Staying Afloat

"Cruise lines integrate COVID precautions as an added value with a personal touch."

- By Elyse Glickman. Photo by Carnival Corporation

At the beginning of the late August christening cruise of AmaSiena, cruise manager Martina Valachova and hotel manager Romeo Luchian exuded warmth and humor to set the tone for its COVID-era maiden voyage by explaining how AmaWaterways’ new health and sanitation practices would enhance the experience. Their PA announcements throughout the cruise positioned the necessities of masking up, pre-meal temperature checks and pre-departure COVID tests as extensions of the safety protocols that existed in the “before-times.”

“During these unpredictable times, we are confident in our teams’ ability to react quickly to changing conditions and come up with creative solutions to collaboratively implement the measures,” said Kristin Karst, cofounder and CEO, AmaWaterways. “The same attention to detail and willingness to take on new challenges pre-COVID shapes how we’ve moved forward. We have tried to instill in our teams the freedom and confidence to make decisions as long as they are always in the best interest of our guests. This validated that we have done things the right way in Europe and are now fully prepared for the [remainder of ] 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons.”

During summer 2020, a year before the AmaSiena christening, AmaWaterways management staged a dress rehearsal in collaboration with a German tour company. Safety and health protocols were put into practice for four months with European passengers, and with no cases of COVID, they were implemented on a wider basis once American tourists were allowed to travel to Europe. The protocols will extend throughout AmaWaterways’ fleet.