Up next in 10
In this latest cruise update, I look at 5 news and trends that confirm that the best-laid plans by cruise lines and cruise passengers for the rest of 2021 are unravelling and changing. What is happening and why will it continue, making lots of changes to cruise schedules and plans.
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0:00
our recent cruise line changes and
0:02
announcements suggesting the chances of
0:04
you cruising this summer
0:05
out of the united states and europe is
0:08
now extremely
0:10
unlikely as we head into a full year
0:12
since cruises went into shutdown
0:13
i'm gary bembridge and i'm going to
0:15
explore how your cruising chances
0:17
look to be shifting stacking up and what
0:20
you should be doing
0:22
i keep saying it and many have
0:23
criticized me for it but you really do
0:25
need to forget
0:26
existing 2021 advertised cruises until
0:29
at least september
0:30
october to avoid almost certain
0:32
disappointment and
0:33
changes forget advertised 2021 cruises
0:37
when lions are allowed to come back they
0:39
will put on
0:40
brand new cruises so wait for these new
0:43
cruises
0:44
because they will be working around the
0:45
various limitations they will be looking
0:47
at opportunities
0:48
that will come your way come to your
0:50
region first of all
0:52
why do i say that well the return so far
0:54
has proven this is the case so we've
0:56
seen that happening
0:57
so as countries let cruisers resume from
0:59
their ports they do have limits
1:01
about who can go where they can go and
1:04
that's how cruisers have started so in
1:05
singapore
1:06
quantum of the seas dream of cruises
1:08
happened for locals
1:09
with cruises to nowhere japan and taiwan
1:12
were the same for locals cruises to
1:13
nowhere
1:14
italy with msc cruises costa allowing
1:17
people to go to italian ports malta
1:18
greece
1:19
with one or two ships only the rest kept
1:22
laid up
1:22
they brought on brand new cruises in
1:24
germany we saw aida mine shift
1:26
hapag lloyd again they initially created
1:28
cruises to nowhere and then the canary
1:30
islands
1:30
again with limited parts of the fleet so
1:33
that is the situation
1:34
cruise lines putting on one or two ships
1:36
with very specific itineraries
1:38
for very specific groups of travelers as
1:40
and when they can
1:42
two massive new changes in the last few
1:44
days have again
1:45
proven this to be true first of all
1:47
royal caribbean odyssey of the seas
1:49
they are going to be selling out of
1:50
israel calling on greece and cyprus with
1:52
vaccinated crew and guests
1:54
again only for israeli residents these
1:56
are three to seven night cruise escapes
1:58
they're going to go to places like
2:00
rhodes
2:00
santorini mykonos athens greece and
2:03
limassol
2:04
in cyprus so anyone who'd booked odyssey
2:06
of the seas cruises throughout europe
2:08
those have been cancelled because the
2:09
cruise lines were an opportunity to set
2:11
up something in israel
2:12
and jumped at the chance piano cruises
2:14
in the uk they've just cancelled
2:16
79 cruises counting up the ones that
2:19
they've listed
2:20
that's right through until september
2:21
they're going to replace them with uk
2:23
staycation cruisers
2:24
which are going to go on sale later in
2:26
march which are short cruises to one
2:28
week only
2:28
so the end of august they've canceled
2:30
arcadia aurora azur
2:32
ventura to the end of september
2:33
britannia and iona
2:35
princess cruises has announced that all
2:36
their scheduled and advertised cruisers
2:39
out of the uk have now been cancelled
2:42
right through
2:42
way into september that's on the regal
2:44
princess and the sky
2:46
princess they're hoping instead to run
2:48
some uk cruisers
2:50
around the uk for uk only guests
2:53
later in the summer to replace those so
2:56
other lines
2:57
home pointing out the uk they're going
2:58
to face the same issue so cunard red
3:00
olsen
3:00
so by the time you watch us that could
3:02
already be the case
3:04
cruise lines are going to have to jump
3:06
where there are opportunities
3:08
and it's not going to be with those
3:09
advertised cruises because of the
3:10
restrictions
3:11
there are five key factors and
3:13
developments that you need to consider
3:14
as you look at your chances for cruising
3:16
this summer the
3:18
first of those is travel restrictions
3:20
moving between and across borders
3:22
is going to take some time even with
3:24
vaccinations there's huge amounts of
3:26
arguments over
3:27
will it be testing will it be vaccines
3:28
it's still to be resolved digital green
3:30
passports like they have in israel
3:32
is being looked at by the eu but there's
3:34
still lots of discussions around what
3:35
they will be
3:36
the eu wants to have those up by summer
3:38
but there's lots to happen so there's a
3:40
lot of uncertainty
3:41
the important thing to note is you're
3:43
going to need quarantine free entry for
3:45
cruisers to work on any scale
3:47
cruise line only excursions will work on
3:49
a limited scale with a few lines
3:51
as you've seen at the moment but on a
3:52
bigger scale it seems almost impossible
3:54
that's how it's working with the israeli
3:57
odyssey of the sea cruisers
3:58
because they're basically agreed
3:59
everyone's vaccinated and there will be
4:01
no quarantining
4:02
and people be able to move around freely
4:05
in
4:05
port the uk is doing that with p o
4:08
because they're creating staycations
4:10
with uk guests who again
4:11
will be able to move freely as they
4:13
would if they were traveling
4:14
independently on land
4:15
what's the option for the u.s of course
4:17
it's really restricted because
4:18
cruisers in the us cannot go from u.s
4:21
port to u.s port they have to go
4:22
to a foreign country or foreign place as
4:26
part of the pvsa the passenger
4:28
vessel services act the option of course
4:30
will be private islands it's almost
4:31
inevitable
4:32
when we see cruisers starting out of the
4:33
us and they take advantages
4:35
of whatever's allowed private island
4:37
cruises will be the equivalent of the uk
4:40
staycations this is the same as we saw
4:42
for example germany
4:43
they are running cruises at the moment
4:45
by doing canary island cruises so that's
4:48
one port of entry
4:49
one set of rules and they're able to
4:50
cruise between the different islands
4:52
the second key thing to consider is
4:54
there will be a phased return of ships
4:56
it's going to take 12 weeks at least
4:58
from the time
4:59
that they've given the ok to openings so
5:01
they're not going to be able to run
5:02
advertised cruisers on mass because all
5:04
ships are not going to be able to
5:06
come back in one go so it's really
5:08
important the us the uk and everyone's
5:10
saying
5:10
that don't expect ships to all come back
5:12
at once and it will be stagnant so frank
5:14
del rio who runs a norwegian group
5:15
said it's roughly a 90-day window to
5:18
launch a cruise service in the united
5:19
states
5:20
from receiving a green light from the
5:21
cdc so say they get the okay
5:24
by the end of march that's into july
5:26
already
5:27
that's assuming that they'll be able to
5:28
get the okay he also went on to say
5:31
that it's going to take between six and
5:33
seven months for their brands to return
5:35
to full operation with all their 28
5:37
ships
5:37
across their three lines perhaps
5:39
returning one ship per service
5:41
per week so that's really important to
5:42
understand is those advertised cruises
5:44
on all of those 28 ships
5:45
across the norwegian cruise group will
5:48
not all be coming back at once and
5:49
certainly they will not be back
5:51
by summer even if they get that go ahead
5:53
and can start
5:54
in july paul ludlow who's the president
5:57
of po cruises
5:58
announcing those new uk staycations said
6:01
from the moment we see travel
6:02
restrictions lifting we will begin
6:04
the significant logistical task to
6:07
restart our operations
6:08
it will take some time for the first
6:10
ship to return to service
6:11
followed by the phased return of the
6:14
remaining
6:14
fleet again really important phased and
6:17
slow his boss david dingle has
6:19
previously said like fran del rio
6:20
it'll take up to 12 weeks per ship to
6:23
bring it back
6:24
arnold donald of carnival group says he
6:26
hopes by 2022
6:28
or the fleet will be back so that's
6:30
really important to understand
6:32
is that those summer cruises that are
6:33
being advertised
6:35
even if they get the okay it is going to
6:38
take
6:38
time to bring back individual ships so
6:41
certainly
6:42
summer cruises look highly unlikely to
6:44
run as advertised
6:45
but there's new ones that might get put
6:47
in place much more positive
6:48
but not advertised cruisers currently
6:51
thirdly
6:53
lines are going to be increasingly
6:54
chasing opportunities as and when they
6:56
arise so
6:56
keep expecting surprises and this is
6:58
going to accelerate
6:59
as i've already mentioned quantum of the
7:01
seas was not planned
7:02
msc grandiose selling currently was not
7:05
planned
7:05
costa cruises were not planned mind
7:07
shift were not planned and so on and so
7:09
on even the ill-fated
7:10
sea dreamer and huta gritten cruises
7:12
which had covert issues
7:13
early on last year were not planned
7:16
cruises
7:17
israel was not a planned opportunity but
7:19
this opportunity came along because of
7:21
the vaccine
7:21
process and agreement between greece and
7:24
cyprus who were desperate for tourism
7:25
and they were prepared
7:26
to break with eu rules around movement
7:30
of people
7:31
to sign a deal which meant free movement
7:33
between israel
7:34
cyprus and greece so chasing
7:36
opportunities is really going to be what
7:38
cruise lines are doing
7:39
in the uk the pace of vaccine rollout
7:42
and the road map for
7:43
opening shows the country is going to be
7:44
opening domestically but borders are
7:46
locked
7:46
to stop cases coming in and variants
7:48
coming in there's no signs when that
7:50
will lift
7:50
what the rules will be eu are bringing
7:52
in a passport
7:54
to help people move around but it's
7:55
still being worked through so cruise
7:57
lines are seeing the opportunity to
7:58
focus
7:59
on the uk they're going to go with the
8:01
flow
8:02
so paul ludlow piano cruises president
8:04
said and i'm going to quote him again
8:06
whilst holidays here in the uk will be
8:07
the first to become a reality we will of
8:09
course
8:10
gradually see the return of
8:11
international travel but first we want
8:13
guests to be able to enjoy
8:14
a proper summer holiday at sea with the
8:17
best in relaxation
8:18
entertainment and dining choice so
8:21
really really important chasing
8:22
opportunities the australian government
8:24
have extended to the 17th of june the
8:26
ban on cruise ships but they again have
8:28
indicated they are working with clear
8:29
to open domestic cruises so the federal
8:32
health minister
8:33
greg hunt he said that the government
8:35
continues to work closely with state and
8:37
territory agencies
8:39
national health committees and the
8:40
cruise industry to develop a framework
8:43
for the staged in that word resumption
8:45
of cruise ships
8:46
in a manner that's proportionate to the
8:48
public health risks of clear md
8:50
joel katz he said i'm going to quote him
8:52
we believe there is a pathway for the
8:54
phased
8:55
and tightly controlled return of
8:57
domestic cruising
8:58
we've been working closely with the
9:00
federal government for
9:02
more than six months now on a high level
9:04
framework
9:05
for the restart of domestic operations
9:08
so again
9:09
really importantly cruise lines will be
9:10
chasing these short-term
9:12
immediate opportunities and turning
9:14
focus away from those advertised
9:16
cruises the fourth consideration is
9:19
increasing reluctance of
9:20
some really key cruise ports and
9:22
countries for taking cruises
9:24
and so again that's going to force
9:25
cruisers to be staggered it's going to
9:27
be hard to plan
9:28
and planned itineraries are going to be
9:29
hard to run or they're going to be
9:30
adjusted and changed
9:31
so that advertised crews probably can't
9:34
run this plan so canada through to
9:35
february 2022
9:36
australia is due to june 2021 the united
9:40
states uk
9:40
spain all major embarkation countries
9:42
they've set no date to
9:44
open ports for embarkation or stops so
9:47
even piano
9:48
cannot say dates for new cruisers quite
9:50
yet key west
9:51
they've got bans on the number and size
9:54
of ships
9:55
of course there's moves to try and get
9:56
that overruled in the florida
9:58
senate but they've limited the number of
10:00
daily cruise ship passengers to 1500
10:03
they're prohibiting cruise ships with 1
10:05
300 passengers or more from docking
10:08
and they're giving docking priority to
10:09
cruise lines that have the very best
10:11
health and environmental records so for
10:13
example royal caribbean
10:14
has already started changing some of
10:16
their cruises to use private islands
10:18
instead
10:18
of key west so you know lots of chopping
10:21
and changing
10:22
even big crew sports in the caribbean
10:24
are saying they're reviewing
10:26
the numbers of ships so grand cayman the
10:28
most visible of those they're saying
10:29
they probably won't take any ships this
10:31
year
10:32
will at most restrict numbers they've
10:34
cancelled plans to build a dock there
10:37
in at all to help cruise ships so the
10:39
premier mr mclaughlin he said that
10:41
cruise ships they were getting 1.8
10:44
million passengers a year
10:45
he said that he thinks they've got a
10:47
really clear signal from
10:48
just about every source in the country
10:50
that they can survive without those
10:52
large numbers of cruisers and they want
10:53
more balance in their tourism
10:55
they don't want to overwhelm the systems
10:57
with the sheer number of people coming
10:58
from cruises
10:59
so he's saying they are going to limit
11:01
the number of people calling there which
11:02
is a huge deal
11:03
because that's a really important port
11:04
so if you've got cruisers coming up
11:06
in the next couple of months to grand
11:07
cayman that is questionable because
11:09
they're not going to take the ships
11:11
meanwhile across in europe we're also
11:13
seeing
11:14
various ports saying they are not going
11:16
to take cruisers in 2021 the most recent
11:18
example
11:19
is the island of guernsey which is a
11:22
really popular stop on the round
11:23
uk trips and tours they have said for
11:26
public health reasons they've decided
11:28
they will not take any cruisers in 2021
11:31
but they will
11:31
consider reopening in 2022
11:34
so that's also something to watch as
11:36
cruisers come closer and closer in the
11:38
summer
11:38
and beyond opening how many other ports
11:40
will say they'd rather
11:42
just skip a year and not take any
11:45
cruisers
11:46
so that's really really important the
11:48
opening of places that cruisers call on
11:50
is a major factor which again is going
11:52
to be an issue over the summer as
11:54
countries reopen
11:55
so again it's going to be opportunistic
11:57
the fifth thing is around local
11:58
restrictions that's really important
12:00
because each country is going to have
12:02
different roadmaps and timing for
12:04
opening up during the summer so the uk
12:06
use the example again vaccine rollouts
12:08
going well they've got dates for
12:09
actually opening up things like museums
12:11
and
12:11
attractions things that cruisers would
12:13
want to call on hospitality has to be
12:15
opened to be able to run
12:16
excursions so when they're open is
12:18
really varied it's very uncertain what
12:19
the rules
12:20
will be for letting people in but moving
12:23
around
12:24
the lions are wanting to avoid what
12:26
happened with the italian
12:27
and german settings where they started
12:29
selling towards the end of last year
12:30
they had to shut them all down
12:32
because there were new local
12:34
restrictions
12:35
where they went into lockdown and the
12:38
same true is happening
12:39
in france so cruisers opened and they
12:41
then had to close down
12:42
so the cruise lines are saying they want
12:44
to be completely sure
12:45
that each individual country is open
12:48
without restriction before they commit
12:49
to sailing because they don't want to
12:51
start re-manning ships
12:53
restocking ships putting stuff on sale
12:56
and all the hassles of getting cruisers
12:58
selling to then have to stop again so
13:00
again this is why
13:02
cruise lines are going to concentrate on
13:04
absolute certain things
13:05
so that's why we've seen the situation
13:06
with israel cyprus and greece
13:09
uk round uk because these are things
13:11
that the cruise lines know are likely to
13:13
be able to
13:14
be controlled so much more is the chance
13:17
of you going
13:18
cruising in summer reducing if you're
13:21
looking at one of those advertised
13:22
cruises i
13:23
absolutely believe your chances of going
13:25
on those is
13:26
narrowing for sure however it does look
13:29
like there could be
13:30
some new exciting options and
13:32
alternatives for you
13:33
which can be much more local much more
13:35
domestic
13:36
and coming on stream at relatively short
13:39
notice
13:40
i hope you found this interesting and
13:41
helpful if you did remember i have
13:43
hundreds more of tips for travellers
13:46
episodes packed full of
13:47
updates tips and advice so why not go
13:50
and enjoy another one right now
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