Vietnam’s de facto decision to ban cruiseships from its ports due to the COVIC-19 coronavirus outbreak has led to further cancellations of cruises scheduled to depart from Singapore.
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) is the latest operator to announce that it is cancelling cruises, while Celebrity Cruises is quitting the region entirely.
On Thursday passengers aboard NCL’s 93,600-gt Norwegian Jade (built 2006), while in the middle of a roundtrip cruise from Singapore to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, were informed that their scheduled calls at three Vietnamese ports had been cancelled.
“We have been communicating regularly with the port and we disembarked 110 passengers in Laem Chabang earlier in the cruise to ensure we followed Vietnam’s adjusted requirements put in place on 7 February,” they were told in a letter seen by TradeWinds.
“Still, the port has proven to be unreasonable during this process and late last night informed us that despite previously approving our calls and despite the actions we have taken to accommodate their new protocols, they are denying our upcoming calls.”
Norwegian Jade’s passengers will enjoy two extra days at sea and a visit to the Thai resort island of Koh Samui as part of the adjusted itinerary.
NCL has now announced that the Norwegian Jade’s next cruise, which was scheduled to depart Singapore on 17 February, has been cancelled.
"Due to growing concerns regarding coronavirus in Asia, the ports we planned to visit in Vietnam are no longer open to accepting cruise ships. As omitting Vietnam would substantially change the planned itinerary with no viable replacement, we are forced to cancel the Norwegian Jade sailing on February 17, 2020 from Singapore,” the company said in a statement to passengers booked on that cruise.
This week has seen other cruise operators including Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Princess Cruises cancel cruises from Singapore.
With Vietnam a key destination on many of its upcoming cruise itineraries, Celebrity Cruises has scrubbed its entire Asian program for the 91,000-gt Celebrity Millennium (built 2000). The ship, currently anchored off Singapore, will instead be repositioned to the US, with new cruise itineraries to be announced shortly.
Malaysian and Thai ports still remain open to cruiseships operating out of Singapore leaving operators such as Costa Crociere, TUI Cruises, Dream Cruises and Aida Cruises, whose ships are scheduled on shorter cruises up the Straits of Malacca, operating in full swing, at least for now.
In repsonse to the unfolding spread of the coronavirus, countries throughout Asia are constantly adjusting their rules, regulations and requirements for ships visiting their ports. Permissions for cruiseships calls can, as Vietnam has shown, be rescinded with little or no notice.
