Once an early COVID target, are cruise lines floating hope?
MIAMI — A COVID-oblivious zombie driving down the MacArthur Causeway might assume the cruise industry is doing well. Every day, ships arrive at or depart from PortMiami. At times the port is as full of ocean liners as it would be on a pre-pandemic winter day.
But the reality is much different. Ships that normally carry as many as 8,800 passengers and crew are now staffed by just 100 in charge of basic marine operations. They visit PortMiami only to refuel and restock. No passengers have boarded a cruise ship in the U.S. since March 13, 2020.
For the hundreds of thousands who work in the cruise industry and the 14.2 million Americans who used to take cruises, the past year without any has been a trying one.
No industry has been harder hit by the COVID-19 pandemic than the tourism industry, with travel bans and warnings in place across the globe since last March. But while hotel occupancy nationwide is down 20 percent from pre-COVID levels, the cruise sector — which served about 30 million customers worldwide annually pre-pandemic — has been nearly paralyzed.
After outbreaks led to at least 111 crew and passenger deaths and affected 87 ships, cruising became the target of public health officials’ early efforts to curb COVID-19 spread. Despite the CDC warning on March 8 that all Americans should avoid cruise travel, the industry waited until March 13 to cancel cruises. By then, dozens of ships were stranded across the world with nowhere to dock as those onboard continued to succumb to the virus. Even after passengers went home, thousands of crew members remained trapped at sea for months without pay. At least two popular port destinations have since decided to limit cruise tourism going forward.
One year later, the industry is still stuck in the worst crisis it has ever faced, without an end date in sight.
The four largest cruise companies — Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Cruises — and many smaller competitors have hung on, raising enough money to get them through the cruise-less year.
The majority of the six companies with cruise ships in U.S. waters have complied with requirements issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October to test all crew members for COVID-19 weekly and report results to the agency, a CDC spokesperson said. Once that phase is completed, the CDC will issue requirements for agreements companies must secure with U.S. ports. After that, the companies will be allowed to operate test cruises, and then eventually the real thing. Most companies have canceled U.S. cruises until June.
Executives from Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Cruises declined to be interviewed for this story.
But what will cruising look like when it returns?
Vaccine is key
MSC Cruises has been operating seven-night cruises in Italy for European passengers since January, and Royal Caribbean Group has been operating short cruises to nowhere from Singapore for country residents since December. Both require negative PCR or antigen COVID-19 test results from passengers before boarding and enforce social distancing and mask wearing in public areas on board.
“The effectiveness of the cruise industry’s protocols as demonstrated in other parts of the world since last July with more than 360,000 passengers sailing, even prior to the widespread availability of vaccinations, is highly encouraging and a strong indication that a multi-layered approach is the right path at this time,” said CLIA spokesperson Bari Golin-Blaugrund via email. “With that said, there is no doubt that the continued rollout of the vaccine across the world will help support the reopening of multiple sectors, including cruise, and this is something that we are monitoring closely.”
Worker impact
For hundreds of thousands of crew members, the uncertainties continue to pile up. Most don’t know when they’ll see a paycheck again.
A crew member from Trinidad and Tobago who worked for Royal Caribbean for more than a decade was stuck at sea until late June without pay. He has decided to try to find work on an oil rig instead of return to cruise ships. He requested anonymity for fear of retaliation from the company.
At least a half dozen crew members have died from suicide on cruise ships since March.