Since the 2019/2020 season, international passengers do not disembark in South America. Relying on the progress of the vaccination processes and the health protocols, MSC and Costa already have services scheduled for 2021/2022 season.
The hope of the industry, and of cruise lovers, is the 2021/2022 South America Cruise Season, scheduled to begin on late October. Seven vessels are expected to operate on routes on the coasts of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.
MSC and Costa Cruises in South America
MSC Cruises will have five ships off the Brazilian coast, one of which will have stops in the ports of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. The company plans to operate a ship that never sailed Brazilian waters, the Seaside, Seaview’s twin brother, which has already spent seasons in Brazil.
Costa Cruises will have two vessels dedicated exclusively to Brazil, with stops at the port of Rio de Janeiro and other destinations in the country. The company is betting on Brazil to inaugurate its newest ship, the Toscana, with a capacity for 6,730 passengers. This will be the largest cruise of the season in the country.
The ships for 2021/2022 South America Cruise Season are expected to follow sanitary protocols such as symptom tests to the crew and passengers, a place for the isolation of possible infected, medical structure, distance, use of mask and alteration of the operation of restaurants and shows to avoid crowded situations.
Cruises in pandemic
Internationally, there are still few Cruises in operation. MSC, for example, has carried some 40,000 passengers in Europe since August, with a pause between December and January due to restrictions in Italy.
Among river cruises, AmaWaterways made trips on the Rhine River, in Europe, in the second half of 2020, with 1,400 passengers.
Back on the oceans, Royal Caribbean operates in Singapore, but only for residents. Other companies have also traveled to Taiwan, Japan and the South Pacific.
The distribution of vaccines around the world is encouraging the sector. Royal Caribbean’s CFO said sales grew 30% in January and February compared to the previous two months.
The demographic composition of the cruise ships is a facilitating factor for the reactivation. Older adults are the ones who tend to predominate among passengers, a group that worldwide has priority to receive vaccines.
South America Cruise Season for vaccinated people only?
As expressed by Ricardo Alves, general director of “Velle”, a company that represents river and maritime cruise companies in Brazil, the sector is discussing the possibility of requiring vaccines from passengers, but this is not yet part of the protocols officers.
Some companies are taking their own initiatives in this regard. Royal Caribbean will make trips from Israel to Greece in May, in which everyone over 16 years of age will be required to have received the vaccine. “Israel has more than 50% of the population vaccinated and the cruises will take place in a controlled environment,” said Ricardo Amaral, from R11, who represents the company in Brazil.
For Dario Rustico, Costa’s president for South and Central America, it is too early to assess whether vaccination will be mandatory on Brazilian cruises.
The possibility of traveling between vaccinated, however, does not mean forgetting the mask and other distancing measures. The vaccine alone does not solve the problem, but it is an additional layer of protection. The return of international cruises will give Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay a good perspective on the protocols that work and those that don’t.
Only the requirement of the vaccine does not end the possibilities of contagion on board, commented the infectologist Ivan França. This is because no vaccine guarantees 100% protection against Covid-19 contamination. “There will always be those who have not developed satisfactory levels of antibodies, as can happen with any vaccine,” he says.