The expedition and small ship cruise sector has to be flexible and with many alternative plans in sleeve to commence operations under the circumstances created by the Covid-19 epidemic, speakers at the Seatrade Cruise Virtual event said.
Itinerary planning, which is usually a process that extends two to three years ahead, has to be executed in a much shorter time and plans may have to be changed at a very short notice, said Emilio Freeman, VP itineraries and destinations at Seadream Yacht Club. “When we decided to introduce a programme of cruises in Norway, we had only seven weeks or so,” he said, referring to the summer.
The company is planning to launch operations in the Caribbean with Barbados as the base in November and there again, Freeman expects that flexibility and several action plans need to be in place in the event of unforeseen developments. Three key considerations form the backbone to the company’s planning at the moment – locals should welcome cruise ship calls, the destinations must not ones that large ships usually visit and finally, the ports must already be open to receive either just domestic passengers or international ones as well.
The situation around the Covid-19 epidemic remains fluid and this creates lots of uncertainty, which is likely to result in a downturn for the expedition and small ship cruise sector, said Robin West, VP expedition operations and planning at Seabourn. “We don't know yet when this is going to end, it may be that people want to wait another year (before travelling),” he told the audience. In the longer term, the fundamentals remain positive, but operators have to wrestle with many challenges: disruptions at shipyard could mean that Seabourn will have two newbuildings delivered within six months of each other instead of the planned one year.
Hans Largerweij, President of Albatros Expeditions said that bookings for 2021 look strong, but if the epidemic forces cancellation of another season of cruises, concerns arise if people are still prepared to rebook their holiday for 2022. So far, 80% of the people whose holiday had to be cancelled have rebooked, Langerweij said.
Moving to the outlook for operations in the high latitudes north and south, the panelists said that interaction with the smallest communities in regions like Greenland will have to be rethought and some places there or e.g. in Canada cannot be visited at all in order to keep the locals safe. Also distance to wildlife will have to be increased.
Many operators have cancelled their 2020-21 season in the Antarctica. Albatros Expeditions plans to resume operations there in early January, but that will depend on whether borers will open and adequate flight connections will be in place to take people to ships and back home again. There should also be the possibility to land passengers in either Argentina or Chile in case someone contacts Covid-19 onboard, Langerweij said.
Looking further into the future, the expedition and small ship cruise industry needs to ensure that gateway ports where ships are turned around and destinations in off the beaten track regions will not be overwhelmed by passengers. Diversifying itineraries to places other than those in high latitudes north and south are part of the solution. Various industry participants were working on this before the outbreak of Covid-19, but since the work has been on hold, West said.
