Passengers gathered for a recent departure. “Cruise with confidence,” says the World Dream’s website, which highlights the ventilation systems (“100 percent external fresh air”) and food hygiene practices. Swimmers must do the same — the main pool allows 26 swimmers at a time, and they can swim for only an hour. Web design by Yu Sheng & Yu Siang. Your mask!”. A group of elderly women, wearing masks, shuffled tiles. Hand sanitizer stations stood within easy reach of the slot machines. Millions of Indonesian parents abandoned a measles vaccine in 2018 when it was declared haram. Robert Bodin with his deck officers aboard the World Dream. There will also be a heating, ventilation and air condition (HVAC) system that will continuously supply 100 per cent fresh, filtered air from outdoors to all indoor spaces. One can either choose to spend two, three or four-night packages aboard the Quantum of the Seas. Cruise companies may soon be allowed to launch “cruise to nowhere” trips from Singapore, as the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is developing a health and safety framework to restart these sailings. Governments banned cruises, crews were sent home, and passengers canceled their bookings, idling an industry that employed more than one million people. “It’s just perfect.”. “It’s been ages since I traveled!” said Doris Yeo, a sales assistant and a cruise aficionado, who was laughing with nine other people, mostly family, spread across two restaurant tables. The different statesroom to choose from include the Balcony: Guests are required to put on a mask except when dining and engaging in sports activities. It was not as invasive as the long swabs used for what are known as PCR tests, the standard way of detecting the coronavirus. In addition, two doctors including an infection control officer and isolated wards will be available in the medical centre. Dream Cruises just had its first "cruise to nowhere," a voyage that started and ended in Singapore, with no stops in between. Friends and colleagues wondered why I would want to go on what some of them called “a floating petri dish.” Their fears weren’t baseless. Dozens of gray-haired passengers sat at the rows of slot machines, also three feet apart. Antigen tests are easy to administer to large groups of people, but experts warn that they may not catch everyone who is infected. With a bit of planning, Raymond Lim and his wife managed to swim, hit the Jacuzzi and take ballroom and line-dancing classes. And despite having our mini-getaway cut from four to three days, there was still loads that went on before disembarking. According to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), these pilot cruises will be: To provide assurance for safe cruising, STB is also developing a mandatory CruiseSafe certification programme that sets out stringent hygiene and safety measures. The last night of the cruise, I attended the Dream Boys male burlesque show in a Chinese restaurant. A drag queen wearing a blond wig, a fur stole and a sequined dress sang “Santa Baby” to a group of Santa Clauses. The voyages – starting and ending at the city-state with no stops – started last month, marking the resumption of cruises after a months-long hiatus due to travel restrictions. (“Quite fun.”) He also took a class on how to paint on pebbles. SINGAPORE - Two cruise lines have been given the green light to offer "cruises to nowhere" from Singapore starting in November, following the development of a … On Oct. 8, it was announced that cruises to nowhere from Singapore will start in November 2020. The Singapore Tourism Board has now issued new guidelines for cruises through their mandatory CruiseSafe certification program, which requires that boats sail at 50% capacity or lower and embark on a round-trip journey with no ports of call. The cruise operator will be covering the cost for Covid-19 tests for sailings departing on or before Jan. 30, 2021. A cough would make me wonder whether the woman two tables down from me was a germ vector. The World Dream’s departure and destination spot: Singapore. Singapore, along with several countries in Europe as well as Japan, has extended the cruise business a lifeline. Two or three times a week, the World Dream sets sail on a cruise to nowhere. Regina Setar, 38, a part-time security guard, said she studied the measures before accompanying her 70-year-old mother on board. Breakfast on the final day of a recent cruise. Royal Caribbean Singapore - Cruise with the Best Cruise Line 17 years running! Probably the biggest reason I felt safe on the cruise was that, when I boarded the ship, Singapore had gone seven straight days without any coronavirus cases. The different statesroom to choose from includes the Ocean View: In a statement by Royal Caribbean Cruise, they shared that the cruise operator will be implementing a comprehensive set of health and safety measures. As many ships sit idle around the world, the city-state has encouraged voyages on a limited and highly controlled basis. The Singapore Cruise Centre sits near famous Sentosa Island, an entertainment complex that includes high-end restaurants and well-manicured beaches, so you might consider arriving an hour or two early to enjoy some time here before your cruise from Singapore. Yes, we were on that cruise. So far, the coronavirus outbreak has sickened more than 106 million people globally. Bookings for Royal Caribbean, which is preparing to sail from Singapore this month, were six times higher than the company would normally get in October, the cruise line said. Instead of Hong Kong, Okinawa or another sunny destination, the ship would dock nowhere but Singapore. | Members of a service crew at one of the World Dream’s restaurants. From November 6th onwards, passengers will be welcomed aboard the World Dream under Genting Cruise Lines' Dream Cruises. Most major cruise lines in the United States have announced that they will not resume operations until 2021. The cruises, for Singapore residents only, will sail on 3- and 4-night Ocean Getaways on board Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas. More than two million people have died. Almost all passengers comply, “but there’s always that 1 percent,” said Zulkifli bin Ibrahim, a cruise ambassador. And in a vision of the future of the global cruise industry, passengers aboard the World Dream cruise liner wore small pink contact-tracing pods that monitored their locations and recorded the names of everybody they met with. “We aboard the World Dream are doing our utmost to keep your cruise with us healthy,” Robert Bodin, the ship’s captain, told his 1,400 passengers as they set sail, in a departure from his usual invitation to relax and enjoy the journey. Singapore requires passengers take a coronavirus test before boarding. “When I look at what they are doing,” Dr. Ryan said, “they are effectively creating a reasonable bubble.”. Genting Cruise Lines' Dream Cruises will start sailing from Nov. 6 onwards. October 09, 2020, 04:42 PM. A Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd ship turned back to Singapore after a suspected Covid-19 case was identified on board on Wednesday. Pope Francis visits Iraq amid a new surge in cases there. The cruise will set sail from Singapore, make its way through the Straits of Malacca before returning to Singapore. Some of the things one can expect to do on the cruise include a virtual reality experience at Esc Experience Lab where one can play games using racing simulators and arcade machines. Move over, flights to nowhere -- cruises to nowhere may be the next big thing in Covid-safe travel. Guests who book the cruise before Nov. 30 will also be extended with its Cruise with Confidence Programme which allows for changes and cancellation of up to 48 hours before the cruise begins. If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Telegram to get the latest updates. The dancers’ routines — a military display with presumably fake weaponry, and another performance with captain’s hats and not much else — were met with catcalls, barely muffled even by masks. You might have caught the news of the Cruise to Nowhere that returned early because of a suspected Covid-19 case. I had to take a rapid antigen test, administered by a medical worker gently flicking a short swab around my nostrils. One of the two pools. There were several tables for mahjong. The masked audience hooted and hollered. That means socially distanced buffet lines, electronic monitoring and hand sanitizer at the slot machines. My father would kill me if anything happened.”. In February, the world watched in horror as the coronavirus infected more than 200 people aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, trapping its 3,600 passengers and crew. Cruise to Nowhere: Genting Cruise Line vs Royal Caribbean Prices. Singapore has encouraged voyages on a limited and highly controlled basis. a Caribbean liner from Barbados was forced to turn back. In a bid to boost the ailing tourism sector, the Singapore government is sanctioning cruises to nowhere for its residents, during which they will be confined to their ship for the entire time.