By
Rebecca Gibson |
When MSC Cruises began planning its return to service in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, head of shore excursions Marialuisa Iaccarino was faced with her greatest challenge to date: developing new protected ‘social bubble’ shore excursions.
“Going ashore is a really important and enjoyable aspect of a cruise holiday, so we wanted to ensure that we had measures in place to protect both our guests and the local communities we visit,” she explains. “We knew that we could control all health and safety measures onboard our ships, but we were also aware that we were potentially risking guests becoming ill and bringing the virus back onboard if they went ashore to places that did not have the right hygiene and sanitisation measures in place.”
Drawing on 20 years of experience, Iaccarino and her team devised strict protocols that surpass the requirements of international authorities and vetted every tour operator, transfer provider and individual attraction. “We ensured that they put the right health and safety measures in place,” says Iaccarino. “It was painstaking work but worth it to enable our guests to go ashore safely.”
For now, guests are only permitted to participate in shore excursions organised by MSC Cruises and they must also comply with a series of mandatory health and safety protocols. For example, they must undergo temperature checks before and after shore excursions, sit in assigned seating while travelling onboard buses and coaches, and follow social distancing guidelines, wear face masks and sanitise their hands regularly while visiting attractions. In addition, MSC Cruises staggers shore excursion departures, ensures tour buses are thoroughly cleaned and sanitised after every use. and reserves exclusive areas at onshore attractions.
“Tour guides and drivers all follow the same strict protocols to keep guests safe too,” says Iaccarino. “They must have their temperatures taken, provide negative Covid-19 test results, wear personal protective equipment and regularly sanitise their hands. Of course, we hope that this will change in the future as the pandemic evolves and local health situations improve.”
Rules regarding shore excursions are made clear to guests when they book the cruise and are reiterated upon embarkation, as well as before and during every shore excursion. Any passengers who do not comply are refused re-embarkation.
“We ensure that there is no doubt in anyone’s mind about the consequences of breaking our protected shore excursion bubbles, and all the tour staff are thoroughly trained so they’re fully aware that there are no exceptions to the rules,” says Iaccarino. “We’ve carried hundreds of thousands of guests in the Europe, North and South America plus the Middle East since we resumed operations in August 2020, and we’ve only had to deny reboarding to a very small number of people. For instance, a family of three broke away from their shore excursion during a visit to the island of Capri off the coast of Italy, so we wouldn’t allow them to reboard our chartered ferry to Naples.
“Ultimately, these measures are in place to protect the health and safety of everyone onboard our ships and our strict adherence to the rules has been warmly welcomed by both our guests and the communities we visit.”
Despite the restrictions and the additional health and safety protocols, the protected shore excursions have been popular with guests.
“When we first introduced the concept of protected shore excursions there was no precedent that we could benchmark ourselves against and a handful of commentators around the world doubted that our guests would choose the land tours,” says Iaccarino. “However, the protected shore excursions have proved to be much in demand, and many have completely sold out. Guests have returned to the ship happy and clearly not afraid to go ashore, reassured by the fact that tour operators were following the same high health and safety standards as MSC Cruises. This has been very rewarding for us to see.”
Following the success of MSC Cruises’ protected shore excursions Iaccarino’s team is developing similar onshore offerings elsewhere in 2022.
“We’ve been communicating with many ports and destinations about future shore excursion opportunities for when they reopen for cruising and we’ve shared our extensive experience with our sailings to date,” says Iaccarino. “Although it is a substantial undertaking, we work with tour operators and suppliers that we know well and have had a great relationship with in the past. All of them understand the cruise industry extremely well and have witnessed our experience to date from afar.
“They’re all aware that they must have a health and safety protocol in place that mirrors our own and most suppliers have already done just that. Consequently, when other parts of the world where we’ve traditionally operated can reopen, we will be ready to offer a great range of attractive excursions ashore.”
This article was first published in the 2022 issue of Cruise & Ferry Itinerary Planning. All information was correct at the time of printing, but may since have changed.
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