Up next in 10
Are there any good cruise news stories, good cruise updates or developments in cruising? Or is it really still just an endless round of cruising cancellations and cruising gloom ? In this cruise update I sweep aside the news of cancellations, delays and uncertainty about cruising to talk about 5 of the biggest, brightest and most exciting good news stories in the cruise world.
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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.
#CruiseUpdate #CruiseNews #GoodCruiseNews
00:00 Start
00:29 Cruise Line News
05:20 Cruise Ship News
07:24 Cruise Protocol News
10:12 Cruise Flexibility News
12:25 Cruise Deal News
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0:00
are there any good cruise news stories
0:03
and developments or is it just
0:05
an endless round of cancellations
0:08
and cruising gloom i'm gary bembridge
0:11
and in this episode
0:12
of my tips for travellers i sweep aside
0:15
the news of cancellations
0:17
delays and uncertainty about cruising to
0:20
talk about what i think are five of the
0:22
biggest
0:23
brightest and most exciting good
0:26
cruise news stories from around the
0:28
world
0:29
now based on cancellations already
0:31
announced it is clear cruising except
0:33
for a few
0:34
kind of limited regional exceptions will
0:36
be heading past a full year of
0:38
shutdown really really soon now many
0:41
people have assumed that the current
0:42
state of the virus makes it unlikely
0:44
that cruising will return on
0:46
any scale until summer so that's almost
0:49
18
0:50
months shut down in total now some lines
0:52
including
0:53
carnival cruise line princess cruises
0:54
honda america fred olson for example
0:57
they have already cancelled some regions
0:59
or individual ships right through into
1:01
the quarter four
1:02
2021 and some even into 2022.
1:05
now ever since shutdown in march 2020
1:08
the constant worry for cruisers is that
1:10
their favorite
1:11
line would collapse it would be shut
1:13
down or perhaps merged
1:14
into other lines now this fear was
1:17
especially fueled knowing
1:19
that as many of the lions as most of you
1:21
know are incorporated in tax
1:22
friendly countries so they're not
1:24
incorporated in the united states
1:26
uk germany and so on so this means they
1:28
could not get
1:29
any of the state bailouts that things
1:32
like airlines and
1:33
other travel groups have actually got to
1:35
tie them over this whole period
1:37
so that's the bad news what if any is
1:40
the good news related to that well the
1:42
good news is that to date
1:44
only a very small handful of around
1:46
about five smaller lines
1:48
have disappeared so far like cruiser
1:50
maritime out of the uk
1:51
puma tour which was a spanish joint
1:53
venture with royal caribbean
1:55
but the really good news is that all the
1:57
major lines
1:58
are very well placed to survive through
2:01
this storm
2:02
now according to their financial reports
2:04
the world's
2:05
three largest cruise corporations that's
2:07
carnival corporation
2:09
royal caribbean group and the norwegian
2:11
group they carry just over 70 percent
2:14
of all cruise passengers worldwide they
2:17
have all been burning through
2:19
a combined 1 billion dollars
2:22
every single month while their ships
2:26
sit laid up now this amount will
2:28
increase
2:29
as they move and start to recruit and
2:31
prepare their ships to sell again so
2:33
monstrous amounts of money now carnival
2:35
corporation they carry 37
2:37
of all passengers before the shutdown
2:39
they own nine
2:40
cruise lines so that's carnival cruise
2:42
line holland america
2:44
cunard princess pinot cruises
2:48
pinot australia seabourn aida and costa
2:51
cruises
2:52
they blew through half a billion dollars
2:56
every month in the last quarter they
2:58
actually cut that amount down from over
3:00
700 million dollars
3:01
by selling 18 ships last year the royal
3:04
caribbean group which to remind you
3:06
they have royal caribbean line they have
3:09
celebrity cruises they have
3:10
azamara cruises and they have silversea
3:12
and they're also joint ventures
3:14
in mind shift and hapagloid in europe
3:17
they're burning through
3:18
270 million dollars every single month
3:22
meanwhile norwegian cruise line holdings
3:25
which has 28 ships in their fleets which
3:28
covers norwegian cruise line oceania and
3:30
region seven seas they're burning
3:32
through
3:33
175 million dollars every single
3:36
month so the amount of cash that these
3:38
groups alone
3:40
are burning through is absolutely
3:42
mind-boggling
3:43
it's way over like 12 billion dollars so
3:46
far
3:46
already in the shutdown as of today
3:49
however
3:50
the really good news is that the
3:52
financial community has
3:54
enormous faith in the future of cruising
3:56
and all those three groups have been
3:58
able to raise
3:59
enough funds to keep going without any
4:02
paying passengers
4:03
until the end of summer 2021 to date
4:06
so they look to be incredibly well
4:08
covered as in fact the expectation is
4:10
that by
4:12
only the last months of this year
4:13
cruising is going to be largely back and
4:15
running
4:16
more full steam now most of these funds
4:18
that they've brought in to cover them
4:20
right through to the end of summer
4:21
have been in the form of loans so they
4:23
have also been placing
4:24
and issuing shares now these largely
4:26
with institutional
4:28
investors so for example early in the
4:29
shutdown the saudi
4:31
sovereign fund they took an eight
4:33
percent stake in the carnival
4:34
corporation now of course all of this
4:38
fundraising does mean the lines are
4:39
carrying a huge amount of debt and
4:42
they're going to have to pay
4:42
interest on they're going to ultimately
4:44
repay them over time so we actually
4:46
don't
4:46
know on the downside potentially what
4:48
the impact on
4:49
of that whole burden will be on our
4:51
onboard experience and
4:52
so on so that may be less good news
4:54
later on smaller groups like
4:56
crystal which is part of the massive
4:58
hong kong genting group
5:00
they also own by the way dream and star
5:01
cruisers after some initial concerns
5:04
they've confirmed
5:05
funding as have all the other lines that
5:07
are owned by private or listed companies
5:09
so you know whether it's fred olson it's
5:11
viking it's windstar
5:13
or river cruise lines like emma
5:14
waterways avalon
5:16
emerald across europe they have all
5:18
raised funds and are well covered
5:20
so the first absolutely good cruise news
5:22
is you should not have to worry that
5:24
your favorite
5:25
cruise line will be disappearing before
5:28
cruising
5:28
returns full steam the second really
5:31
good cruise news is there's going to be
5:34
a lot of brand new ships many with
5:37
first time at sea features so these are
5:39
new ships for cruisers like you
5:41
and me to try out but on my account it's
5:44
a staggering 21
5:45
ships selling with passengers for the
5:47
very first time now this number
5:49
includes seven ships that were delivered
5:51
to the lions in 2020
5:52
but were unable to enter service and
5:54
there's at least another 15 ships
5:56
that will definitely be completed in
5:58
2021.
5:59
now the 15 2021 ships alone will add
6:02
42 000 new births of capacity cruising
6:06
every single week so the seven ships
6:09
from 2020 are virgin voyages scarlet
6:11
lady
6:12
celebrity cruisers celebrity apex
6:14
enchanter princess from princess cruises
6:16
pinot cruz's iona silversea cruises
6:18
silver moon saga cruiser spirit of
6:21
adventure and costa cruises
6:22
costa ferenze now in the first half of
6:25
2021 depending on
6:27
timing of cruise resumption of course we
6:30
should see the following selling or
6:31
selling being delivered
6:32
viking venus carnival mardi gras
6:36
royal caribbean odyssey of the seas msc
6:39
virtuoso
6:40
ritz carlton ivrima crystal endeavor
6:43
expedition ship
6:44
aida cosma and sea cloud spirit
6:48
in the second half there will be virgin
6:51
valiant lady
6:52
holland america rotterdam msc seashore
6:56
silversea silver dawn princess cruises
6:58
discovery princess
7:00
seabourn venture expedition ship and
7:02
costa tos
7:03
ghana so the second really big
7:07
good cruise news is that we are going to
7:09
have many more brand new ships than
7:11
ever before to try out the shutdown
7:14
means the first year back at
7:16
sea when it happens it will be quite
7:18
remarkable for the amount of new ships
7:20
to try out in a really concentrated
7:22
period of time of course there is the
7:25
good news
7:26
that the relative vaccines through
7:29
2021 is likely to help cruising and of
7:31
course travel
7:32
more generally return back to closer to
7:34
how it
7:35
used to be however i think for the
7:38
return of cruising in the immediate
7:40
future over the next couple of months or
7:42
so
7:42
that's not the main good news because
7:44
vaccines will take time to achieve the
7:46
thresholds right around the world and
7:48
imports etc
7:49
before they can have a really big impact
7:51
across travel and cruising so of course
7:53
it's good news
7:54
overall but i believe the immediate good
7:56
cruise news
7:57
is that countries cruise line
7:59
associations and the individual cruise
8:01
lines themselves
8:02
have agreed the actual protocols
8:04
required for cruising to start up
8:06
the main stumbling block actually is now
8:10
agreeing the actual dates for test
8:12
cruises to run
8:13
and opening up in places like the united
8:15
states uk spain australia and so on
8:18
and then of course secondly travel
8:19
restrictions for the ports
8:22
to open moving between countries being
8:23
lifted enough for cruises to operate
8:25
as they used to do but the good news is
8:28
the actual
8:29
protocols have been agreed for cruising
8:31
to return which i do believe
8:32
is great news now of course for some of
8:34
you what is going to be required in this
8:36
protocol
8:37
is not widely liked and it could
8:40
mean that you're going to hold of
8:41
cruising until it can be lifted but the
8:42
important thing is they have been agreed
8:44
by all the major cruise country
8:47
authorities
8:48
now the main elements which actually
8:49
have been tested successfully so far by
8:52
italian german
8:53
taiwan and singapore sellings to date
8:55
but let's take a look at what these main
8:57
things agreed are first of all 100
8:59
testing of all passengers and crew
9:01
often multiple tests before during and
9:04
at the end of the cruise
9:05
two reduced capacity for every setting
9:08
between 50
9:09
and 70 to enable distancing three
9:12
mask wearing inside the ship and a
9:14
defense outdoors when distancing
9:16
is not going to be possible four more
9:19
which is good news digitally based
9:21
muster drill five there's gonna be
9:23
limits on the numbers at venues events
9:25
the pool theaters dining usually
9:27
requiring you to pre-book
9:29
six cruises to nowhere or if calling on
9:32
ports then cruise line only excursions
9:33
with no
9:34
opportunity to self-explore seven
9:37
enhanced cleaning
9:38
bigger medical facilities isolation
9:41
facilities
9:42
eight there's going to be a track and
9:43
trace capability usually with wearable
9:45
devices
9:46
and the ninth point is pre-agreed joint
9:50
procedures if an outbreak occurs
9:51
these are all agreed in advance with
9:53
local country authorities and we've seen
9:54
these working for example
9:55
with a false positive in singapore the
9:58
fact that protocols have been developed
10:00
and agreed in my view is good cruise
10:02
news the focus now is on when it can
10:05
happen
10:05
not what has to happen before the good
10:07
news that cruises
10:09
in the big regions has returned
10:12
now for me a really good piece of good
10:14
cruise news
10:15
one that i hope will stay around but
10:17
fear may not
10:18
is there is huge flexibility that cruise
10:21
lines now
10:22
offer with bookings now before the
10:23
pandemic cruising was pretty rigid
10:26
with many having unrefundable deposits
10:28
could be 10 or even more
10:30
final payments 90 days before so months
10:32
and months before
10:34
and there were large penalties for
10:36
cancellations even if you wanted to swap
10:38
out a passenger
10:39
on existing bookings on some lines that
10:41
was pretty much impossible without
10:43
huge penalties so really really
10:45
inflexible now the lines are offering
10:47
great flexibility certainly until around
10:50
may 2022
10:51
and beyond right now they give you the
10:53
ability to lift and shift bookings
10:55
and even deciding up to 48 hours before
10:58
a cruise that you don't want to go and
10:59
instead of losing your money
11:00
you can take future cruise credit for
11:02
the full amount
11:04
let's take a look at a typical example
11:05
rather than go through all the cruise
11:06
lines but a typical example is royal
11:08
caribbean groups cruise with confidence
11:10
and lift and shift so the cruise
11:13
with confidence program this currently
11:16
means that
11:17
royal caribbean will let you cancel any
11:20
cruise that set sails until
11:22
april the end of april 2022
11:25
one that you've done on existing
11:26
bookings or bookings you make in the
11:27
next month or so
11:28
and as long as you cancel at least 48
11:30
hours before your sale date
11:32
you receive a future cruise credit which
11:34
you then need to use before the end
11:36
of april 2022 so that
11:39
means great great flexibility which
11:41
didn't exist
11:42
before now i actually expect these the
11:44
dates of these will
11:45
move more and more into 2022 because
11:48
each time
11:49
they cancel more cruisers they push the
11:51
dates further and further into 2022. the
11:54
lift and shift
11:54
option is also great it's for guests who
11:57
want to move
11:57
existing booking into next year so royal
11:59
caribbean for example
12:00
they actually protect the original price
12:03
or promotion if you've had it
12:04
if the alternative selling is the same
12:06
itinerary length and
12:07
state room category at roughly the same
12:10
time of the year so you have to roughly
12:11
move it with
12:12
the same time of the year so the good
12:14
cruise news
12:15
is that through into 2022 there is much
12:18
more flexibility
12:19
as you make bookings across all of the
12:21
lines and i think this is great and
12:23
fingers crossed that keeps happening
12:25
there's also really good news that there
12:27
are now
12:28
lots and lots and lots of deals and
12:30
promotions and these
12:32
will keep on coming and i think they
12:34
will actually accelerate as cruising
12:35
actually opens and the lions really know
12:38
what they have
12:39
sailing now although there is definitely
12:42
eagerness by existing cruise lovers like
12:43
myself
12:44
and probably you to be able to cruise as
12:46
soon as possible there is still
12:47
overall reluctance especially by new to
12:50
crews
12:51
which was expected to be a big big part
12:53
of who would fill the ships and all
12:54
those new ships especially over the
12:55
coming years
12:56
the cruise lines will be really keen and
12:59
definitely eager to get
13:00
people on board and i remember that on
13:03
board spend is a
13:04
significant part of cruise line revenue
13:06
and profits most people
13:08
spend an additional 50 percent or more
13:11
of the cost of their fare once on the
13:13
ship with all those things that are
13:14
going on
13:15
so there will be lots of incentives and
13:16
lots of deals to get people
13:18
cruising and of course cruising really
13:20
often
13:21
so the good news is you should expect
13:24
and should look out for deals so i
13:25
recommend sign up
13:26
right now to all of your favorite cruise
13:29
lines
13:30
to get their emails to stay on top of
13:32
these now
13:33
are there any good cruise news stories
13:35
that you think i have missed
13:37
let me know by commenting love to hear
13:39
if you think i've missed anything and
13:40
remember
13:42
i have loads loads more tips for travis
13:44
episodes
13:45
packed full of cruising advice and tips
13:48
so why not
13:49
go and enjoy another one right now
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