Exclusive | Government’s ‘slow ahead’ speed blamed for cruise line’s possible abandonment of plans to resume service from Hong Kong
- Royal Caribbean expected to scupper plans to relaunch service from Hong Kong because it has taken too long to get government approval
- Hong Kong among the last markets not to have relaunched cruise services, Royal Caribbean spokeswoman says
Cruise line Royal Caribbean International is expected to abandon its plans to relaunch a “cruise to nowhere” service in Hong Kong because it has taken too long to get permission from health authorities, the Post has learned.
A travel industry insider said the company had lost patience and was inclined not to send its Spectrum of the Seas ship back to Hong Kong after a failure to get a clear answer from the government a month after it made an application to restart the service.
The ship was moved to Singapore in February, which dealt a blow to Hong Kong’s underused Kai Tak terminal and to its ambition to become an Asian cruise hub.
Industry leaders last month confirmed Royal Caribbean had tried to get approval from the Health Bureau to resume a “cruise to nowhere” service.
A company representative detailed its precautions and on-board healthcare facilities at a closed-doors meeting in a bid to show how it would deal with potential Covid-19 outbreaks.
An industry source who attended the meeting told the Post it had been expected Royal Caribbean would be given the go-ahead inside a few days to send its ship back to Hong Kong in the fourth quarter of the year as the meeting was “very positive”.