Cruise & Ferry Review - Spring/Summer 2021

1 0 KEYNOTE islands and during shore excursions. Masks are also mandatory for everyone (except the medically exempt) onboard the vessels and during shore excursions whenever physical distancing cannot be safely maintained. In addition, Carnival Corporation will only authorise shore excursions offered by providers that operate tours and activities according to its protocols. Any guests who do not comply will be unable to reboard and complete their cruise. Changes have been made to Carnival Corporation’s air management and ventilation strategies too. “Although research seems to indicate that Covid-19 doesn’t transmit extensively through the air handling systems, we’ve enhanced filters and integrated other technologies to increase fresh air onboard,” says Donald. “We want guests and crew to know that we’re going above and beyond to keep them safe. We’ve also increased our cleaning and sanitation procedures across the ship because studies show that the virus is relatively easy to kill on hard surfaces.” Carnival Corporation’s brands have also developed risk-based response plans for each individual ship to ensure they can react rapidly if someone does test positive for Covid-19. “We will continually monitor the health of guests and crew throughout each cruise, which will allow us to quickly detect cases, quarantine and treat the patients, and then trace and test everyone they have been in contact with to prevent the virus from spreading further,” says Donald. “As part of this, we’ve upgraded our medical facilities, enhanced staff training and created dedicated isolation cabins. In addition, we’ve signed agreements with private providers to ensure we can transport patients off the ship and into shoreside medical facilities and quarantine if necessary.” Protocols will continue to evolve alongside the science. “When Covid-19 first emerged, no one knew exactly what the symptoms were, how it was transmitted, how to detect it, how best to treat it, who was most at risk, why patients had such different reactions or the most effective ways to stop it spreading,” says Donald. “After 12 months of intense research and trials by scientists and medical professionals, we’ve got answers to many of these questions, as well as widespread testing, better treatments, enhanced health and safety measures across society, and several vaccines that seem to be working well. However, there are still many unanswered questions. As society’s understanding of Covid-19 improves and the situation evolves worldwide, we’ll continue to adapt our own protocols to ensure we’re doing everything we can to protect our guests, crew and the communities we visit. This may or may not involve making vaccinations mandatory for guests and crew.” Costa and AIDA both implemented all these protocols when they successfully resumed a small number of cruises with a limited number of guests in Italy in September and October, respectively. “Despite the additional medical screenings and new restrictions that make the onboard and onshore experience different to the past, both brands have achieved high net promoter score rankings since resuming operations,” says Donald. Costa Smeralda will restart cruises at the end of March 2021 and call at various Italian ports “ We’ll continue to adapt our protocols to ensure we’re protecting our guests, crew and communities”