Shanghai at night photo credit Dave Jones

China could be one of the first destinations that Carnival Corporation resumes sailings to, since it has already recommenced social gathering, according to chief executive Arnold Donald.

The boss of the nine-brand cruising giant said: “The most important thing affecting our decision-making is that as long as there’s no social gathering, we are not able to cruise. Cruise, by definition, is a social gathering. When society is ready for social gathering, then we can talk about cruising.

“We are hoping it will be sooner rather than later but we won’t be driven by what we want to do, but by what society is prepared to do.”

And Donald said: “China has resumed some social gathering and it’s possible that China could be somewhere that cruise may resume first. Logically, because they are moving to a social gathering already and other areas of Asia are handling it [Covid-19] well, it could be a possibility that it may be the first place, but we don’t know yet.”

He pointed out that a lot would depend on whether China and other countries would accept cruise passengers.

“There is a lot of evaluation going on, but the world is not yet aligned around the epidemiology of this virus. There are still debates on-going about testing etc. The world’s scientific and medical community are pulling this all together and once there’s a better understanding of this virus, then we can engineer specific steps and actions.”

Donald predicted a staggering return to worldwide cruising.

“I doubt all destinations will open simultaneously. Different countries will have different protocols and compliance. So there will be some changes to our business model short-term and certainly, for the first three months, there will be changes to itineraries to some degree.

“But the long-term business model is secure. As the world overcomes this pandemic and it goes into the background or is not around at all, then we’ll return to normal. Over time, we’re going to have a great cruise industry again.

“Once this particular storm has passed, we’ll be able to continue to do what we love, and that’s to take guest cruising all over the world.”