Let’s Cruise! Viking Star Is The First Cruise Ship To Have Its Own COVID-19 Testing Lab
While travellers were thinking that going on a cruise was a thing of the past, Viking Cruises have changed the odds.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the travel industry has been forced to adapt quickly to the many challenges and huge changes along the way. Cruise ships were thought to be out, due to the close confinement of passengers. However, Viking Cruises are making a change, by being the first company to introduce an onboard PCD laboratory to carry out rapid COVID-19 testing.
Viking Cruises Introduces Onboard Testing
Viking Cruises has announced the completion of the facility on board the Viking Star. The company reports this will allow for large-scale testing capacity, without leaving the cruise ship. Testing involves polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique which detects small segments of genetic material in samples. It also reveals the presence of an antigen, as opposed to the human body’s immune response or antibodies. Testing is commonly carried out with a swab to take a sample. According to a statement by Viking Cruises, the test onboard the 930-guest ocean vessel is non-invasive and rather uses a saliva sample, instead of having a probe via the nostril.
Matt Grimes, Vice President of Maritime Operations for Viking Cruises said in a statement, “We have been working on this for a number of months, and today is important as it moves us one step closer to operating cruises again, without compromising the safety of our guests and crew.
”The recently announced CDC guidelines are clearly aligned with our public health research, and we welcome the agency’s push toward testing, as we believe this is the only way to safely operate. In our view, continuous PCR testing, along with our extensive onboard hygiene protocols, will lead to making Viking ships a safe place to get away to and explore the world.”
New Regulations For Cruises
A number of major cruise companies, who are members of Cruise Lines International Association (CLI), recently came together to agree to new regulations for passengers. Under the new regulations, when wishing to embark, all passengers are required to prove that they don’t have the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the CDC in the USA has started a phased approach to resume passenger operations. Originally, the CDC implemented a “no sail order” for cruise ships with the capacity of at least 250 passengers until they receive their “COVID-19 Conditional Sailing Certificate.”
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However, with the establishment of laboratory testing onboard the cruise ships, crew members will be tested for COVID-19 every week and will be provided with the necessary personal protection equipment.
Viking Star
Potential passengers shouldn’t be in too much of a hurry to book right now. However, Viking is planning on demonstrating its new PCR laboratory, along with its new design and operating procedures when the Viking Star docks in Oslo in mid-November.
Once cruising is operative again, the ship has a number of options and destinations, including “Viking Homelands” – from Stockholm to Bergen, “Russia & The Baltic Sea,” from Stockholm to Copenhagen, “Into the Midnight Sun” from Bergen to London, “Journey to Antiquities” from Rome to Athens, “Venice, the Adriatic & Greece” from Venice to Athens, and more. Visit the official website for more information.
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