Ignored and disrespected – why the cruise industry is angry as wave season hopes are all but dashed

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By Peter Lynch
Editor-in-Chief,
Health officials open talks with cruise operators as hopes rise for a return to sailing

Health Minister Greg Hunt has extended the ban on overseas travel and foreign flagged cruise ships for a further three months, all but dashing hopes of a wave season this year.

The announcement came as a bitter blow to Australia’s home-grown cruise industry, once the envy of the world with the largest number of passengers per head of the population anywhere. Just last week its leaders expressed confidence at a special conference that there was hope for bringing ships back to Australia by December. The chair of their representative body spoke of a “breakthrough”. Mr Hunt’s announcement clearly caught many by surprise, and brought an unusually strong reaction from Cruise Lines International Association Australasia, which called for “urgent talks” with Australian governments to “break the cycle of inaction over the industry’s future”. Cruise industry leaders are particularly upset that Australia is now the last nation with a history of attracting large numbers of cruisers to ban ships in its waters.
In Asia, Europe and America, almost all of the lines are back at sea and sailing with tens of thousands of passengers, mostly vaccinated and checked regularly for COVID-19. Royal Caribbean, for instance, has operated 459 sailings and carried 180,000 passengers since the middle of last year.
What is causing most angst is the fact that the industry claims the government has “made no progress on plans for revival”, despite regular talks and numerous plans from cruise ship owners about how they can work within health guidelines. “Our discussions with government agencies have gone nowhere and our letters to the most senior levels of government have gone unanswered,” said CLIA Managing Director Australasia Joel Katz said. “Other countries have not only created detailed plans to uphold safety on cruise ships in response to the pandemic, but have already resumed cruising in a responsible way. “More than a million passengers have sailed successfully in countries where cruising has resumed – with strict health protocols in place – but in Australia our calls for detailed discussions with health authorities have been ignored.” Mr Katz said the cruise industry had presented some of the most stringent COVID-19 measures to be found anywhere in world tourism, developed with the support of medical experts and health authorities internationally.
“Now that Australian governments have agreed on a four-phase plan for reopening with specific vaccination targets in place, we need to ensure cruising can be part of this plan,” he said.
“CLIA has outlined its own four-phase pathway to cruising’s revival, so we need governments to break the cycle of inaction and discuss how to put plans in place now so that we’re ready as conditions improve and vaccination rates rise.” Mr Katz pointed out more than 18,000 Australian jobs ride on the industry which contributes more than $5 billion a year to the Australian economy. “The livelihoods of thousands of Australians have been devastated while cruising has been suspended,” Mr Katz said. “These people deserve clarity and a plan for the future, so we can begin to rebuild and revive economic opportunities for communities around our coasts.”
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Coral Expeditions crew
Hopes had risen as vaccination rates soared in states like NSW, with political leaders like State Premier Gladys Berejiklian predicting an opening once the state had double-vaccinated 80 per cent of its population, seen as possible by the end of November. Gavin Smith, MD for Royal Caribbean in Australia and NZ and chair of CLIA, told the leaders’ meeting last week “the tide was turning” and he would be pushing for the Biosecurity Act ban to be announced monthly rather than quarterly to allow for the possibility that agreement could be reached on a date for a cruise resumption. And he maintained his positivity even after Mr Hunt’s announcement, saying the vaccination rates were on the rise. “The rate of  vaccination take up is exciting – you hear it in the Prime Minister’s voice and the Premier’s voice.  It’s looking like those 70-80 per cent targets will be achieved before the end of November. “Second, we’ve had the Federal Working Group through the Prime Minister and Mr Hunt’s office reach out to us and we’ve also had the Premier’s office reach out to us. “Now that hasn’t happened in 18 months.”
Mr Smith said the simple message he was sending was that the conversation needs to start now, rather than in November.  And he couldn’t see a valid reason why cruise would be banned over December, January and February if Australia hits its vaccination targets.
Cruise Passenger has been reporting on talks with health officials for months – but has been told that, while meetings have taken place fortnightly, health officials appeared not to have read the documents prepared. One insider told us it showed a lack of respect.
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Ovation of the Seas in Sydney
At least two lines have scheduled sailings for December – Royal Caribbean has Ovation of the Seas, an Ultraclass vessel carrying over 4,000 passengers, scheduled to arrive for cruising until March. She is currently in Alaska, and a decision on whether or not to cancel her arrival is still under daily discussion. It would take at least six weeks to get her to Sydney and quarantine the crew, train and re-supply her for the season.  So a decision would need to be made by the end of October. P&O Australia has a Christmas cruise departing aboard the new Pacific Encounter on December 18th, followed by sailings into 2022. Carnival Australia told Cruise Passenger: “Our cruise lines had already paused their operations to mid December so the extension of the biosecurity determination to December 17 will be no surprise to our loyal guests and suppliers. “However, we urge federal and state governments to engage in meaningful discussions with our peak industry body, Cruise Lines International Association Australasia (CLIA) to establish an agreed pathway for the resumption of cruising in Australia.
“This is especially relevant given the prospect of significant reopening of the economy including travel when vaccination rates reach a sufficiently high level.”
Small luxury ship line Ponant has made numerous attempts to sail both in New Zealand and WA, complying with all regulations but failing to win approval at the last minute. One of the line’s vessels was heading into Auckland to dock when immigration came up with the last-minute demand that New Zealanders take non-essential jobs aboard the ship.
“It is unacceptable that an entire industry is held to ransom with the Government refusing to discuss a Restart timeline,” Ponant’s Asia Pacific chair Sarina Bratton. “Health protocols and risk mitigation management has been operating successfully for the past year on small expedition ships in Australia for Australians. These protocols are no different to those that we apply to our 13 expedition ships and the 90 expeditions we have operated over the past year.
“To deny Australians the opportunity to do coastal expeditions within Australia whilst canvassing the possibility of restarting international flights is both illogical, and devastating to the remote and regional communities who rely on the income from the expedition sector. Let alone Australia’s struggling travel agents whom book 90% of the expedition sector’s travel.
“Even with two of our small expedition ships waiting in Noumea, it will take us two months notice to restart operations. The Federal Government needs to take a leadership role by establishing a timeline for the staged restart of operations, before it is too late and an entire industry relocates to jurisdictions with a welcoming and more logical approach.”
Australia’s borders will remain closed and most international travel banned until 17 December 2021. Some commentators have noted the coincidence that Qantas expects overseas flights to resume the very next day. For cruise, however, the problem is ship turnarounds. It takes anything up to 90 days to crew, supply, move to a destination and quarantine a crew. And the cost is huge – so gambling that the government might approve a resumption is unlikely for cash-starved cruise lines who can earn revenue elsewhere. The news today marks 21 months since the country’s borders were closed to ward off the threat of COVID-19. Mr Hunt’s office said today the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) and the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer “has advised that the international COVID-19 situation continues to pose an unacceptable risk to public health. The extension of the emergency period is an appropriate response to that risk.” The statement notes these measures “can be amended or repealed at any time.” Some believe Australians will be able to fly to Asia or Europe and cruise before they can set foot on a foreign flagged ship in Australian waters. Two lines are sailing, however.  Coral Expeditions continues to sail its three small Australian-flagged ships around Kimberley and from Queensland, and has been doing so without incident for many months. And APT has its Caledonian Sky vessel in Western Australia and is shortly to move to other state itineraries.

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16 thoughts on “Ignored and disrespected – why the cruise industry is angry as wave season hopes are all but dashed”

  1. Hi Peter, Would you be able to advise who I can contact to get a refund? I have had a Cruise with Confidence since Feb 2020 and I have since had 3 cruises that I re-booked with Royal Caribbean on the Ovation cancelled. There are too many restrictions in place to go cruising that it would not be enjoyable and when I originally booked this cruise in 2019 there were none and that is not what I paid for, I do not find having to wear a mask while on the cruise and regular Covid 19 checkups as part of my original holiday plan.

    I would appreciate it if you could advise who I can contact to make a complaint, I have tried through RC but just keep getting knocked back and I have just looked at the update for RC as to when they are getting back into the cruising, see below. Thanking you in advance

    In conjunction with the restart plan announcement, Royal Caribbean also announced a new series of cruise cancellations to make way for the restart.

    Anthem of the Seas departing Southampton: October 20, 2021
    Brilliance of the Seas departing Tampa: September 4-October 11, 2021; December 11, 2021; March 28-April 25, 2022
    Enchantment of the Seas departing Baltimore: September 4- December 11, 2021
    Explorer of the Seas departing San Juan: October 31, 2021
    Harmony of the Seas departing Barcelona: October 31, 2021
    Liberty of the Seas departing Galveston: September 26, 2021
    *Ovation of the Seas departing Sydney: October 27, 2021- April 10, 2022
    Radiance of the Seas departing Miami: October 15, 2021- April 10, 2022
    Rhapsody of the Seas departing Tampa: February 26- April 16, 2022
    Serenade of the Seas departing Sydney: October 24, 2021- February 27, 2022
    Vision of the Seas departing San Juan/Fort Lauderdale: September 5, 2021- January 14, 2022

  2. I was very disappointed when reading your article “Ignored and Disrespected”. The Federal Liberal Government want all states to open up to trade as usual but completely ignores certain areas of the economy such as the cruise and associated support industries.
    Maybe it’s the memory of the Ruby Princess in 2020 and associated Covid-19 outbreak which has since been attributed to failures at both State and Federal levels, not the ship or its crew.
    My mental image of this current Federal Government is a reckless team of “Conmen” led by a PM that does not want to own up to his or his parties responsibilities. I call them the “muppett show” and what a joke they are.

    The head muppett, conman Sco Mo has a national plan that promises to open up once the Vaccination rates hit 70 & 80% fully vaccinated which will allow the people to travel and move freely around the world without need for quarantine.

    I would have thought that opening up and allowing airlines such as Qantas to operate worldwide would be more harmful in exposing the general population to greater and quicker spread of Covid-19 than any cruise ship sailing in local waters.
    CLIA needs to get off its arse and vermently protest against this incompetent Federal Govt.

  3. Our country is being run by government bodies (state AND federal) who are totally inept and bullied by a childish and single minded health system. As long as we are subject to the totally selfish rulings of our so-called “experts” in the health department, we will continue to suffer from lockdowns, isolation, separation, and manipulation, decreed by these power-hungry, self-centred egomaniacs.
    Remember, the health people are the ones that totally stuffed up the Ruby Princess debacle.
    They copped the blame for that – and have since thrown all the toys out of the pram and ensured that no-one can enjoy life as we remember it.
    The state premiers, health ministers and the Prime Minister should take a step back and listen to advice from bodies OUTSIDE of the health system…….such as those who see that we will all die if the country is not allowed to function as it needs to.
    All the hard work being done by Joel Katz – and all of the cruise industry stakeholders – will continue to be ignored as long as we are being dictated to by our single-minded “health experts”
    We are NOT “all in this together”………..just the health system is.
    Take this virus on and get the country open again…..INCLUDING CRUISING.

  5. Note impressed but have never trusted Greg Hunt,as far I am concerned it is disgusting his attitude,I have bad 2 cancel 4 cruises all I to do is get back on a ship,it’s not good 4 economy and all people out of work be in thousand as there is alot affiliated industries associated with servicing the cruise industry.

  6. What a disappointment. Our government at a Federal level has failed us all badly with no apparent plan for getting things back on track. Leadership has emerged more from our state premiers and from our CEO’s showing the way forward. An entire industry depends on cruising. I’ve had 4 cruises cancelled and I work as a tour guide for cruise ships. I cruised with Coral Expeditions way back in February without incident. I had daily temp tests and a negative Covid-19 result before I was able to board. I’m now totally vaccinated. I’ve worked on a cruise ship and I know how thorough they are about guest safety and well being. I urge everyone to contact their local Federal MP and ask for the resumption of cruising.

  7. Our cruise plans for 2020-2021 were cancelled by the cruise company but reinstated at the same deals for 2022-2023, all because of cruise line trusts the indecision of the Australian government on anything, especially the tourism industry.

  8. Yes, other countries have opened up to cruising. But what about their vaccination rates (probably ahead of ours) and their infection and death rates (probably way in front of us). That alone tells you why Australia should wait. Pity the vaccination rollout got held up. That’s pretty much the reason for major delay.

  9. there will be continued inaction because
    there is a federal election in 2022
    so they won’t budge

  10. Please restart Australian cruises. Fully vaccinated staff for fully vaccinated cruisers. Visiting South Pacific Islands that have high vaccination rates.

  11. Does it look as if local cruises in Australian or state waters will get the green light for late December cruises 2021

  12. It seams to me that this Government cannot get its act together regarding anything to do with the pandemic. Pathetic really

  13. Until the State Governments come to an agreement, no ships will be allowed to dock even if the Federal Government opens boarders. At the moment there is no Australia only a series of states.

  14. HI

    If you get the Australian Federal government to take a lead, don;t hold your breath.

    We hav 9 governernments with at least 27 people making individual decisions, it is the Colonial era again.

  15. if the crews on cruise ships are fully vaccinated and all passengers fully vaccinated then surely we can then cruise again we have to live with this virus for the rest of our lives like any illness in the world come on be reasonable let people enjoy themselves again

  16. No overseas travel? I think not. Unless of course you are an athlete then you can go when and where you want.

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