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In a major cruise update, the European Union issued a 49-page document with guidelines for cruise lines for restarting cruising across Europe. This comprehensive set of cruising guidelines was developed with input from CLIA (Cruise Line Association) and over 30 Cruise lines executives. I discuss 7 areas of note that I think cruise passengers may have some issues with, including travellers over 65, itinerary proposals, screening, masks, dining, social distancing, pool, hot tubs and more
Link to document: https://www.healthygateways.eu/Portals/0/plcdocs/EU_HEALTHY_GATEWAYS_COVID-19_RESTARTING_CRUISES.pdf?ver=2020-07-01-115942-557
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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
I'm Gary Bembridge and I want to talk
0:02
about a massive big step forward in the
0:05
resumption of cruising as the EU the
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European Union has issued guidance on
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what cruise lines need to do what they
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need to follow to start ocean cruising
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again there's good news and there's bad
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news or things that you may find
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concerning about the way the cruising
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will be when it starts up again the
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European Union has issued a 49 page
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document with guidelines for Cruise
0:28
Lines to follow to be able to start
0:29
cruising again this document was put
0:32
together by the EU in consultation with
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the cruise line Association and it also
0:38
names 36 different cruise executives
0:41
from Carnival Royal Caribbean Costa MSC
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Cruises Holland America and Viking
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cruises so lots of input from the
0:49
industry so I'm gonna cover seven of
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what I think are the most contentious
0:52
issues in the guidelines and these cover
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everything from the itineraries senior
0:57
passengers dining what's happening in a
0:59
cabin social distancing pools theaters
1:03
and also two really big contentious
1:05
issues around testing and the use of
1:08
masks first of all there is a
1:10
recommendation that Cruise Lines run
1:12
shorter itineraries and what the
1:14
document recommends is that they
1:15
initially start out with short voyages
1:17
of three to seven days and try and have
1:21
as few ports a call as possible so this
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for many cruises won't be an issue it's
1:27
a way of starting just cruise again and
1:29
shorter cruises with perhaps less ports
1:31
may be less of an issue for many cruises
1:33
out there
1:33
the second issue which for some may be
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more contentious is around pre-screening
1:38
in the guideline document they are
1:42
encouraging Cruise Lines to consider
1:45
covert 19 test before passengers board
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it also states that crew have to have a
1:50
covert 19 test and they actually have to
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have them every two weeks
1:54
temperature checking will be something
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the crew have twice a day and they also
1:59
encourage that passengers are tested
2:01
probably once a day and certainly when
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they come back from ports of call let's
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start talking about some of the more
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contentious issues one of them is around
2:08
passengers over the age of 65 first of
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all they say if they need to consult a
2:12
doctor
2:13
for fitness to travel before they cruise
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and this was something that was actually
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introduced where passengers originated
2:19
over 70 we're going to have to provide
2:21
medical certificates so this is back on
2:23
the agenda but even more contentious
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than that is the document suggests and
2:28
recommends that onboard
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passengers are separated by age group
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both in terms of the activities they do
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and in terms of dining so they're
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actually talking about on board you're
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separated based on your age to clarify
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what they're saying let me give you a
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direct quote from the document
2:45
activities and services on board cruise
2:48
ships could be organized according to
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age group so that older individuals are
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separated from other age groups so this
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is a massive change this could be a huge
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deal breaker for many passengers aged 65
3:00
or over both haven't ever some sort of
3:02
medical fitness certificate of some kind
3:04
before they cruise and also on board
3:06
actually being separated and managed in
3:09
terms of activities and dining that for
3:11
me is a massive big change to the way
3:14
the cruising could operate the next area
3:16
is something that initially sounds less
3:18
threatening but once you get to the
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detail in the document there's some
3:20
quite big issues in there and this is
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around social distancing so first of all
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the document recommends that there are
3:28
fewer passengers on board that cruise
3:30
ships reduce capacity for two reasons
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one of which because they're also saying
3:34
that you need to keep a certain amount
3:35
of cabins empty and free if they do ever
3:38
need to isolate people but secondly it
3:41
also then enables social distancing once
3:43
you get into the detail of social
3:44
distancing there's quite a lot of issues
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first of all in the document and this is
3:48
true for Europe generally the distance
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that is included in all the calculations
3:52
is 1.5 meters which is around about five
3:56
feet they're also saying that as many
3:58
activities as possible should be ran
4:00
outdoors so for example they are even
4:02
suggesting things that the kids clubs
4:03
should not take place indoors they
4:05
should all be outdoor so as much of the
4:07
activities as possible should be
4:08
outdoors he talks about staggering
4:11
things like the must rule so when lots
4:13
of people have to come together find a
4:14
way of enabling social distancing by
4:16
staggering those events venues every
4:18
single venue on board needs to be
4:20
designed so that the 1/2 meters social
4:24
distancing can be put in place that
4:25
includes the theater so that's going to
4:27
mean quite a big reduction then um
4:29
people who can attend a show and they
4:30
are suggesting perhaps they run more
4:31
shows in the casino in the bars so
4:35
capacity has to be controlled to enable
4:37
social distancing all that
4:38
one-and-a-half meter and furniture
4:40
except it has to be arranged in such a
4:41
way that that is also something that's
4:43
possible
4:44
and happens so the elevators all lifts
4:46
whichever you prefer to call them it's
4:48
going to be recommended the passengers
4:49
don't use those and the elevators are
4:51
gonna have to have that social
4:52
distancing so you have to the one or
4:54
half meter so very few people at a time
4:56
I'm gonna be able to get into an
4:57
elevator and importantly I'll come back
4:59
to my little bit later is masts are
5:02
going to be required to be worn in
5:04
elevators when it comes to pools first
5:07
of all only outdoor pools can be used so
5:10
indoor pools cannot be used what it says
5:12
in the document is that pools that have
5:14
no walls and no roof can be used so what
5:19
I'm not hunter sent sure of all that
5:20
implies they can't use them is those
5:21
pools there are sort of in the center of
5:23
the ship where the roof can open and
5:25
close it sounds to me like from these
5:27
guidelines you those pools can't be used
5:29
the pools that can be used also have
5:31
very big restrictions on how many people
5:33
can be in the pool it's only one person
5:36
can be in the pool per four square
5:38
meters so actually when you think about
5:39
a lot of cruise ship pulls it probably
5:41
means you're gonna have one or two maybe
5:43
two push three people allowed in the
5:44
pool at any one time all of the chairs
5:47
all of the lounges around the pool have
5:49
to be arranged that the one and a half
5:51
meters apart and they also have to be
5:53
cleaned and cleansed after a person
5:56
leaves so certainly around the pool
5:57
we're not gonna have lots of people
5:58
being able to sit around the pool even
6:00
those pools that can be used hot tubs
6:02
also have the rule around that four
6:06
square meters so again it sounds like a
6:08
real challenge to use a hot tub also
6:09
importantly it says that only people
6:12
from the same household traveling
6:14
together are able to be in a hot tub at
6:17
one time when it comes to other social
6:19
distancing a lot of the things they
6:20
propose and document are similar to what
6:22
we're seeing on land anyway so for
6:23
example limited announced people out in
6:25
the shops markers on the floor to
6:28
highlight social doesn't see in one way
6:30
systems in the spa massages they have to
6:33
wear PPE equipment gym equipment has to
6:36
be two meters apart and wiped down so
6:39
that kind of stuff that you would
6:41
and we're already getting used to on
6:42
land let's talk now about dining quite a
6:45
lot of changes when it comes to dining
6:47
as we have really expected no
6:50
self-service options to be allowed it
6:53
all has to be served by the crew
6:56
so the buffets could exist but they have
6:58
to be become served rather than
7:00
self-service it also talks in the
7:02
document about encouraging a lot of room
7:06
service so to reduce the number of
7:08
people going to the dining venues get
7:09
people to basically eat in their cabins
7:11
in the dining room there's a number of
7:13
key changes that have happened so first
7:15
of all you can't share tables with
7:17
strangers you can only share a table
7:18
with either people in the same cabin as
7:20
you or if you're traveling as a
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household across a number of different
7:23
cabins and again the tables have to be
7:24
spaced out with that one-and-a-half
7:26
meter distance what about masks
7:29
well masks will be part of the process
7:32
so what the guidelines say is marks have
7:35
to be worn at the invocation and the
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disembarkation process where lots of
7:39
people will be moving around and
7:40
collecting as I've already mentioned
7:42
they have to be worn in elevators and
7:44
they have to be worn in other indoor
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spaces where there's going to be a lot
7:48
of people so there is some talk in the
7:50
document about people having to wear
7:52
masks in things like corridors for
7:53
example but in other spaces where you
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can do social distancing of one and a
7:58
half meters mass will not have to be
8:00
worn but will be recommended so this
8:02
certainly is going to be a certain
8:03
amount of mask wearing crew are gonna
8:05
have to wear masks much more so for
8:07
example people cleaning your cabin
8:08
serving customer face and so crew are
8:11
certainly going to be wearing masks a
8:13
lot passengers in various different
8:15
situations when it comes to cabins
8:17
there's a couple of changes there
8:19
for example cabins have to be aired for
8:21
at least one hour on changeover day lots
8:25
of things have been removed from cabin
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so things like the minibar will be empty
8:29
tea or coffee making facilities things
8:31
that could be touched multiple times or
8:33
between different sets of passengers
8:35
over time are going to remove some
8:37
magazines newspapers all that kind of
8:39
stuff will be removed remote controls
8:42
for the television or the air
8:42
conditioner and we covered a special
8:44
packaging which can be changed each time
8:46
so again some sort of plastic bag or
8:47
whatever also there is a recommendation
8:49
about changing things like towels and
8:51
linen much less frequently
8:53
so they're just minimises a chance of
8:56
chopping and changing of linen and
8:58
towels there's good news and there's bad
9:00
news in the guidelines the good news is
9:03
there's a real big step forward in the
9:04
way the cruising can start again across
9:07
Europe and there's a whole bunch of
9:09
things in there that I think will
9:10
probably put people off cruising
9:11
particularly if you're age 65 or over
9:14
with there's lots more restrictions but
9:16
the good news is there's a real step
9:18
forward and the great news is there's a
9:19
publication which the cruise lines can
9:21
now work on both for themselves and
9:23
individually of course with the
9:24
different countries and ports to look at
9:26
a way of opening cruising hopefully
9:28
quite soon we will also see a similar
9:29
document from the CDC in the US so we
9:32
can also understand the protocols and
9:34
the requirements the cruise lines will
9:35
have to follow to be able to start
9:36
cruising safely and responsibly once
9:39
again out of the US and in and out of
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the Caribbean I have loads more videos
9:44
with updates tips advice so why don't
9:47
you watch another one of those right now
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