The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A LOCAL senator remains confident the impact from a Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) warning advising against travel on cruise ships will have a “minimal” impact in The Bahamas although some tour operators are concerned.

Adoni Lisgaris, the Bahamas Excursion Operators Association’s president, told Tribune Business the CDC warnings over cruise ships will “definitely” hurt the boat charter group providers of the BEOA and not so much the ones that offer private charters.

The reason being is that the private charters have a chance to select clients more easily from the resorts and the cruise ships, whereas group providers depend on mass fares on a more regular basis.

Mr Lisgaris, who also owns and operates Reel Dreams Charters, added: “Interestingly enough for my business I got a call from a customer coming in on a cruise ship last week, and he didn’t seem too concerned.

“At this rate I think a lot of people who were interested in cruise ships are probably still going to be interested in them.”

The CDC last Thursday advised people against going on cruises regardless of their vaccination status after a recent surge in positive Covid cases onboard ships as the highly contagious omicron variant sweeps the world.

Already, The Bahamas has denied entry of the cruise ship MSC Seashore to Ocean Cay because a number of COVID-19 cases were reported to be on board.

Randy Rolle, senator and consultant in the ministry of tourism, investments and aviation, said: “The CDC’s travel warning for cruise ships is something we are of course paying close attention to, just as we are monitoring all aspects of this ongoing pandemic.

“The cruise industry has made tremendous strides since the shut down and have implemented stringent protocols to keep their guests and crew as safe as possible, including, in large part, vaccination requirements. Cruising is a critical component to Bahamas tourism and we remain optimistic that any impact will be minimal.”

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, on the other hand, sent out a release to the media, acknowledging the impact of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, reminding the public that not only are cruise ships “one of the few places one can vacation knowing that almost everyone you meet is fully vaccinated,” but that despite the concerns over the more virulent COVID-19 strain that the cruise line has, since June 2021, carried over 1.1m guests with only 1,745 people testing positive, just a .02 percent positivity rate.

 This positivity rate may be too much for some, however, says Wesley Ferguson, the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union’s (BTCU) president, who also told Tribune Business: “This CDC warning is expected to have a negative effect on people travelling on cruise ships because this is a very sticky situation.”

 He further explained: “Cruise ships, like airplanes, have people crammed together in an enclosed area for an extended period of time. Despite you getting off and getting off of a cruise ship when it docks, everyone is basically living on that one ship and you are interacting with people all over.”

 Because of this fact, Mr Ferguson said the people who he is talking to are “very concerned” about the Omicron variant and their travel plans while it is still surging. “There are extremely long wait times for testing for COVID-19, sometimes you can wait weeks for a testing centre from the USA and when you do get there, the lines can be extremely long and you have to dedicate the entire day just to get a COVID-19 test to travel. This will certainly put people off from travelling,” he said.

He added that people don’t want to waste so much time to get a COVID-19 test to take the risk of being stuck on a cruise ship if it isn’t allowed to enter port at its destination.