GEORGE TOWN: Genting Cruise Lines today achieved a new milestone with Star Cruises as Star Pisces set sail on its maiden journey from Penang since a hiatus due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.
The milestone marked the start of the recovery of the domestic and regional cruise and travel industry.
As the first sailing operating under the new norm of safety and preventive measures in Malaysia, embarking guests were introduced to a series of enhanced precautionary measures to safeguard guests and crew, as well as to provide a worry-free vacation experience.
These included the mandatory requirement for all guests and crew to be fully vaccinated and undergo a series of health screening with the ship operating at 50 per cent of the passenger capacity.
Genting Cruise Lines vice-president of sales Cynthia Lee said they were off to a positive and exciting start as they kicked off today's first sailing with Star Pisces from Penang, introducing new holiday options and experiences for Malaysians, including the one-night Straits of Malacca cruise and the two-night Langkawi Escape cruise.
"We are taking the necessary steps to educate consumers on how cruising has evolved to operate in a new norm with layers of safety measures and the application of new safety equipment, making it one of the safest way to travel and enjoy a vacation.
"With our cruise vacations offering value for money packages, our two-night Langkawi Escape for Dec 26 and Dec 28 are already almost sold out based on the permitted capacity limit.
"As such, we are optimistic that the demand momentum will continue to be strong in 2022," she said.
Genting Cruise Lines has been a pioneer in demonstrating safe cruises in the region since the start of the global pandemic and aims to increase its footprint of safe cruises in Malaysia and across the region.
Genting Cruise Lines is actively in discussion with various authorities from different countries, including Malaysia, to develop a "Harmonize Cruising Standards" for the region.
This will create new opportunities to open international cruising in a controlled and safe manner across the participating countries such as creating Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) for cruise passengers.
Also, it will enable Genting Cruise Lines to further spur the growth of the tourism sector with the gradual re-introduction of inbound tourists to Malaysia from its cruise ships homeported in neighbouring countries and through the expansion of new itineraries in Malaysia and the region such as to Phuket and Medan in the near future.