Your Healthy Return to Cruising statement

[AussieItchyFeet]

We are cruising from Sydney to Auckland in January 2022 on the Silver Muse.
Our questions relate to your website statement on Healthy Return to Cruising.
1) How will the breakfast and lunch buffets be run?  Will guests still be able to approach the buffet and request that staff serve them selected items?
2) How frequently will staff undergo Covid-19 testing?
3) Can you describe in more detail the additional room cleaning which your HRTC statement mentions?
4) In our experience, staff (from all operators) are reluctant to request that passengers who develop symptoms of any infectious disease show consideration for other passengers by e.g. wearing a mask, self-isolating etc.  Have you developed a policy that empowers your staff to request passengers with obvious symptoms of any infectious illness to wear a mask or self / self-isolate in the interest of the health and safety of all passengers and crew?
Thank you

[Ekka]

Ms Muckermann, Silversea appears to be doing several cruises from the small city of Cairns to various places, and a couple of dozen ex Sydney to many places, in 2022, some of which stop all day inthe large city of Brisbane but you can't embark there apparently, while Silversea is basically ignoring Brisbane for the next  two  years - and even then only if the international ban on travel lifts.

 

I apologise for the fact that Brisbane is not so large as Sydney, but you are still banning about four million people, if they do not fly to either Cairns or Sydney. Why, especially as you either spend all day here or go past?

 

Best wishes.

[Barbara Muckermann]

Hi AussieItchyFeet, Many thanks for your questions. As I’m sure you will appreciate, the situation is continuously evolving – as are our onboard health and safety protocols. While our procedures are likely to change by January 2022, I am happy to share an overview of our current protocols that relate to your questions:

1. Currently, all guests on ships returning to service will be served at their tables for breakfast and lunch buffets. Our waiting staff will attentively serve you for each course, yet the full buffet options will still be available.

2. Once on board, our crew will undergo antigen testing every seven days, as well as full PCR testing every month.

3. All suites will now be fogged with water-based disinfectant solutions that do not aggravate the materials onto which they are sprayed. Moreover, suites are cleaned and sanitized even more thoroughly than before, and for longer. To give you an idea, the cleaning of the suite will take more than twice as long with our enhanced procedures in place.

4. Guests who experience symptoms for COVID-19 are required to immediately contact the nearest member of staff. To effectively handle this type of situation, we have developed a comprehensive, science-backed plan with the health and safety of all guests and crew as the top priority. Our crew will be trained on these procedures and will not hesitate to act quickly.

We look forward to welcoming you on board!

Barbara

[Barbara Muckermann]

Dear Ekka,
Our guests residing in Queensland are very important to Silversea, and we thank you for your feedback. We acknowledge that we don’t have a large selection of cruises originating from Brisbane. We use Cairns as a port of call/turnaround port for our cruises between Australia and the Far East due to its ideal location for this purpose. As the market continuously evolves, so too will our itineraries to better reflect our guests’ expectations and tastes. We value Brisbane as an attractive destination and we hope to include the city in our future itineraries. For now, Queenslanders enjoy sailing with Silversea from other ports and we offer complimentary flights with business class upgrade included to make it hassle-free. We hope to see you on board soon!

Barbara