Category Archives: Countries

Wheelie Good Guide to accessibility around the globe

Northern Hemisphere

High-Stakes Test as Northern Hemisphere Cruises Begin

Posted: August 21, 2022

Countries, Press Release

Slow and steady wins the race, or so we would hope. While the rest of the world (including Australia) await the resumption of international and domestic cruises, August heralded the start of a soft launch of the Northern Hemisphere cruise season.

With stricter safety protocols and new health regulations, how did the first cruise ships control the still-lingering threat of coronavirus aboard its ships? Err, not very well, apparently.

One of the first to restart cruising was Norwegian-based Hurtigruten’s MS Roald Amundsen. Two sailings from the northern Norwegian city of Tromso to the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard took place on July 14 and July 17.

The ship was forced earlier this month to suspend its newly restarted service after at least 41 staff and passengers were infected with COVID-19, and 400 passengers from the two cruises have gone into quarantine.

“This is a serious situation for everyone who is affected. We have not been good enough and we have made mistakes. On behalf of everyone at Hurtigruten, I am sorry for what has happened,” said Daniel Skjeldam, chief executive.

In another blow for the cruise industry, a guest onboard luxury ship Paul Gaugin has tested positive for COVID-19 just four days into the first sailing, the French Polynesia cruise has now returned to its home-base of Papeete.


The MSC Grandiosa represents a high-stakes test for the global cruise sector

All 332 passengers and crew are now isolated in cabins onboard the ship awaiting test results.

A traveller who sailed on SeaDream I has also tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning home to Denmark. All guests and crew are now in quarantine on board. UnCruise in America has also reported cases onboard.

The first major cruise ships to resume tours of the Mediterranean since the coronavirus pandemic hit Europe set sail on Sunday from the Italian city of Genoa. The MSC Grandiosa represents a high-stakes test for the global cruise sector. There have been no reports of COVID-19 as yet.

Even though the first cruise restarts did not succeed entirely on the COVID-19 front - these restarts will now help the industry improve their health and safety protocols even further, assisting scientists and cruise companies to understand how to continue to refine all of the preventative and protective measures.

From experience, comes knowledge. And with cruise restarts these past couple of weeks, the cruise industry is able to grasp a better understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on board.

Regular Crew Testing

The first being that all crew members must be tested repeatedly. Crew members from Carnival Corporation’s AIDA returned to their home countries in late July, as the proposed August 1 cruise date was again delayed.

Even though all crew members were tested within a two-week period, the company insisted crew members to be tested again. Ten crew members tested positive, even though their previous test results two weeks ago were negative.

Rapid Response Tests

One of the issues with COVID-19 is that people can be completely asymptomatic and spread the virus. Most of the passengers on UnCruise and Paul Gaugin had no symptoms at all.


One of the issues with COVID-19 is that people can be completely asymptomatic and spread the virus

Rapid response tests would provide quick results to get cruising up and running before there is a possible vaccine. This will not only prevent passengers boarding with the coronavirus that are asymptomatic, but also identify any cases of COVID-19 before passengers are already onboard and eliminate the spread.

Stricter Health and Safety Policies

As of June 11, 3,047 people were infected with coronavirus and 73 people died aboard 48 cruise ships affiliated with trade group Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), according to Johns Hopkins University data provided by CLIA.

Health authorities say close living and working spaces for crew, along with partially enclosed environments, contributed to greater risk of infection on cruises than other venues.

Cruise companies need to implement stricter health and safety policies, not only to protect passengers and crew, but to abide by new maritime health regulations.

Some of the policies put into place include social distancing onboard, tour leaders in personal protective equipment at ports, restricted capacity in theatres and drinking venues, eliminating buffet and the most important - rapid response swab tests at each terminal.

MSC Cruises Restart Cruising

MSC Cruises Restart Cruising the Mediterranean

Posted: August 19, 2022

Countries, Press Release, ,

Is it the journey or the destination that counts? I think at this point, anyone would just be happy getting out of the house. But thanks to MSC Cruises, Europeans have the opportunity to cruise the Mediterranean with a two-ship vacation this month!

According to the announcement last Friday, two of the company’s vessels — the MSC Magnifica and MSC Grandiosa cruise ships — are scheduled to begin seven-day cruises in the Eastern and Western Mediterranean.

Only guests who are residents of the 26 Schengen European countries will be able to board the first cruises to return to the seas (sorry UK and Ireland, that doesn’t include you), in order to reduce where possible, the need for public transportation options to the port.

The MSC Magnifica will depart on a weekly basis from Bari, Italy to visit three Greek ports, as well as Trieste, before returning to Bari. The route is to take place from August 29 until the end of October, based on the company’s program which is subject to approval by Italian authorities.

MSC Magnifica will depart on a weekly basis from Bari, Italy to visit three Greek ports

The MSC Grandiosa as of August 16 will offer seven-night cruises in the Western Mediterranean, from the Italian ports of Genoa, Civitavecchia in Rome, Naples, Palermo and Valletta.

Even though the two-ship restart is in its final stages of review by relevant authorities in Europe, MSC remains confident in its new health and safety protocol.

MSC Cruises recently introduced its comprehensive health and safety protocol developed to support the restart of operations in the Mediterranean and ensure the utmost safety of guests, crew, and local communities.

The town of Civitavecchia (Lazio, Italy) is named the port of Rome

Maritime certification agency RINA confirmed that the line’s new protocols meet the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)’s guidance on cruise ship health and safety.

“As a reminder, our new health and safety operating protocol has been designed on regional and national guidelines set forth amongst other by the EU Healthy Gateways, the European Union-funded Joint Action, and will also align with those issued by the European Maritime Safety Agency, EMSA,” MSC Cruises said in a statement on its website.

Kyriakos Anastasiadis, Senior Advisor of Institutional and Maritime Affairs at MSC Cruises added, “We put the health and safety of passengers, crew and local communities first, without changing the top cruise experience that MSC Cruises’ ships offer.”

The comprehensive safety protocols include health screening at embarkation (temperature checks, health questionnaire and a COVID-19 swab test), social distancing, enhanced medical facilities and elevated sanitation and cleaning measures.

Following the EU guidelines, any passengers who test positive or display COVID-19-like symptoms will be denied boarding, and passengers travelling from any high-risk destination will need to do a COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours of boarding the ship. MSC will also conduct daily temperature checks for crew and passengers on board.

In October, MSC Cruises will announce its program for the winter with the hope to restart 14 vessels

Return of the Cruise,

Return of the Cruise, Still in Uncharted Waters

Posted: July 29, 2022

Australia, Countries, Health & Safety, Uncategorized, , , ,

Cruising can transport you from majestic crystal clear waters to skylines of sprawling cities. But even if you are eagerly awaiting your next cruise — sadly, you may just have to wait a little longer.

It hasn’t been smooth sailing for the cruise industry during the global pandemic and as Australia continues to face setbacks (erm, thanks, Melbourne), the return of international and domestic cruise dates are still in uncharted waters.

At the beginning of the outbreak, ships such as the Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess were forced into quarantine when passengers tested positive for COVID-19.

Three months into the pandemic, more than 40,000 crew workers remained stranded at sea waiting to discover when they would be able to return to their own countries.

Other ships lie empty unable to dock as a result of the restrictions, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Australia, New Zealand and Spain have all extended their cruise ship bans until later this year, while the US have placed a sailing “pause” until September 15 at the earliest.

The Trans-Tasman Bubble

It was with a glimmer of hope that the Trans-Tasman Bubble (that’s the exclusive travel “corridor” between New Zealand and Australia ) was to reopen between Australia and New Zealand as early as July 1, but as New Zealand reported additional new cases of 19 (from two travellers from the UK bringing the virus back into the country), our hopes of cruising the horizon have been set back until at least September.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says that there are no specific dates set in stone, “We haven’t put an arbitrary timeline on it because that simply comes down to a judgement that does rely on daily data,” she told the press recently.  “This will be two-way decision making with anyone with whom we’re opening our borders up with.”

With an increase of cases in Australia recently, the date could be pushed even further back. But, Ardern has confirmed the bubble is still “on the horizon” despite the spike.

Australia’s largest domestic and international airline Qantas, heightened the travel severity, when CEO Alan Joyce stated that all international flying will be suspended unless a coronavirus vaccine is released, with the exception of New Zealand and a handful of other ‘travel bubble’ destinations.

“We might get trans-Tasman (travel) before then, we may get other nations opening up with bubbles,” but he doesn’t expect Qantas’ international network to restart “in any real size (until) July next year.”

It’s a Cruise-tastrophe

While this unprecedented global health crisis inhibits our international journeys for now, there’s still optimism flowing about for domestic small-ship cruise operators in Australia, but with Australia’s 2nd-largest city back into coronavirus lock-down, businesses are once again struggling to reboot.

Although, there’s still hope lingering. Domestic cruise companies such as Murray Cruises, operating the Murray Princess down the Murray River, and Coral Expeditions, operating “small-ship expeditions to exotic and remote locations surrounding Australia”, plan to resume business this month.

P&O Australia, one of Australia’s largest cruise companies, is still on a voluntary operational pause until October.

The Plan of Action

Just when domestic small-ship cruise operators thought we’d be able to cruise the shores surrounding Australia again, the Australian Tourism Restart Task force, who met for the eighth time on July 3rd, noted their concerns for restarting domestic tourism.

There has been, understandably, a lot of uncertainty about future travel plans. The Australia’s Tourism Restart Task force have stated that international travel should go ahead as previously planned.

The Trans-Tasman bubble travel should be the first to kick off the travel band-wagon, followed by other countries that are “safe” to travel to in October. International travel to approved destinations will begin by December 15, although there is a possibility that international travel to specific destinations will not resume as far as July 2021.

However, with Melbourne in current lock down (again), Australian borders still to reopen, international travel banned, and the second wave of the pandemic and the unknown future of a vaccine — there is still a difficult task ahead for the Australia’s Tourism Restart Task force, and for the future of travel in general.

Where Do We Go from Here?

While this unprecedented global health crisis inhibits our journeys for now, we are looking ahead with great optimism.

Hang tight - we’ll be smooth sailing in no time!

 

Global Dream

This Is No Dream – Record-Breaking Roller Coaster at Sea

Posted: May 20, 2022

Countries, New Cruise Ship, Onboard Features, Press Release

Despite the cruise industry being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, Dream Cruises is moving forward testing what will become the world’s longest roller coaster at sea.

The “Spike®-Coaster” type roller coaster - called Space Cruiser by Dream Cruises - will be the main feature of the “Dream Park at the Pier”, the very first theme park at sea. No more do you need to dream of being on a gigantic roller coaster with virtual reality technology, your dream will now becoming reality as one of the most thrilling cruise ship attractions thus far is now being erected on land ahead for testing purposes.

With the intention of keeping the assemblage and contracting time for the 2500-cabin cruise ship as short as possible, the roller coaster is at present being constructed for testing in the direct locality of the MV Werften shipyards in Germany.

Aerial view of the construction of Space Cruiser

Marco Hartwig, Project Manager Maurer Rides explains why the construction on land is so important: “Among other things, the test setup will be used to test the installation methodology especially designed for ship assembly. Furthermore, the conductor rail and gear rack along the roller coaster track, which is necessary for the generation and transmission in the electric motor, can be installed on land in advance. This saves valuable time during the ship assembly. The aim is also to collect all the 93 support base points coordinates after the roller coaster has been completed and then forward them to the shipyard for preparation and positioning for the deck foundations. With the help of this elaborate procedure, we can ensure that the support base points on the deck of the ship are in the correct positions later.”

After the fitting, three Spike® vehicles will be put into operation piece by piece and the structure will be methodically tested. Before the roller coaster leaves the test site in Güstrow, Germany, the structure will be pulled to pieces and moved to the shipyard for ultimate assemblage.

“Dream Cruises is extremely excited to be working with Maurer Rides to create this spectacular new attraction at sea on board Global Dream. We are thrilled with the progress of the construction of the roller coaster and are excited to unveil this ride to our guests when our ship launches,” said Mr. Michael Goh, President of Dream Cruises.

The ride starts with an acceleration sector subsequently two closely spaced inclined 90-degree curves. The succeeding two “camelbacks” provide a mighty and spectacular launch above the railing and the heads of the passengers, with a jaw dropping speed of up to 60km/h (37 mph.) A 360-degree descending, and ascendant spiral form the end of the 303m (994 foot) long track before the vehicles reach the end point.

 

Cruise Refund

Refunds and Future Cruise Credits – Why The Long Delay?

Posted: May 19, 2022

Australia, Countries, Tips and Advice

Earlier this year, I was eager to embark on a short comedy cruise, as a disability cruise advocate it is important that I keep cruising, and lets face it who doesn’t like to get away on a cruise holiday, and leave your worries ashore.

But, low and behold, the coronavirus pandemic reaped it ugly head, and the cruise industry faced an unprecedented situation: Guests and crew members become unwell on ships across the seven seas, and as a result many were turned away from ports.

Then the dreaded phone call from my cruise consultant advising me that the cruise line as cancelled the cruise. I was then left with the decision, do I want a full refund, or do I want a Future Cruise Credit, I opted to support the cruise industry as much as I could and opted to take a 200% Future Cruise Credit to be used within 12 months, at which point is expires. I was sent an email 4 weeks later with the Future Cruise Credit.

But, you may be in the same boat, but you’re still waiting for your refund or future cruise credit, and you’re frustration is growing as each day goes by, wondering why the process of issuing a refund or future cruise credit for your cruise holiday is taking so long.

What you need to keep in mind, that this pandemic is new for everyone, and it has taken the world by surprise, and put plans we all have made on hold, whether it your dream holiday, visiting family overseas or interstate, or even tying the knot.

In a normal situation if you cancel your cruise, receiving you refund can take several days to a few weeks to process.

Cruise companies have been hit with a big blow, and the sheer enormity of the volume of cancellations is something the industry has never seen and were not prepared for.

Cruise lines have been ordered to cancel voyages well into the late 2020, and possible into 2021, your cruise is not the only one that has been effected, hundreds of thousands of others who were just as eager as you to set sail, are affected at the same time.

Cruisers Are at Their Wits End

You only need to read cruise blogs, and social media pages to now that people are not just frustrated but are upset with the delay in receiving there refund or future cruise credit.

To make matters worse, people are receiving conflicting information, speaking with call center workers that are not able to give them a firm time frame, and let us not forget the ever-changing policies that are changing daily. This has left a some in a state of uncertainty, and they have vowed to never cruise again.

What can you do to try and expediate the process?

Here are some of our tips from cruise consultants:

  1. Check your emails daily for updates from the cruise line.
  2. Review your options carefully and consider external factors
  3. Before deciding on which option, you would like, analyse your current situation.  If you opt to take the course I did and received a Future Cruise Credit, which was enticing to me, because I know I will cruise again once the pandemic is under control, but for those who are undecided, the option to get a refund, may make more sense.
  4. Do not panic, and cancel your cruise straight away, what and see if the cruise line cancels your cruise before making any moves.
  5. If you have booked with a cruise consultant, phone or email them, they are only happy to assist you with questions, or contact the cruise line directly.
  6. When you are cancelling, make sure that any other prepaid expenses such as beverage packages or excursions, have been subsequently refunded.