CLIA UK and Ireland director Andy Harmer discusses the new cruise health and safety protocols and what the new ‘norm’ will look like once sailings resume following the coronavirus pandemic.

I think like most industries and certainly most travel industries, cruise is working through an industry restart and plan. We are a complicated business and there’s a lot of information and discussion around technology, resources and protocols.

Essentially, the new norm for cruising will include things like the embarkation process, pre-boarding screening, medical staff, onboard facilities, preventative measures, cleaning and sanitisation.

It will look at the customer journey experience door-to-door. That encompasses an awful lot of considerations, all of which are open for discussion at this time, and as always, the industry will be led by public health, governments and institutions such as the EU.

When those protocols are complete, we will then create new educational resources so that travel agents and other stakeholders can be informed.

We are all adjusting to the new normal. We are in the leisure and hospitality business so like all similar businesses, whether they’re restaurants or cinemas, conferences or theatres, I think we’re all looking at how we can be led by public health and in our case, how we can operate and keep our guests and our crew safe.

One of the great things about the cruise industry is our ability to adapt. We are very innovative, we invest a lot in our customer experience in our technology and if you compare ourselves to some other leisure and hospitality businesses, we go way beyond in terms of protocols.

We already have medical facilities and doctors onboard ships, we already do pre-screening, we are already used to cleaning and sanitisation. So there was already a lot of protocols in place before our voluntary suspension of sailings.

It’s really important we continue those conversations with public health authorities and building on these protocols we keep talking about.

I think it’s important that we tell our story about the work the industry does on a day-to-day basis to put guests and crew at the heart of everything they do. Their health, wellness and security is very much number one.

It’s about explaining new protocols as they come in, as well as explaining some of the existing protocols, and it’s about us looking to do the right thing, being transparent and continuing to work with our travel agent partners.

We work with an awful lot of them in the UK, many of whom have been on a cruise and a ship visit.  The vast majority understand exactly the work the industry does and it will be important to take the time to work with our travel partners so that they can understand some of the new protocols we will be adopting.

We’ve shown throughout the last 30/40 years that we are incredibly robust. We have a very loyal customer base and we have people who support the industry, whether they’re travel agents, media or influencers.

We are extremely adaptable and will continue to invest in the health, safety and wellbeing of our guests.
There’s been a modest shift in consumer sentiment, so we need to continue to communicate and to do the right thing and once the time is right, we will be sailing again.

Visit cruising.org for more information.