Advice for the cruise industry
The following advice provides health risk mitigation measures specific to NSW for all cruise vessels intending to enter or leave a NSW port.
Testing
All crew and passengers should monitor carefully for symptoms of COVID-19, influenza and other respiratory viruses throughout their cruise.
If symptoms develop, people should be tested for COVID-19, influenza and other respiratory viruses.
People who are unwell or test positive to COVID-19 or influenza (flu)
It is strongly recommended that people who have tested positive to COVID-19 or flu or have acute respiratory or gastroenteritis (gastro) symptoms:
- stay in their cabin until they are well
- wear a mask, practice good hand hygiene, and avoid crowded spaces if they must leave their cabin.
People should be told about their potential to infect others. They should be given NSW Health advice for COVID-19, flu, other respiratory viruses, and gastro.
Reporting
All domestic and international cruise vessels travelling to a NSW port should follow the AHPPC national approach to cruise ship reporting as outlined below.
Vessels should:
- maintain an accurate manifest that includes personal contact details (such as email addresses and phone numbers) for contacting all passengers and disembarking crew after the cruise if necessary
- provide this information within 4 hours to NSW Health (send to NSWH-MaritimeResponse@health.nsw.gov.au) when requested, and
- retain this information for a minimum of 30 days.
All domestic and international cruise voyages terminating in NSW should report any gastro, COVID-19, flu and other acute respiratory infections to NSW Health. Download and complete the Cruise Vessel Routine Reporting Table in the Excel template (XLSX 27.87KB) and send to NSWH-MaritimeResponse@health.nsw.gov.au at the following times:
- 12 to 24 hours prior to end of voyage. Vessels arriving in NSW from an international port must also complete the required Australian Government documentation within the indicated timeframes.
- On transition to ‘Level 2’ as defined in Table 1.
- On entering NSW jurisdictional waters where a ‘Level 2’ activity level was reported in the previous jurisdiction and maintained on entering NSW.
After receiving the Cruise Vessel Reporting Table, NSW Health will make contact with the shipping agent, master of the vessel, or the ship’s doctor if needed. This may include a request for additional line list reporting of cases to be submitted through the Expanded cruise vessel reporting template for acute respiratory and gastrointestinal infection (XLSX 1.19MB) or through the vessel’s SeaCare reporting system if available, for further assessment.
NSW Health may recommend further risk mitigation measures in addition to those introduced by the vessel. This will depend on the status of the outbreak on board the vessel, and whether there is a new or emerging public health or clinical risk identified.
Cruise operators should also contact NSW Health for any concerns regarding communicable diseases (e.g. outbreaks of illness of unknown cause, high rates of severe disease/requirements for medical evacuation, and/or operational compromise due to illness in crew). Operators should do this regardless of the above criteria being met.
Table 1 – Outbreak thresholds for acute gastroenteritis, COVID-19, and other acute respiratory infections (ARI) for reporting purposes
All reporting times are in Australian Eastern Daylight-saving Time (AEDT).
These are in addition to mandatory reporting through the Biosecurity Act 2015.
| Activity level | Threshold | Reporting |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 0.0% to <3%1 of acute respiratory infections2 or acute gastroenteritis | Complete the cruise reporting template within 12 to 24 hours of arrival (includes if 0 cases). |
| Level 2 | ≥3% of acute respiratory infections or acute gastroenteritis For smaller vessels of fewer than 150 people on board, reporting should occur if increasing numbers of people are being affected. | Upon reaching threshold of 3% as soon as practicable |
[1] This percentage refers to the cumulative attack rate over the last 21 days or voyage duration (whichever is shorter) of passengers and/or crew with any of COVID-19, influenza, acute respiratory infection (ARI) or acute gastroenteritis (AGE) individually, out of the total people on board the vessel.
[2] Acute respiratory infection (ARI) refers to the presence of respiratory illness symptoms (runny nose, cough, fever) irrespective of any test result.
Safety policies and procedures
The cruise vessel’s safety policies and procedures should address all elements of the passenger and crew experience.
This should include, but is not limited to:
- Encouraging influenza and COVID-19 vaccination of passengers and crew according to ATAGI recommendations
- Access to infectious diseases (including COVID-19 and influenza) testing for passengers and crew
- Isolation of crew and passengers with infectious diseases while on board the vessel
- Management of embarkation, disembarkation and shore excursions to minimise the risk of transmission of infectious diseases
- Maintaining accurate logs of symptomatic passengers and crew, and of any causative organisms identified.
Downloadable files
- Cruise vessel routine reporting table (Excel template) (XLSX 27.87KB) – To be used for routine reporting of acute respiratory or gastrointestinal illness onboard a vessel.
- Expanded cruise vessel reporting template for acute respiratory and gastrointestinal infection (XLSX 1.19MB) – full line list to be downloaded and completed at the direction of NSW Health.