How cruise companies plan to return in a COVID-safe way

Almost one year after the Ruby Princess unleashed a COVID-19 outbreak on Sydney, cruise companies are finalising preparations to resume passenger voyages in Australasia.

The $5 billion a year industry is adopting a radical new suite of health and safety measures to keep passengers safe amid the global pandemic – and restore confidence in cruising.

New standards include 100 per cent testing of all crew and guests, continuous sanitising, upgraded medical facilities and reduced numbers.

Some cruise operators are going even further, introducing daily onboard COVID testing, thermal camera surveillance and robots to sanitise all public areas while passengers sleep.

Joel Katz, managing director at Cruise Lines International Association Australasia, said Australia's extremely low rates of COVID-19 make it the ideal market for the resumption of cruising.

"We have an enormous opportunity to be able to create safe bubbles for travel," he said.

"In fact, cruising was one of the first travel sectors to completely shut down.

"Since then, we have been working with health authorities and medical experts [to develop COVID safe health measures]."

International cruising from Australia is still not permitted under our overseas travel ban, with major liners like P&O and Carnival extending their pause on operations until at least June this year.

The Federal Government is in ongoing discussions with cruise operators about a staged return to operations.

Brian Gaskin, of australiancruisingnews.com.au, predicts domestic cruises will be the first to return to our seas.

"What you'll see first is you'll see ships based in Brisbane and based in Sydney.. and what they'll be doing is catering to the local markets."

However, voyages scheduled for later this year are selling strongly and some are already close to sold out.

Viking, which operates voyages out of Sydney and worldwide, has unveiled an extraordinary health and safety program to reassure its customers.

This includes robots that roam its ships' public areas to sanitise surfaces at night, daily saliva testing of passengers via a world-first onboard laboratory, and UVC and electrostatic air filters that ensure 99.99 per cent of pathogens including COVID cannot spread through ventilation.  

David Beirman, senior tourism lecturer at University of Technology Sydney, said the industry has taken serious steps to making cruising safer amid the pandemic.

"There is no such thing as full proof when it comes to health," he says. "However, I think the cruise industry has very much gone the extra mile because of the reputational damage that occurred."

The Ruby Princess docked in Sydney Harbour on March 19, with 2,650 passengers disembarking despite suspected COVID-19 cases on board.

More than 900 infections and 28 deaths were subsequently linked to the ship.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian publicly apologised after an inquiry found state health officials made serious mistakes in handling the ship's return to Sydney.