Dominica welcomes first cruise ship after a year amid COVID

Dominica: Since the reopening of Dominica's border, its first cruise Seabourn Odyssey arrived on the Caribbean island on Tuesday, July 27 2021. This is the first cruise ship of Dominica after a year amid the COVID-19 restrictions berthed at Woodbridge Bay with nearly 135 passengers on board. Denise Charles, the Tourism Minister of Dominica, earlier this week asserted that only the vaccinated passengers would be permitted to disembark and continue on tours on the island, as per the established COVID-19 cruise protocols for Dominica. The Tourism Minister further noted that in spite of the cruise exercises were paused in Dominica amid the COVID-19 pandemic since the month of March 2020, regular discussions and meetings were conducted between the cruise lines such as - Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean and the Ministry in order to provide a restart of cruise activity in the Caribbean island.

Following the statement, she added, "Our priority during all of the discussions has always been about the health and safety of citizens and passengers."

The Minister further cited that the approved novel coronavirus protocols for Dominica strengthen the strict adherence to the measures such as - temperature checks, mask-wearing, hand sanitization, social distancing, and safe practices for vending and tours. Based on the COVID-19 health protocols by the Ministry of Health, she further noted that only those individuals who are certified would be permitted to communicate with the visitors on a cruise.

She added that only organized or pre-sold tours would be allowed as an initial measure for limiting co-mingling and maintaining social distancing while the visitors enjoy the nature island.

According to the COVID-19 statistics, the Caribbean island so far has 209 confirmed cases of the contagious novel coronavirus, out of which a total of 196 patients got recovered. Dominica has not reported a single death amid the COVID-19 mutant.