Thursday, September 9, 2021 - 16:48 by ce-press
Oceania Cruises’ Marina was the first ship to turnaround Copenhagen since the start of the pandemic when she departed the port on August 25 carrying 491 passengers.The easing of restrictions that came into effect a few days ago applies to cruise passengers disembarking in Copenhagen.
On August 20 restrictions were eased so that both vaccinated and Covid-19 tested cruise passengers were able to disembark in Denmark.
Even though cruiseship tourism was part of the gradual reopening of travel activities at the end of June, the separate requirement for 100 percent finalised vaccination for passengers meant that few ships have called the port in Copenhagen this summer. The news that the cruise ships are being placed on an equal footing with other forms of travel in relation to the general entry rules was greeted with enthusiasm by Copenhagen Malmo Port.
“We were obviously quite glad when cruise tourism was opened up in June. However, the exceptionally strict requirements which cruise tourism was subject to, have prevented Denmark from being able to get the industry back up and running. That is why we are very pleased to hear that the restrictions are being eased - and I would also like to thank the Danish authorities for their excellent cooperation on the restart. We will now make every effort to attract as many ships as possible, so that we once again can contribute to tourism in Copenhagen,” commented Barbara Scheel Agersnap, ceo Copenhagen Malmo Port.
In addition to the general entry rules, passengers are required to have a negative Covid-19 test before disembarking in Denmark, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated prior to this. The test must be no older than 48 hours if it is an antigen test or 72 hours if it is a PCR test. This is a task that can be dealt with on board the ships which have the capacity for testing.
