Silversea has become the first luxury cruise line in the world to receive certification in infection prevention for maritime (CIP-M) from the world’s largest ship classification society, DNV GL.

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The classification was awarded this week to Silver Spirit and is renewable after three years.

The CIP-M program is built on DNV GL Healthcare’s expertise in infection risk management, using experience from over 4,000 audits in more than 640 hospitals worldwide.

Experts from DNV GL Maritime’s Cruise Center in Miami and leading medical professionals, tailored the existing infection prevention program for hospitals to meet the needs of shipowners and operators.

“We are proud to become the first ultra-luxury cruise line to gain the certification in infection prevention for maritime, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of our guests, crew and the destinations we visit,” said Roberto Martinoli, Silversea’s President and CEO.

“Informed by the work of the Royal Caribbean Group’s Healthy Sail Panel, we are working hard to enhance our already exceptional sanitation procedures on board,” he added (Silversea was recently acquired in full by Royal Caribbean Cruises).

Silversea is now working to gain classification fleet wide, according to Martinoli.

Silversea plans to roll out the certification fleet wide (Silver Muse at sea)

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“Beginning with Silver Spirit, we will continue to work with DNV GL to gain certification across the rest of our fleet to provide the safest possible conditions for our healthy return to sailing, when the time is right to do so,” he said.

Silver Spirit’s new three-year certification is tailored to the ship and has been awarded following a close audit of all aspects of operations. After an initial company audit that concluded on August 5, a comprehensive onboard survey was completed on August 14, 2020.

Focus areas of the audits included:
• The cruise line’s COVID-19 outbreak prevention and response plan,
• infection prevention leadership and communication flow,
• medical equipment management,
• and infection risk management processes.

“We are pleased to award Silversea our Certification in Infection Prevention (CIP-M) for Maritime, which was developed as a holistic solution to the protracted pressures facing the maritime and cruise industries,” said Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, CEO of DNV GL – Maritime.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create a high level of public concern about the maintenance of health and safety on board cruise ships, we hope that our new certification will serve the dual purpose of helping to build passenger and crew confidence while also enhancing the cruise industry’s HSE standards,” he added.