MORE PEOPLE ARE BOOKING CRUISES NOW THAN BEFORE COVID-19

Online marketplace says reservations are up 40% compared to this time last year

Despite the ways in which Covid-19 has rocked the cruise industry — with passengers stranded on ships and worldwide sailings now cancelled for the foreseeable future — bookings for next year are on the up. In the past month and a half there has been a 40% increase in reservations made for 2021 compared with 2019, according to CruiseCompete.com, an online cruise marketplace.

The Los Angeles Times quoted the company’s president, Heidi M Allison, as saying only 11% of those bookings were from people whose 2020 trips had been cancelled, indicating a surge in new interest.

According to Adam Coulter, UK managing editor of Cruise Critic, a recent online poll of 4,400 travellers had found 75% of them would cruise “as much as” or “even more” once they’re able to again. “It’s a testament to the popularity among cruisers and highlights just how keen many are to get back onboard,” Coulter said.

James Hill, an agent for GoCruise and Travel, says they too, after a month of dealing with refunds and rebookings, have begun to see the green shoots of recovery.

“Over the weekend and into this week a clutch of new enquiries has come in,” he says. “People with special celebrations in 2021 — wedding anniversaries and significant birthdays — are aware that demand for the small and river cruise ships may be high next year and want to secure their booking now.”

Tom Wolber, chief executive of Crystal Cruises, puts the situation into perspective.

“More than 30 million people cruise every year and absolutely love it, so the cruise industry will come back from this. The cruise industry has weathered storms before and we have a strong track record of adapting and responding to world events around us.

“There will be additional Covid-19 protocols for voyages when they commence. We will conduct illness screenings for all passengers who have travelled from any destinations listed on the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) ‘Coronavirus Disease Information for Travel’ within 14 days of embarkation.”

When travel bans might lift to enable new sailings remains unclear. The US issued a no-sail order, which effectively ends cruising within its waters until at least mid-July, unless Washington intervenes or the CDC itself rescinds or modifies the ruling.

Cruise writer Dave Monk said, “Of course, this would not prevent cruises resuming in other parts of the world, particularly the Mediterranean, so the focus will now switch to Europe and how soon restrictions can be lifted to allow river and ocean cruises to start again, even in small ways at first. ”

Ross Volk, managing director for MSC Cruises South Africa, says the global fleet is set to resume sailing on May 29. This is, of course, dependent on the development of the pandemic.

In accordance with the SA state of disaster, MSC ended its local cruise season — sailing from Durban to the islands of Mozambique — in late March. The season was set to end this month.

Volk said MSC was currently planning to go ahead with its 2020/2021 season, starting in November. “However, that is dependent on the relaxing of the state of disaster, the opening of ports, as well as consulting with all of the stakeholders, particularly the department of health,” he said —

© Telegraph Media Group Limited [2020] & Elizabeth Sleith