After Covid Shutdown, Cruise Ships Return to San Francisco

U.S.|After 18 months, the Port of San Francisco volition erstwhile again invited cruise ships.

• Oct. 10, 2021, 1:30 p.m. ET

In the aboriginal days of the pandemic, a cruise vessel that would go 1 of the bellwethers of the outbreak, the Grand Princess, docked successful the Bay Area carrying dozens of infected passengers. It was 1 of the past cruise ships successful the satellite to run earlier the coronavirus caused a planetary shutdown.

Now, a twelvemonth and a fractional later, cruise ships volition erstwhile again embark and disembark astatine the Port of San Francisco.

On Monday, the Majestic Princess, which acceptable disconnected from the Port of Los Angeles, volition beryllium the archetypal to dock successful the Bay Area since the Grand Princess’s disastrous travel successful March 2020.

London Breed, the politician of San Francisco, said successful a statement that she was “excited to invited cruises backmost to our port, and visitors backmost to our city.”

The instrumentality of cruises, Ms. Breed said, could assistance the city’s economy, which has been wounded by the nonaccomplishment of gross from the thousands of tourists who travel into the metropolis from the ships.

When the largest ships dock, they bring much than 6,000 radical to the city’s cruise terminal, according to the mayor’s office. Before the pandemic, larboard properties generated $4 cardinal a twelvemonth for the city, $117 cardinal for Northern California and implicit 16,000 jobs for San Francisco and Northern California combined, the city’s figures show.

During the pandemic, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, the 3 largest cruise companies successful the world, lost astir $900 cardinal each period during the pandemic, according to Moody’s, the recognition standing agency.

Cruise lines person present started to invited backmost passengers for U.S. sailings, and this summer, request outweighed supply.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided a elaborate database of measures that cruise ships tin instrumentality to trim the dispersed of Covid, including requiring passengers to amusement impervious of vaccination oregon to supply antagonistic tests.

Joe D’Alessandro, the president of the San Francisco Travel Association, said successful a connection that “the instrumentality of cruises to and from San Francisco is an important measurement guardant successful our betterment and yet different affirmative motion for the city’s tourism and hospitality industry.”