Genting Cruise Lines restarted sailings in Taiwan with Explorer Dream ship on December 31 after the halt due to the COVID outbreak in May 2021.
Upon restart, Explorer Dream again welcomed guests on 2- and 3-night Super Seacations from the port of Keelung (Taipei City) to domestic destinations like Anping, Hualien, and Kaohsiung.
All 157 passengers and crew members aboard the ship tested negative for COVID and were free to disembark, the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Keelung Hospital announced.
Dream Cruises' Explorer Dream left Keelung on Friday, December 31, for the ship's first sailing since May - a 2-night roundtrip voyage to Hualien County (eastern Taiwan) to celebrate the New Year.
Before boarding, all guests were required to have been fully vaccinated against COVID for at least 14 days and also had to provide a negative PCR COVID test result with a test specimen collected 48 hours prior to the departure date.
Explorer Dream has a professional medical team that consists of a doctor and 5 other personnel onboard, with backup support from a total of 26 hospitals under the health ministry, Keelung Hospital revealed in a statement.
The ship is equipped with negative-pressure isolation wards and 8 PCR testing machines, including 6 newly added VitaPCR PCR Instruments able to check for infectious diseases like COVID within 20 minutes.
One of the first cruise vessels to restart service in Taiwan, Explorer Dream has recorded no COVID-related accidents to date.