MSC Cruise flagship the Grandiosa has just set sail from Genoa to Rome, MSC first cruise since March, we wish MSC and all onboard a safe voyage.
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MSC Cruises to welcome UK passengers as soon as FCO allows
British passengers will be able to board MSC Cruises ships as soon the UK Foreign Office’s advice against all ocean cruising is lifted.
The line’s UK managing director confirmed the plan to Travel Weekly ahead of the line’s resumption of sailings in the Mediterranean from this Sunday.
Currently, only passengers from Europe’s Schengen Area, and Switzerland, can board the sailings.
Flagship MSC Grandiosa will launch seven-night cruises in the Western Med from August 16 and MSC Magnifica seven-night itineraries in the Eastern Med from August 29.
All other cruises in the Mediterranean from August 16 through to October 31 have been cancelled, and cruises departing the US have also been suspended to October 31 in line with cruise association Clia’s recommendation.
Confirming that Brits would be welcome on board as soon as Foreign Office advice against cruising is lifted, Antonio Paradiso said: “As far as I am concerned, that is the only blocker.”
German Cruise Line AIDA Delays Service Resumption, Pending More Approvals
AIDA Perla
he German cruise line AIDA cancelled its planned resumption of service this weekend over an approval technicality.
The line, which is owned by Carnival Corporation & plc., has implemented new health and testing protocols that had caught 10 crew members who were positive for COVID-19 after they boarded two AIDA ships but before any passengers came aboard.
The hold-up for AIDAperla and AIDAmar, leaving on short cruises August 5 and August 12, though, came because the country of Italy, where the ships are flagged, had not given approval for the ships to sail, the company said in a release.
“Contrary to our expectations, the final formal approval for the start of the short trips from August 5, 2020, by our flag state Italy is still pending,” the release said. “We assume that we will receive the last formal approval by the flag state Italy in a timely manner.”
While COVID-19 is not cited in the release, the spectre of coronavirus hangs over international ships coming back into service, after virus outbreaks among passengers and crew occurred last weekend
in two separate corners of the world.
In Norway, Hurtigruten faces an investigation after 36 crew and five guests have tested positive for COVID-19. And in French Polynesia, passengers on Paul Gauguin are quarantined on the ship and getting tested, after the ship’s doctor found a positive result with a guest. Both lines had resumed sailing with reduced capacity and improved health and safety requirements; Paul Gauguin and French Polynesia both require passengers to present a negative COVID-19 test before boarding or entering the country.
AIDA, too, has implemented strict health and safety guidelines for its resumption. Those guidelines, in fact, had detected the COVID-19 cases among the crew before sailing resumed and passengers could be exposed.
No cases had been detected among crew coming on board AIDAperla, which was the first ship in the fleet to have a scheduled cruise. The incidents had been reported on AIDAmar and AIDAblu on July 22, well before those ships were slated to cruise on August 12 and August 16, respectively.
Current policies call for all crew members to be tested for COVID-19 in their home countries before flying to Rostock, Germany, and getting on board the ship. The crew members then take a second coronavirus test while they are secluded on the ship.
Once the 10 infected crew members were detected, they were taken off the two ships and the remaining crew members were contained to the ship in isolation and underwent a third round of tests, the line said.
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