Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Guidance issued on cruises

FIFE1
 Share

Recommended Posts

FIFE1

FIFE1

Posted
Posted

Interesting shortened version of a 49 page document issued for cruising in the EU

 
CRUISE EU flag.jpgPHOTO: CAPRI23AUTO/PIXABAY

EU Healthy Gateways issues COVID-19 guidance for restarting cruise operations

Anne Kalosh | Jul 01, 2020

 
EU Healthy Gateways' COVID-19 guidance for cruise operators and ports contains many expected protocols and some new ideas such as dividing people into cohorts and organizing activities by age group.

Holistic approach

'A strategy for reducing the risks for COVID-19 among cruise ship passengers and crew should cover the entire process, beginning at the time of booking and extending until passengers and crew have returned to their homes. National policies for accepting incoming tourists to cross borders and to board cruise ships at the turnaround ports should also be considered in cruise line plans,' the guidance said.

Shorter cruises, limited port calls

A gradual approach to restarting operations is advised, including short itineraries, such as three to seven days, along with a limited number of port calls.

 

'The willingness and capacity of countries included in the itinerary should be explored, and arrangements should be in place to accept possible or confirmed COVID-19 cases disembarking from cruise ships, as well as possible contacts and anyone else wishing to disembark,' the guidance said.

Essential prerequisites

According to the International Health Regulations 2005, designated ports must have the capacities to provide appropriate public health emergency response by establishing and maintaining a public health emergency contingency plan. Interoperability of the port public health emergency contingency plan with the cruise ship contingency plan/outbreak management plan should be ensured.

Arrangements for medical treatment ashore, including possible air evacuation, and arrangements for repatriation of passengers and crew should be included in the cruise line plan. Facilities for shoreside transport and quarantine should be agreed in advance.

Adequate testing for COVID-19 on board or ashore, crew training and a commitment to immediately reporting any possible case to the next port of call are other prerequisites of restarting service.

 

Ships must be able to individually isolate 5% of passengers and 5% of crew on board when it will not be possible to disembark those who need to be quarantined or isolated within 24 hours from detection of the first possible COVID-19 case. When it will be possible to disembark passengers and crew within that 24-hour window, isolation space on board will be required for only 1% of passengers and 1% of crew.

Inspections

EU Healthy Gateways will support inspection of COVID-19 prevention and control by providing a checklist based on the advice document, training inspectors, scheduling at an EU level to avoid duplication of inspections and keeping an EU database to record inspections. It will not be necessary to undergo inspection before starting operations. This could be arranged at any date and at any port, in agreement with the company and the inspectors.

CLIA welcomes the guidance

Cruise Lines International Association welcomed the document.

'The primary concern of CLIA and its member lines is the health and safety of its passengers and crew. This guidance from the public health authorities in Europe provides a useful resource for cruise lines as they prepare to resume operations,' CLIA Europe Secretary-General Tom Boardley said.

CLIA and its member lines were involved in the development of the guidance and will continue to work with EU Healthy Gateways to assess the practicality and suitability of the guidance as a pan-European framework moving forward.

No doctor's note required

There is no requirement that older people or those with underlying health conditions obtain a doctor's note to cruise. However, anyone over 65 or those of any age with chronic disease (cardiovascular, diabetes, respiratory) and immunocompromised individuals should be advised to see a doctor to assess if they are fit to travel, the guidance stated.

Many recommendations cover familiar ground, but others seem new.

Activities organized by age group

 

For example, the guidelines suggest activities and services on board could be organized according to age group, so that older individuals are separated from other age groups. Crew members in high risk groups could work in positions where there is little or no interaction with other individuals.

Cohorts

Another recommendation is dividing passengers and crew into cohorts. Each group could be given scheduled times for food service, embarking and disembarking and participating in some on-board activities. Interaction between each cohort should be avoided as much as possible. If it is not possible to maintain separate cohorts/groups on board, they should be kept for shore-based activities. Consideration may be given to cohorting groups of children for the duration of the voyage.

The guidance covers pre-trip and embarkation screening, crew training, prevention measures, outbreak response, physical distancing, mask wearing, hand hygiene and 'respiratory etiquette' (sneezing/coughing).

Masks

When it comes to masks, they are strongly recommended for both crew and passengers in any area where interaction with others occurs and maintaining physical distancing (1.5 meters) cannot be guaranteed. This specifically includes during embarkation at the terminal, on buses during transport, walking/passing in narrow corridors, in elevators, visiting the medical facility and in lifeboats.

Crew should wear masks when interacting with passengers including when handling food and cleaning cabins and when working with other crew when 1.5 meters distance cannot be maintained.

The correct use of masks and hand sanitation should be provided via such means as audio messages, leaflets, TV, infographics, websites, electronic posters and in terminals.

Ventilation

The ventilation of all occupied spaces of the ship should operate continuously and provide as much outside air as possible. Direct air flow should be diverted from groups of passengers when possible. Bathroom exhaust fans should run continuously. If it's not possible to completely stop air recirculation, the ship should explore improving air filtration and using HEPA filters or ultraviolet germicidal irradiation.

Bye bye mini-bars?

 

Elevated cleaning procedures are detailed, including special considerations for cabins.

For example, it is advised to remove any item that can't be cleaned and disinfected between occupancies, such as menus, magazines, coffee/ tea packaging and mini-bar products (unless these are served from dispensers). This also goes for coffee makers and kettles.

Instead, such items could be available on request, and the mini-bar can be used as a refrigerator and should be disinfected after each check-out.

A disposable cover should be placed on the TV and the air-conditioning remote controls to facilitate proper disinfection, unless these items can be easily and adequately cleaned and disinfected.

Food safety

Standards for food safety and preparation are detailed. It is recommended that all self-service food operations are avoided. Disposable salt, pepper and other containers are advocated — counter to the cruise industry's recent shift to bulk products for environmental reasons/plastics reduction.

Individual dining options, including room service, are recommended to provide food to passengers’ cabins, in order to avoid overcrowding in restaurants and other food service areas.

Distancing, reducing face-to-face interactions

Online bookings, orders and purchases should be encouraged, as well as the use of contactless cards for payments. Forms that need to be completed may be made available online.

Areas like reception should be reconfigured to allow social distancing. The use of a sneeze guard/transparent screen at the reception and other service and information points is recommended.

Suggestions for children's areas, entertainment venues and casinos are covered. A record of anyone using the fitness area should be kept, and machines should be positioned at least two meters apart and cleaned after each use.

No indoor swimming

The operation of indoor swimming pools is discouraged. Removing walls or roofs to allow natural ventilation could be allowed. The number of swimmers in any pool should be limited and small hot tubs should be used only by bathers staying in the same cabin at a time.

Port visits

Interface between ship- and shore-based personnel should be limited. Lines and terminal operators should ensure distancing inside facilities, and consider limiting the number of taxis and coaches to prevent crowding. Disinfection of luggage, especially the hand contact parts, may be considered before loading luggage on board.

Excursion providers should offer similar precautions as those on the ship. Upon reboarding, health screening such as temperature checks is advised.

Outbreak control, routine testing

The guidance goes into specifics about outbreak response, control and reporting.

And it delves into testing.

Cruise lines could consider testing all incoming passengers. However, testing 'should not give a false sense of security' since it has limitations such as the inability to detect incubating infection.

Pooling of five samples from asymptomatic persons can increase testing capacity with existing equipment.

Testing for antibodies as a condition for embarking is not supported by the current scientific knowledge.

Before resuming operations, lines should test all crew already on board for COVID-19, along with incoming crew. In addition, periodic testing can be conducted for all crew at regular intervals, such as every two weeks. Pool sample methods could be used.

In addition, daily contactless temperature checks are advised.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pensioncruiser

Pensioncruiser

Posted
Posted

Must agree BJ. Read this yesterday and posted our concerns. But it's a different world now and we feel for the youngsters who may never experience the great cruises we have had. Just got to hope that the scientists come up trumps with a vaccine 💉 🤞

Link to comment
Share on other sites
davecttr

davecttr

Posted
Posted

Cruising Jim but not as we know it. As a 70 year old diabetic I don't fancy the age segregation at all but what can you do when the passengers are in two groups, younger ones with low risk of death or health problems and the older ones. Ban old people or have old people only ships?

 

Even worse for solo cruisers where you might as well stay in your cabin

 

The rules for casinos should be interesting. I like playing blackjack and a table can only have 3 players. Maybe increasing the minimum bet will help plus pre booking your 1 hour slot!

 

Maybe forget about cruising for a year or two

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pensioncruiser

Pensioncruiser

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, davecttr said:

Maybe forget about cruising for a year or two

Fortunately Dave both you and us have had the pleasure of many cruises. We are slowly going through our old DVDs which we haven't seen for many years, its very interesting to see some of the friends we made, and also which shirts I still have😳

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
FIFE1

FIFE1

Posted
  • Author
Posted

See marella mentioned below The inevitable delay in the resumption of cruises has created the first consequences in terms of serious economic loses and the removal of many ships from service by different companies. Therefore, there has been an increase in the number of ships for sale by many companies and corporations.

We start with the biggest, the Carnival Corporation, which has announced the desire to liquidate the older ships of the fleet: the Carnival Inspiration (1996), the Carnival Ecstasy (1991) both of Carnival Cruises, the Veendam (1996) and the Maasdam (1993) both of Holland America Line and the Sun Princess (1995) of Princess Cruises. And most recently the news of the possible retirement of the Costa Victoria (1996) by Costa Cruises, whose destiny is currently being decided at this time.

Carnival_Ecstasy-768x576.jpg
MS_Maasdam_S-Class_Cruise_Ship_Holland_A
Costa-Victoria.jpg

The Royal Caribbean group is in just as much difficulty and will attempt to sell the Radiance of the Seas (2001), the Brilliance of the Seas (2002), the Rhapsody of the Seas (1997), the Grandeur of the Seas ( 1996) and one of the oldest of the fleet, the Majesty of the Seas (1992). Celebrity Cruises, which belongs to the same group, would like to sell its ships in the Millennium class: the Celebrity Millennium (2000), the Celebrity Constellation (2002) and the Celebrity Infinity (2001). Royal Caribbean is facing serious problems as well with its participation in Pullmantur Cruises, a company dedicated to the Spanish market which has put up for sale its entire fleet: the Sovereign, the Monarch, the Horizon, the Zenith and the Ocean Dream.

Marella Cruises, which also has many aging ships in its fleet, has likewise decided to sell the oldest ships, including the Marella Celebration (1984), the Marella Dream (1986) and the Marella Explorer (1996). The other company in the British market, Cruise & Maritime Voyages, is trying to get rid of the Marco Polo, its ship for the British market. CMV, besides the classic Marco Polo (1965), is also selling the Astor (1987) and the Magellan (1985).

But the list of ships goes on, from the Ms Berlin, the only ship of the German-owned FTI, which would thus end its maritime operations, to the Regatta of Oceania Cruses and probably the Silver Galapagos, which will be substituted in that area by the new Silver Origin. The river sector as well is following the same trend with several of the oldest ships being put on the market.

Berlin-768x432.jpg
Celebrity_Millennium-1-768x512.jpg
regatta-768x398.jpg

Fortunately, at the moment, the new ships on order have substantially been confirmed, thus avoiding an immediate economic catastrophe for the global shipbuilding industry. If the crisis continues, it will provoke progressively more sales given the huge expenses that ships in armament entail with no income to offset them. The uncertainty of the sector is also affecting the purchase of future cruises, which is not currently showing particularly encouraging numbers.

We hope that, on the one hand, the pandemic we be reduced in scope and medicine can effectively combat it and that, on the other, the authorities responsible are able to quickly draft protocols to enable companies to be able to start as soon as possible, with the necessary adjustments being made.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
davecttr

davecttr

Posted
Posted

Funny that Marella Explorer is mentioned for sale as it is younger than Explorer2 which was the first of the Century class ships. Marella did not want Explorer2 as they were expecting Mein Schiff Herz, also Century class which TUI decided to keep. IMO Explorer2 is inferior to the Marella Discoveries because of her smaller size which leads to awkward problems with the interior layout. Much better to get rid of Explorer2 and transfer Mein Schiff Herz to Marella. I think it is significant that TUI chose Celebrity Galaxy and Mercury and not Century.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dronnygirl Holiday Sharing Rare

dronnygirl

Posted
Posted

Thank you Fife1 for posting this.  Not really much different than I expected, sadly won't be cruising for a while until I've heard back from others  who've given it a go.

For us meeting people is part of the experience, we always have a shared table - how would that work?  Wearing a face covering would look lovely on 'dress to impress' night!  Dividing people into cohorts sounds very like the 'bubbles' my 5 year old grandson is in at infant school!!   And I would never get any sleep if the bathroom fan was on all night, they are usually very noisy.   

We've booked a static caravan in a quiet part of Devon in September, at the moment we are feeling quite brave even doing that!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FIFE1

FIFE1

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Following on from my earlier comments, it looks like Corfu airport refurbishment has progressed. Can't actually believe it, 28 desks, it actually looks good . (Photo Below)

 

corfu airport a.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
so,ton saint

so,ton saint

Posted
Posted
Just now, Pensioncruiser said:

Wondering if you still have to carry your case's to the conveyor after check in🤔

 

Just now, Pensioncruiser said:

Wondering if you still have to carry your case's to the conveyor after check in🤔

I do remember that, O.M.G how Micky Mouse. anyway your team is on telly tonight

Link to comment
Share on other sites
so,ton saint

so,ton saint

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, FIFE1 said:

No that stopped last year. It was straight onto conveyor at check in

 

That sounds better FIFE1 for everyone, only done the one cruise from Corfu and that was fine except for the ship the old Majesty iam glad she has departed the fleet, but the Island,s and Athens would do again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
so,ton saint

so,ton saint

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, so,ton saint said:

Never mind Roger we have the Blue side of Liverpool tomorrow.

 

Did ring TUI today yes i can amend my cruise booking sorry to say if there is no vaccination it will be a land based holiday so probably  two weeks in Majorca, unless TUI cancel U.S.A  and it might be winter 2022 with FCC we will have to be patient and wait and see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FIFE1

FIFE1

Posted
  • Author
Posted

FCO advises against cruise ship travel

by Phil Davies Jul 9th 2020, 12:16
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
FCO advises against cruise ship travel

The government has issued advice against cruise ship travel.

The hardened advice follows on from FCO guidance against over-70s and those with existing health conditions taking cruises, which was issued in March as the Covid-19 pandemic hit Europe.

The government updated its advice on Thursday, saying: “The Foreign & Commonwealth Office advises against cruise ship travel at this time.

“This is due to the ongoing pandemic and is based on medical advice from Public Health England.

“The government will continue to review its cruise ship travel advice based on the latest medical advice.”

The FCO added: “If you have future cruise travel plans, you should speak to your travel operator, or the travel company you booked with, for further advice.

“The Foreign & Commonwealth Office continues to support the Department for Transport’s work with industry for the resumption of international cruise travel.”

Updated advice against cruise travel follows changes to the global advisory against non-essential travel, the FCO added. It also confirmed that the guidance covers all cruises, including river operations, based on Public Health England’s assessment.

Cruises from the UK have been halted since March but Hurtiguten announced plans this week to run a series of departures from UK ports in September.

The FCO’s previous advice on March 12 said that British nationals aged 70 and over, and those with underlying health conditions such as chronic diseases and diabetes, should not to travel on cruise ships in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

A Clia UK and Ireland spokeperson said: “We have noted the advisory issued today.

“The health and safety of guests and crew is an absolute priority for our member lines.

“Since the voluntary suspension of operations, we have been working collaboratively with the government on the road map to resumption involving a ‘door to door’ strategy – from the time of booking through to the passengers’ return home – with enhanced health protocols.

“We look forward to completing this planning exercise with government and for the advice to be updated.”

Carnival UK president Simon Palethorpe said: “We acknowledge the FCO’s guidance and P&O Cruises had already extended the pause in operations for all sailings up to October 15, 2020 and Cunard had extended the pause in operations until November 2020.

“Our current focus is to work in partnership with public health agencies at the highest level as well as Department for Transport; EU Healthy Gateways and Clia, the industry governing body.

“We will follow applicable guidelines to further enhance our already stringent measures to keep our guests and crew healthy and well and we will not resume sailings on either of our brands until this framework is in place. This will include rigorous protocols pre-boarding, on ship and in the destinations we visit.

“Confidence in cruising is strong and we are seeing increasing demand from our guests, who we look forward to welcoming back on board when the time is right.”

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
davecttr

davecttr

Posted
Posted
54 minutes ago, FIFE1 said:

I see this morning the health minister advising no cruises till October 

Will have to see what marella do now

Apart from getting rid of 13 ships within the next 90 days Carnival Corporation is starting short cruises with Aida for the German market, cruises to nowhere and 3 nighters I believe. Dipping their toe in the water so to speak 😉

 

TUI might do the same with one of their ships although fly cruises are a bit iffy so maybe Marella will wait. With no more UK departures Marella might be at a disadvantage as they are a fly cruise operation. I wonder if TUI is prepared to wait until next year with Marella as the fly cruise market was a strong one. Having said that is there the demand for 4 ships presuming that Dream joins Celebration in the breakers yard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail Beyond the Ordinary with Oceania Cruises
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: The Widest View in the Whole Wide World
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...