Cruise & Ferry Review - Spring/Summer 2021

5 3 Holland America Group’s brands are continuing to invest in new ships, such as Seabourn Venture which will join the Seabourn fleet in December 2021 “Every day is an opportunity to learn and improve across all dimensions of our work, and I hope to bring that approach to everything we do across the Holland America Group.” With the resumption of cruise operations high on the agenda, Holland America Group is in dialogue with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as many other equivalent organisations around the world. The company’s focus is on ensuring absolute compliance with these organisations and reviewing additional recommendations from the science and medical communities. Measures currently include pre- embarkation health screenings (including testing), revised embarkation protocols, expanded onboard sanitation procedures, physical distancing, and enhanced filtration systems and other technologies, to name a few. “We will continue to evolve our protocols to reflect best practices in mitigating the virus,” Swartz says. “In the USA, we’re continuing conversations with the CDC to determine specific health and safety requirements. We’re hopeful that by summer, the combination of low community transmission and the accelerated distribution of the vaccine will result in more ships sailing successfully from different countries around the world.” The other consideration is the onshore experience. Swartz confirms that Holland America Group is in active conversations with health and regulatory bodies and key stakeholders in destinations to ensure all parties are in alignment and mutual agreement on the practices and layers of protection that will enable a safe, comfortable experience for guests and crew. She is also keen to reassure those travellers who may be apprehensive about taking a cruise once the industry reopens. “Cruise lines, working closely through Cruise Lines International Association, are laying a framework of practices and policies that will ensure cruising can be as safe as, if not safer than, alternative vacations,” she says. “The industry is working in a coordinated fashion, and each line’s unique plan will be determined by which markets in the world they source from and their respective estimated timing of starting in those markets, based on their stakeholder conversations.” CFR