Cruises | The travelers take to the sea

After two years of absence, the first international cruise ships will return to the country in the coming weeks. In Quebec, the Viking Octantiswhich can carry 378 passengers, is due to dock in the Magdalen Islands on April 23, before heading up the St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes.

Simon Chabot
The Press

“I think I’m going to wait on the edge of the window, near the river, to see this first ship pass,” enthuses René Trépanier, general manager of Croisières du Saint-Laurent, the association that brings together the nine stopovers in Quebec where the cruises stop.

As soon as the announcement on Thursday of the end of the obligation for fully vaccinated travelers to provide a negative screening test for COVID-19 to enter the country from 1^er April, Ottawa relaxed the health rules decreed earlier this month for cruise ships in Canadian waters. Passengers and crew will still need to have received two doses of vaccines and pass a PCR test within 72 hours or an antigen test within 24 hours before boarding a ship, but will not have to take a new one test before setting foot in Canada. A first ship will drop anchor in Canada, in Victoria, on April 6.

“This relaxation greatly facilitates things for everyone,” rejoices René Trépanier. This year, Croisières du Saint-Laurent expects approximately 300 stopovers in the province’s ports, and 300,000 passenger-days (a passenger is counted each day he disembarks from a boat in Quebec, and can therefore more than once for the same cruise), i.e. around 60% to 70% of the attendance rates observed in 2019.

The wind in the sails

Ten days before abandoning screenings to enter the country, the federal government had already lifted the notice asking Canadians to avoid cruises elsewhere in the world because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, in some travel agencies, the phone no longer rings.

“I had a crazy week! says Marc Leclerc, owner of the Amarc agency, which sells many cruises in Alaska and Tahiti. It’s been a long time since we had a week like this. »

Some customers take places on ships from next summer in Alaska, but also for the fall in the direction of Australia and New Zealand, two countries long closed to visitors.

And customers are happy. “I no longer sell interior cabins, and not just because no one wants to be caught in a wardrobe in the event of an outbreak, but because they have fallen behind in their plans and they want to spoil. »

Same story with the agency Croisières pour tous. “By lifting its unfavorable opinion, Ottawa has ensured that insurers have started selling cancellation insurance again, it is a great fear that is no longer there. People feel less bad about traveling,” explains owner Guy Bergeron.

The agency located in Laval has sold tickets for next month in the Caribbean, the “last minute” in an industry where reservations are often made two years in advance. Customers are also heading for the fjords of Norway… or the Mediterranean, even if the situation in Europe does not reassure everyone. Of course, the companies that cruise in the Baltic Sea no longer call at Saint Petersburg (in Russia). They cancel departures or offer itineraries that linger in Scandinavian countries.

Although it is less adverse to cruises, the federal government still believes, unlike many people in the industry, that “the risk of being infected with COVID-19 on ships […] is very high, even if you have received a full series of vaccines”. Ottawa also recommends that travelers make sure they are covered for medical expenses and those related to the cancellation or interruption of a cruise in the event of an outbreak.

For their part, the cruise companies are still quite flexible for the cancellation conditions, further observes Sophie Théberge, whose agency specializing in cruises bears her name. They are also very cautious.

“All over the world, Celebrity, which I sell a lot, for example, makes sure that everyone is vaccinated on board, and I think that’s a very good thing,” she says.