The cruise ship industry docked throughout the pandemic. Over 130 cruises set for San Diego were canceled in 2020. To help get cruises sailing again, today the Port of San Diego partnered with Sharp HealthCare to vaccinate the crews of three cruise ships.
Over two days, approximately 400 crew members from one Princess Cruises ship and two Holland America Line ships will receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, some in port and some at sea.
The operation started this morning with the crew from Holland America's Koningsdam, who received their vaccines at the B Street Pier & Cruise Ship Terminal.
Koningsdam Captain Henk Draper said he was excited to "get back in doing what we do best, which is giving our guests a memorable cruise vacation."
Port of San Diego Commissioner Rafael Castellanos said, “This is a major step to opening up this industry and it’s an incredibly important industry for the port of San Diego and the San Diego region.”
Normally, the cruise industry generates over $280 million dollars for the local economy.
San Diego is the third busiest cruise port in California and Castellanos noted the industry “creates thousands of good jobs in the restaurant, lodging, transportation industries, longshore workers, working waterfront workers.”
Executing a vaccination event like this one was a team effort. The Port of San Diego coordinated with the local, state and federal partners.
“As of this morning, we have vaccinated approximately 542,000 San Diegans,” said Sharp Healthcare Executive Vice President and COO Brett McClain.
"We are transitioning and pivoting from the work that we’re doing in our vaccination sites to partnering with community industry as well as agencies to be able to bring vaccinations to the places that people work,” McClain said.
That includes those working on ships anchored off Coronado. Today Sharp Healthcare personnel headed out on boats to vaccinate the crew of the Royal Princess. Tomorrow, they will sail out to the Noordam to vaccinate that crew.
