After jointly conducting cruise ship tours to Taiwan’s outlying islands since late July, Dream Cruises and Lion Travel are cooperating to launch a round-Taiwan cruise next month, the companies said yesterday.
The tours — covering four to six days — are to depart from Keelung and feature stops in Tainan, Penghu County, Kaohsiung and Hualien, with the first trip embarking on Oct. 22.
At a news conference to announce the tours, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said that the cruises would allow travelers to visit some of the nation’s most spectacular sights without the trouble of arranging transportation and accommodation.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
People could also enjoy views of the nation’s coast from a rare perspective, Lin said.
In July, Taiwan became the first country in the world to restart cruises since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the companies’ first island-hopping tour embarked on July 26.
So far, 12 tours have been completed, taking 18,000 passengers to the nation’s outlying islands of Penghu, Matsu and Kinmen, Lin said.
COVID-19 prevention measures, including regular disinfection of all the ships’ facilities and social distancing, would also be implemented on the cruises, said Liu Hsiao-ning (劉曉寧), vice president of Genting Cruise Lines, Dream Cruises’ holding company.
In related news, budget airline Scoot yesterday announced that it would resume services between Kaohsiung and Singapore, as well as Kaohsiung and Osaka, Japan, with one weekly flight on each route starting on Sept. 19.
The announcement came as the Singaporean carrier gradually resumes its scheduled services after disruption caused by the pandemic, including flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Singapore in July, and flights between Taoyuan and Seoul last month.
Scoot said that the flights from the two Taiwanese cities would also connect passengers to flights to further destinations via Singapore.
To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the company would measure the temperature of all passengers before boarding and require them to wear masks throughout the flights, the company said.
Members of the flight crew would every 20 minutes disinfect onboard lavatories, Scoot said, adding that it would perform extra hygiene measures after each flight.
To comply with international aviation health safety protocols, passengers must submit health reports to the airline prior to boarding, the carrier said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS