Monday, January 03, 2022
“There are still safe journeys”
Cruise association endeavored to limit the damage
Current corona cases on cruise ships bring back memories of the beginnings of the pandemic, when many people were unable to disembark due to infection. There is supposedly no cause for concern. The cruise association assures: the industry has done its homework.
Despite the current Corona cases on the “Aida Nova” from Aida Cruises and “Mein Schiff 6” from the shipping company TUI Cruises, the international industry association Clia Kreuzfahrten continues to regard Clia Cruises as safe trips. “The reason for this are the high entry barriers,” said the German Clia managing director Helge Grammerstorf. The 2G-plus or even 1G-plus rule applies on the ships. This means that with 2G plus a booster vaccination is a prerequisite for boarding the ship. With 1G plus, i.e. exclusively vaccinated people, even the convalescent status is not enough.
“The shipping companies react quickly and very consistently.” In addition, passengers would have to submit to a PCR test immediately before the start of the journey, and tests are also carried out during the journey. If passengers were to test positive during the trip, the time after the infection was too short for the tests to discover a corona case before the trip.
Only a few cases in relative terms
“With such close-knit controls, people also stand out who would otherwise probably not have been discovered at all,” said Grammerstorf. There are around 360 cruise ships worldwide, Grammerstorf assumed that around 70 percent are currently on the move. “By the summer it will be around 90 percent.” In his opinion, the few current corona cases should be put in relation to the many thousands of cruise passengers who are currently en route. Especially since, to the best of his knowledge, the current cases are exclusively asymptomatic or very mild.
The two cruise ships “Aida Nova” and “Mein Schiff 6” canceled their voyages shortly after the turn of the year due to corona infections: The “Aida Nova” broke off the journey in Lisbon, “Mein Schiff 6” in Dubai. “The background to this are isolated cases of Covid-19 on board that were discovered during the voyage. As a purely precautionary measure and to protect guests and crew, TUI Cruises has now decided to take this short break,” said TUI Cruises.