Over the past week, Norwegian has canceled most of its cruises due to the massive surge in Covid-19 cases overwhelming the ships. The Norwegian Gem canceled a 10-day cruise in the middle of the trip, skipping all ports and leaving passengers at sea for days on end. The ship should be returning on schedule, and Norwegian offered every customer on board a refund and credits for their next cruise. Aimee Focaraccio, a passenger on the ship, told USA TODAY, “Without the islands and ports to break up the sea days this is turning into a nightmare. I really can’t imagine four more sea days back to back without much to do.”
The latest surge in coronavirus cases has put tremendous pressure on the travel industry to increase safety measures, which are surprisingly lax for air and land travel. Despite heavy protocols, the virus is still ravaging cruise lines. As a result, cancellations and schedule changes are expected to happen often with any kind of travel right now.
The best thing we can do is adhere to the CDC guidelines that have been proven effective in preventing the spread of this deadly disease. If enough people were to comply, we would not be seeing such a heavy burden on the travel and hospitality sector. These are essential businesses, especially for people who travel for work. Unfortunately, disruptions in this industry can be detrimental, as we saw in 2020 and 2021.