Cruise ships have long been considered a great way to relax and recharge. Long regarded as havens for the middle class they often provide affordable luxuries to the average citizen. Providing a simple fee structure that covers food and accommodations, many are afforded the unique opportunity to travel to foreign lands and unique destinations. Each cruise ship comes with entertainment, and that entertainment often includes live performances of theater, singing, dancing, comedy, water sports, gyms, gambling, eating, drinking and sightseeing. What has long not been mentioned, and definitely something to consider, is that cruise ships are often vectors for disease transmission.
Cruise ships routinely house many thousands of people in very close quarters. Shared food buffet’s and gym equipment, shared swimming pools and saunas have long been areas where the transmission of diseases could occur. Cruise ship do not test passengers or crew for disease prior to coming on board and once on board those passengers can spread their infections to others.
Never has that situation been made more clear than with Covid 19. Cruise ships have now turned into floating death boats. As the pandemic rages in more than 151 countries cruise ships face exclusion from ports. The sick and dying on board force to remain on board as hospitals on land become overwhelmed with patients. With most international air travel halted these passengers have no way to return home.
The fate of these passengers still remains unclear. But what is not unclear is that cruises in the future will have to adjust to a new normal. Business as usual will not be good enough. Passengers and crew will demand more as it regards their personal safety. Indeed, the travel industry as a whole may be completely up ended. While disease transmission on cruise ships has long been known, Covid19 has raised the stakes.
How will these changes be felt and what policy changes will the cruise ship industry make. It is possible passengers and crew in the future will have to provide proof of help before embarking. It is possible that portside screening of temperatures will become commonplace and rapid testing for certain diseases implemented. Perhaps passengers will have to as a matter of due course provide proof and of inoculations. If these changes do not occur what potential legal risk to cruise ships face?
As the world grapples to stem the tide of death during the Covid 19 pandemic, with cruise ships still floating without a port, what can be done for the safety and repatriation of passengers and crew currently on cruise ships? While the future is unclear and the present is muddled, on should always consider the safety and risk associated with any form of travel.
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