The organisation held a media call following the optimistic news of a planned return to domestic sailings on May 17.
Following the government's announcement that UK cruise lines will be able to restart domestic sailings, as part of the staged re-opening of the economy, CLIA held a media conference to discuss the encouraging news.
A notable point of discussion raised throughout the conference was the anticipated amount of pent-up demand UK customers have accrued for 'staycation' style cruises. In the context of the British travel market, this trend looks to appeal to a range of clients who have not experienced a cruise before, as well as those who have not been able to experience a holiday, domestically or abroad, for a while.
Vice president of Princess Cruises, UK & Europe, Tony Roberts, elaborated: "The feedback we're getting is that there is so much pent-up demand for cruises. With these UK cruises I genuinely believe that we will offer a staycation like no other. There really is a huge effort within the industry to be really well prepared for where we are now, with detailed plans and protocols.
"The government announcement earlier this week was hugely welcome, and it's time to start putting some of these plans into action in the UK market. There is a push towards a phased return to cruising; the first phase is for residents travelling from the UK to sail to UK ports. While this seems like the right way for us to start, its also about helping to create a body of evidence that plans and protocols currently in place are effective. This will help us to return to international sailings all over the world. All of this gives us huge confidence with these return to service plans."
Another frequent topic of conversation amongt CLIA members throughout the conference was the aim of mitigating risks, while ensuring travellers have a fantastic cruise experience - a feat the industry is having to balance, given the current climate.
Bud Darr, group executive vice president, MSC Group, explained: "How can we restart our operations while mitigating the risks? Internally, for example, we established a blue ribbon panel of experts to advise us. We also have an outside consultancy to help us think through protocols and make sure that we're on the right track. We knew we were going to be one of the companies that started earlier, rather than later..."
"Universal testing during pre-embarkation is one of our protocols, along with social distancing and preventative measures, and one last key element; a social-bubble type of shore excursion, where we only pick shore excursion operators that are prepared to implement and follow protocols that follow an equivalent level of safety to what we are offering on-board our ships."
