Swine Flu Itinerary Changes and Concerns

The travel industry as a whole is changing itineraries and behaviours in relation to the recent swine flu outbreak which has been predominant in the popular cruise destination of Mexico City. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America and Princess Cruises have all changed their itineraries to remove Mexican ports from their schedules for the foreseeable future. Princess Cruises said that there will be no Mexico port calls by any of their ships during May and will replace these visits with other port calls or extra sea days, and Royal Caribbean said that it recognised that it was displaying an ‘abundance of caution’ but that it wanted ‘additional time to better understand the full impact of the swine flu’.

No reported cases of swine flu have been identified among cruise ship passengers to date, and all cruise ships are said to be using passenger screening and encouraging the use of hand sanitisers.