Holyrood last Wednesday (9 June 2021) banned the Italian cruise liner MSC Virtuosa from visiting Greenock, outside Glasgow, hours before she was due to arrive.  On board were 1,000 passengers, all British, who had embarked at Southampton.  All had met the cruise line’s stringent embarkation requirements regarding the pandemic.

The port is currently level 1 in the Scottish lockdown system which means cafés, pubs and restaurants can open for business plus gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools, tourist accommodation and all visitor attractions.

Scottish passengers were due to join the cruise in Greenock and an anticipated third of the current holidaymakers were expected to go ashore for excursions.

Joanne Dooey, President of The Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association (SPAA) said: “We’re now facing the situation where Scottish passengers who joined the cruise in Liverpool are barred from setting foot in their own country.  The Scottish Government has effectively closed the country’s borders to anything other than road travel. The irony is that any of these passengers can get in a car and drive from Southampton (or anywhere else in England or Wales) to Inverclyde (Greenock) with no testing, border control or vaccinations.”

Jacqueline Dobson, President of Barrhead Travel, Glasgow, said: “It is unsustainable for the Scottish Government to continue to make announcements without constructive consultation with key industry partners when these decisions have such a profound impact on business.”

Virtuosa was forced to nightstop at Liverpool and is now back at Southampton (as of Friday morning 11 June) and will depart Saturday on a three night cruise to Merseyside and a further nine night "seavacation" before returning to Southampton.  Scotland is not now in MSC’s itinerary for the current series of UK port visits.

www.msccruises.com

www.spaa.org