Hilo has started to see the return of cruise ships with two ships porting in Hilo Harbor this past week and three more ships will be porting in Hilo in the next ten-days, despite the fact that the Big Island of Hawaii has reported a record 834 new COVID cases today.
It was reported by a Hilo resident that they saw 650 tourists from the ships at Richardsons Beach on Tuesday, Jan. 11 and 278 on Monday, Jan. 17.
These three cruise ships are going to port at Hilo Harbor between Friday, Jan. 21 and Wednesday, Jan. 26. and each of the cruises are in what the CDC states as a Voyage Status listed as Restricted.
Voyage status is determined by the cruise ship operator’s current CDC approved voyage request or application:
- Request for Approval to Conduct a Simulated Voyage Prior to Issuance of COVID-19 Conditional Sailing Certificate
- Application for a CDC COVID-19 Conditional Sailing Certificate
The maximum amount of passengers each cruise ship can carry is listed above, however, most ships are running way below capacity.
The CDC has listed has listed all three cruises ship color status as yellow.
This is what the CDC lists as Yellow Ship Criteria:
- Ship is at or above CDC’s investigation threshold:
- Restricted Voyages:
- Cases reported in 0.10% or more of passengers (e.g., if 6500* passengers on board, CDC’s investigation threshold is met if there are 7 or more cases among passengers occurring during the previous 7 days), or
- This percentage includes passenger cases occurring within 5 days of disembarkation that CDC was notified of by state or local health departments.
- One or more cases reported in crew.
- Cases reported in 0.10% or more of passengers (e.g., if 6500* passengers on board, CDC’s investigation threshold is met if there are 7 or more cases among passengers occurring during the previous 7 days), or
- Simulated Voyages:
- Cases reported in 1.5% or more of passengers, or
- Cases reported in 1.0% or more of crew.
- Ships with Crew Only (i.e., not yet submitted requests for simulated voyages or applications for restricted voyages, pending CDC approval, or sailing at a later date).
- Cases reported in 1.0% or more of crew.
- Restricted Voyages:
- OR
- During the past 7 days, the ship failed to submit one or more daily EDC submissions on time (by 1200 ET). On a weekly basis, CDC emails all ships a reminder to submit the EDC form. In addition, CDC sends a reminder email if a ship does not submit their EDC form.
*The largest cruise ships can carry up to 6500 passengers on board.
Are we ready for this?