Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 islands within the Indian Ocean, off East Africa, might be reopening its shores to cruise ships beginning from November.
As per the choice taken by the nationâs authorities in March 2021 relating to the scale of the vessels and limiting their carrying passenger capability, Seychelles will solely be welcoming smaller vessels with a most of 300 passengers, in accordance to a press release from the authorities.
Launching the 2021-2022 cruise season on November 14, 2021, would be the MS Island Sky, the primary cruise vessel to sail to Seychelles for the reason that closure of the vacation spot to cruise ships in March 2020.
The principal secretary for civil aviation, ports & marine, Alan Renaud, stated: âThroughout 2020, working in collaboration with the health authorities, tourism department, the port authority, and the tourism industry, the department has implemented new procedures for the safe resumption of cruise ship visits to Seychelles.â
He stated that to facilitate the restart of cruise ship operations, the Department of Civil Aviation, Ports & Marine has developed a Covid-19 firm and cruise ship guidelines for operators, and a parallel Covid-19 Port Management Plan for the authorities to be launched subsequent month.
The complementary paperwork have been based mostly on steerage revealed collectively by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention Control (ECDC) and endorsed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and undertake a goal-based strategy, figuring out measures to be taken on board ships and ashore to guarantee protected operations.
