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Cruising has returned to the Mediterranean with MSC Grandiosa leading the way with a 7-day cruise out of Genoa, Italy with stops at three Italian ports and Valletta, the capitol of Malta which departed some three weeks ago on a post-COVID cruise.
Yes, you read that correctly - a cruise departed from Italy, once the epicenter of COVID and a nation which locked itself down for weeks to break the infection cycle.
Meanwhile in Norway
Previously, in late-July Hurtigruten, the Norwegian cruise line set sail with their MS Roald Amundsen on a Nordic cruise. The results were, well, predictable; 41 passengers and crew tested positive for COVID. The cruise line has canceled all cruises until deep into the autumn.
Back to MSC
MSC said they were operating their cruises at 70 percent capacity. The Italian authorities required all dance halls and night clubs closed. MSC requires guests to wear face masks from 1800-0600 local time in public space where social distancing isn’t possible.
All excursions in ports of call must be via ship arranged vendors - no free-styling in a port.
Additionally, all passengers and crew were tested for COVID prior to embarkation.
The result of the seven-day cruise?
MSC tells us that not a single case of COVID has been reported.
Before you rush off to Italy - MSC is selling passage to only residents Europe’s Schengen countries, so U.S. residents are not welcome at this time.
Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean says they are putting their money into rapid-testing so that all passengers can be tested at the port prior to embarkation. A sound strategy and no doubt their actuaries have run the numbers on the high percentage of false-positives and false-negatives.
For now - our advice is let the cruise lines shake out their protocols and how the align with the CDC guidance implementation by those cruise lines embarking from U.S. ports. We’ll be watching for this and you should too.
