Will the coronavirus cripple the cruise industry? With 278 ships in service and 19 scheduled to be delivered in 2020, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) values the industry’s global economic output at $150 billion worldwide. The past several weeks have been particularly difficult both for the industry and its passengers.
After several major coronavirus outbreaks, the US State Department has advised U.S. citizens against traveling by cruise ship as coronavirus COVID-19 continues to spread around the world. The State Department statement reads in part:
U.S. citizens, particularly travelers with underlying health conditions, should not travel by cruise ship. CDC notes increased risk of infection of COVID-19 in a cruise ship environment. In order to curb the spread of COVID-19, many countries have implemented strict screening procedures that have denied port entry rights to ships and prevented passengers from disembarking. In some cases, local authorities have permitted disembarkation but subjected passengers to local quarantine procedures. While the U.S. government has evacuated some cruise ship passengers in recent weeks, repatriation flights should not be relied upon as an option for U.S. citizens under the potential risk of quarantine by local authorities.
The State Department warning is particularly bad news for the cruise industry as passengers from North America make up roughly half of the almost 30 million world cruise passenger market.
The most recent outbreak on a cruise ship is on the Grand Princess. The ship, which had been sitting offshore in the Pacific since Thursday, docked today in Oakland, CA to disembark passengers. The captain has said that the disembarkation process for the roughly 2,500 passengers may take several days. The 1,000 or so crew will stay aboard the ship. Last week, 21 passengers and crew were found to be infected with the coronavirus.
The drama on the Grand Princess follows the coronavirus outbreak on the Diamond Princess where ultimately 700 passengers and crew became infected by the virus. Now a third Princess ship, the Caribbean Princess is being held off the coast of Florida after crew had contact with someone infected by the virus.
A half dozen other cruise ships have been denied docking privileges in various ports around the world over concerns related to the coronavirus.
How severely will these and future outbreaks impact the industry? That will, no doubt, depend on the duration and severity of the likely pandemic. Only time will tell.
I dont think the cruise industry will be crippled. It will have lower profits this year. Yet they need to step up their game with responsiblities. Once all the hype is gone? Then life will return to some what being normal.
It is not only the Coronavirus that the industry is going to have to deal with, the local populations of destinations such a Venice and Caribbean islands are not happy with the modern ships that disgorge thousands of tourists for a few hours and then disappear over the horizon.