The latest Covid-19 cruise scare was on the Quantum of the Seas out of Singapore and like a few before it, it turned out to be nothing but a scare. But nevertheless, it almost became another Covid-cruise PR nightmare.
There have been serious Covid-19 outbreaks on cruise ships. The first, and most famous, on the Diamond Princess, before anyone knew what Covid-19 was all about, resulted in passenger deaths.
Royal Caribbean Group CEO Richard Fain has been very clear that while cruise operators will try their hardest to keep Covid from coming onboard, they know that given its prevalence, what’s more important is how the case is handled when the virus is able infiltrate.
“We’ve been explicit about this,” Fain said last month during the Phocuswright Conference 2020. “You can’t eliminate Covid-19 in society, and you can’t totally eliminate it on a cruise ship. The objective wasn’t to eliminate it; it was to make the cruise ship safer than you are in your hometown, and if there is a case it remains a case rather than an outbreak.”
In Europe, the company has successfully managed to isolate and contain the small number of cases that have been found on their ships, preventing them from becoming outbreaks and enabling the cruises to continue.
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