The illogical cruise ban is being led by officials who are all at sea

Just as we’re told the borders of Spain, France and most of their continental neighbours are open for the holiday season, with no need to quarantine when we get home, the Government goes and stamps its size nines firmly on the cruise industry.

Every sector of it. Big ships, small ships, river ships, ocean ships. Doesn’t matter. The statement released on Thursday is unequivocal. “The Foreign & Commonwealth Office advises against cruise ship travel at this time. This is due to the ongoing pandemic and is based on medical advice from Public Health England.”

Cards on the table: I love cruising and can’t wait to get back on board. I am not alone. A survey this week by Mundy Cruising showed almost two-thirds of its customers plan to cruise in 2021 and 15 per cent hope to sail this year. As soon as the air corridors were announced, I started planning. A river cruise in France or on the Danube; island-hopping around Greece?

Forget it, says PHE. That’s the Public Health England that won’t comment on this, and whose staff clearly know zip-all about cruising – and especially that there’s not one size that fits all.

I have tried to adopt a Panglossian approach to life over the past four months. But this is the last straw. In a week when we’ve seen financial help for the struggling hospitality industry and to get people back to work, the cruise industry, worth £10billion a year to the UK economy and responsible for almost 90,000 jobs, gets a sharp kick in the teeth. In April, the Cruise Lines International Association estimated that a 90-day suspension to cruising, which the “temporary” pause has already exceeded, would cost the UK economy £2.37 billion and 13,788 jobs.

And what about the logic? From today I can fly to France, stay in a hotel and make merry in a beach bar, but PHE says it’s not safe for me to board a river ship in Paris or Lyon and cruise north to Rouen or south to Avignon. I can go to Germany, Austria and Hungary, but I can’t join a Danube cruise visiting those countries. From Wednesday, I can stay in a hotel in Greece but not sail around the islands. I could go on, but you get the picture.

Since March, cruise lines and CLIA have been working to develop tough health protocols. River and ocean lines with smaller vessels have got them in place fast and started sailing.

Hurtigruten, a Norwegian company, restarted with cruises in Norway just for Norwegians. This week, it announced four cruises from the UK just for the British.

Why not at least exempt those, given we can now stay away from home? Cruises are off to avoid the risk of repatriations, a Government minister said yesterday. I’ll leave you to work out the nonsense there.

And so, the madness continues and we are led by the nose by a science that doesn’t know. I can go to supermarkets, shops and bars; I’ll happily board a plane. So why not a ship? Rest assured, I’ll be there as soon as this latest lunatic ban is lifted.

read more at telegraph.co.uk/opinion