operators and entertainers,” he said.

P&O Cruises Australia said it would provide guests with further detail on the policy once there was an agreed re-start date for domestic cruising, however, the broad intent was to require proof of vaccination for those in the population eligible to be vaccinated at the time. In line with its flexible booking policies, P&O Cruises Australia said any guest who wishes to cancel their cruise due to the vaccination policy will receive a full refund.

Norwegian Gem Sets Sail on NCL’s First Fully Vaccinated Cruise From Florida

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In the ongoing saga that is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) versus Florida, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. was recently granted a preliminary injunction to sail fully vaccinated cruises from its coast.

And earlier this week, after a 17-month cruise suspension, it did exactly that.

On Aug. 15, Norwegian Gem set sail from the company’s homeport in Miami, the third of the company’s 17 ships to set sail since the return of cruising (and marking the first voyage from Florida).

“It has been an exhilarating few weeks as we relaunch our fleet, reunite with our shipboard families and welcome our guests back for their long-awaited cruise vacations,” said Harry Sommer, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line, in an Aug. 15 statement. “I’ve been impressed and proud of how our global team and partners have come together to safely bring back cruising, an over $55 billion-dollar industry that positively impacts communities around the world.”

Several developments led to Norwegian Gem’s embarkation in Florida: In the past few weeks, a federal court upheld the state’s lawsuit that the CDC’s Conditional Sail Order (CSO) should not be a requirement. As a result, it stands only as a regional recommendation, though many cruise lines plan to abide by the CDC guidelines, regardless. Additionally, the government agency has noted that sailings with 95% or more vaccinated guests and crew are free to make their own decisions regarding COVID-19 testing parameters and any mask mandates (at least for those passengers that are fully inoculated).

Several cruise lines that were initially not requiring pre-cruise testing and facial coverings, such as Carnival Cruise Line, are starting to mandate both as cases of the Delta variant spike in the U.S.

Norwegian was an early adopter of strict COVID-19 protocols. Its Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands have always required pre-voyage testing and 100% vaccination of its guests and crew. Because of this, passengers are able to enjoy all venues onboard without the use of masks.

“The health and safety of our guests, crew and the communities we visit is our No. 1 priority, today, tomorrow and forever. It’s not a slogan or a tagline, we fiercely mean it and our commitment to these principles is demonstrated by the lengths our company has gone through to provide the safest possible cruise experience from Florida.”

Additionally, in Florida, businesses operating locally were formerly forbidden from mandating vaccinations of its patrons, but that has now changed. A judge ruled in Norwegian’s favour to permit the company to ask for documentation of vaccine status, which led to Norwegian’s Gem’s planned launch.

“The health and safety of our guests, crew and the communities we visit is our No. 1 priority, today, tomorrow and forever,” said Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of Norwegian. “It’s not a slogan or a tagline, we fiercely mean it and our commitment to these principles is demonstrated by the lengths our company has gone through to provide the safest possible cruise experience from Florida. We want nothing more than to sail from Miami, the cruise capital of the world, and from the other fabulous Florida ports and we welcome [the] ruling that allows us to sail with 100% fully vaccinated guests and crew, which we believe is the safest and most prudent way to resume cruise operations amid this global pandemic.”

In fact, when I sailed last week on the Norwegian Encore in Alaska, Harry Sommer, president and CEO of NCL, and members of the corporation’s SailSAFE health and safety program reiterated the same during a press conference, with Sommer stating that he believes that permitting 5% unvaccinated passengers — which could amount to hundreds of passengers — is significant, and he won’t expose that many to the virus, even if it means not sailing with young children for a period. 

Program participant Dr. Stephen Ostroff further considered full vaccination to be the “linchpin” for healthy cruising at this time.

“[It] 100% ought to be the standard for cruise ships quite frankly, pure and simple,” Ostroff said.

Norwegian Gem will traverse a series of weeklong voyages to the Caribbean and four-day cruises to the Bahamas through Oct. 17, 2021, before repositioning to New York for five to 11-night voyages to the Bahamas, the Caribbean and Bermuda.