Up next in 10
In this cruise update I explore what the latest progress on when cruises will resume and cruising will start again out of the United States, the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. As we enter 2021 in this latest cruise news update I explore at how cruise lines are doing to meet the requirements and stages of the CDC Framework For Conditional Sailing to be able to take paying cruise passengers again in the USA, including where things are on the required test cruises. I also look at the latest on when cruises will resume in the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. How likely is it cruising and cruises with paying passengers will resume in the first few months of 2021
Links mentioned in the episode:
Latest list of dates cruise lines hope to resume sailing: http://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruise-line-cancellations
USA CDC Weekly ship tracker: http://bit.ly/CDCList
Royal Caribbean Volunteer Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rcibackatsea
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
you're about to find out what progress
0:02
is being made
0:03
on the return to cruising out of the
0:05
united states the uk
0:07
europe australia and new zealand
0:10
i'm gary bembridge and this is another
0:12
of my tips for travellers
0:13
cruise updates where i unpick the
0:16
biggest
0:17
breaking cruising news and discuss what
0:19
it means for all of us
0:20
as cruisers the focus in this episode
0:24
is on where we are on the resumption of
0:26
cruising
0:27
in the main cruising region's right
0:30
around the world
0:31
i want to start by exploring the
0:33
progress the lines are
0:34
or aren't making on the us cdc's
0:38
framework for conditional sailing
0:39
this lays out the path to resumption of
0:41
cruising out of the united states
0:44
the cdc process was announced way back
0:47
in october 2020
0:49
with a series of steps that the lines
0:51
have to go through before they can start
0:53
sailing again
0:54
the first stage to remind you is about
0:57
simply returning ships to the u.s waters
0:59
and implementing very specific cdc rules
1:02
and tracking
1:02
around the crew on board procedures and
1:05
safety while also in parallel
1:07
building passenger and crew testing
1:09
capability
1:10
the second stage being running test
1:13
cruises
1:14
this was with volunteers and it's to try
1:16
out and confirm
1:17
all the new protocols the third step is
1:19
applying for a license
1:21
to sail with paying guests based on
1:23
those test cruises
1:25
and then the fourth actually sailing
1:26
under a whole set of
1:28
new cdc rules and tracking many many
1:31
cruisers expected those test cruises
1:33
to be up and running before the end of
1:35
2020 or at worst
1:37
in january 2021 with full cruises
1:40
starting up in march so how are things
1:43
progressing first off we are able to
1:46
check on how many ships have returned to
1:47
us waters
1:48
and how well they're doing in meeting
1:51
those cdc requirements for crew
1:53
in that very first stage because these
1:55
are updated and
1:56
published every single week now there
1:59
are some really big things that i've
2:01
taken from
2:02
analyzing and looking at the weekly
2:03
reports and i also think
2:05
they clearly indicate which lines and
2:07
ships are further along
2:09
the cdc process firstly the number of
2:12
ships that have returned
2:13
or on their way back to the u.s waters
2:16
to fully start engaging with the cdc
2:18
on that return to service has
2:20
significantly increased
2:22
during the last four weeks there
2:25
are now around 67 ships listed in that
2:29
cdc program and they were only around 20
2:32
when the framework to conditional
2:34
sailing was announced way back
2:35
in october secondly half of the ships
2:39
returning to u.s waters are from
2:40
two cruise lines carnival cruise line
2:43
which now has 16 ships
2:45
listed and the royal caribbean line
2:47
which has 17
2:48
ships in the program thirdly norwegian
2:52
cruise line
2:52
surprisingly only has three ships
2:54
norwegian gem
2:56
norwegian jewel and pride of america
2:58
currently listed
2:59
as being in the program now this may be
3:01
indicative
3:02
of their plans versus those other two
3:04
major lions
3:05
the norwegian ceo frank del rio last
3:08
month was reportedly saying that they
3:10
have more faith
3:11
in being able to return to sailing in
3:13
europe before the united states
3:15
there was also a letter that i covered
3:17
in a previous update
3:18
which was sent to norwegian cruise line
3:20
senior officers it was leaked to the
3:22
crew center website
3:23
just after their cancellations to march
3:25
and the lions said
3:26
they and i'm going to quote here could
3:28
possibly
3:29
launch ships in europe before sailing
3:32
again
3:33
in the u.s so i'll keep a really really
3:36
close
3:37
eye over the coming weeks if there is a
3:39
ramp up
3:40
of norwegian cruise line ships joining
3:42
the cdc program
3:44
that's important because lions have to
3:46
give 28 days notice before bringing
3:48
ships back into the u.s
3:49
and once they do they usually i've
3:52
realized appear on that list
3:54
that comes out every week pretty much
3:55
immediately so based on this it could
3:57
suggest
3:58
norwegian will not have any more ships
4:00
in the u.s during january
4:02
at least but we will watch that list
4:05
fourthly
4:05
the thing i've noticed is there are
4:07
three other lines with significant
4:09
numbers of ships included in the first
4:11
stage of the program
4:12
already so these are celebrity cruises
4:15
they have
4:15
nine ships princess cruises which has
4:18
seven ships
4:19
and holland america which already has
4:21
six ships listed
4:23
now holland american princess have not
4:25
been using miami
4:26
and port canaveral as much as other
4:29
lines but they've actually been using
4:30
both
4:30
san diego port and a little bit of los
4:33
angeles as well so ships like conning
4:35
stam westerdam
4:36
and emerald princess have already called
4:39
in san diego in december
4:40
as i mentioned a couple of others are
4:42
scheduled to go into los angeles the
4:44
ships
4:44
they then more out to see as they work
4:46
through all the various preparations and
4:48
trainings but they are
4:49
at that part of the u.s the fifth thing
4:52
i notice
4:52
is that lines with much fewer ships in
4:55
the stage one program
4:56
include msc cruisers they've got uh
4:58
three ships which are close to miami msc
5:00
memorabilia
5:01
msc seaside and msc armonia disney have
5:05
three
5:05
disney wonder disney dream disney
5:07
fantasy and then there is
5:09
oceania regatta and seabourn odyssey
5:12
also showing up on the reporting
5:14
virgin's got a lady by the way it's not
5:15
returned to the u.s from europe and
5:17
there's nothing
5:18
on the reporting yet finally in looking
5:20
at all those lists and probably as
5:21
significant
5:22
as to how many ships are back or on
5:24
their way back to the u.s
5:26
it's important to note that not all have
5:27
passed stage one yet
5:29
at the time of recording less than half
5:32
of the ships in the program
5:33
have been given a full green rating
5:36
which means they've met all of the cdc
5:38
requirements for
5:39
crew so there's clearly still a lot of
5:41
work to be done to get through stage one
5:43
before many of those ships and lines are
5:45
going to be able to apply to move
5:47
to the test cruise stage now if you want
5:50
to keep track of the ships entering u.s
5:52
waters
5:53
and so really starting down that first
5:55
stage of the cdc program
5:57
to return to sell the link is in the
5:59
notes
6:00
of this episode you can check it it's
6:01
updated every single week
6:03
and also i'd recommend if you're booked
6:04
on any cruises out of the us in 2021
6:07
it's probably worth looking to see if
6:08
your ship has joined the process yet
6:12
so taking all of that into account where
6:14
are we
6:15
on those test cruises the lions
6:17
themselves are staying very quiet on
6:19
this no cruise line has announced
6:21
any dates or even plans for the required
6:24
test cruises
6:25
now they've been asked many many times
6:28
by
6:28
loads of media outlets to give more
6:30
information and the most that the ceos
6:32
have offered up is that it is really
6:34
taking quite a lot of time
6:36
to work through all of the cdc
6:38
requirements which are in fact
6:40
pretty complex so for example in
6:43
addition to the changes they have to
6:44
make on board to enable
6:46
physical distancing and tracking they
6:48
have to put in place revamped and
6:49
expanded medical centers
6:51
they also have to do things like they
6:52
have to build whole testing capabilities
6:54
both on and off the ship they have to
6:57
develop arrangements with land-based
6:58
medical facilities to deal with
7:00
any outbreaks they have to recruit the
7:03
ships they have to train them
7:04
and so once there's a lot of things to
7:06
be done royal caribbean has been the
7:07
only line so far to set up a register
7:10
for people
7:10
to indicate interest in volunteering for
7:13
those test cruisers
7:14
they've also set up a facebook group and
7:15
links again are in the notes of this
7:17
episode however
7:19
even they have given no update on
7:22
timing or plans for the test cruises yet
7:24
so
7:25
signs for early dates in 2021 for test
7:28
cruises
7:28
so far is not encouraging but we all
7:31
wait with interest
7:32
and of course as news comes i will
7:34
update you on
7:35
that whole area by the way you can also
7:38
keep up to date on the very
7:40
latest dates cruise lines do hope to
7:42
start sailing right around the world on
7:44
an update page on my site
7:46
tipsfortravelers.com it's constantly
7:48
updated with any cancellations or
7:50
assumptions
7:51
there's a link in this episode or simply
7:53
go to
7:54
tipsfortravelers.com and the listing
7:56
always appears at the very top
7:58
of the site the timing for cruising
8:00
resumption in the uk
8:01
also remains uncertain although the
8:03
government has actually agreed the
8:05
proposed protocols for when cruising
8:07
returns they're not prepared to agree a
8:10
timeline
8:11
at the stage and have no signs of
8:13
shifting on that
8:14
the cruise industry themselves they say
8:16
they are hopeful
8:18
that they will be allowed to run their
8:19
test cruises around the uk
8:21
with uk only guests in march with a
8:24
scaled return
8:25
calling on ports in europe of course if
8:27
there are travel corridors agreed
8:29
between april and june now the carnival
8:33
uk chairman david dingle
8:35
he recently told uk travel weekly
8:37
magazine for example i'm going to quote
8:39
what he actually said here
8:40
if we can get the travel advisory
8:42
changed
8:43
we may be able to do the uk waters phase
8:46
in a test period
8:47
sometime in march but we have to be
8:49
realistic
8:50
we'll be looking at sometime between
8:52
april and june on
8:54
average he points out that it takes up
8:55
to 12 weeks
8:57
from the government in the uk lifting
8:58
the no cell device to
9:00
those lines being able to set sail at
9:03
the time of recording most uk
9:05
baselines including piano cruisers fred
9:07
olsen and
9:08
saga they've cancelled all the way
9:10
through to april while cunard
9:12
have cancelled through to may in europe
9:15
the italian costa and embassy cruisers
9:18
and the german mine shift aida and
9:20
hapagloidlines
9:21
they're still operating a few limited
9:23
cruisers which are currently very much
9:25
focused on the canary islands
9:27
and that's due to the increased
9:28
lockdowns and limits on cross-border
9:31
travel in europe
9:32
uh the mainland europe itself hutu
9:34
grutan is also operating
9:36
a limited norwegian port only service
9:39
which is actually also due to
9:41
increase in number of ships during
9:43
january costa cruises is still hoping
9:46
to resume their italian only port
9:48
cruisers in january for
9:49
italian travellers meanwhile msc
9:53
grandiosa that's also due to resume
9:55
their italian only port cruisers also in
9:57
january
9:58
but they have already pushed msc
10:00
magnifica back to february
10:02
due to increasing uncertainty about when
10:05
greek ports will be
10:06
open again so there is really no major
10:10
news on when
10:11
more broader cross-country cruising in
10:13
europe are open particularly
10:15
spain is very important because that is
10:16
one of the most important invocation
10:18
countries in europe of course the
10:21
australian government has a ban on
10:22
cruise ships entering
10:24
australia until march at this time so
10:26
again there's no new news
10:28
and everyone's waiting to see if they're
10:29
going to extend that or let it lift so
10:31
it's probably
10:32
going to be quite a few months before we
10:33
know that meanwhile though in positive
10:36
news ponont have announced that they
10:37
have received conditional approval
10:39
for one of its ships to sail in new
10:41
zealand waters
10:42
for new zealanders from february
10:45
that's following months of discussions
10:47
with new zealand's ministry of health so
10:49
some good news
10:50
there for kiwis of course ponon is quite
10:52
an expensive way to cruise
10:54
the small ship australian coral
10:56
expedition ships coral discoverer and
10:57
coral adventurer are also sailing
11:00
australian itineraries
11:01
for australian cruises from january so
11:03
there is a small
11:05
option for australian cruises but again
11:07
it's probably expensive and pretty
11:08
limited
11:09
so this is the latest on the progress
11:11
for the resumption of cruising in the
11:13
major reasons of the world
11:14
it can be summed up as some progress but
11:17
still no dates that pretty much sums it
11:20
up remember i have loads more tips for
11:22
travellers episodes
11:23
full of cruising advice and tips so why
11:26
not
11:26
enjoy another one right now
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