Up next in 10
7 CRUISE UPDATES TO CELEBRATE? MOSTLY! July Restart? CDC USA Progress? FCC? Vaccines? & More
Jan 28, 2025
In this packed Tips For Travellers cruise update, I discuss the big cruising updates and cruise news that mostly gives cruisers something to celebrate and welcome.
I explore the latest cruise updates on the CDC No-Sail order confusion, CLIA leadership and what it means, Future Cruise Credit changes, Azamara, Cruise resumption and why the money is on July, and latest on testing and vaccinations
CDC USA Ships Progress Tracker: http://bit.ly/CDCList
The up-to-date dates cruise lines hope to resume sailing: http://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruise-line-cancellations
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0:00
in this packed episode i reveal six new
0:03
updates
0:03
that should give cruz fans like you and
0:06
me something to celebrate although
0:08
unfortunately there is some bad news in
0:10
here
0:11
to come later on so get ready to hear
0:13
about why the u.s
0:15
state department admits they got it
0:16
wrong on cruising
0:18
why scores of ships are piling back into
0:20
the u.s and what's happening
0:22
new cruisers sailing with passengers
0:24
changes in future cruise credits the
0:26
worst kept secret in
0:28
cruising was exposed this week and in
0:30
troubling news
0:31
why july looks like the month that
0:34
cruise lines
0:34
and ports actually think cruising will
0:37
really return
0:38
so first off the good news the centers
0:40
for disease control
0:42
and prevention which we all know of
0:43
course as the cdc
0:45
they have not put a no-cell ban on
0:47
cruising
0:48
to september 2021 despite the u.s state
0:52
department
0:52
saying they had the confusion began
0:56
not long ago when the state department
0:58
updated their travel advice
1:00
site travel.state.gov this happened when
1:03
the new administration was sworn in and
1:05
it said and i'm going to quote here
1:07
the cdc has extended its no sell order
1:10
for all cruise ships through
1:12
september after being challenged and a
1:14
bit of to and fro the state department
1:16
and the cdc confirmed this was totally
1:19
incorrect
1:20
the framework for conditional sailing
1:22
which was issued in october that many of
1:24
you are familiar with
1:25
it lays out the stages to go through to
1:26
resume selling in out of the us
1:28
it's still in place it has not and there
1:30
are no plans
1:31
to replace it with any no sale order so
1:34
that's good news that that's been
1:36
confirmed now linked to that
1:37
the great news is there are now at the
1:40
time of recording
1:41
a massive 66 ships back in u.s waters
1:45
actively working with the cdc through
1:47
that framework
1:48
now before this framework was actually
1:50
put in place
1:51
there were only around 20 ships in u.s
1:54
waters so there's been a really
1:56
big and significant change now i've
1:58
taken a look at
1:59
the latest data on who is most engaged
2:02
right now
2:02
in the program and the framework with
2:05
the cdc
2:06
and i want to talk about that here it
2:08
shows that just
2:09
under half of the ships are carnival
2:11
corporation ships
2:12
with a total of 30 ships now back in the
2:14
us and working with the cdc
2:16
now this is a really big significant
2:18
ramp up in the last four weeks
2:20
as they had withdrawn all their ships
2:22
out of the u.s waters during the
2:23
lockdown
2:24
so which ships are involved so there's
2:26
16
2:27
carnival cruise line ships and more
2:30
including
2:30
their brand spanking new mardi gras is
2:33
due
2:34
there's seven princess cruises ships 600
2:36
america ships and one seaborne ship
2:38
the odyssey now royal caribbean lion has
2:41
17
2:42
ships and their sister line celebrity
2:44
has nine so again that has a lot of
2:46
engagement
2:47
the least engaged of the major groups is
2:50
the norwegian group
2:51
they have just three norwegian cruise
2:53
line ships
2:54
in u.s autism norwegian gem norwegian
2:56
jewel and pride of america and they have
2:58
one oceania ship
3:00
oceania regatta and one
3:03
big step they made as i record this
3:05
suggests they are taking a pessimistic
3:07
view
3:08
about the united states and also in fact
3:09
europe opening any time
3:11
soon the cruise website crewcenter.com
3:15
reported that norwegian has told the
3:16
over 000 crew that they're brought back
3:18
to re-cruise ships at the end of last
3:20
year
3:21
in hopes of returning to service they've
3:22
told them they're being put back on two
3:24
ships
3:24
that will sell them all back to their
3:26
homes in india the philippines
3:28
and indonesia the two ships that are
3:31
going to be used for this repatriation
3:33
are norwegian joy which is currently in
3:35
aruba they're going to gather crew from
3:37
ships stationed in the caribbean and the
3:39
other ship is norwegian encore
3:40
which is currently located near
3:42
southampton in the uk so definitely
3:44
something to watch now disney has three
3:46
of their four ships back and msc cruises
3:48
has two of them msc armonia and msc
3:51
mervilla both which are due to sell out
3:53
of miami
3:54
progress is being made too with 80
3:58
of those ships having successfully
4:00
passed the very very first stage
4:02
of the cdc framework which is focused on
4:05
a whole bunch of
4:05
covered protocols and different plans
4:07
for the crew and they have to do that
4:09
before they can move
4:10
on to any other stages now you can track
4:12
all of this progress on the cdc website
4:14
and importantly i think have a look and
4:16
see if the ship that you do to cruise on
4:18
out of the us anytime this year is in
4:20
the program or not because that could be
4:22
an early indication
4:24
on what the future likelihood of your
4:26
cruise may be
4:27
as a link to that page in the notes of
4:30
the episode
4:31
now in other current good new news
4:33
cruising has just as i record this
4:35
resumed after a break during the italian
4:37
lockdown
4:38
over december of course sailings are
4:41
still going on
4:42
in parts of the world mostly the canary
4:44
islands by the royal caribbean joint
4:46
venture
4:46
hapag lloyd hutu groton is still sailing
4:48
and has been in norway
4:50
dream cruises and royal caribbean
4:52
quantum of the seas
4:53
is still selling out of singapore and
4:55
there are other small sellings
4:56
in japan and taiwan but significantly
4:59
msc grandiosa
5:01
has resumed sailings from genoa they're
5:03
running seven night cruises
5:05
in the mediterranean and they include
5:08
stops in italy in greece and malta now
5:10
msc carried
5:11
over 30 000 passengers last year on
5:14
cruises between august and early
5:15
december when they had to shut down
5:17
for a period of time now ms c cruz's
5:19
return
5:20
is really important and good news
5:22
because they have definitely led the way
5:24
into finding all the protocols for the
5:26
cruise industry and they continue to do
5:28
so again with these
5:29
new sailings remember they were the
5:31
first major line to restart
5:33
mediterranean cruises
5:34
it was the first line that brought in
5:36
mandatory covert 19 swab tests
5:38
at invocation they had onboard
5:41
distancing dining changes
5:42
and they also created those controlled
5:44
cruise line only shore excursions that
5:46
little bubble
5:47
that went out on land now their success
5:50
and their methods
5:51
effectively became the industry
5:53
recommended protocols the ones that have
5:54
been recommended in the us the uk
5:56
and australia but what's important in
5:59
response to the changes that have
6:00
happened
6:01
in the last couple of months in the way
6:02
the countries manage borders where they
6:04
now require
6:05
everyone to have a curve at 19 negative
6:07
test on return to the country
6:09
msc are now testing all passengers on
6:11
board also during the cruise
6:13
before disembarkation to meet that
6:15
requirement so they're again
6:16
trialling and showing how this protocol
6:19
can be done and adapting
6:20
as things change so keeping an eye i
6:22
believe on their protocols
6:24
and how they adjust them and move them
6:26
is definitely worth doing
6:27
because their success is being used as a
6:30
test case for other countries
6:32
still deciding how and when to allow it
6:34
so really important and good news
6:36
they're selling again
6:37
so it also therefore struck me as really
6:38
really significant and probably
6:40
very intentional that the brand new
6:43
global chairman of clear that's the
6:45
cruise industry body representing all
6:47
the cruise lines
6:48
they've just announced their new
6:50
chairman and it's a european
6:51
for the very first time and that is the
6:54
man
6:55
behind msc cruises and all of these
6:57
protocols
6:58
and plans so it seems to me like really
7:01
significant
7:02
pierre francesco vargo he's the
7:04
executive chairman of msc cruisers he's
7:06
been appointed to a two-year term
7:07
as global chairman of clear now he
7:09
served as the ceo of msc cruises for 10
7:11
years
7:12
until 2013 before becoming the executive
7:15
chairman and this is where we've seen
7:16
huge changes in msc
7:18
i think it's really good news that the
7:20
chairman has the direct experience
7:22
and credibility of working with
7:24
governments their agencies
7:26
and of course cruisers and agents to get
7:28
cruising successfully returning
7:30
while of course meeting all and
7:32
addressing all the concerns of cruisers
7:34
everybody involved so i think that's a
7:36
really positive step
7:38
another great development announced in
7:40
recent days as i record this
7:41
is that lines are increasingly letting
7:43
cruisers combine
7:45
their future cruise credits against
7:47
payment of one
7:48
single booking now that's something that
7:50
i had not really realized you could not
7:51
do in most cases you couldn't combine
7:53
different future cruise credits against
7:55
one cruise so many alliance would
7:57
only let you apply one future cruise
7:59
credit certificate
8:00
towards one cruise but as cancellations
8:03
have continued and people are starting
8:04
to build up multiple credits
8:06
some of the lines have started to lift
8:08
and ease this restriction now the
8:10
biggest
8:11
announcement on this came from royal
8:13
caribbean
8:14
who recently announced that they will
8:16
now allow guests to combine
8:18
multiple future cruise credits towards
8:21
one
8:21
single reservation so i recommend you
8:25
check very carefully before you take
8:27
future cruise credits
8:28
for any more cruises canceled
8:30
particularly if you've already got
8:31
future cruise credits with one cruise
8:32
line to see
8:33
if your line allows us it's really
8:36
important because if you've got one or
8:37
more cruises cancelled with that line
8:39
and holding credits you need to know
8:40
that you can combine them if you need to
8:42
but of course it's really good to see
8:44
that lines are starting to add another
8:46
element of flexibility
8:47
or along with things like easier moving
8:49
of dates short to final balance payments
8:52
and importantly the ability to cancel
8:53
for future cruise credit up to 48 hours
8:56
before selling of course that timeline
8:57
depends a lot on the line
8:59
but you know before you had a lot of
9:02
risk with
9:02
booking and now there's lots of
9:04
flexibility so seeing this new
9:05
flexibility on future cruise credits
9:07
is another important thing but do check
9:09
what your line specific rules are
9:11
because they do differ
9:12
now as discussed in my last update
9:14
azamara is in the process of being
9:16
bought
9:16
by sycamore partners from the royal
9:19
caribbean group
9:20
now i mentioned when i spoke about it
9:22
that this could really be
9:24
an exciting time for fans of the line
9:26
because it stopped being what i think
9:28
was becoming a neglected sister in that
9:30
overall big group and it now has an
9:32
owner
9:33
who surely has bought it to invest and
9:35
build it now this was confirmed
9:36
with the news that they have bought
9:38
pacific princess
9:40
it's the same r-class type of ship as
9:42
the other three
9:43
as amara ships the ship will leave the
9:46
princess fleet and is going to undergo
9:48
a total refit and enter service in
9:50
europe in 2022 so it's great to see
9:53
a line that looks like it's going to
9:55
emerge from the shutdown
9:57
with new owners new ship new plans
10:00
and really energize rather than all
10:01
kinds of bad news we have about
10:03
disposals
10:04
and that kind of stuff so that is the
10:06
recent good news now let's talk about
10:07
some of the
10:08
less cheerful developments and what they
10:10
mean for you and i
10:11
as cruisers now first off as you already
10:14
know
10:15
most of sailings out of the u.s and
10:17
places like the uk
10:18
they've been blanket cancelled until may
10:21
although i think
10:22
we're all expecting the state is going
10:24
to drift further
10:26
and further back port canaveral has
10:28
added to this whole feeling
10:30
when in a recent financial update they
10:32
said they only expect
10:33
ships to start sailing from there in
10:35
july
10:36
and they're saying they expect only
10:37
three lines sailing just one ship
10:39
each and they expect a couple more ships
10:42
to be added in the months
10:43
after that but what's important to
10:45
notice behind these blanket restart
10:47
dates we're seeing
10:49
much more specifics of the kind of the
10:51
form that resumption is going to take
10:53
because in each of the announcements by
10:55
the lines they're getting much more
10:57
granular much more detailed
10:58
and in all the recent updates the lions
11:00
are starting to lay out
11:02
ship by ship restart dates and are
11:05
already delaying some of the ships well
11:07
into the end of the year
11:09
and some of them into 2022 so a good
11:11
example
11:12
of what i mean is carnival they'd
11:14
announced they were canceling to may but
11:16
they've now
11:16
done another announcement where they
11:19
talk
11:20
about some other changes so they talk
11:21
about carnival magic
11:23
paradise and valor they're cancelled to
11:25
the end of october
11:26
2021 carnival miracle sailings from san
11:29
diego are cancelled on the ship will now
11:31
be based in long beach
11:32
selling routes originally planned for
11:33
carnival radiance so you can see what i
11:35
mean
11:35
these very detailed specific ship by
11:38
ship
11:38
plans the ceos of all of the lines have
11:41
always
11:42
said that the return of cruising will be
11:44
staggered it won't be that big
11:45
bang date that we kind of all focus on
11:48
so expect future cancellations to have
11:51
more and more ship by ship detail
11:53
and changes and what you need to start
11:54
to do very carefully as these
11:56
announcements come out
11:57
is look at what very specifically is
12:00
named for your ship
12:01
don't focus on that big return date now
12:04
i've been asked a ton of questions
12:06
to update again on this particular topic
12:09
of vaccines now in the last update i
12:11
spoke about sarga cruz's decision
12:13
that all guests would have to be fully
12:15
vaccinated before
12:16
sailing with them and i've had loads of
12:19
questions but i think
12:20
i'm going to give you a couple of
12:21
headlines because i think there's four
12:22
important things
12:23
you need to know based on what our
12:25
research i've done and what i've
12:26
read number one no other line has made a
12:30
decision on vaccinations
12:31
either way yet although the lines have
12:34
all confirmed as i mentioned last time
12:36
it's been considered it's being looked
12:37
at now surveys
12:39
and studies show this is a really
12:40
popular move with most cruises the most
12:42
recent one
12:43
is cruise critic they had a poll of over
12:45
3000 people 81
12:47
supported a vaccination requirement the
12:50
second thing to note is most lines
12:52
have said they hope that all crew can be
12:54
vaccinated
12:55
irrespective of the decision to make on
12:57
passengers how they do that of course is
12:58
going to be a challenge
12:59
thirdly the vaccine requirement could
13:02
actually be out of the lines
13:04
hands and control there's a lot of
13:05
expectation building
13:07
that countries might require visitors to
13:09
be vaccinated to enter
13:11
so of course cruise lines will have to
13:12
do that some airlines are looking at
13:14
requiring it so people would need it
13:16
if they're going to fly to join cruises
13:18
the fourth thing is
13:19
testing will though still be part of the
13:21
protocols certainly until it's known if
13:23
vaccines stop
13:24
transmission so saga for example still
13:26
have testing even though they have that
13:27
vaccine requirement
13:28
i hope you found this latest update
13:30
interesting i have loads more
13:32
tips for travis packed full of cruising
13:34
updates and tips
13:35
so why not enjoy another one right now
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