Global Port Perspective

Cruise operators finally have a framework for a phased resumption of cruise operations and the protocols and programs they will be required to establish following the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s October decision to withdraw the agency’s “No Sail” order.

Cruising’s re-launch following months of inactivity will rely on close coordination between cruise lines and the global ports that link land to ship. Both face a shared need to work together to develop and maintain detailed and strict new protocols to assure the safety and health of passengers, crew and local populations.

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“We’ve all had to take a step back and learn a lot, [but] things seem to be moving in the right direction,” said Roger Blum, Principal at cruise consulting agency Cruise and Port Advisors.

Working Together

Speaking during a global ports panel at October’s Seatrade Virtual conference, Roger Blum, CEO of Cruise and Port Advisors, highlighted the initiatives the cruise and travel industry have undertaken to establish new methods of operation in the COVID-19 era.

“Over the past few months European Healthy Gateways has issued [COVID-19] guidelines, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line’s Healthy Sail Panel has issued guidelines [and] CLIA has instituted new guidelines,” said Blum.

The Americas Cruise Task Force is also working on “standardizing guidelines in the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America, Blum said. Strategies to reduce cruise passengers and crew’s COVID-19 risk should “[begin] at the time of booking and extend until passengers and crew return home,” he added, “so obviously the ports and destinations are as important as what goes on aboard the ship.”

Anchors Aweigh?

Foremost among the challenges for cruise lines and global ports is the to re-establish safe operations from ship to shore. “From the compliance perspective we have been working with [global] health authorities to ensure a return to service,” said David Candib, vice president, development and operations, global port destination development group at Carnival Corporation plc.

“Of the highest importance is the health and safety of the guests, crew and the destinations we visit,” he added. Yet the challenges also extend to customizing regional operational standards with the unique needs of the multiple countries often included on cruise itineraries.

“When we look at resuming sailing from the United States into broader regions [including] the Caribbean and Mexico, the challenge becomes [that] you may have four or five different entities,” said Candib.

Regional Spread

As part of a single voyage, “You may be sailing to Jamaica, the Turks Caicos and The Bahamas,” Candib said. “Because of the complexity of that, we as an industry and certainly we as a company have spent a lot of time working with our own internal experts and consultants and the health industry.”

Going forward, “We’re going to have to work very closely with the communities and various government agencies in each of those destinations,” Candib said.

Destinations and cruise lines are coordinating COVID-era strategies through the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, the Cruise Lines International Association and the Americas Cruise Task Force “to address some of the complexities that may come about when we sail from the United States to visit multiple destinations,” Candib said.

“It is going to be a journey because things are changing and developing all the time,” said Stephen Xuereb, chief operating officer of Global Ports Holding plc.

“Cruising can resume in a safe way [but] we have to also prepare the local communities for this new reality,” said Xuereb. “We have to manage the expectations.”

Cruise Industry Resources

Cruise Lines International Association: www.cruising.org

European Healthy Gateways: www.healthygateways.eu

Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association: www.f-cca.org