Awarded on August 24, Silversea’s ultra-luxury Silver Spirit has become the first ultra-luxury cruise ship to sail with a Maritime Infection Prevention Certificate (CIP-M) from DNV GL, the world’s leading classification society. Silversea’s certification demonstrates the cruise line’s commitment to enhancing its onboard health and safety protocols to further protect the health, safety, and well-being of its guests and crew.
The CIP-M program is based on DNV GL Healthcare's expertise in infection risk management. Drawing on the experience gained from over 4,000 audits in more than 640 hospitals worldwide, experts from DNV GL Maritime's Cruise Center in Miami, along with leading medical professionals, adapted the existing infection prevention program for hospitals to meet the needs of shipowners and operators. The certification is based on a unique combination of maritime technical knowledge and infection prevention expertise and is the most comprehensive infection prevention certification available in the maritime industry.
“We are proud to become the first ultra-luxury cruise line to achieve Infection Prevention at Sea certification, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to protecting the health, safety, and well-being of our guests, crew, and the destinations we visit,” says Roberto Martinoli, President and CEO of Silversea. “Informed by the work of Royal Caribbean Group’s Healthy Sailing Panel, we are working diligently to enhance our already exceptional onboard health and safety procedures. Beginning with Silver Spirit, we will continue working with DNV GL to achieve certification across the rest of our fleet to provide the safest possible conditions for our safe return to sailing, when the time is right to do so.”.
Silver Spirit's new three-year certification is tailored to the vessel and was awarded following a thorough 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. Areas of focus for the audits included:
- The cruise line's COVID-19 outbreak response and prevention plan,
- leadership in infection prevention and communication flow,
- medical equipment management,
- and infection risk management processes.
“We are pleased to award Silversea our Maritime Certification in Infection Prevention (CIP-M), which was developed as a comprehensive solution to the prolonged pressures facing the maritime and cruise industries,” says Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, CEO of DNV GL – Maritime. “As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create a high level of public concern about maintaining health and safety on board cruise ships, we hope our new certification will serve the dual purpose of helping to build confidence among passengers and crew while also improving the cruise industry’s HSE standards.”.
Through annual onboard surveys and onshore audits of the company, DNV GL verifies that a company maintains a detailed operational plan in compliance with CIP-M requirements. By integrating specific maritime standards, such as the US CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP), DNV GL's teams of healthcare experts conduct the certification surveys in conjunction with experienced maritime auditors, resulting in an unparalleled experience.
