Up next in 10
Many travellers, including me, are looking forward to getting back to cruising when it is safe to do so. Lots are looking at 2021 as the key time to return to cruising and looking at booking 2021 cruises now, so they have something to look forward to. However, as I looked at and thought about booking a cruise in 2021, I had at least 7 reasons to pause and delay booking a cruise in 2021 right at this moment. In this I explore those watch-outs and things to consider before you book 2021 cruises. So, while planning what you want to do (possibly using my video on the cruises to consider for your return to cruising https://youtu.be/srqQ4upSv4k ) you may want to pause before making that booking.
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Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 77 cruises at time of making this video.
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0:00
you're about to discover seven reasons
0:01
you should seriously hold and reconsider
0:05
booking your 2021 cruise right now I'm
0:09
Gary beverage this is another of my
0:11
cruising tips for travelers lots of
0:13
people are getting very excited
0:15
enthusiastic about booking a cruise in
0:17
2021 as 2020 looks increasingly
0:20
difficult for cruising so they want some
0:22
certainty they want something to look
0:23
forward however there are seven things
0:26
that I think you need to really think
0:27
about and caution yourself before you
0:30
rush into booking cruises in 2021
0:32
starting with this one we don't really
0:35
know how many cruise lines will actually
0:37
survive into next year that might sound
0:41
a little bit gloomy however it's very
0:43
likely that cruising is going to
0:45
struggle to start in 2020 or maybe
0:47
seriously delayed for all sorts of
0:50
reasons with new rulings from the CDC in
0:51
the u.s. lots of ports closed in Canada
0:54
Australia lots of international travel
0:56
bans look like the same place towards
0:58
the end of the year getting crew back
1:00
onto ships once they want to restart so
1:02
2020 is looking really tough and we just
1:05
don't know which cruise lines and how
1:07
many cruise lines will survive so there
1:08
is always a risk if you book your 2021
1:11
cruise some cruise lines don't survive
1:13
this and you end up losing your money in
1:17
911 which had a much shorter period
1:19
before travels restart it again a number
1:22
of small independent cruise lines did
1:25
actually go out of service so really you
1:27
need to think very carefully which
1:29
Cruise Line and whether you want to
1:31
commit right now until it's much clearer
1:33
who is surviving into 2021 the really
1:37
big cruise line groups the Carnival
1:40
Corporation which includes obviously
1:42
Carnival Cruise Lines Hollow America
1:43
Princess Seabourn Aida and whole bunch
1:46
of other cruise lines including Cunard
1:48
you then got Royal Caribbean which
1:50
includes of course Royal Caribbean
1:51
celebrity Azamara you've got Norwegian
1:53
which is Norwegian Cruise Line and also
1:56
includes Oceania and region 7c those are
1:58
very quite a lot of money in the market
1:59
and actually are funding themselves and
2:02
having liquidity which takes them for at
2:04
least towards the end of the year and
2:06
into next year so those groups may
2:08
survive however the longer that the
2:10
shutdown goes we just don't know how
2:11
many
2:12
Bran's there will be how many cruise
2:14
lines will survive so really you need to
2:16
think really carefully because it's not
2:17
business as usual there's an enormous
2:19
owner pressure on cruise lines and
2:21
cruise lines finances the second
2:25
critical reason is the itineraries the
2:28
ships the routes were probably in my
2:30
view not run as advertised if you think
2:33
about it the 2021
2:35
program was set a couple of years ago
2:36
when it was business as usual so all the
2:39
ports are open the regions were open
2:41
then you have any ships they had they
2:42
had new ships coming on however we just
2:44
don't know which regions will open when
2:47
they will open which ports will welcome
2:49
back Cruise Lines cos summer wheat has
2:51
been very hostile towards cruise ships
2:54
and cruise line some countries and
2:55
states have been very hostile we just
2:58
don't know which ships will be in
3:00
service which regions will be open which
3:01
ports will be open so one thing I think
3:03
we can guarantee is that the 2021
3:06
brochure the 2021 list of cruises is
3:08
probably not going to operate as
3:11
expected because this was planned a long
3:13
time ago if cruise lines start laying up
3:16
ships taking ships out of service they
3:18
may keep them out of service to try and
3:20
not have too much capacity out there
3:22
also really bear in mind that when you
3:24
book a cruise the cruise terms and
3:27
conditions allow the cruise line to
3:29
adjust and change the itinerary without
3:32
you having any recourse so unless it's
3:34
cancelled you will go on a cruise which
3:36
may not include the ports you want so if
3:38
you're looking at booking a cruise and
3:39
dream cruise to a regional part of the
3:41
world that you absolutely want to go to
3:43
in the certain ports you want to go to
3:44
bear in mind there is a possibility and
3:48
I think it's quite a strong possibility
3:49
that many many itineraries and ports
3:51
will change so you may be by a cruise
3:53
that just won't happen I also think
3:56
personally that we will find the scale
3:59
of cruising changing so I think we might
4:01
find much more focus on the
4:02
Mediterranean Laska and the Caribbean
4:04
with a big traditional cruising markets
4:06
some of those more exotic cruises may
4:08
start to fade away until things really
4:11
really get back to normal so a really
4:13
big key watch add a third another key
4:15
reason is pricing at the moment as I've
4:18
taken look at pricing for 2021 is the
4:21
prices are still very much built on what
4:24
seems to be business as usual so the
4:25
prices
4:26
I think are still pretty high because
4:28
they're based on what the brochure
4:29
prices were at that time now at the
4:31
moment we're already seeing lots of
4:33
offers coming on so I'm seeing
4:34
increasingly for 2021 cruises
4:36
although the fare hasn't changed that
4:38
much lots of benefits are being added on
4:40
so you might get actionable credit or
4:42
I've seen lots of deals where they're
4:44
throwing in Wi-Fi especially dining
4:47
gratuities all sorts of added perks and
4:50
benefits to try and make a better value
4:52
proposition however I think we can say
4:54
with quality that demand for cruising
4:57
will be less because the new to cruise
5:00
people who are considering cruising are
5:01
very likely to have been put off a lot
5:03
of people who perhaps dabbled with
5:05
cruising may be put off by all the
5:08
really negative publicity and media
5:10
that's been built up you might also find
5:12
that there's more peer pressure not to
5:14
go on cruises people are worried about
5:15
you getting stuck in quarantined all
5:17
that kind of stuff happening and we just
5:19
don't know what that is going to be so
5:21
prices at the moment are still pretty
5:24
high I do think that combination of all
5:26
these factors is going to put a lot of
5:28
pressure on pricing I genuinely believe
5:30
that there will be a lot of capacity
5:32
next year even if the cruise lines do
5:34
constrict back what they're doing there
5:36
will be a lot of good offers and deals
5:38
once this dust has settled once they
5:40
know they're back in operation I mean
5:42
they can really assess how full ships
5:44
are going to be so by blocking a 2021
5:48
Cruise in round about now you're
5:50
removing the chance to be flexible and
5:52
nimble as more offers and deals are
5:54
available you may disagree with that and
5:56
you actually believe locking in is the
5:57
right thing to do now and of course
5:58
that's a decision that many people seem
6:01
to be taking one of the things that I've
6:03
been thinking about a lot is what is
6:04
going to happen to the onboard cast so
6:06
as you know when you get on a cruise
6:08
you've paid the fare but once you get
6:09
onboard there's a lot of extra costs
6:11
often come along and I actually wonder
6:14
whether many of those costs are going to
6:16
increase significantly driven by social
6:20
distancing what we know from what people
6:22
are saying it's probably unlikely that
6:24
there's gonna be vaccines until well
6:25
into 2021 even on a fast track are there
6:29
going to be widely available so we're
6:31
still going to be managing the whole
6:32
virus situation and a big key part of
6:35
that is going to be social distancing so
6:38
as social distancing gets
6:39
why think about the impact you're gonna
6:41
have on those extra onboard costs first
6:44
of all there is a chance that cruise
6:45
lines will sell with less people on so
6:48
there is a chance therefore that they
6:50
need to try and build up and make more
6:52
money from the things that they're
6:53
offering onboard because they might have
6:54
to have less people on board to try and
6:56
manage social distancing that could mean
6:58
that to make sure that the crew are paid
7:00
you might find things like gratuities go
7:03
up significantly I think you're also
7:04
fine potentially that tall prices will
7:07
go up because there probably have to run
7:08
smaller tour groups so they can actually
7:10
spread people out on the bus spread
7:12
people out when they go on tour to keep
7:14
social distancing in place so it's
7:16
likely then that costs will build as a
7:18
result of that the other thing that may
7:20
happen is actually transportation to and
7:23
from the port to join the ship could be
7:26
significantly more expensive one of the
7:28
big discussions at the SUNY the time of
7:30
recording this is that until there is a
7:33
much more testing process in place to
7:35
screen passengers getting on which
7:36
probably needs to go beyond temperature
7:39
checks that there may be flights flying
7:41
with social distancing so at the moment
7:43
already we're seeing as people talking
7:45
about heading back into flying that the
7:48
middle seat may be kept empty
7:50
alternative rows my only be booked and
7:52
there's a lot of discussion that airfare
7:53
prices heading into 2021 may be quite a
7:56
bit more expensive one of the other key
7:59
reasons for not booking 2201
8:01
now is we don't actually know how
8:04
cruising is going to operate we at this
8:06
point in time we don't know the rules
8:08
and regulations around the whole
8:09
cruising process we don't know whether
8:11
you're going to have to get a medical
8:12
certificate a vaccine certificate when
8:14
that comes in whether actually there's
8:16
going to be much more advanced medical
8:18
screening which might involve testing
8:20
you and doing a code 19 test before you
8:23
get on the cruise doing tests during the
8:25
cruise we just don't know what that
8:26
whole process I've been showing that
8:27
when people get on the ship they're a
8:29
hundred percent clear of the virus and
8:31
as we know temperature checking is not
8:33
enough so you might find that too
8:35
intrusive if you don't take the risk
8:36
that you head off somewhat your cruise
8:38
you finally going to cruise in your
8:39
denied boarding we don't know what the
8:41
refund process will be if you find you
8:43
get sick quite close to the cruise
8:46
because the travel insurance will not
8:47
cover anything related to the virus so
8:50
at the moment the booking conditions
8:53
four cruisers are still showing in all
8:55
the bookings in 2021
8:56
you know the very traditional
8:58
cancellation process where you pay 60 to
9:01
90 days before and pretty much you're
9:03
going to lose 75% 100 cent of the fare
9:04
we don't know how that's gonna work if
9:06
there is an intern on board we don't now
9:07
the quarantine process gonna work we
9:09
know that the CDC in the US are talking
9:10
about not letting people come back on
9:12
land that there's gonna have to be
9:13
quarantine
9:14
ships is going to be hospital ships and
9:16
really importantly if you're a senior's
9:19
certainly at the moment 70 Plus that may
9:21
come to a lower age at this point in
9:23
time to go cruising it was introduced
9:25
with just before the shutdown you have
9:27
to have a medical certificate so there's
9:28
a whole process of actually seen the
9:30
doctor getting medical certificate so
9:32
there's lots of other hurdles that you
9:33
may have to do so we just don't know yet
9:35
what the actual process the procedures
9:37
for cruising in 2021 are going to be so
9:40
you may want to hold back until we have
9:42
certainty around that to see if you
9:43
actually feel comfortable cruising with
9:45
those procedures another thing that I
9:48
think will happen is you're going to
9:49
find your access to facilities and how
9:52
things work onboard will change as I
9:54
mentioned I do believe that social
9:56
distancing is going to be a key part of
9:58
managing the whole process moving
10:00
forward
10:00
so what we're already seeing some cruise
10:02
lines talking about is only filling the
10:04
theatres half-full having restrictions
10:06
on how many people can be say in the gym
10:09
when they hold events how there can only
10:10
be so many people there perhaps around
10:12
the swimming pool or in bars
10:14
there'll be restrictions on how many
10:16
people can be in different venues how
10:17
far there can be a part so certainly
10:19
it's likely that the way that you're
10:22
going to be able to access facilities
10:23
use facilities it's probably going to be
10:25
very very different because it's
10:27
unlikely you're gonna have those big
10:28
groups of people congregating on board
10:31
because of the whole rules around social
10:34
distancing and managing that whole
10:35
process so certainly you might find for
10:38
example there might be less
10:39
entertainment available because they if
10:41
they're only running the theaters half
10:42
full they might have the same show on
10:44
for two or three nights and so less
10:46
choice another really critical point is
10:49
travel insurance no travel insurance
10:50
will not cover covered 19 and virus
10:54
pandemic related issues so if anything
10:57
happens on your cruise related to that
11:00
you need to be confident that the cruise
11:02
line is going to cover that within what
11:04
they are offering on what they're
11:05
proposing
11:06
but really importantly you might also
11:07
find that the cost of cruise travel
11:10
insurance increases significantly
11:11
because of the whole reputation and and
11:13
the the sort of passion against cruising
11:16
that has been built up so for example
11:19
you might find our more limitations it's
11:21
harder to get a particularly an older
11:22
traveller and just may become quite
11:24
difficult to obtain
11:26
whenever you booked travel insurance
11:27
it's really important that you get and
11:29
check that it has cruise cover because
11:32
there are quite a lot of extra costs
11:34
with cruise cover like medevacs and
11:35
different issues like that which
11:38
assuming it's not premium but travel
11:40
insurance could be a challenge to get
11:42
for cruises next year and again we don't
11:44
really know how that's all going to
11:45
settle and whether it's even gonna be
11:47
possible because you don't be travelling
11:48
without trouble insurance in case you
11:50
have some non covered related issue
11:51
because obviously medical costs can be
11:53
really high you lose your baggage or
11:55
anything that would normally be covered
11:57
by insurance it's very tempting to be
11:59
booking a cruise for 2021 right now
12:02
because all of us of course are looking
12:03
for hope and dreams and plans for the
12:07
future once we're through everything
12:08
that's going on however it may be a good
12:12
idea to think about and pause a little
12:14
bit before you commit yourself to 2021
12:17
you may want to wait until it's really
12:19
really clear and absolutely signed off
12:21
by all governments around the world all
12:23
regions around the world when cruising
12:24
can start we've seen for example the CDC
12:27
in the US have a whole lot of criteria
12:29
and they're saying that cruising is
12:31
going to not kick up for quite some time
12:33
in Europe we're seeing the EU talking
12:36
about closing their borders to foreign
12:38
travelers to at least September France
12:40
sank to October it means they're not
12:42
gonna be able to get crew back on the
12:43
ships probably if you're a non EU
12:45
resident you won't be able to join ships
12:47
in Europe so there's so much uncertainty
12:49
so why don't you really think about is
12:51
it worth waiting and seeing how the dust
12:53
settles before you commit money that you
12:56
may regret later I have loads more tips
12:59
and advice about cruising so why don't
13:01
you watch another one of those right now
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