According to USA Today, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is allowing cruise ships to sail in US waters starting on Sunday November 1, it has become clear that passengers won’t be waving goodbye from the deck any time soon, because one vital factor that CDC has not mentioned is when passengers will be allowed back on board.
The CDC said in a release provided by spokesperson Cate Shockey that the CDC’s “Framework for Conditional Sailing Order,” which now replaces the eight-month “no sail” order that expired this weekend says that it, “introduces a phased approach for the safe and responsible resumption for passenger cruises,”
Dr Martin Cetron, director of the CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, told USA Today, “This ‘Framework of Conditional Sailing’ lays out a pathway – a phased, deliberate and intentional pathway – toward resuming passenger services but only when it is safe, when [the cruise industry] can assure health and when they are responsible with respects of needs of crew passengers and port communities,”
Cetron added, “This is a potential turning point in the shared perspective between the industry and CDC with a shared set of goals and a commitment to only return to sailing when it’s safe, healthy and responsible.”
As a result, cruisers in the US need to be clear that the first cruises to leave port will be simulation sailings designed to show that ships and crews are in compliance with CDC standards and able to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 onboard, with the CDC explaining, “During the initial phases, cruise ship operators must demonstrate adherence to testing, quarantine and isolation, and social distancing requirements to protect crew members while they build the laboratory capacity needed to test crew and future passengers.”
Shockey told USA Today that subsequent phases will include mock voyages with volunteers such as employees or their family members, with those test voyages will be akin to the shakedown cruises that lines do with any new vessel prior to its official maiden voyage.
Bari Golin-Blaugrund, CLIA’s vice president of strategic communications said, “We look forward to reviewing the order in greater detail and working with the CDC to advance a return to cruising from US ports.”
The order says that a cruise ship operator must have successfully conducted a simulated voyage or series of simulated voyages demonstrating the cruise ship operator’s ability to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 onboard its cruise ship and in order to resume passenger sailings, according to the order, each ship must earn a “COVID-19 Conditional Sailing Certificate” from the CDC.
No clarity was provided around when that could happen or any timescale, but it is anticipated, in particular bearing in and the number of companies and ships, it could take some time, with before they begin the process of test cruises, all crew already on board must be tested for COVID-19, with the initial phase crew-centric, making sure that there are proper safeguards and adequate testing capability for workers.
Cruises during the second phase won’t carry passengers, either, with a voluntary test cruise phase before ticketed passengers can board, with Cetron saying, “This is a phase that has simulated mock voyages of increasing, duration, complexity and numbers in order to test and implement scaling up and feasibility of the plan,” adding based on how simulations go, he said the CDC’s requirements may change and “This isn’t a race from A to Z.” “This is navigating a safe path.”, with Cetron not prepared to guess when passenger cruising will actually begin.
He also told USA Today, “I’m smart enough after 10 months of this pandemic not to speculate like that,” likening the CDC’s response to an “epic” battle, adding, “It’s basically the virus’ numbers against human ingenuity.”
When asked what happens if a cruise ship tries to skip ahead to a new phase without approval from the CDC, he said, “You don’t advance along the process,” “It’s as simple as that we’re not going to compromise [on] safety, health.”
The CDC also currently still advises against cruising, with after announcing the “no sail” order’s October 31 expiration date, the CDC issued a “Level 3 Travel Health Notice” recommending people “defer travel” on cruise ships worldwide.
For those who decide to sail after all, the agency recommended that passengers returning from a cruise ship or river cruise voyage “take extra precautions to protect others for 14 days after arrival.”
In addition, it reminded elderly travellers and those with underlying conditions such as heart disease, chronic lung disease and diabetes that they are at heightened risk of severe illness if they contract COVID-19.
An edited report by John Alwyn-Jones
