His comments sparked a mixed reaction, with some respondents backing his viewpoint, though the majority accused him of targeting cruising, pointing to its low case rate when compared to other market sectors.
In response to the CDC’s latest shot across the bows, Cruise Lines International Association (Clia), which represents the major cruise companies, did not attempt to hide its frustration, admitting it was perplexed.
While pointing out that shipboard cases consistently made up a “very slim minority” of passengers and crew, Clia stressed that numbers accounted for up to a third fewer than on land.
“The majority of those cases are asymptomatic or mild in nature, posing little or no burden on medical resources on board or on shore,” a statement from the association said.
“No setting can be immune from this virus… cruise ships offer a highly-controlled environment with science-backed measures, known testing and vaccination levels far above other venues or modes of transportation and travel, and significantly lower incidence rates than on land.”
The Royal Caribbean group, which has 60 ships sailing for five brands including Celebrity Cruises and Silversea, has echoed this standpoint with its own figures – also released last week – which showed that while more people were testing positive, there was no corresponding increase in them becoming ill.
Since restarting US cruises in June last year, the group further reported that it had carried 1.1 million guests with 1,745 of those testing positive – a rate of 0.16 per cent. Most cases were asymptomatic or only showed mild symptoms, with 41 people needing hospitalisation.
The CDC and Clia accept that cruise ships cannot escape Covid, particularly the omicron variant. Nothing can. Yet it seems this industry has, once more, become the convenient fall guy, while others charge ahead unchecked, untested and unabated.
Do you think the cruise sector is being unfairly demonised or is the CDC right to warn against cruise holidays? Let us know in the comments section below.
