Why Are These New Cruise Covid Outbreaks Being Ignored?
Covid outbreaks on cruise ships are usually massive front-page news items. However, two
Covid incidents on large cruise ships in Europe in the past weeks have largely been ignored.
What's going on?
I am Gary Bembridge and I am going to look at what happened, why you likely didn't hear
about them, and most importantly why I think both of these have really big implications
for cruising and for us as cruise passengers
First off, what are the two incidents.
In February, the TUI Cruises and Royal Caribbean joint venture, Mein Schiff 2 (with 1,000 passengers
and 800 crew on board) discovered Covid-positive passengers on one of their Canary Island cruises.
Four guests tested positive for COVID-19, and nine guests and eleven crew members
were identified as persons who had come in close contact with those passengers, through
their contact tracing process.
All passengers and crew were then tested and found to be negative before being allowed
to disembark at the end of the cruise, and return home to Germany.
Those in close contact and infected were isolated on ship and then went into hotel quarantine
at Mein Schiff's expense.
The second incident was not much later on MSC Grandiosa on one of their 7-night cruises
out of Genoa.
A passenger tested positive in the regular testing on board the ship, while his wife
tested negative. The close contacts of the couple were again identified using on-board
contact tracing (which includes a wearable device and regular swiping of cruise cards
in venues). All those guests were then isolated and tested.
The MSC Cruise protocols say that when there is a positive case of COVID-19 on board, those
infected get transferred to a land-based facility as soon as possible. One that the cruise line
had established isolation and medical arrangements with as part of their return to sail planning.
Based on this, MSC made a short technical call on the port of Palermo to transfer the
guest and his wife to one of those facilities. The cruise resumed, and the unaffected guests
continued as normal. All being tested to check they were negative.
These incidents and how they played out tells us a couple of really important things, with
big implications as we look at cruising returning in the USA, UK, Spain, Australia and so on.
First, although coverage may have been non-existent in english-speaking media because no USA or
UK guests were involved, I do hope instead it shows the start of media getting a better
perspective and understanding of what the cruise industry actually has in place to minimise
Covid-19 coming onboard, identifying it if it does and managing it without having to
lockdown the entire cruise, passengers and ships.
In the context of what has, and is happening on land, it makes these cruise Covid events
and how they were managed look more ordered, controlled and thorough.
In both cases, there was not big dramatic story to tell, which is why it may have been
ignored by the media.
The story is the protocols spotted the issue through on-board testing capability and processes,
contact tracing meant those at risk were identified and quickly quarantined, those positive entered
cruise line-funded facilities and the cruise continued.
Not a dramatic saga the media like when it comes to cruising, a sceptic could argue...
Secondly, which is the key to this incident, while testing can minimise risk of Covid coming
on board, I think everyone accepts that it is realistically going to be impossible to
stop Covid coming onto ships , as is too for events and premises on land.
So, the key is how it gets managed
The protocols on Mein Schiff and MSC Cruises meant they (1) have testing of all passengers
and crew to minimise the risk of it coming on board, (2) are able to identify suspected
infected guests, who may have not been picked up in pre-board testing for whatever reason,
through the on-board on-going screening
(3) are then able to confirm it with the on-board testing capability now installed on the ship,
then (4) through active contact tracing, using technology, know who their close contacts
were, and so are able to focus and isolate only (in the case of Mein Schiff) around
20 people and fewer for MSC Grandiosa, and do not have to disrupt and lock down the whole
ship .
and then (5) remove the infected guests into pre-agreed medical and isolation facilities
then (6) use a process again agreed with local health authorities to test and clear everyone
else, to let the cruise continue and finally for travellers to disembark at the end of
the trip and head home.
A process covering all stages.
Despite some well-documented mis-steps by Hurtiguten and SeaDream, the cruise industry
has from sailings since summer, increasingly proven, real-life tested and constantly fine
tuned these protocols and processes to minimise, identify, contain and manage issues and outbreaks.
This process is in place not only for Mein Schiff and MSC Cruises but other lines sailing
in Europe like Hapag Lloyd, Costa and and those in Asia too, like Royal Caribbean and
Dream Cruises.
It shows an end-to-end process to identify, contain and manage Covid when cruising.
And also guests seem to be overall happy with them, understanding the need and limits.
Richard Fain, Chairman of the Royal Caribbean Group talking about the Singapore sailings,
which at time of recording has carried 35,000 and has been extended into middle of the year
said (quote) "Guests are sharing very positive reviews and we are also seeing a higher proportion
of first-time cruisers than expected. We believe that these cruises, even before the availability
of vaccines, are helping us learn and demonstrate to others how we can operate successfully
under the current COVID-19 environment,"
For me, one of the key achievements of the protocols is they have shown is that, unlike
early 2020 when the pandemic was starting, cruise lines have shown that the virus has
not now swept through ships as it was able to before the various changes.
As an aside, the protocols have been so successful they are discussing with Singaporean officials
the possibility of increasing onboard capacity from 50 percent to 65 percent.
Is there risk with these?
Of course, as there is on land with places where people come together and interact. However,
the protocols are beyond what is happening and in place on land.
So very promising as we look at what can be achieved and expected when cruising is able
to resume globally, as these have formed the basis of all the proposals submitted around
the world including the USA, UK and Australia.
Some of the protocols, such as mask wearing, controlled line only excursions, limits on
numbers in venues and ability to meet and dine with strangers are not ones everyone
wants to cruise with, and so they will want to stay away.
But for those who want to cruise and willing to accept these, there does appear to be lots
of hope that we should be able to with greater confidence than ever.
Of course, the accelerating roll out of vaccines will no doubt be factored into all of this
too. How exactly is still unclear but seems possible they will be in some way, as I cover
in other episodes.
What do you think about these thoughts on what these Covid incidents and the reaction
to them mean for us as cruisers?
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