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MASSIVE CRUISE UPDATE: Many Cancel 2021, Caribbean Outbreak Fall Out, Best New Cruise Deals & More
Jan 28, 2025
In this latest massive and extended cruise update, I discuss the biggest and latest cruise news updates including some huge news and fall-out from the SeaDream Caribbean cruise outbreak, dramatic news like Carnival cancelling cruises out of USA ports until at least end of January 2021 and why, latest on cancellations from lines offering multi-country and exotic cruises and why they cancelling to mid 2021, test cruise updates and the latest and best cruise deals for 2021.
Volunteer for Royal Caribbean test cruises at https://cruisesimulationform.questionpro.com
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0:00
it's been another busy week of cruise
0:03
news and developments
0:04
including some really positive
0:06
breakthroughs although also
0:08
a few setbacks i'm gary bembridge and
0:11
this
0:11
is another of my tips for travellers
0:14
cruise updates
0:15
where i unpick five of the biggest
0:18
breaking
0:18
cruise news items and discuss what it
0:21
means for all of us
0:22
as cruisers one disappointing piece of
0:25
news
0:26
is that the first cruise to depart in
0:28
the caribbean since the beginning of the
0:30
coronavirus pandemic
0:31
came to an abrupt end after one
0:34
passenger tested positive
0:36
for covert 19 on board sea dream one was
0:39
a few days
0:40
into its first caribbean cruise out of
0:42
barbados with 53 passengers
0:44
when one of them was not feeling well
0:47
and tested positive
0:48
for covert on board all guests
0:51
and non-essential crew were immediately
0:54
sent to their cabins to quarantine the
0:56
cruise was cut
0:57
short and the ship sailed back to
1:00
barbados
1:01
they docked late at night and in the
1:03
morning the barbados authorities
1:05
they took control with guests remaining
1:07
quarantined in their cabins and at the
1:09
time of recording this many were
1:11
surprised by this development as guests
1:13
had to produce a negative
1:14
pcr curve result taken within 72 hours
1:17
of flying into barbados as part of the
1:19
country's
1:20
entry requirements and then the line
1:23
tested guests
1:24
before boarding as well now this curved
1:27
issue
1:27
shows the challenges that lines and
1:29
guests face as cruising returns because
1:32
despite
1:32
the layers of protocols there could
1:35
still be issues like this
1:36
and how lions deal with them is going to
1:39
be
1:40
key it shows the real importance of the
1:42
procedures to reduce the risk
1:44
of bringing covert on board plus a
1:46
process to
1:47
quickly identify cases if they break out
1:50
as sea dream
1:51
did this all then has to be backed up by
1:54
a clear and quick plan
1:55
on how to deal with them which again sea
1:58
dream had
2:00
the most encouraging news in recent days
2:02
is of course
2:04
about vaccines and how they may help to
2:07
return cruising
2:08
closer to those pre-pandemic ways
2:11
like most people i was really excited by
2:14
the news that the pfizer
2:16
bio-entech coded vaccine had a 90
2:20
success rate in their clinical trials
2:22
however
2:23
it's not all good news for cruising just
2:26
yet
2:26
the day the news broke travel shares
2:28
including cruise lines shot up
2:30
carnival shares jumped 39 percent royal
2:32
caribbean 27 percent
2:34
norwegian 28 but then stalled
2:37
these new prices are still below the
2:39
level they were in june
2:41
when their last was a bit of a rally
2:43
even with these gains the share prices
2:45
are well below half of where they were
2:48
before the pandemic so why was there a
2:51
good initial bounce but not a steady
2:53
turnaround in the share price now
2:55
investors and the scientific community
2:57
understand that as good as this news is
2:59
there is still a way to go before
3:01
vaccines will impact
3:03
and allow cruising to open and return to
3:05
the way it was
3:06
to attract cruisers back in really big
3:09
numbers
3:10
now on the vaccine they still have to
3:11
finish safety testing they have to get
3:13
regulatory
3:14
approval they have to manufacture enough
3:16
of them they have to get them
3:18
distributed now there's a big logistics
3:20
on how to do
3:21
that when the vaccine has to be kept at
3:23
you know minus 70 minus 80 degrees
3:25
celsius people require two jabs three
3:27
weeks apart and so on
3:28
it's not also known completely yet if
3:32
the vaccine stops you spreading the
3:33
virus
3:34
or just from developing symptoms if it
3:36
works in high risk elderly people the
3:38
same way
3:39
nor how long immunity lasts so basically
3:41
what scientists say
3:42
is this is going to take months if not
3:44
years to answer all of these
3:45
fully so of course the news that
3:48
vaccines look
3:48
possible and are coming is huge news for
3:51
cruising
3:52
and a good reason to be optimistic that
3:54
they could and will play
3:56
a major role in returning cruising
3:58
closer to what was
3:59
pre-pandemic however timing may be
4:02
slower
4:03
than all of us hope certainly it's
4:05
unlikely to change
4:07
much in practice heading into 2021 and
4:09
if you are hoping
4:10
cruises in the first half of 2021 may be
4:13
very different
4:14
to what's being outlined now that does
4:16
look unlikely so
4:17
why is that the case now the health
4:19
authorities like the cdc in the u.s
4:21
and the equivalent across the various
4:23
parts of the world and the cruise lines
4:25
will have to develop and adapt their
4:27
plans and protocols
4:28
to incorporate vaccines alongside or in
4:31
addition to
4:31
current protocols so there's still a lot
4:34
that has to happen
4:35
before they can even consider doing that
4:39
so certainly until vaccines are rolled
4:41
out and kind of widely adopted
4:44
the existing protocols such as the
4:46
framework for additional
4:47
sailing in the u.s are going to remain
4:50
so this includes things like testing
4:51
before boarding and again before
4:52
disembarking
4:54
reduce capacity masks and face coverings
4:57
physical distancing limiting ports to
5:00
cruise line and excursions those
5:01
kind of things and this is what the
5:03
lines will be focusing on for the months
5:06
ahead
5:06
as this will get them all sailing again
5:08
and that
5:09
is their absolute key focus right now
5:12
but certainly as we make our way through
5:13
2021 it does look like vaccines
5:16
could now lead to easing and lifting of
5:18
many of the changes
5:19
that cruisers are not all looking
5:22
forward to
5:24
so if you are hoping to have a closer to
5:25
pre-pandemic cruise experience
5:27
thanks to vaccines what i recommend is
5:30
focus your cruise plans on the second
5:32
half
5:32
of 2021 certainly for now anyway
5:36
but if like me you want to cruise
5:38
heading into 2021
5:40
work on the basis that the more
5:41
restrictive protocols are what
5:43
will be in place building on from that
5:46
advice today as i record this
5:48
carnival have removed all 21 sailings
5:51
of over seven nights out of u.s ports
5:53
from its website
5:55
why have they done that well the cdc
5:57
framework for conditional sailing
5:58
requires
5:59
all cruisers to be seven nights or less
6:02
until they revoke their order which is
6:04
only due to expire
6:05
in november 2021. now carnival have not
6:08
cancelled the cruises yet but they have
6:11
stopped
6:12
selling them now they say that once they
6:14
conclude their discussions with the cdc
6:16
on
6:16
all of the terms in the plans to return
6:19
to service
6:20
they will then update travel agents and
6:22
guests on what will happen finally
6:24
to those cruises longer than seven
6:26
nights other lines
6:28
are likely to follow the step as it is a
6:30
requirement
6:31
for the return to cruise in the us of
6:34
a now this again is more evidence
6:38
that you should plan certainly at least
6:40
for the first half of 2021
6:42
to expect the more restricted cruise
6:44
experience and
6:45
i recommend focus on seven night or
6:48
shorter cruises if you want to focus
6:49
early in 2021.
6:51
now we don't know if passengers will be
6:53
allowed to book back-to-back cruises
6:55
to have longer vacations it was not
6:58
discussed
6:58
in the framework document from the cdc
7:01
so this is something we will need to
7:02
wait
7:03
for the more detailed cdc protocols and
7:05
rules to cover to see how that's going
7:07
to work
7:08
meanwhile while this is all going on
7:10
there could be promising news
7:12
for uk cruisers the government there has
7:15
reportedly
7:16
signaled they're actively looking at
7:18
lifting their total ban
7:19
on ocean cruising the uk-based cruise
7:23
lines
7:24
that's things like pinot cruises cunard
7:27
saga fred olsen along with some who
7:29
home-based ships in the uk
7:31
in the summer so like princess cruises
7:33
for example they partnered with the uk
7:35
and ireland cruise line association and
7:38
they produced a discussion document
7:40
a couple of months back which have
7:41
protocols for resuming cruising
7:44
full discussion with the uk government
7:47
now this included testing capacity
7:49
reduction
7:50
masks cruise line only excursions and
7:52
all the other measures
7:53
like those we've seen proposed in the
7:55
u.s in italy germany singapore and
7:58
so on so nothing out of the ordinary
8:00
there now after a really long silence a
8:03
uk government spokesman has been quoted
8:05
in the uk's daily mail newspaper saying
8:08
i'm going to quote
8:09
we are working on a framework to allow
8:11
the industry
8:12
to reopen safely early in the new year
8:15
that will allow cruisers to restart
8:17
and enable bookings to take place to
8:19
start bringing money into the cruise
8:21
industry again now this could be
8:24
as soon as the spokesman said around the
8:27
uk
8:28
coast resuming as soon as january 2021
8:32
it's implied this would be for uk guests
8:34
only but this was not explicit
8:36
in the interview they also said though
8:39
once they allow lines to go beyond the
8:42
uk
8:42
they will require them to take full
8:44
responsibility
8:46
for repatriating passengers to the uk
8:49
in the case of outbreaks further afield
8:51
now the uk government
8:53
is especially sensitive on this topic
8:55
because they had to arrange
8:56
and cover the costs of repatriating
8:58
around 19 000
9:00
cruise passengers at the start of the
9:02
pandemic so that is a big issue
9:04
for them so this major cruise country
9:07
may see cruising being allowed to resume
9:09
in a limited way pretty soon i will keep
9:12
you posted as we await
9:14
more formal confirmation from the
9:16
government which hasn't
9:18
come as yet now in the last
9:21
few days norwegian cruise group so
9:23
that's uh norwegian cruise line
9:25
oceania and region seven seas they've
9:28
been updating the financial community
9:30
on their results and what's going on
9:33
there are a few
9:34
really interesting snippets of news for
9:37
us as
9:37
cruisers first of all they were not that
9:40
upbeat
9:41
about how fast cruising will return in
9:44
the u.s
9:46
they said that while the centers for
9:48
disease control and prevention's
9:50
framework
9:51
for conditional sailing order as it's
9:53
called is a step forward
9:55
they remain and they quote significant
9:58
uncertainties
9:59
when it comes to certain requirements so
10:02
just
10:02
what's actually going to happen and
10:03
they're really waiting for more detailed
10:05
technical instructions
10:07
from the cdc around all the phases to be
10:09
able to plan it properly now the cdc
10:11
has only issued the ones related to crew
10:14
at the time of recording and there's no
10:15
timeline
10:16
confirmed on when the rest will come to
10:19
enable them to plan
10:20
for resumption secondly they confirmed
10:23
that overall demand for cruising though
10:25
is pretty good
10:26
looking ahead certainly by cruisers
10:29
who've cruised in the past
10:31
so while bookings for the first half of
10:33
2021 are lower
10:35
than pre-pandemic levels they have
10:37
better demand
10:38
for the second half of 2021 which is
10:42
basically reflecting i guess the hope
10:43
the cruisers have that by the
10:45
second half of 2021 things will be back
10:48
to more
10:48
normal they also quoted they had great
10:51
success
10:52
with even further out cruises for 2022
10:54
2023 itineraries for oceania and region
10:57
seven seas again
10:58
showing cruisers are optimistic about
11:00
cruising returning
11:01
to some sort of level of normality in
11:03
the years ahead also it was interesting
11:05
the majority of bookings around 70
11:07
percent
11:08
are by people using future cruise
11:10
credits from cancelled cruises
11:12
so as to be expected cruise vacations
11:14
are appealing to certainly more seasoned
11:16
cruisers for now one of the stages for
11:19
the resumption of cruising in the usa as
11:21
laid down
11:22
by the cdc is for the cruise lines to
11:24
run a series of
11:26
simulated cruises these are to test all
11:28
the new protocols
11:29
and run tests of proposed quarantine and
11:32
evacuation procedures and all that kind
11:34
of
11:34
stuff now many cruisers have said they
11:37
would be really keen
11:38
and have asked how can they volunteer so
11:40
what is the latest news on these
11:42
test cruises and volunteering now at
11:44
this stage
11:45
the lions are all saying it is too early
11:48
they still have to agree when and in
11:50
what form these will be
11:52
and then of course who can take part now
11:55
it is possible that members of the
11:56
public
11:57
will be considered as hinted recently by
12:00
royal caribbean on a
12:01
call they did with travel agents quite
12:04
recently
12:05
now all we know is that the cdc require
12:07
volunteers
12:08
to be over 18 to be able to have a
12:10
signed certificate from their doctor
12:12
saying they
12:12
don't have pre-existing medical
12:14
conditions making them vulnerable
12:17
for contracting covert that it can't be
12:20
in return for payment or for any future
12:23
employment
12:24
and that volunteers agreed to follow all
12:26
the protocols you know mask
12:27
testing that kind of stuff and that they
12:30
need to be prepared to take part
12:31
in the full testing and all the
12:33
simulations so it actually might not be
12:35
that much
12:36
fun as the ships may not even sail
12:38
anywhere and all this could be done
12:40
in port and it could require you doing
12:43
numerous drills and various
12:44
different run-throughs but we do know
12:47
that it will involve all the dining or
12:48
the entertainment
12:49
and any of the events that will be run
12:52
once cruising resumes so definitely
12:54
something to think about carefully as
12:56
soon as i have more news
12:57
i will include how you can volunteer in
13:00
these updates
13:02
so these are the biggest news stories
13:04
breaking that i felt you need to know
13:06
about
13:06
and what i think they mean for us as
13:09
cruise
13:10
lovers i have loads more tips for travis
13:13
episodes
13:14
full of cruising advice and tips so why
13:16
not
13:17
enjoy another one right now
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