MSC Seaside **
Time travelled: End of September 2021
The corona epidemic has hit many businesses in the hospitality sector, drastically decimating businesses dependent on visiting and staying guests to make revenue. One of these industries is the cruise ship industry, as cramming 4.000-6.000 guests onto a ship spells trouble with any communicable disease on board, but especially with Covid-19.
Subsequently, cruise lines have had to double up on security protocol, imposing restrictions that might turn many tourists to other destinations. These include accepting only vaccinated or recovered guests, imposing strict masks-only rules and restricting going on-shore to (paid) trips organised by the cruise line. One would think that the management has had quite a bit of time to work on solving these requirements, optimising them for efficiency and low nuisance factor. Unfortunately, at MSC, this isn’t the case.