Cruise getaways are back on! No10 gives green light for voyages to restart from August

Cruise getaways are back on the cards from next month, ministers revealed today.

No10 has given Britons the green light to again board ships bound for or returning from ports outside the UK. 

It is recommended that all passengers are double-vaccinated, and most operators will not allow people on to ships unless they have got both doses.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said international cruises would be allowed to re-start from August 2. 

The cruise industry has been linked to a string of Covid outbreaks since the pandemic began.

One cluster on the Diamond Princess at the start of the pandemic led to the ship being quarantined off the coast of Japan for weeks.

Cruise ships have been allowed to take passengers on around-Britain tours so far this year, but these have also sparked Covid cases.

A ‘small number’ of crew members tested positive for the virus on a ship moored off the Dorset coast at the start of this month. It was a fortnight before the ship was due to set off.

Mr Shapps said ministers had decided to allow foreign cruises to restart after reviewing ‘epidemiological evidence’. 

He said: ‘We will of course continue to be guided by the latest scientific data.

‘But thanks to our world-leading domestic vaccination programme, we’re able to look to the future and start to rebuild key transatlantic routes with the US while further cementing ties with our European neighbours.’