Cruise misery continues with Scottish call cancelled

‘This decision has been informed by the combination of risks that exists between both cruises and the wider travel context’ – Scottish government

Sailing by: MSC Virtuosa will not call at Greenock (Simon Calder)

The hard-hit cruise industry has suffered another setback with the cancellation of a planned call at Greenock in Scotland.

MSC Virtuosa resumed a programme of UK domestic cruises on 20 May.

Voyages are extremely tightly controlled, with fewer than 1,000 passengers onboard a ship with space for six times as many.

Only British residents are allowed onboard. They must show either proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test.

At ports of call, only organised excursions are permitted.

But the Italian-owned vessel has cancelled a scheduled stop in the port at the mouth of the Clyde because of Scotland’s current Covid rules.

Passengers were told: “We are sorry to inform you that the port call of Greenock has been cancelled.

“No guests are allowed to embark or disembark.

“This decision has been made by the Scottish government and is out of our control.”

The move brings echoes of the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when governments around the world banned cruise ships from calling for fear of spreading infections.

A spokesperson for the Scottish government told The Independent: “We fully understand the impact of the current restrictions on domestic cruises.

“We explained our concerns about the transmission risks posed by cruise vessels in an update to industry on the 24 May and confirmed that we would clarify the position in June.

“Following extensive engagement with stakeholders, we have now confirmed that domestic cruises can restart when all of Scotland reaches level one and we have made industry, including the operator, aware of this.”

At present parts of Scotland are still on level two.

The spokesperson said: “This decision has been informed by the combination of risks that exists between both cruises and the wider travel context, including the current trajectory of Covid infections and the unknowns around the new Delta variant, in addition to the potential for high risk of uncontained rapid transmission on the cruise.

“Affected passengers should contact the operator for further information regarding their trip.”

The president of the Scottish Passenger Agents Association, Joanne Dooey, told BBC Radio Scotland that the decision was “ludicrous” when people can travel into Scotland by train or car unhindered.

She said: “We had the Northern Belle [train] in last week to Edinburgh from Manchester which had lots of tourists on it with no testing at all.

“What’s the difference between a cruise ship coming in and football taking place in Glasgow with no testing being put in place?

“And when are we ever going to have confidence in the vaccination progress? We are going to have to live with new variants coming in and we have to get on with our lives.”

Passengers will instead be able to take advantage of the onboard water park.

The Independent has asked MSC Cruises to comment.