SINGAPORE — Singapore’s pilot for safe cruises will continue as planned, said the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) on Thursday (10 December), praising “swift and robust” efforts by operators to sniff out COVID-19 cases.
This comes after an 83-year-old Singaporean passenger onboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas had fallen ill with diarrhoea and tested positive for the infection on Wednesday, forcing the cruise ship to turn back on the third day of a four-day voyage.
The man later tested negative thrice for COVID-19, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday afternoon, clearing him of the infection.
In its statement, STB chief executive Keith Tan said,”Safety remains our foremost priority, and yesterday’s incident has given us valuable learnings for future sailings, such as the importance of using TraceTogether for effective contact tracing.”
“It has also given assurance that our established response to any future COVID-19 case is swift and effective.”
He also commended Royal Caribbean and the terminal operator SATS-Creuers, for the timely execution of their emergency protocols, as well as Genting Cruise Lines.
The latter had supported the operations by embarking its passengers early, to prevent intermingling between passengers and crew from the two ships.
“Their professionalism gives us confidence that our pilot cruises will continue to be safe and sustainable, as we work with our partners and cruise lines to chart a new course for safe cruising,” said Tan.
Quantum of the Seas had returned to the Marina Bay Cruise Centre with 1,680 passengers and 1,148 crew.
Protocols such as ceasing all on-board leisure activities, asking passengers to remain in their rooms, the immediate isolation of close contacts, and extensive contact tracing using TraceTogether were then activated, said the STB.
Passengers and crew were also asked to remain on board until contact tracing was completed.
Precautionary measures such as mandatory COVID-19 testing, reduced sailing capacity, and strict safe distancing measures were also in place, it added.
Many of them, such as pre-boarding and post-arrival testing, “go beyond Singapore’s prevailing requirements for other settings or activities, and provide greater assurance for safe cruising”, said the STB.
“The government will continue to monitor the outcomes of the pilot sailings in the coming months before deciding on the next steps for cruises,” it added.
Genting Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean were allowed to resume “cruises to nowhere” in November and December respectively under a pilot scheme, after meeting requirements under the government’s mandatory CruiseSafe certification programme.
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