Up next in 10
In this latest cruise news update, I dive into a USA Cruise Update looking at why the restart of cruising is being looked at in a totally different way, despite what the CDC said recently about the Framework For Conditional Sailing about how cruising can resume in the USA - and what impact it has on when cruises can start in the USA.
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0:00
is the path to cruising starting up in
0:02
the united states about to get
0:04
much simpler and much much faster and
0:07
have the test cruises already being done
0:09
cruise industry leaders say yes to both
0:12
of these
0:13
so let's find out what is going on as i
0:15
explore the four factors that are coming
0:17
together
0:18
to drive this new optimism for cruising
0:20
out of the united states
0:21
in this latest cruise update and
0:23
importantly of course what it means for
0:24
you as a cruiser
0:25
by the way if you're new to my channel
0:27
welcome aboard i'm gary bembridge and
0:29
i'm here
0:30
to help you make it easier to find plan
0:32
and have those amazing cruise vacations
0:35
that you're dreaming of so with that in
0:37
mind let's
0:38
get going with the u.s making fast
0:40
vaccine progress
0:42
not far behind the uk and with the
0:43
administration having the goal
0:45
of every adult offered a vaccine by july
0:48
what
0:48
impact is this expected to have on
0:50
cruising
0:51
opening timing now there is of course
0:53
some us cruising
0:55
already started linked to this progress
0:57
on vaccines so in the united states
0:59
lines not covered by the cdc rules which
1:02
only cover ships carrying over 250
1:04
people
1:05
they are actually starting up they have
1:07
all cited vaccine progress
1:08
as making this possible so uncrews will
1:11
be sailing in alaska for vaccinated
1:14
adults
1:14
american steamboat cruise line they've
1:16
resumed already and they're going to be
1:18
requiring vaccines from july
1:20
as will their sister victory cruise line
1:23
so we see increasing already starting
1:24
based on the rollout but emboldened by
1:26
roll-up progress
1:27
royal caribbean celebrity and crystal
1:30
have opened cruising or will be opening
1:32
cruising out of the caribbean from nasa
1:33
and san martin
1:35
for vaccinated u.s adults and for royal
1:37
caribbean and celebrity
1:38
also for negative testing under 18s as
1:41
well now norwegian cruise line
1:42
they might be about to follow because
1:44
they've just cancelled
1:46
their existing itineraries for norwegian
1:48
encore norwegian joy
1:50
and norwegian jade until the end of
1:52
october
1:53
freeing them up for what they call new
1:56
deployments so something may be
1:57
happening there too
1:58
however while this is a welcome
2:00
development it's pretty small scale and
2:02
niche
2:02
it's almost a distraction from the main
2:04
goal of cruising starting up
2:06
out of the united states so currently
2:08
the restart of cruising in the united
2:10
states is based on the cdc that's the
2:12
centers
2:12
for disease control and prevention
2:14
framework for conditional setting that
2:16
was issued
2:17
you know some five months ago and it's
2:20
as we all know
2:21
stalled because they haven't issued the
2:24
technical specifications to run
2:26
test simulated cruises which are
2:27
designed to try out
2:29
and stress test the new embarkation
2:32
crews and disembarkation processes now
2:35
pressed in a recent senate committee
2:37
appearance the cdc director rochelle
2:39
walensky she said she's unable to give a
2:42
timeline
2:42
for those details to be issued asked if
2:45
it would be a month three months
2:46
any time this year she refused to be
2:48
drawn people were dismayed
2:50
just days later when the cdc issued a
2:53
pretty stock statement saying that the
2:54
framework
2:55
would stay in place this was in response
2:57
to a request by clear to
2:59
open cruising as soon as july however
3:02
things may not be as bad as they seem
3:05
cruise line leaders believe that there
3:06
is going to be
3:07
a change in approach for cruising
3:09
resumption in the united states
3:11
and they think it's coming soon richard
3:13
feyn he runs the royal caribbean group
3:15
he said in one of his
3:16
very recent video updates i'm going to
3:18
quote what he said
3:19
the pace of science has simply overcome
3:22
that process and he's referring there of
3:24
course to the framework stages
3:26
and the different requirements why well
3:28
first of all there is a huge amount of
3:30
data on how the protocols and processes
3:32
work in real life already available
3:35
which may make the need for test cruises
3:37
less essential richard fame points out
3:40
that test cruises have effectively
3:42
taken place around the world over 350
3:45
000 people
3:46
have now cruised since the start of a
3:48
pandemic for all caribbean
3:50
there have been over 150 000 passengers
3:54
there have only been
3:55
10 positive cases identified on these
3:57
cruises
3:58
they were early and quickly identified
4:00
due to their protocols
4:01
through the testing ongoing temperature
4:04
checks and
4:05
so on but importantly the contact
4:07
tracing which is another part of the
4:08
protocols they quickly identified
4:10
close contacts of those people they were
4:12
able to screen them and they were able
4:13
to
4:14
find a way to keep going without having
4:16
huge disruption
4:17
for the rest of the crews they then had
4:19
partnerships with local authorities
4:21
contracted online medical and quarantine
4:23
arrangements to get people home
4:25
so this meant that this was all done in
4:26
a way that did not
4:28
cause a drain on local resources so very
4:31
important
4:32
these have effectively been test
4:33
cruisers so richard thane
4:35
in his video said i'm going to quote in
4:36
essence we've just had a hundred
4:39
thousand test cruises
4:40
and demonstrated that the process works
4:42
it is the most powerful
4:44
and reliable evidence in multiple real
4:47
world
4:48
settings but secondly even more
4:49
importantly richard feyne as
4:51
other cruise leaders have done and
4:53
pointed out that the cdc framework for
4:55
conditional setting was actually created
4:57
in a very different time before the much
4:59
more accurate
5:00
easy access to testing was available and
5:02
of course before
5:03
vaccines now he argues that this renders
5:06
much of the framework
5:08
completely out of date and he believes
5:09
that if you look at what the cdc is
5:11
already doing
5:12
which is they're starting to issue new
5:13
advice based on vaccines for people in
5:15
the united states
5:16
that he thinks rethink is imminent on
5:19
travel and cruising
5:20
he says i'm going to quote the
5:22
conditional seller order was a very
5:24
positive step
5:25
at the time but that time has passed we
5:28
don't know what the cdc is contemplating
5:30
to address this very different set of
5:31
circumstances
5:33
but just as they and other public health
5:35
officials are doing elsewhere
5:36
we expect they will adjust to the
5:38
changes that have
5:40
been and are taking place thirdly
5:43
despite this there is no suggestion or
5:45
thinking that the cdc
5:46
nor the lions will drop the protocols
5:48
proposed as cruising reopens anyway
5:51
they will just add vaccines to make it
5:53
even safer
5:54
and less risky now the lions plan to
5:56
keep them
5:57
to retain that proven model that was
5:59
used to date
6:00
right around the world so around the
6:02
world cruising still has and will have
6:04
when it opens for example in the uk
6:06
reduced capacity testing before boarding
6:09
social distancing measures
6:10
masks when distancing is not possible
6:12
especially inside
6:14
no self-service dining cruise line only
6:16
excursions to maintain the bubble
6:18
and so on they are all going to stay so
6:20
even as cruising returns in the united
6:22
states
6:23
it will not be cruising back to how it
6:25
was that may of course come later it is
6:27
really really important
6:28
that travelers understand this fourthly
6:31
the lines have pretty much
6:32
in the u.s conceded that certainly as a
6:34
resume that passengers
6:36
and crew will have to be vaccinated all
6:39
cruisers
6:40
launched have incorporated this even
6:42
before the cdc
6:43
has actually expressed publicly a view
6:45
on its role
6:46
for travel ask if he thought the cdc was
6:48
going to require vaccines
6:50
to approve u.s cruising to reopen
6:52
richard feyne henson he felt it was very
6:54
likely he said
6:55
again a quote we have announced three
6:56
cruises that will
6:58
require vaccinations for all adults
7:01
and there are likely to be more vaccines
7:03
set the stage for whatever we do
7:05
and all our efforts are to make our
7:07
cruises safer today
7:09
a vaccine approach makes much more sense
7:12
however this will all still take time
7:15
lions are increasingly hopeful that they
7:17
will be able to sail
7:18
some limited sailings this summer though
7:21
all of them
7:22
including arnold donald of the carnival
7:24
group the leadership of norwegian group
7:25
and richard feyn they keep saying and
7:27
reminding everybody that it takes
7:29
months to reactivate a ship so they're
7:31
not talking about restarting in the u.s
7:33
right away and really quickly but
7:35
they're hoping the cdc will shift
7:37
in really really really soon so they can
7:40
plan now for summer sailings on a few
7:41
ships
7:42
and they are using the us president's
7:44
july timeline
7:46
for a target to return to some kind of
7:48
normality
7:49
as a rallying cry and timeline too and
7:52
richard feyn said quote we can be
7:54
sailing in time to meet president
7:56
biden's goal of reopening society
7:58
in time for the 4th of july clear the
8:01
cruise line association they've taken up
8:02
the call
8:03
for cruising to be allowed by july in
8:05
the united states
8:06
now in their statement calling for this
8:08
they also referred
8:10
to all that real life proof from around
8:12
the world
8:13
and they argued very strongly that the
8:15
vaccine rollout
8:16
should be triggering cruising reopening
8:19
this is what they said i'm going to
8:21
quote what they said the outdated
8:22
framework for conditional sailing
8:24
which was issued almost five months ago
8:27
does not reflect the industry's
8:29
proven advancements and their success in
8:32
operating
8:33
in other parts of the world nor the
8:35
advent of vaccines and
8:37
unfairly treats cruises differently
8:40
so much has changed since october when
8:42
the framework for conditional selling
8:44
was put in place
8:45
and it's really clear that vaccines are
8:47
now the game changer for cruising around
8:49
the world
8:50
and the plans will have to factor this
8:53
into them if they're going to work to
8:55
ignore it would be
8:57
kind of strange and illogical especially
8:59
when the us president has been
9:00
so public about his goal to use vaccines
9:03
to get the u.s population
9:04
back to doing the things they miss and
9:06
want to do heading into summer
9:08
by and from the 4th of july now we've
9:11
seen israel and the uk
9:13
they have made moves taking account of
9:15
the vaccine progress
9:16
and i really believe as those industry
9:18
leaders do
9:20
that it's right to expect the us is
9:22
going to be doing the same
9:23
sometimes soon it's really important of
9:25
course to understand that the protocols
9:27
that will be faced by this cruises when
9:30
it returns
9:31
be it israel the uk the new royal
9:33
caribbean the crystal the celebrity
9:35
cruises homeport in the caribbean
9:36
and eventually the us will have all
9:39
these protocols
9:40
that we have come to read so much about
9:42
so it's really important that you
9:43
understand the protocols
9:45
that are going to be in place when
9:46
cruising returns to help you understand
9:48
those i've put together a short playlist
9:50
of two videos
9:51
that is you can click on right here
9:53
right now and find out more about those
9:55
protocols so why don't you do that
9:57
right now
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