By Fernando Davis

With the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) having earlier this month given the green light for cruise ships with fully COVID-19 vaccinated passengers to start sailing again, local stakeholders are bracing for what could be an earlier than expected boom.

The CDC, which earlier had a “no sail order” in place for ships originating from US ports, has now essentially cleared the way for cruise line owners to go back to their regular itineraries, including the popular Caribbean region.

“This is very encouraging news,” explained Chukka Caribbean Adventures Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Marc Melville. 

“No sector has been hit as hard as the cruise industry and it has been a year of crippling losses for many stakeholders.”

Melville, whose company is one of the largest attractions in the Caribbean, employing more than 800 persons (pre-COVID) locally and 1,000 more in locations across the Caribbean, said that having the ships back will be a major relief for all stakeholders, especially craft traders, transportation operators, attraction owners, duty free merchants and souvenir shop owners.

“Everybody benefits when the ships are here,” he added. “It has really been hard on everybody since the closure of our seaports over a year ago, a very, very rough road.”

For his part, Ravi Daswani, senior director of the Royal Shop chain of duty free stores, said that loss of the ships over the past year has literally squeezed the life out of many small businesses and have displaced many workers.

“When the cruise sector came to a screeching halt over a year ago, many workers had to be sent home also. It wasn’t easy for a cruise ship reliant business to survive and my hats off to those who have lived to tell the tale,” Daswani noted.

The story is also the same for Garfield Diving’s owner, Garfield Dussard, who has had to close his operations in Ocho Rios, Falmouth and Montego Bay. “I can’t wait to see the return of the cruise ships,” he emphasized. “I think I speak for all stakeholders in saying that news of their imminent return is music to the ears of the entire sector.”

After a year of mind-boggling losses, Carnival and Royal Caribbean said late last week that their first post-pandemic cruises will set sail in July, after the CDC earlier this month gave the go ahead to allow trips with passengers and crew who received COVID-19 vaccinations.

“We have been waiting for a very long time to announce a resumption of cruising from the US. We are so proud to be sailing for the first time in over a year from our special homeport of Seattle to the breathtaking state of Alaska,” Harry Sommer, chief of Norwegian Cruise Line, said in a statement.

Cruise operations were suspended on March 14, 2020 when the CDC issued a “no sail order” to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. Several ships already had deadly outbreaks on board.

Some cruise ships resumed operations in Europe and elsewhere last year, but the ban remained in place in the United States.

All three companies will offer trips from Seattle to Alaska as their inaugural cruises.

Norwegian said “all crew and passengers must be fully vaccinated to embark”.

Carnival said its trips will be available to guests who received their final dose at least two weeks prior, and likewise Royal Caribbean will require vaccinations of all passengers over the age of 16, and after August 1 all those over the age of 12.

Norwegian will offer week-long voyages starting August 6, while Royal Caribbean will leave port first with a similar trip July 19 and Carnival’s Holland American Line will start July 24.

“It’s been a tough year for everyone, but people clearly have pent-up demand to cruise again, and we can’t wait to get back to what we do best,” Royal Caribbean Chief Executive Richard D Fain said in last week’s statement.

Data from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica shows that cruise tourism has seen an almost 300 per cent increase in earnings over the last 10 years.

In 2008, the sector earned $7.5 billion and in 2017 cruise saw earnings of $22.6 billion.

Data from the Jamaica Tourist Board indicates that cruise passengers accounted for over 1.5 million of the approximately 4.3 million tourists who visited the island in 2019.