By
Alex Smith |
Phoenix Reisen’s Artania has become the first cruise ship to call at the Port of Riga in Latvia in almost 18 months after the pause caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Artania has been sailing cruises around the Baltic Sea since 30 July and is also scheduled to visit cities including Copenhagen in Demark, Stockholm in Sweden and Tallinn in Estonia. The ship arrived in Riga with 560 passengers from eight counties onboard, all of which were fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The Freeport of Riga Authority, in cooperation with the Latvian State Border Guard, the State Emergency Medical Service of Latvia and the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of Latvia, has developed the Management Plan to Mitigate Covid-19 Risk plan. All cruise ships arriving in Riga will be required to comply with this plan, which includes guidelines for information exchange preventive measures and an operational algorithm for all parties involved in standard and various risk level situations. The plan has been prepared in compliance with the regulations set by Latvia’s Cabinet of Ministers and is based on the guidelines set out by the European Union for cruise ship operations.
Further cruise calls to the port have been scheduled for the current season, dependent upon the health crisis continuing to improve.