Cruise lines await government approval to sail Australian voyages
Early April cruises have already been cancelled by international cruise lines as the industry remains in the dark on green light.
It’s like the scent of the sea wafting through a car window as you near a long-awaited beach holiday. You’re so close, you can smell it. Likewise, cruise lines could be on the cusp of feeling Australia’s ocean breezes through their metaphorical hair. All they need is a green light.
Cruise operators have been making the boldest moves in the travel industry in a bid to refloat their business. However, local voyages by foreign-flagged ships are dependent on government approval. Expedition vessels scheduled to restart sailing in Australia next month are urgently awaiting official decisions, given it could take several weeks to mobilise and sail here from distant home ports. Some early April cruises have already been cancelled by international cruise lines, and late April is looking shaky, too.
Although cruising has been virtually banned in Australia for a year, almost 350,000 people in other countries have embarked on more than 400 cruises aboard 25 ships since July last year, according to Cruise Lines International Association. Add a few local exceptions to the rule — paddle-steamers on the Murray River and small vessels in the Kimberley — that have sailed virus-free for several months, and the state of play is promising.
“Most larger-ship itineraries are now voluntarily suspended through to mid-year, though it is still important that we establish a clear path towards resumption as soon as possible so we can revive cruise tourism and the $5bn a year it generates for the Australian economy,” says Joel Katz, CLIA’s managing director Australasia. “A key focus is on being able to deliver the upcoming autumn-winter expedition season in the Kimberley, which provides the opportunity to deliver much-needed visitation, economic impact and jobs to regional communities and remote locations that have really done it tough under COVID lockdowns.”
This week’s announcement by the federal government that Australia’s international borders will remain closed until June 17 adds another layer of complexity to ongoing negotiations. CLIA is engaged with authorities in a bid to establish a process whereby cruise ships and their crew can re-enter the “Australian bubble” and operate domestic cruises carrying only locals, with strict COVID-19 health policies in place.
Aside from the goal of letting travellers return to the rivers and oceans, there’s a lot at stake. The industry supports more than 18,000 jobs across the country, including travel agents, tour operators, hotels and transportation companies, not to mention the many other small businesses and farmers that supply cruise ships.
Just you wait
This week, Australian-owned Aurora Expeditions announced a surprise program that includes a voyage from Hobart to Antarctica this December, heading for Commonwealth Bay and Ross Sea. Other cruises, departing as soon as June, explore the Bass Strait Islands, Tasmania, Ningaloo Reef and the Kimberley. The ship, Greg Mortimer, which will have an all-Australian expedition team, is docked in its temporary home in Las Palmas, Spain, awaiting permission to come to Australia.
This week Scenic announced it intends to deploy Scenic Eclipse in the Kimberley, between Darwin and Broome, from mid-June to August. The luxury expedition yacht, currently in Croatia, will then revert to its planned season in Antarctica in summer 2021/22.
Silversea’s luxurious Silver Explorer is also scheduled to come to the Kimberley in May. APT also is working with federal, state and territory authorities, CLIA, medical companies and collaborative cruise line Ponant to prepare for cruising to restart in autumn. The road to resumption is complicated for APT’s Caledonian Sky, which is registered in the Bahamas and due to start sailing from Cairns within weeks. From May, the 99-guest ship is sold out for a four-month season along the Kimberley Coast, followed by a cruise from Queensland to Victoria in time for the Melbourne Cup, and Tasmania, South Australia and Coral Coast itineraries for the summer.
Ponant has regular Kimberley cruises planned on Le Laperouse and Le Soleal from late April to September, and new itineraries in almost every state until the end of the year. Chairman of its Asia Pacific operations, Sarina Bratton, says the company is disappointed in the three-month extension of the ban.
“We are hopeful that small expedition ships will soon receive approval to recommence operations within Australian waters exclusively for Australians during that period,” she says.
There’s no uncertainty about smaller, locally flagged ships already in Australia. True North is confirmed for 15 Kimberley departures plus other west coast cruises, while Coral Expeditions has three ships in the mix offering trips along the coastlines of Western Australia, SA, Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania and potentially New Guinea and New Zealand, with a new Christmas and Cocos Islands itinerary in the pipeline.
Here comes summer
The queue is much longer for large international ships waiting to be allowed back next summer, whether it’s to cruise intrastate, interstate or across the ditch. Azamara Journey, Seabourn Ovation, Crystal Symphony, Viking Orion, Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, Regent Seven Seas Explorer and Mariner are among the loveliest vessels booked for voyages around Australia and New Zealand. Tradewind Voyages’ five-masted tall ship, Golden Horizon, is also set to make its maiden visit in December to circumnavigate the country.
Meanwhile, elsewhere
If only we could get overseas, plenty of cruises are taking place. Heritage Expeditions’ Spirit of Enderby is circling New Zealand’s easternmost Chatham Islands, before a Western Pacific odyssey to Japan via Solomon Islands.
In Asia, the safety record has been set by Dream Cruises, which has had no COVID-19 cases on its two ships in Taiwan and Singapore for the past eight months. Also in Singapore, Royal Caribbean’s 4900-passenger Quantum of the Seas has been offering “cruises to nowhere” with no cases. In Japan, three ships are operating for Japanese residents, while local operators in China are soon to be joined by Viking Sun.
South Pacific cruising is struggling in the absence of international visitors. Captain Cook Cruises has revised its Fiji program to cater to locals but eagerly awaits a travel bubble with Australia. Paul Gauguin Cruises has paused operations, to be reviewed in June. Meanwhile, it’s all systems go for Aranui 5, the Tahiti-based 230-passenger freighter ship, which never stopped sailing in the Marquesas Islands.
Aqua Expeditions is due to resume in Indonesia and the Peruvian Amazon in June and on the Mekong in September. The Galapagos is also allowing local vessels, as well as Silversea’s Silver Origin from May. Australis, another South American ship, is taking bookings for September.
In the US, big ships are still banned, except for those with fewer than 250 passengers. In Alaska, this leaves only small-ship specialists such as UnCruise and Alaskan Dream in business this year.
Cruising is expected to rebound in time for the European summer, when the vaccine rollout has made extensive progress. That said, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd are already sailing, and Costa is offering voyages to Italy next month and the Mediterranean in May. River cruises are also likely to relaunch in May, after a surge in bookings.
The Arctic, although not yet fully cancelled, is on thin ice. Antarctica is a stronger polar contender for late this year and into next year.
Play by the rules
So, how is all of this happening? It’s down to the implementation of hundreds of new health and safety protocols developed in consultation with independent experts. CLIA’s ocean cruise line members were the first in the travel industry to commit to testing all crew and passengers for COVID-19 before embarkation, along with requiring health assessments from each passenger’s GP and daily temperature checks.
The most robust approach has been announced by Viking, which plans to test everyone each day of the cruise. Viking’s ocean ships are set to be equipped with the world’s first full-scale PCR laboratories at sea, while a network of shoreside labs will be established throughout Europe to bring the same daily testing regimen to its river ships.
A right jab
Vaccines have been touted as key to restarting cruising, but most companies are still “monitoring the situation”. Avalon Waterways, Crystal Cruises, Saga, Victory Cruise Lines and American Queen Steamboat Company were the first to declare that passengers would need to show proof of receiving both doses. Viking says guests “will be required to get inoculations or vaccination cards compliant with the requirements of the countries we are visiting”.
Keep it clean
Expect to see cleaners disinfecting all surfaces several times a day, hand-sanitising and handwashing stations, and upgraded ventilation and filtration systems pumping non-recirculated air. Crystal, Windstar, Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean are among those installing HEPA filters, while Virgin Voyages, Regent, Oceania and NCL have invested in AtmosAir ionisation systems for purification.
Medical facilities and staff will be boosted, too, with ventilators and medical teams trained to provide for intensive care of COVID-19 cases. Ships will have reserved cabins to isolate passengers who may develop coronavirus symptoms, with anyone testing positive disembarked to a health facility as soon as practical.
Face time
Crew will be masked at all times while passengers will be required to wear masks in the ship’s corridors and public spaces and on transfers and shore excursions. For the pool, day spa and dance floor, it depends on the destination. Some pools are open, some are closed, but social distancing is enforced. In the spa waiting room, clients will wear a mask but not during a treatment, and the therapist might also wear gloves. If dancing is allowed, guests will probably have to wear a mask and maintain 2m distance from people outside their travelling group. All the single ladies? Sorry, the gentlemen dance-host program is suspended on Crystal, Cunard and Silversea.
A CLIA spokesperson says: “Specific rules for these areas will be tailored within the individual operating plans that will be agreed between cruise lines and authorities in the regions where they operate. This will allow measures to be customised for the size, capacity and configuration of individual ships, and the requirements of local authorities. It will also take into account the regional status of COVID-19 on land and local health authorities’ requirements in equivalent social settings on shore.”
Same but different
Some of the weirdness will be wonderful, especially for those who don’t like crowds, given many ships will sail half-empty. Look forward to more room to move, fewer queues and capped capacity in the pool, bars, restaurants, theatre, gym and elevators. Dining times will be staggered and tables spaced out, and self-service buffets are over. Instead of paper menus, passengers may need to scan a QR code with a phone and order through an app.
Get covered
Insurance providers have released policies addressing coronavirus-related events on domestic trips. There are many exclusions but if the insured guest is diagnosed with COVID-19 before boarding or during the voyage, cancellation costs and limited medical expenses may be covered. Travel Insurance Direct, Good2Go and Qantas Insurance are three cruise-friendly options to consider, but be sure to read the fine print.
