Tag Archives: vaccine

Crystal Cruises to Require COVID-19 Vaccine for Guests

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Crystal Cruises has confirmed it will now require all guests to be fully inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days prior to their Crystal cruise.

Guests will need to provide proof of vaccination before embarkation and must have received both doses of the vaccine if recommended by the manufacturer by that timeline, the company said.

“We are encouraged by the progress being made with the COVID-19 vaccines and what this means for our Crystal Family and the travel industry as a whole as we eagerly look forward to exploring the world again,” said Crystal’s interim president and CEO, Jack Anderson. “We know that peace of mind is the greatest luxury; and the vaccine requirement is simply the best way to ensure the safest possible Crystal Experience for all onboard. This sentiment is underscored by conversations with our guests and travel partners and a recent Cruise Critic survey of cruisers that revealed that more than 80 percent of respondents would cruise if a vaccine were required.”

Crystal’s crew, who hail from dozens of countries around the world, will be expected to be vaccinated as well when the company resumes sailing, however, this may not be a viable option for all crew members given their age and/or the availability of vaccines in their home countries, the company said, in a statement. 

“As part of the company’s Crystal Clean+ 4.0 measures, crew members will be tested for COVID-19 prior to leaving their home location to join the ship and must receive a negative result. They also will take a COVID-19 test at embarkation; quarantine for seven days upon arrival; be tested again at the end of that seven-day period and must receive a negative result before beginning their duties,” Anderson noted. “When vaccines are widely available, they will be a requirement of employment for crew which must be completed at least 14 days prior to service.”

In addition to providing verified documentation of their COVID-19 vaccine at the time of boarding, guests will complete an online form acknowledging this requirement before their cruise tickets will be issued. Crystal has published a frequently asked questions document on the advisory alert section of its website for further reference.

Holland America Line Extends Pause in Cruise Operations

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As Holland America Line continues to prepare and develop its plans to meet the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the company announced on Wednesday afternoon it is extending its pause of cruise operations for all departures through April 30, 2021.

This includes Alaska, Mexican Riviera, Pacific Coast, Caribbean, Mediterranean and Canada/New England departures.

The line also will cancel all Alaska cruises through mid-May, Alaska departures on three ships through early June, any Land+Sea Journeys connected with cancelled Alaska sailings, Mediterranean cruises through early June and Zaandam’s Canada/New England itineraries through August.

Cruises impacted by this pause in operation are:

  • All cruise departures through April 30, 2021.
  • Alaska: Eurodam and Oosterdam through the first week of June (roundtrip from Seattle); Koningsdam through mid-May (roundtrip from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada); Nieuw Amsterdam and Noordam through mid-May (roundtrip Vancouver and between Vancouver and Whittier, Alaska); and Zuiderdam through early June (roundtrip from Vancouver).
  • Mediterranean: Volendam cruises through early June (between Venice and Civitavecchia [Rome], Italy); Westerdam through early June (roundtrip from Venice or between Venice and Piraeus [Athens], Greece).
  • Canada/New England: Zaandam cruises through August (between Boston, Massachusetts, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada).

Guests and their travel agents are being notified of the cancellations and options for Future Cruise Credits (FCC) and rebooking.

Charleston: ‘2021 Will Be a Learning Curve’

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Port of Charleston.

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.”