The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Nassau Cruise Port’s top executive yesterday said vessel bookings have not been impacted by what he slammed as an “unfair analysis” by US health regulators of the industry’s COVID risk.

Michael Maura told Tribune Business the operator of The Bahamas’ major port gateway was “not concerned” about any potential negative fall-out for either its 2022 or 2023 industry bookings despite the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warning Americans against cruise ship travel regardless of vaccination status following the Omicron variant’s emergence.

Pointing to the industry’s relatively healthy track record since sailing resumed, he argued that it was “a very telling comparison” that - prior to Omicron’s emergence - cruise visitors have been steadily increasing every month during the 2021 second half while local COVID cases were falling.

While some in cruise-reliant sectors and businesses fear the CDC’s advisory will deter persons from travelling, resulting in reduced vessel calls and passenger numbers that their enterprises can exploit, Mr Maura said the week leading up to Christmas had been “crazy” with five vessels in port daily and Bay Street “the busiest it’s been for a long time from a cruise passenger perspective”.

And he added that the 110 cruise ship berthings scheduled for January are “right there and looking positive”, with no impact or uncertainty to-date as a result of the CDC’s advisory - something that Mr Maura criticised for targeting, or singling out, the industry when other sectors had at least equal, if not greater potential, to facilitate Omicron’s rapid spread.

“Our bookings remain very strong,” the Nassau Cruise Port chief told this newspaper. “We’re not concerned with our 2022 numbers, we’re not concerned with our 2023 numbers. We handled 109 ships in December, and even with Omicron we had very strong arrivals. From a booking perspective, we remain very strong for 2022 and 2023.

“Omicron has been around for two months. The week leading up to Christmas, downtown was the busiest it’s been for a long time from a cruise passenger perspective. Our business and cruise passenger volumes in that week leading up to Christmas was crazy. We had several days when we had five ships in port at the same time. I would tell you Omicron has not slowed down business.”

After a typical reduction in cruise ship calls between Christmas and the New Year, Mr Maura added that vessel calls at Prince George Wharf were “picking right back up. We have 110 ships booked for January. We’ll see how it goes but everything is right there and looking positive. The Bahamas continues to be very strong with the cruise industry”.

Omicron, which current data suggests is more contagious but less deadly than previous COVID variants such as Delta, has produced an explosion of infections with 1,850 new cases recorded in The Bahamas between Thursday, December 30, and Monday, January 3 for a daily average of 370. Hospitalisations have also risen, albeit more slowly, to 58 with three in intensive care.

While the CDC and Omicron have yet to produce an appreciable decline in Nassau’s cruise business, at least based on volume, Mr Maura pointed to how The Bahamas’ COVID cases had decreased to the teens prior to the latest variant’s emergence as passenger numbers increased.

“Our ship numbers each month were increasing, and the number of passengers on the ships was increasing,” he added. “For someone to make the correlation that the cruise industry has a negative impact on a destination, where we are a great example is that between June and December we handled over 375 ships.

“Between June and the end of November we handled 270 ships approximately. Each month we were increasing the vessel calls here, and each month the cruise lines were increasing occupancies on those ships.

“While we were seeing an increase in cruise ships from June to November, at the same time we were seeing a decline in the number of COVID cases here in Nassau. That’s a very telling comparison; we were seeing an increase in the cruise business here in Nassau and seeing a decline in cases.”

Mr Maura argued that the CDC had seemingly singled out the cruise industry, which pre-COVID accounted for three-quarters of visitor arrivals to The Bahamas but around just 11 percent of their total spending, while ignoring the fact that the same “consumer pool” was also travelling on planes and visiting the same entertainment/sporting venues.

He added that 95 percent of cruise passengers sailing today are fully vaccinated, along with 100 percent of crew members. And the Nassau Cruise Port chief said Royal Caribbean has ensured all its crews have had boosters, with Carnival not far behind.

Asserting that the cruise industry has “gone beyond” other travel-related industries with its COVID vaccinations, testing and protocols, and investing heavily in isolation, quarantine and medical facilities aboard ship, Mr Maura said the CDC had “chosen to focus one light on the cruise industry and not look at any other sector”.

“It is upsetting to me that the CDC have chosen to isolate the cruise industry the way they have, and come out and said whether you are vaccinated or not, don’t cruise. I just don’t think that’s a very fair analysis of the cruise industry,” he added.

The cruise industry has also pushed back itself. Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, in a statement acknowledging the impact of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, asserted that cruise ships are “one of the few places one can vacation knowing that almost everyone you meet is fully vaccinated”.

It added that despite the concerns over the more virulent COVID-19 strain it has, since June 2021, carried over 1.1m guests with only 1,745 people testing positive, just a .02 percent positivity rate.