As river cruise lines prepare to return to the water, the safety of guests and crew have been their highest priority. We’ve seen cruise lines consulting with experts in public health and publish their new health and safety programmes to ensure that cruising is enjoyable as it ever was and safer than ever before.
It’s been great to see the cruise lines come together to share best practices, as in the case of the Healthy Sail Panel where cruise lines including Avalon Waterways and Uniworld have combined forces with leading minds within public health to share insights across the whole industry.
We’re pleased to share this information for all of our cruise lines, so you can be reassured when you plan your next cruise.
APT | AMA Waterways | Amadeus | Avalon Waterways | Crystal Cruises | Emerald Waterways & Scenic River | Uniworld
APT
The APT Travel Group always has the safety and wellbeing of guests’ front of mind, and now even more so with the approaching return to travel. The cruise line has been responding to the ever-changing Covid-19 climate by implementing a number of new measures to elevate the health and hygiene protocols giving travellers assurance that they can travel with the APT Travel Group with confidence.
This includes adopting the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) recommendations and actioning the increased health screenings and protocols for all cruises, both on-board and prior to boarding for all passengers and crew, working with the local authorities as well as staff to ensure this is being adhered to. APT are adhering to all requirements and recommendations of IG RiverCruise (the industry association representing European River Cruising) to assure the highest level of passenger and crew health and hygiene on European River Cruises.
Read more: APT Health and Safety Protocols
AMA Waterways
Ama Waterways has been working alongside global health authorities and local governments in the U.S. and around the world to follow all the most up-to-date health and safety protocols. The cruise line’s experienced staff and crew have undergone special training and will be advised and guided by a Public Health Officer. As always, the crew will be on hand to take care of all the details so you can relax and enjoy your much-anticipated river cruise vacation.
Protocols include:
- Pre-cruise online health and contact screening
- Guests temperatures taken at embarkation
- Luggage sanitised before delivering to your stateroom
- Face masks and coverings required when in a public space
- Hand sanitisers available throughout the ship
- State-of-the-art fan coil air-conditioning units
There are many more protocols being implemented for both guests and crew, ensuring your future river cruise plans can still go ahead safely. As new information arises, these protocols will also be adapted to reflect.
Read more: AMA Waterways Protocols
Amadeus
The Amadeus Health and Safety measures for the planned restart of river cruises in Europe have been established in cooperation with “IG River Cruise” and “CLIA”, as representatives of the industry and are based on the currently available guidelines of the European Commission as well as on the regulations of the individual countries involved.
Implementations include social distancing, health questionnaires, the supply of PPE, shore excursions organised in accordance with local rules and regulations and many more.
Read more: Amadeus Health and Safety
Avalon Waterways
Avalon launched the Avalon Assurance program to establish enhanced on-board protocols and procedures for guests which cruise with them. These include new embarkation procedures; fresh air circulated throughout the ship; social distancing guidelines; new technologies to ensure cleanliness; introducing hands-free service and much more.
Read more: Avalon Assurance
Crystal Cruises
Crystal has introduced new measures to ensure its exceptional standards for health and safety are met. With Crystal Clean+, a stringent set of health and safety protocols are designed to meet the unique challenges posed by COVID-19.
These have been developed alongside health experts and will be continually evaluated as new information becomes available, including:
- Declaration of safety upon boarding
- Capacity control and social distancing
- High-frequency purification in social spaces
- Fresh-air ventilation systems
- Regular health monitoring of crew members
- Contactless dining
- Shoreside partners and excursions to maintain the same level of standards
Read more: Crystal Clean+
Emerald Waterways & Scenic River
The Scenic Group will ensure that they adhere to the highest of hygiene and cleaning protocol on all ships and all tours when operating. Thorough cleaning will be conducted regularly, and hand sanitisers are located throughout the ship to ensure the highest level of personal hygiene whilst on board.
Both cruise lines have shared their river cruise assurance, which details the ways in which life on-board as well as both pre- and post-cruise will change to ensure the safest way of cruising. These assurances include:
- Medical evaluation and test pre-departure
- All crew regularly tested with daily temperature checks and health checks
- Contact-free check-in and check-out
- Mandatory briefings and screenings from on-board medical experts
- Enhanced cleaning commitment
- Socially aware dining with extra care to minimise social contact
- Contact-free movement with guest servicing and hand sanitiser able to be acquired with minimise touchpoints
- Air circulation improved with systems breathing air from the outside in so it isn’t recirculated
- Smaller groups and social proximity in on-shore environments
- Carefully selected local partners who are committed to ensuring your safety
- All transport vehicles are equipped with hand sanitiser and undergo deep cleaning after each journey
The cruise lines added that these protocols will be continually reviewed as more information comes forward, to ensure that guests and crew can travel safely in the many destinations they operate within.
Read more: Scenic Update | Emerald Update
Uniworld
Uniworld has developed on their already stringent security and sanitation protocols with their new health and safety assurance. Featuring safety and security protocols such as 24-hour patrols and key card scanners with facial recognition and health and hygiene protocols including travel declarations, contactless payments on-board, air-conditioning filters cleaned and disinfected, and training provided to all staff.
Read more: Uniworld Health & Safety
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