The cruise industry has virtually ceased to exist during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cruise lines have canceled departures for most or all of the summer season, while many of the ships are anchored in or off various ports around the world (many of them are anchored near Manila, where onboard staff have been repatriated).
At least one cruise line has already announced that onboard buffets will be eliminated or drastically changed once operations resume, and that spurred many other ideas about how the industry might take advantage of the downtime to retool _ not just from a health and safety perspective but to address many of the concerns that have long been shared by those both within and outside of the cruising sphere.
From my own perspective, cruising is something of a seagoing paradox. The exciting highs of seagoing adventure and wonder at big-ship engineering are often counterbalanced by an unpleasantly circuslike atmosphere patently engineered for its run amok around the altars of spectacle, consumption and commerce.
Perhaps it's time for the cruise industry to reassess not only their health and safety standards in the wake of the new world that undoubtedly awaits travelers at the end of this pandemic, but also to reassess the industry's overall impact and direction in the future of the travel industry.
I have some hopes, in no particular order.
