To kickstart the cruise sector and in line with the “calibrated resumption of economic activities” the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is allowing two cruise lines to offer “cruises to nowhere” to the city-state residents from next month.
Genting Cruise Lines’ World Dream will offer these cruises starting 6 November, while Royal Caribbean International‘s Quantum of the Seas will start sailing in December, STB announced in a press release today (8 October).
Both vessels, homeported in Singapore, will be part of a pilot scheme that will see enhanced safety protocols and mandatory Covid-19 testing for both crew and passengers.
STB’s Keith Tan: “The cruise pilot is a valuable opportunity for cruise operators to reinvent the entire cruise experience.”
STB said that as “the safety and well-being of our local community, as well as passengers and crew remain the top priority,” the pilot will be round-trips with no ports of call, at reduced capacity of up 50%, and only open to Singapore residents.
“The government will monitor the outcomes of the pilot sailings carefully in the coming months before deciding on the next steps for cruises,” said STB.
Keith Tan, chief executive of STB, added: “The cruise pilot is a valuable opportunity for cruise operators to reinvent the entire cruise experience in order to regain the confidence of passengers. As ASEAN’s lead coordinator for cruise development, Singapore remains committed to supporting and growing cruise tourism in the region. We will continue to work with cruise lines and our industry stakeholders to chart a new course for safe cruising.”
Dream Cruises, owned by Genting Cruise Line, said in a separate statement it has completely re-examined and enhanced all of its health, hygiene and operating protocols to ensure the safest environment for everyone across its fleet and in accordance with the local authorities’ strict guidelines including stringent health screening processes.
“We are delighted to be the first cruise ship to restart operations here in Singapore and to give a much needed boost to the local tourism industry. We are able to provide Singapore residents with more vacation options beyond land-based resorts and we hope to bring back the joy of cruising with safety being paramount,” said Mr Michael Goh.
World Dream will also offer two- and three-night “Super Seacation” packages for Singapore residents during the school and year-end holidays.
Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean has opened bookings for its three- and four-night ‘Ocean Getaways’ onboard its Quantum of the Seas cruise ship ahead of the 1 December resumption of its sailings from Singapore,
The company also gives its assurance to provide a safe cruising experience to its guests.
“While the cruise experience will be different than it was pre-pandemic we are committed to providing the signature Royal Caribbean holiday that guests know and love, while keeping the health and safety of everyone onboard as our top priority,” said Royal Caribbean’s managing director, Asia Pacific, Angie Stephen.
She added that the company shares the Singapore’s government “strong commitment and focus to reignite the local economy and bring back jobs and services supporting the travel industry.”
CruiseSafe Certification
In preparation for the recovery of the cruise industry and resumption of cruises STB is developing a mandatory CruiseSafe certification programme for cruise lines prior to sailing.
Developed in consultation with the industry the programme is benchmarked against global health and safety standards, as well as Singapore’s own national safe management measures and certification programmes such as SG Clean.
According to STB, Singapore “is one of the first countries in the world to develop and implement a mandatory audit and certification programme for cruise lines before they can commence sailings.”
Genting Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean International are in the process of attaining the certification, STB revealed. They were approved for the pilot as they have demonstrated the ability to put in place stringent protocols and precautionary measures as part of their CruiseSafe certification.
The CruiseSafe standards include:
- Infection control measures at every stage of a passenger’s journey, including a mandatory Covid-19 test prior to boarding
- Strict and frequent cleaning and sanitisation protocols onboard
- Safe management measures aligned with prevailing national policy at the time of sailing
- Ensuring 100% fresh air throughout the ship
- Reducing ship capacity to enable sufficient safe distancing
- Setting up onboard measures to discourage close contact and inter-mingling between groups
- Emergency response plans for incidents relating to Covid-19
Pilot cruises will have to comply with prevailing safe management measures, such as mask-wearing and 1m-safe distancing.
To ensure compliance regular inspections will be conducted on board during the pilots. Non-compliant cruise lines will be subjected to penalties including fines, suspension of sailings and revocation of CruiseSafe certification.
STB said the crew on pilot cruises are subjected to stringent measures beyond Singapore’s prevailing requirements for cross-border travel.
Crew who need to enter Singapore to serve on board the pilot cruises must first undergo 14 days isolation in their home country and must test negative for Covid-19 before their departure to Singapore.
Additionally, they will also be tested on arrival in Singapore, serve a 14-day stay-home notice (SHN). They be tested again at the end of the SHN, and subject to routine tests once sailings begin.
• Featured image credit – Dream Cruises’ World Dream: Dream Cruises
