When will cruise ships return to Cambodia?
When will cruise ships return to Cambodia? As many in the travel industry had predicated, including us at Khmer Nights the cruise industry has been one of the quickest to return to “normal”. This month a number of major cruise lines, such as Carnival (who own P&O), Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), were given the OK by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to resume operations.
Cruises have now started around the world, with ships pulling into ports throughout North America and Europe, much to the delight of operators.
How have cruise ships managed this?
Cruise ships are notoriously hot-beds of germs, with many horror stories of cruise lines being taken down by Norovirus. Spending a week on a ship puking and pooping is not exactly most peoples idea of fun.
It is though because of this that cruise lines maintain some of the highest cleanliness standards in the service industry. The fact that it is a contained environment also means that you can ensure that every customer and crew member has been vaccinated, an idea initially proposed by Saga back in January.
To read about Saga opening to vaccinated guests read here .
Therefore cruising is now tentatively back, but when might we see skips back in Cambodian ports?
What is the Cruise Ship scene in Cambodia?
In 2019, the last year that records were kept, or indeed worth anything there were an estimated 50,000 passengers and crew that docked in either Sihanoukville – which has a docking area, or off of the coasts of Koh Rong, from where guests would take the zodiacs to the islands.
To read about McDonald’s in Cambodia click here
As with everything else service related this all died with coronavirus, but not before Cambodia were to pull off some true Superman stuff.
Cambodia rescues the MS Westerdam
As Covid-19 really started to take hold some of the major stories of people being abandoned came from cruise ships. Ships are breeding grounds for germs and people were scared of letting the infected into their lands, as if it would cause some kind of zombie apocalypse.
The MS Westerdam was turned away by 3 countries, 4 if you count Taiwan (we are staying out of that debate), before Cambodia came to the rescue and let the ship dock. Passengers were then allowed to fly home and Cambodia once again showed the world how hospitable the Khmer people are.
When will cruise ships return to Cambodia?
No one quite knows when cruise ships will return to Cambodia and it will depend on multiple factors, not just from the Cambodian side, but from other Asian countries. South-East Asia in particular has been much more conservative than the US, or Europe when it comes to opening up, although Thailand did recently announce their own tentative reopening to tourism, with Cambodia closely watching what happens in Phuket.
To read about Thailand opening to tourism click here .
Although according to Cruise Center a website that monitors movement of ships, there are technically at least mornings planned for as early as November, although this is reliant on them being allowed to dock and indeed having any customers. Most cruise ship passengers in the region are from China, which as of now has pretty much banned all outbound travel from the country.
How much is the cruise ship industry worth to Cambodia?
There are no official figures released by the Ministry of Tourism pertaining to how much the country earns from the cruise industry, but docking fees and 50,000 plus people going ashore each year means it is certainly important to economy of Sihanoukville. The problem as expressed by many in the tourist industry is that due to lack if infrastructure these guests tend not to make it outside of Sihanoukville, or the islands.
When will cruise ships return to Cambodia?
Quite simply no one knows as of yet, with how the regional and global winds change with regards to Covid-19 being the main deciding factor. In this respects all regional eyes are n China and if and when it allows its citizens to travel again.
Still with the new Chinese super-road linking Sihanoukville to the capital and the potential for the rich newly wed, overfed and nearly dead to charter choppers to places like Angkor Wat, then the future for cruising in Cambodia could still look bright, if the world does decide to open again.
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Author: Reece Ferguson
Reece is a South-East Asia based writer and journalist that originally hails from Northern Ireland. He has previously written for Philippines Lifestyle News, as well as for our previous publication Khmer Nights.
