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Two U.S.-based cruise lines are poised to test the waters of
interporting, a practice historically offered by European lines that enables
passengers to choose from multiple embarkation ports.
Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean International will soon offer this
option on certain ships, and Italy-based MSC Cruises will expand the practice to
the Caribbean.
Their plans would be less noteworthy had it not been for the Costa Concordia
accident, which occurred after more than 600 passengers boarded the
3,200-passenger ship in Civitavecchia, Italy, the port for Rome. Others had
boarded earlier in Barcelona.
That double embarkation cast a spotlight on interporting because none of the 600
had participated in a muster drill prior to the Concordia’s grounding on Jan.
13, which happened within a few hours of departing Civitavecchia.
Under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (Solas), cruise
ships must hold their safety briefings within 24 hours of setting sail.
The Concordia officers were operating within the framework of the rule, but some
have pointed out that the evacuation of the ship would have been less chaotic if
everyone onboard had been primed for an emergency.
Generally, interport options are seen as a convenience to
cruise passengers and sometimes are offered as an incentive to attract certain
source markets.
In light of the Concordia accident, cruise lines that plan to begin interporting
are citing their safety procedures that require muster drills or evacuation
briefings on any day that new passengers board their ships.
Royal Caribbean International’s 2,100-passenger Brilliance of the Seas will
embark passengers in San Juan and Guadeloupe on a series of seven-night Southern
Caribbean cruises during the 2012-13 winter season.
According to Royal Caribbean spokesman Harry Liu, the choice is meant to appeal
to South American customers, who might prefer joining the ship in Guadeloupe
rather than San Juan. Most Americans and Canadians will board in San Juan, he
added.
Passengers joining the ship at either port must participate in a mandatory group
or personal muster drill on embarkation day.
The ship will alternate two seven-night Southern Caribbean itineraries, sailing
roundtrip from San Juan every Saturday.
On one itinerary, the ship will call at St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Antigua and St.
Croix. On the other itinerary, calls will be made at Tortola, St. Maarten, St.
Kitts and Barbados, Liu said.
“On both itineraries, the Brilliance of the Seas will call at Guadeloupe on
Wednesday, where the ship will offer interporting,” he said. “Passengers must
remain onboard for the full seven days, regardless of where they embark.”
Following the Concordia accident, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL) tightened
its safety policy to require that all safety drills must be held on the day of
departure. RCCL brands include Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Azamara.
Starting in April, Norwegian Cruise Line will offer three embarkation ports when
the 4,100-passenger Norwegian Epic begins its Europe season.
Passengers will be able to board the ship in Barcelona, Civitavecchia or
Marseille, France, during the Epic’s seven-day Western Mediterranean cruises.
As with Royal Caribbean, passengers must complete a full seven-day cruise; they
can’t use the interport option to book a shorter, Marseille-to- Barcelona
sailing, for instance.
“In all ports where we embark passengers, we hold a safety drill prior to the
ship’s departure,” said AnneMarie Matthews, Norwegian’s vice president of public
relations. “This includes Norwegian Epic’s Western Mediterranean itinerary. All
guests are required to attend the safety drill and report to their lifeboat
assembly stations.”
MSC Cruises began hinting last year that the line was exploring whether to bring
an interport option to its Caribbean deployments. It’s been offering the option
in Europe for years.
By late 2011, it had rolled out a plan to enable passengers to board its
1,560-passenger Lirica in either Martinique or Guadeloupe on seven-day cruises.
The option will be in effect for the 2012-13 season.
MSC categorizes its embarkation points into main ports, where the majority of
passengers will board, and secondary ports, where fewer passengers board. In the
Lirica’s case, Martinique will be the main port, said Gail Nicolaus, the line’s
vice president of marketing and public relations.
“When embarking an MSC Cruises ship in one of the main ports, all guests are
requested to participate in a one-hour safety drill conducted in the six
official languages and any other language spoken by our guests onboard,” she
said.
The drill involves the full crew and simulates the evacuation process;
passengers muster at their lifeboat station with life jackets.
In secondary ports, she explained, a “detailed safety briefing” is held before
departure for all newly embarked passengers.
“The safety briefing is normally held in a dedicated area, usually the theater
or at a muster station, and does not involve the whole crew,” Nicolaus said.
“[It is] conducted by a group of social hostesses and [other crew members] who
help guests to familiarize themselves with the safety equipment and procedures.”
MSC’s drills are held, she added, “as soon as possible after embarkation time
and always within the Solas 24-hour limit.”
On MSC ships in Europe, Nicolaus said, the main port for Eastern Mediterranean
cruises is Venice, and for the Western Mediterranean, it’s Genoa, Italy.
MSC said the interport option in Martinique and Guadeloupe was primarily geared
to the line’s French customers, with air-inclusive packages on France-based
Corsair Airlines. |
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