Article by: Aaron Saunders Contributor (cruisecritic.com)
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) member lines stated Monday that they are ready to resume sailings and could be up and running in as little as 30 days.
On a conference call attended by Carnival Corporation president and CEO Arnold Donald, Royal Caribbean Group president Richard Fain, Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Frank Del Rio, MSC Cruises chairman Pierfrancesco Vago, and CLIA global chairman Adam Goldstein, CLIA member lines outlined their plans to resume cruising within the United States.
The news comes on the same day that Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ joint Healthy Sail Panel submitted their formal recommendations to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Today is also the last day for the public to comment to the CDC on the safe resumption of cruise.
“This is a very auspicious day in terms of the effort that the cruise sector, with all of its supporters in its ecosystem, have put in to get to this moment where …we are in a position to announce the mandatory core elements of health protocols that we see as a path to the phased resumption of oceangoing cruise operations in the Americas,” said CLIA’s Goldstein.
The new health and safety measures submitted to the CDC include mandatory COVID-19 testing for all passengers and crew; mandatory usage of masks by all passengers and crew onboard and during shore excursions; physical distancing in terminals, onboard, on private islands and shore excursions; increased medical capabilities and preventative measures onboard, including dedicated cabins for isolation; enhanced ventilation onboard; and the requirement that passengers wishing to go ashore do so only on cruise line-sponsored excursions.Donald said the report was informed by the protocols already in place in Europe, where three cruise lines, including Costa Cruises, which is part of Carnival Corp., and MSC Cruises, have already restarted successfully:
