Cruise Lines Plan To Ban Passengers From Freely Roaming Port Cities

Cruise Lines Plan To Ban Passengers From Freely Roaming Port Cities

Written By Ron Hurtibise, Sun Sentinel - September 24, 2020

Forget the tequila shots, straw markets and jewelry stores.

If cruise lines are allowed to resume operations anytime soon, passengers won’t be permitted to roam freely around port cities.

Proposals to limit the spread of COVID-19 call for allowing passengers to disembark only if they are signed up for an excursion sponsored by the cruise line, one of a series of health protocols developed by an industry eager to resume operations after a six-month COVID-19 shutdown.

Two similar sets of protocols were submitted to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sept. 21 in hopes they will persuade the CDC not to extend its No Sail Order past the planned Sept. 30 expiration. Cruise lines voluntarily canceled trips through Oct. 31, but many would like to resume sailings in the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean before the end of the year.

The proposals, which cruise lines would implement voluntarily, include requiring all passengers and crew members to take COVID-19 tests before being allowed to board. Fewer passengers will be allowed on ships. Temperatures will be checked frequently. Face masks will be required at terminals and on board ships whenever social distancing is not possible.

Cabins will be allocated for isolating patients who get sick. And cruise lines will develop ways to improve flow of fresh air through interior portions of their ships.

The recommendation to prohibit passengers from freely roaming away from cruise lines’ watchful eyes in port cities would be enforced “until further notice,” according to protocols developed by a panel of experts, called the Healthy Sails Panel, convened by Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.

The ban is intended to reduce the risk of exposure to ship passengers, crew members and local populations in port cities, the panel’s document states.

“Prior to COVID-19, cruise operators allowed for both fully curated excursions and self-guided excursions and independent exploration at destinations of interest,” it says. “However, the risk of exposure for the people in communities that are visited, and for cruise ship guests and crew, increase as more mixing between these groups occurs. Therefore, the Panel recommends that cruise operators initially prohibit self-guided tours and independent exploration and only allow certain curated indoor activities until further notice.”

A set of protocols submitted by the Cruise Lines International Association, a trade group representing 95% of the cruise industry, includes permitting shore excursions “according to the cruise operators’ prescribed protocols, with strict adherence required of all passengers and denial of re-boarding for any passengers that do not comply.”

CLIA spokeswoman Laziza Lambert said that means passengers won’t be allowed to venture off on their own. “Guests and crew would only be allowed to partake in preplanned excursions within well-defined boundaries,” she said in an email.

In recent weeks, some cruise lines have been allowed to resume operations in Europe and Asia under protocols similar to those proposed to the CDC. But on the first voyage of the MSC Grandiosa in mid-August, a family was denied re-embarkation after breaking away from the “social bubble” set up by MSC Cruises in Naples, Italy, according to a report in USA Today.

The Healthy Sails Panel recommendations say a ban on self-guided excursions should be implemented “in the startup phase” of a resumption. Meanwhile, the panel suggests, cruise lines should consider ways to make sponsored excursions more appealing, such as “reconsidering” their cost and offering a wider variety of trips to private beach locations.

Roger Frizzell, spokesman for Carnival Corp., said the protocols aren’t intended to be permanent. “Over time, in coordination with health and regulatory authorities, as well as our expert advisers, these policies are expected to be updated and adjusted as there are improvements in the general health outlook of the population, as well as additional advancements and enhancements in science and medicine,” Frizzell said by email.

Travel agents said the ban on self-guided excursions will disappoint some travelers but won’t keep most diehard cruisers off of the gangplank.