Canceled cruises affect 45,000 people; companies negotiate returns on 1/22

The Brazilian Association of Cruise Ships (CLIA) has already started a round of negotiations with authorities from the three spheres to unblock the continuity of the cruise season in the country, suspended until January 21.

The plan is to review, reform and renegotiate protocols to resume travel from January 22nd. For this, CLIA is already negotiating with local and federal health authorities and four ministries: Civil House, Health, Infrastructure and Tourism.

“[O ministério da] The Civil House and the Ministry of Health held a meeting with the health secretaries of the destinations, municipalities and states, we are now talking to the states and municipalities, I already spoke this morning with three, we should continue talking throughout this week , most likely we will have a meeting this week at Anvisa, great partners of ours”, said CLIA president Marco Ferraz to CNN.

“We want to try to resolve this as soon as possible, this week or at the latest next week, to start operating again from the 22nd onwards”, he added.

CLIA estimates that the three-week stoppage has affected 45,000 people who would make one of the 15 weekly itineraries of five ships, three from MSC and two from Costa. MSC has not yet commented on alternatives for passengers.

Costa has already stated that they may have a voucher for future travel or a refund of the amount paid for the canceled tour.

“These passengers can re-accommodate for the rest of the season if we start operating again, because they will be very important for us to start operating again, and economically speaking we were expecting an impact of R$1.7 billion for the season. […] A ship generates almost 5,000 jobs on land, so if we really interrupt the season, we are really affecting the work of many people, there are 24,000 jobs that we were generating during the season”, explains Ferraz.

At this time, CLIA is not studying the possibility of anticipating the return to before the 22nd, even with the agreement on the protocols, and also does not plan to extend the season beyond mid-April, when cruise ships will return to the Europe. Until they circulate, the five will be moored at the Port of Santos.

Explosion of Cases

Anvisa’s change of tone on cruises came on 12/31 after the agency identified Covid-19 outbreaks on two ships. But in the first week of 2022 the problem worsened and all five vessels had cases, 60% of them among the crew.

In the first 55 days of the season, 31 cases were detected on ships. But right after Christmas, in nine days, 798 cases were detected. The jump made Anvisa contraindicate shipments until the rules are revised.

But the companies’ decision to voluntarily cancel the operation for three weeks came even before the government’s decision, which already signaled that it would not interrupt travel. It turns out that the biggest pressure came from municipal authorities, with imbroglios in the disembarkation of passengers on at least three occasions.

Bahia’s refusal

Amid the boom in cases, the government of Bahia decided to prevent the docking of cruise ships, making boarding and disembarking impossible. A technical note from the Bahian government obtained by CNN blames the decision on the state of calamity caused by the rains.

“The Strategic Information Center of the State of Bahia CIEVS/SUVISA/SESAB informs that, at the moment, we are not able to continue the operations of Cruises in the ports of the state due to the emergency situation in several municipalities in the state of Bahia and the profile risk that vessels may pose.

Thus, we request that Anvisa preventively suspend cruise operations in the State’s ports, until there is a change in the state scenario”, says the document.

Ilhéus and Salvador, however, are crucial for the operation in the country in the view of the companies’ interlocutors. An alternative studied would be to reorganize the routes while the state of calamity persists, transferring shipments and arrivals to the Port of Maceió, in Alagoas.