Scotland suddenly slams the door on Cruising

MSC Virtuosa leaving Southampton

24 hours before MSC Virtuosa was due to arrive in Greenock, Scotland for a day in port, the Scottish Government have banned the ship from docking. There appears to be no change in circumstance to explain this and MSC Virtuosa is instead remaining in Liverpool for a second day in port there.

MSC began cruising from Southampton on the 2Oth May with a series of short cruises. These are being run under very stringent and careful regime of testing and monitoring that has successfully allowed 70,000+ cruise passengers to sail safely in the Mediterranean since last August. This is the fifth cruise to leave Southampton since May and there is no suggestion that the Scottish Government are unhappy with the protocols that MSC have in place. It seems more that they are concerned by their own rising infection numbers which means that parts of Scotland remain in Level two lockdown while their Government deal with the highest rates of new case of Covid-19 in the UK, in addition they do not seem to be fully aware of all the precautions that have been put in place.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Scottish Government, said: “We fully understand the impact of the current restrictions on domestic cruises…. which can restart when all of Scotland reaches level one and we have made industry, including the operator, aware of this. This decision has been informed by the combination of risks that exists between both cruises and the wider travel context, including the current trajectory of Covid infections and the unknowns around the new Delta variant, in addition to the potential for high risk of uncontained rapid transmission on the cruise.”

These innacurate ( & almost inflammatory) comments seem to completely ignore the highly efficient regime of double testing, track and trace technology and continuous monitoring that is continuing aboard MSC Virtuosa, where all the crew and 75% of passengers have been fully vaccinated.

All Guests wear a track and trace proximity monitor

Mask wearing is compulsory for all staff and passengers

Constant temperature checks are part of the protocols aboard

The Governments of both Wales and Northern Ireland had both agreed to align themselves with the advice and stringent regulations put in place for the cruise restart by the UK Government but the Scottish Government delayed their decision ahead of the May Scottish election - why they have left it to the last minute to make this announcement is unclear.

It is particularly disappointing for many people who were booked on the cruises embarking from their local port in Scotland - oddly there is nothing in the Scottish Governments restriction which would prevent them from travelling to England in order to join a cruise! The situation has angered the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association (SPAA) who represent travel agents and the travel sector in Scotland who say they are ‘utterly devastated’. Their President Joanne Dooey is quoted as saying “We’re now facing the situation where Scottish passengers who joined the cruise in Liverpool are barred from setting foot in their own country. The SPAA has been asking for clarity on the situation for this particular cruise ship since last week, and all we have received so far is an indicated that cruises may only restart when all of Scotland is in Level one. Inverclyde itself is currently in Level 1.”

Masks are suppled to all passengers

A spokesperson for MSC said: “In light of recent information received, we are now awaiting further clarification from the relevant authorities in Scotland about the situation for cruising, which regrettably means that we have had to cancel our proposed visit to Greenock tomorrow. We hope that our calls to Scotland with our special cruises can commence soon considering how much we were looking forward to welcoming our Scottish guests onboard MSC Virtuosa and how we are aware of the important and widespread contribution that the cruise industry makes to Scotland”.

One way systems are inlace aboard Virtuosa to limit contact

This news will potentially impact many other cruise lines who are planning to visit Scottish ports over the next months - for example Marella, Royal Caribbean, Saga and Celebrity Cruises along with Tradewinds Voyages are all scheduled to dock in Greenock over the next couple of months.

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Happy portExploring!

Cathy 

xx

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