While major cruise lines have pushed their return to sea until fall, the two-ship Crystal Cruise Line, based in Hong Kong, has announced July cruises in the Bahamas.
The ships will offer easy access to U.S. voyagers but be out of reach of the CDC’s jurisdiction and its guidelines for setting to sea that larger cruise lines are abiding by.
The company’s plan has been welcomed by the Bahamas, which depends on tourists for half its jobs and more than half its GDP. More than two-thirds of the islands’ 7.2 million annual visitors arrive by ship.
Genting Hong Kong, the Crystal line’s parent company, will welcome the cash flow.
Last August, it suspended its debt payments and warned of a $1.5-billion loss looming in 2020. It also has been criticized for being slow to refund payments to passengers for canceled cruises.
Crystal has established its own health protocols, inspired by those of Dream Cruises, which has run local trips around Singapore and Taiwan for seven months without reporting a single resulting COVID infection.
Crystal passengers will be required to show proof of COVID vaccinations before boarding, get a Bahamian Travel Health Visa, pass a COVID test on the cruise’s fifth day, and another to re-enter the U.S., the company said.
Crystal’s ship will have its own COVID testing lab.
