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LATEST CRUISE UPDATE : SURPRISE 2021 CANCELLATIONS, Norwegian Europe First, Carnival Set Back & More
Feb 6, 2025
In my latest cruise news update, I explore the latest and biggest cruise news updates including the latest cancellations including Viking, Virgin and Cunard, why Norwegian Cruise Line may not start sailing in the USA first, Princess Cruises upgrade their entire fleet, Carnival returns ships to USA waters but hits a problem, 2021 new ships news and more cruise updates
Latest cruise cancellations and when they will resume sailing: http://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruise-line-cancellations
CDC ship status: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/crew-disembarkations-commercial-travel.html
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
you're about to discover the biggest
0:02
cruise news
0:03
and updates including surprise
0:06
cancellations
0:06
norwegian looking at cruising in europe
0:09
before the u.s
0:10
carnival ships returning to the u.s hit
0:12
a snag
0:13
2021 new ship plans and so much more
0:17
i'm gary bembridge and this is another
0:18
of my tips for travellers cruise updates
0:21
where i unpick the biggest breaking
0:23
cruise news
0:24
and discuss what it means for all of us
0:27
as cruisers
0:28
before we get into more positive news
0:30
some updates on cancellations
0:32
around the world as a reminder royal
0:35
caribbean line
0:36
norwegian cruise line and all carnival
0:38
cruise line
0:39
they have recently cancelled into at
0:41
least march with many many lines
0:43
going further including viking cruises
0:45
which in the last few days
0:46
has cancelled through to april due to
0:49
those challenges of working through the
0:50
cdc
0:51
framework for conditional sailing now if
0:54
you look at my month-by-month listing of
0:55
when cruising is due to resume around
0:57
the world
0:58
it's on my site at tipstertravelers.com
1:00
and the link
1:01
is in the notes of this episode you will
1:03
see clearly
1:04
that almost all lines have planned for
1:06
at least one full year of
1:08
no cruising with march and april
1:10
currently when most
1:12
hope to return and even then with just a
1:14
few ships
1:15
and limited itineraries even u.s river
1:18
cruise lines have now
1:19
pushed well into 2021 with american
1:22
steamboat company
1:23
just announcing they will only resume
1:25
earliest in march and mostly in
1:27
april australia as i predicted they've
1:29
extended their ban on cruise ships
1:31
re-entering australian waters
1:33
now despite those proposals by the
1:35
cruise line association for domestic
1:36
only cruisers
1:37
to be allowed to start up the ban due to
1:40
end on the 17th of december
1:42
was extended by three months to the 17th
1:44
of march
1:46
wiping out the main summer cruising
1:48
season there
1:50
meanwhile in europe lines that had
1:51
resumed sailing have now also put on
1:54
hold
1:54
or cancelled cruising costa had to
1:57
cancel their christmas and new year
1:59
sailings
1:59
between december the 20th and january
2:01
the 6th to comply with new italian
2:03
government lockdown rules
2:05
cruisers will resume on january the 7th
2:07
with costa samaralda
2:09
they will have one week itineraries
2:11
going to italian ports msc cruises has
2:13
cancelled until the 10th
2:15
of january germany refused mind chief 1
2:18
permission to sell a 35 night round trip
2:21
out of the germany to the caribbean
2:22
over christmas in the new year they're
2:24
going to call on private islands only
2:26
but they've cancelled it due to rising
2:27
cases in germany pennant
2:29
they've called off the rest of their
2:30
season out of france too
2:32
cruises out of the canary islands by the
2:35
lines are still allowed in europe to
2:36
operate
2:37
and they're still going ahead certainly
2:39
at this time
2:41
norwegian cruise line has suggested that
2:43
they may start selling in europe
2:45
before resuming sailing in the united
2:47
states now this is due
2:49
to the challenges with getting through
2:51
the usa cdc rules
2:53
now it has to be remembered that both
2:55
the carnival corporation
2:56
with their costa cruise line and the
2:58
royal caribbean group with their joint
3:00
venture mind shift and habit lloyd
3:02
they started selling in europe first too
3:05
in summer 2021.
3:07
the norwegian is considering it with
3:09
their main norwegian
3:10
cruise line ships in a lesser two
3:13
norwegian cruise line senior officers
3:15
which was actually leaked
3:16
to the crew center website following
3:18
their most recent cancellations into
3:20
march
3:21
norwegian said that they are evaluating
3:22
i'm going to quote here
3:24
the conditions in europe for the normal
3:26
seasonal repositioning of vessels
3:28
and could possibly launch ships in
3:30
europe before sending again
3:32
in the u.s the line is already starting
3:35
to recruit ships currently located in
3:37
europe
3:38
so the norwegian escape is on its way
3:39
already from india with over 1 000
3:41
crew and norwegian joy is on its way
3:44
from manila with
3:45
200 crew now those two ships the line
3:48
confirmed are being used as transport
3:50
ships
3:50
and they will deploy the crew from those
3:52
ships onto other ships
3:53
once they're certain which ships will
3:55
actually re-enter
3:57
service first now in december there are
4:00
also flying crew to join norwegian
4:02
spirits in montenegro which will then
4:04
sail
4:04
to place crew onto the encore and the
4:06
bliss which are currently moored in the
4:08
uk
4:09
so as we head into march april and may
4:11
when the european season usually starts
4:14
we may see more lines starting up in
4:16
europe
4:17
first now some cruise line people i've
4:19
spoken to previously
4:21
they have said to me that they are
4:23
putting a focus on
4:24
europe so definitely we'll need to watch
4:28
very carefully
4:29
how this plays out and i will of course
4:32
keep you posted on those developments
4:33
but we may see
4:35
those lines starting in europe before
4:36
the us
4:38
now i've spoken in previous updates and
4:40
in episodes dedicated to the first
4:42
changes
4:42
happening in cruising due to the
4:43
pandemic that technology
4:46
upgrades will absolutely be a lasting
4:48
aspect
4:49
of all of the changes going on so
4:52
it didn't come as much of a surprise
4:54
when i saw that princess cruises
4:57
is using their extended cancellations
4:59
which now go right through to april
5:00
to upgrade their entire fleet to become
5:04
medallion class ships now this means
5:07
that
5:07
every single passenger on princess
5:10
cruises once they resume will be using
5:13
their ocean medallion this wearable
5:15
device that
5:16
is going to make cruising a much more
5:18
touchless experience
5:20
in everything that happens and you do on
5:23
board and in fact before
5:24
you board so the coral princess
5:28
diamond princess emerald princess grand
5:30
princess island princess
5:32
majestic princess and sapphire princess
5:35
that
5:35
didn't have the technology before
5:37
they're all being upgraded
5:39
so what does it include includes
5:40
touchless embarkation and disembarkation
5:43
you can use the medallion to unlock the
5:45
cabin door you can do contactless
5:47
payments around the ship
5:48
you can also do the muster safety drill
5:51
using the device
5:52
and your mobile device without having to
5:54
attend the old large
5:55
group gatherings you can order food
5:58
drinks
5:59
and retail items to be delivered
6:01
anywhere on board
6:02
you can do guest service via a mobile
6:06
chat there's location-based gaming and
6:08
entertainment
6:09
and cruise content like the daily
6:11
program can be viewed on your phone or
6:13
tablet
6:14
all ships will also have the very fast
6:16
and frankly brilliant
6:18
medallion net wi-fi now as i mentioned
6:21
in other updates
6:22
royal caribbean is rolling out their new
6:23
and similar tracelet device across their
6:26
fleet msc
6:27
has their own msc device as do virgin
6:30
voyages
6:31
and in fact even other carnival group
6:33
lions have started to use
6:34
the princess medallion so costa cruises
6:37
for example in italy
6:38
this past summer used it as well so
6:41
technology changes happening
6:43
carnival cruise line has returned their
6:46
second ship
6:46
to the united states the carnival breeze
6:49
has joined carnival horizon
6:50
back in miami all the rest of the
6:53
carnival
6:54
cruise line fleet remains outside of u.s
6:56
waters
6:57
carnival cruise line is working to get
6:59
these two ships ready and approved by
7:01
the cdc
7:02
to run test cruises to test and validate
7:04
all the cruise protocols
7:06
once they've done these they can then
7:08
apply for the conditional certificate to
7:10
sale allowing them to take paying
7:12
passengers now they hope to start
7:13
cruising with these two ships again in
7:16
march out of miami
7:17
and port canaveral the exact itineraries
7:20
will depend
7:20
on what ports are willing to receive
7:22
them by then
7:24
of course so we don't exactly know now
7:26
things are not going
7:28
as smoothly as hope because the cdc
7:30
hasn't signed off carnival horizon
7:32
as satisfying the first hurdle around
7:34
cruise safety and protocols now this
7:36
does seem to be more related to
7:37
documentation issues than anything more
7:39
sinister the carnival breeze though
7:40
has actually at the time recording past
7:43
you can actually check the status of all
7:44
ships for each cruise line that are in
7:47
u.s waters
7:48
on that very first stage of the cdc
7:50
framework for sailing
7:52
on their website and again a link in
7:54
this episode's notes
7:55
they're updated every single tuesday now
7:57
at the time of recording
7:59
other ships in u.s waters showing red
8:01
and so not passing the first stage
8:03
are celebrity apex and celebrity summit
8:06
now looking into 2021 there's going to
8:08
be a lot of new ship activity with a
8:10
staggering
8:11
21 ships sailing with passengers for the
8:15
very
8:15
first time now this includes six ships
8:18
that were actually delivered to the
8:19
lions in 2020
8:21
but did not enter service and then
8:22
there's 15 ships that will be completed
8:24
in 2021
8:26
now the 15 new ships will add 42
8:29
000 new births of capacity to cruising
8:32
alone
8:32
so the six ships from 2020 are virgin
8:35
scarlet lady
8:36
celebrity apex pinot cruz's iona
8:40
silversea cruises silver moon saga
8:42
cruiser spirit of adventure
8:44
and costa cruises costa ferenze now in
8:47
the first half of 2021 we should now
8:49
also see viking venus
8:51
carnival mardi gras royal caribbean
8:54
odyssey
8:55
of the seas msc virtuosa the ritz
8:58
carlton
8:59
evrema crystal endeavor expedition ship
9:02
aida cosma and sea cloud spirit
9:05
and then in the second half of 2021
9:09
there's going to be virgin valiant lady
9:11
holland america rotterdam
9:12
msc seashore silver sea silver dawn
9:16
princess cruises discovery princess
9:19
seabourn venture expedition ship
9:20
and costa toscana so despite
9:24
all the challenges there's a lot of new
9:26
ships and a huge amount of capacity
9:28
coming into service in 2021 now the
9:30
impact of all of this
9:31
extra capacity balance with the demand
9:33
of cruising it's going to be really
9:34
interesting
9:35
to see what impact it has on fares and
9:37
prices in 2021 and so again
9:39
i'll keep you posted on what i'm seeing
9:41
so those are the biggest news stories
9:43
breaking
9:44
that i felt you needed to know about and
9:45
what i think they mean for us as cruise
9:47
lovers i have
9:48
loads more tips for travellers episodes
9:51
packed full of cruising advice
9:52
and tips so why not enjoy another one
9:56
right now
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