Norwegian Bliss Norwegian Cruise Line has extended its suspension of operations and canceled all remaining voyages until 31 March.
The line had previously announced the halting of cruises on all ships except Norwegian Encore, Norwegian Escape, and Norwegian Joy but has now extended that to include its entire fleet.
NCL said it would continue to “closely review” the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s conditional sailing framework issued on 30 October and “continue to partner with global and domestic authorities, including the CDC, to chart a path forward”.
“We are committed to taking all appropriate steps and actions to combat the spread of Covid-19 and are working closely and in partnership with local, state, federal, and global agencies,” the line said in a statement on its website.
“Whilst this may result in additional future changes, please know our teams are working around the clock to do what is right by our guests and travel partners. We continue to monitor this situation closely and will provide additional updates as they are available.”
Despite having operated for centuries, the Port of Charleston got into the “cruise game” only a decade ago. Since then, it created an effective and efficient area for cruise calls and built a good working relationship with Carnival Cruise Line.
“We currently have homeports for Carnival Cruise Line. We’re very happy with them. We feel as if they’re very happy with us, we hope to continue that relationship,” Jerry R. Matthews, Director, Breakbulk & Roro & Cruise Operations at South Carolina Ports Authority, told Cruise Industry News. “We work well with all the lines, but for right now (they) have been here for the past six years, I believe… We’d like to have a nice, long-term, five to 20-year contract.”
Plans for the Future
As well as doing everything it can to resume operations in 2021, the port is also preparing to build a proper cruising facility in the next three to five years.
“I think we have a really solid potential to offer more sailings, more short distance sailings to these destinations for the lines. Moving forward, hopefully, again, with building a new facility, being able to hand properly maybe a slightly larger vessel… I think that’s probably the place where we can zone in more, just trying to take advantage of the great location and great weather where we are,” Matthews said.
Another thing the Port of Charleston is looking into improving is security systems at the port – such as facial recognition.
“Things like that that might be [done] with the help of CBP,” he said.
Matthews said that the port’s team has already worked hard to make the site a safe environment once cruise sailings resume and passengers come through. This includes things like more frequent disinfection and cleaning.
“We went through and identified social distancing identifications, markers, signs, stickers, postings, all that we could – we’ve opened more things to have outside as we can. We added more hand sanitizing stations. We have plenty of masks, gloves on hand,” Matthews said adding that part of the process was sitting down with all the employees and vendors to explain the new procedures.
The Port of Charleston also communicated with cruise lines to get a good understanding of their work calendar.
“We got with the cruise lines, and we asked them, ‘what are your plans internally on the vessel to make sure when passengers are embarking or debarking, we have enough space between them, are there any changes we should make?’,” Matthews explained.
“We spent a lot of time making sure that from the time they arrive at the terminal to the time they get on the vessel, it is as safe and productive as it can be for the passenger,” he added.
‘One Family’
Matthews said that he hopes that the entire industry recovers soon after the “unfortunately long pause.”
“We’re kind of like a family: we want everyone to take it back, to go on, and wish nothing but the best for everybody. There’s no competition or competitiveness there – if one of us succeeds, all of us succeed,” he said. “I’m sure there’ll be a lot of starting very slow to make sure all the safety protocols and safety measures are in place to protect everyone, to be as safe as we can. But hopefully, we’ll find a way to rebound back slowly but surely, and get back to normal within a year or two.”
The Dec. 9 announcement of a positive COVID-19 case onboard the Quantum of the Seas came as a shock to Singapore, where the Royal Caribbean International ship was sailing, and the world. The 1,680 guests on board, along with 1,148 crew, made a beeline back to port and arrived in Singapore within six hours after the guest tested positive.
The Quantum of the Seas set sail on her third cruise back in service on Dec. 6. The sailing was a four-day itinerary from Singapore’s Marina Bay terminal to nowhere, with no port calls, for Singapore residents only. The ship, which can normally carry 4,100 passengers, was capped at 50 per cent capacity and had 1,608 guests onboard.
Royal Caribbean has put in place many new measures to limit the risk of COVID-19 onboard its ships, such as obligatory mask wearing, restrictions on gatherings of more than five, online check-ins, regular disinfection, the use of updated HVAC systems and tracing technology, and the functioning of an upgraded onboard medical center.
Additionally, all guests underwent PCR tests before embarkation and Antigen Rapid Tests after the sailing (before leaving the terminal).
What Happened?
An 82-yead-old male passenger was reported to the onboard medical centre. He underwent a PCR test, which came back positive on the third day of the sailing.
The passengers on board the Quantum of the Seas were immediately notified of the incident and asked to stay inside their staterooms. For that purpose, meals were brought directly to cabins, and guests were allowed to smoke in their en-suites.
Response
A swift return (taking less than six hours) of the vessel was organized, and the guest was evacuated to a local hospital, where his three subsequent swab tests came back negative.
The Singapore Cruise Society believes that this incident might have been a case of what the health professionals call ‘false-positive.’
However, the situation showed that the system implemented by the Royal Caribbean Group and the Singapore Tourism Board works well.
As much as the Quantum of the Seas guests were disappointed to have their holidays cut short, none that were interviewed by the media mentioned any mishandling of the situation, and said they had “no regrets,” and “will come back again.”
Refunds for a day that the guests missed at sea will be processed accordingly.
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