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BIG CRUISE UPDATE: 8 Changes Cruise Lines Made To Be Sailing From May In UK (+ US latest)
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Feb 14, 2025
In this latest cruise update, I explore cruising opening up from May in the UK by lines including Princess Cruises, Cunard, Viking Cruises, P&O Cruises and Fred Olsen and why it is not a return to normal - and what it means for cruise passengers both in the UK and as far afield as the USA. I also look at less promising news about European river cruises and the USA latest So, what is going on? Join me as I explore and unravel all of this, and more importantly give my take on what it means for travellers like you and me keen to start cruising again. ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 77 cruises I have done to date. BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA
View Video Transcript
0:00
it's definitely not cruising as we knew
0:03
it
0:03
as i poked around into the nitty-gritty
0:05
detail from the cruise lines of who
0:07
when where and how people can go
0:09
cruising this summer in the uk
0:11
it's definitely not cruising returning
0:14
back to normal and neither will it be
0:16
for european river cruises
0:17
nor the united states and let's find out
0:19
what's happening in this
0:21
cruise update at the time of recording
0:24
five lions have officially confirmed
0:25
they will be starting up
0:27
uk sailings this summer viking cruises
0:30
from may on their viking venus
0:32
pinot cruises with two ships britannia
0:35
and iona
0:36
from the end of june cunard on queen
0:37
elizabeth princess cruises on two ships
0:40
from the
0:40
end of july and fred olson with two
0:43
ships
0:44
now actively working on cruises are also
0:47
royal caribbean
0:48
and hutu griton and reviewing their
0:50
options include
0:51
saga cruises msc cruisers so by the time
0:54
you watch this
0:55
they may all have announced there's two
0:57
plus others
0:58
as well but there are eight key
1:00
decisions the lions have built into
1:02
these uk cruises
1:03
that i think everybody in the world not
1:05
just the uk should know because i think
1:07
it really confirms the direction of
1:09
opening and they do mirror what happened
1:11
in other regions as they opened so let's
1:13
take a look at those
1:15
first it's taking a very long time from
1:16
getting the green light from government
1:18
to being allowed to resume actually
1:20
cruising it's taking between
1:22
three and four months now this is what
1:24
the lions have kept saying
1:26
coming back into service will take this
1:28
long so bear that in mind
1:29
as you look at your region and when you
1:31
get the okay to sell because it's still
1:32
going to take
1:33
quite some time secondly these cruisers
1:36
replace
1:36
all the advertised cruises and run for
1:38
limited times in the case of viking
1:40
they only have three planned 22nd of may
1:42
29th of may and the 5th of june
1:44
pinot cruisers are running them from
1:46
june until september the 19th
1:48
similar for cunard princess cruises from
1:50
the 31st of july
1:52
to the 28th of september the hope is
1:54
then to return to the advertised cruise
1:56
schedule
1:57
as travel beyond the uk waters is
1:59
allowed and countries in europe and even
2:01
further afield
2:02
open thirdly cruise passengers have to
2:04
be uk resident
2:06
and fully vaccinated so both doses at
2:09
least seven days before
2:10
sailing now on most of these settings
2:12
this applies
2:13
with the main exception that i've seen
2:14
so far of viking who only going to rely
2:17
on testing
2:18
so anyone that does not want to has not
2:20
yet been always under 18
2:22
will not be able to go on all the other
2:24
of those cruises
2:26
so vaccination is a real key issue now
2:28
the vaccine
2:29
rule only applies at the start-up
2:32
cruises so those running until late
2:33
september
2:34
and then the theory is they won't be so
2:36
we'll have to wait and see
2:37
crew by the way will not be vaccinated
2:39
as many of those won't have qualified
2:41
yet so they'll go into quarantining
2:43
and be regularly tested fourth limited
2:45
fleet pinot cruises for example are
2:47
using
2:47
two of their six ships and only the two
2:50
large ones
2:51
cue not just using one viking using one
2:53
princess two
2:54
sky princess and regal princess and so
2:56
on so as we've seen across the world
2:59
as cruising resumes only one or two
3:01
ships are used by line
3:03
and also probably linked to how much
3:05
demand because these cruisers may have
3:07
limited appeal
3:08
so as i keep saying as cruising returns
3:10
do not expect a
3:11
entire lines fleet to start up at the
3:13
same time
3:14
we don't yet know by the way what the
3:16
exact level of reduced capacity on these
3:18
ships
3:19
will be in other regions it's been
3:21
between sort of 50 and 60
3:23
so that's something to watch fifthly
3:25
cruisers to nowhere now these
3:26
are largely going to be scenic cruising
3:28
as they were in asia
3:30
singapore japan and taiwan now that
3:33
could be
3:33
obviously it's easy to keep managing
3:35
that bubble navigate all different rules
3:37
across the different nations of the uk
3:39
and
3:39
also just you know acceptance of cruise
3:42
ships going into some of these ports
3:44
there are some hints viking are going to
3:45
try and have some
3:46
english only ports fred olson will on
3:49
one cruise
3:50
only call in at the shetland islands and
3:52
orkney islands
3:53
princess are also hoping to have a few
3:55
ports on a limited
3:56
number of their cruises so we'll see how
3:59
this evolves but piano britannia
4:01
for example will run short three and
4:03
four night cruises
4:04
along the south coast of england iona
4:07
will do coastal cruising
4:09
past the channel islands and along the
4:11
coast of france
4:12
although their very first cruise which
4:13
is actually going to be their maiden
4:14
voyage
4:15
will actually scenic cruise up to the
4:16
island of viona in scotland
4:18
and as i mentioned that will be her
4:19
maiden void so cruises to nowhere or
4:22
very limited
4:23
places six balcony cabins and suites
4:25
only now this has been the case with msc
4:27
mindshift
4:28
audience of the season israel quantum
4:30
the season singapore
4:31
only balcony and above are put on sale
4:33
now could be that inside
4:34
an ocean view being used by the crew
4:36
maybe they're part of the isolation
4:38
and quarantine fallbacks but also of
4:40
course it means that people have cabins
4:42
with access to fresh air if there are
4:44
any issues on these cruises the seventh
4:47
area is around protocols now as with all
4:49
the others that have started selling to
4:50
date
4:51
things like social distancing mark
4:52
wearing no self-service
4:54
buffets health screenings all those kind
4:56
of things will still
4:58
apply now it's not confirmed about
4:59
testing for passengers although it will
5:01
be frequent for crew
5:02
but i did ask for example pinot cruises
5:04
they told me that testing may be
5:06
required
5:07
and will actually be covered within the
5:08
fair if it is and when it is
5:11
the eighth area is really important it's
5:12
around insurance travelers
5:14
will have to prove they have travel
5:16
insurance with
5:17
covert 19 cover so for example the piano
5:20
rules say and this is true of all the
5:22
other
5:22
carnival group but i'm going to quote
5:24
what they say insurance must include
5:26
medical
5:27
and repatriation cover of 2 million
5:29
pounds minimum
5:30
that includes cover for emergency
5:32
evacuations and medical expenses
5:34
related to covert 19. if you want to
5:36
know that is in dollars that's about 2.7
5:38
million dollars
5:39
so all of this shows that cruising as it
5:41
returns will not certainly for much of
5:43
this year
5:44
actually return but come back as
5:46
something different
5:47
and this i believe will be the same in
5:49
every single region it's cruising
5:51
but not as we used to know it now if you
5:54
want to know
5:55
more detail on all of these points
5:57
around the uk
5:58
cruise resumption rules you could watch
6:00
the video that i've made about them
6:02
and the link is above so as all this
6:05
progress
6:05
happens in the uk what about the united
6:08
states what's
6:09
on earth is going on now it looks like
6:12
things are
6:12
mostly slowing down they're certainly
6:15
not speeding up
6:16
so when will we see any ocean cruising
6:19
out of the united states i think
6:20
most of us probably including you have
6:22
given up predicting a date but let's
6:24
take a look
6:24
at a couple of developments that have
6:26
happened that are of note
6:28
and are of significance when we talk
6:30
about the united states
6:31
first of all in really big news the
6:33
first u.s homeport line virgin voyages
6:36
they've announced that they will require
6:38
vaccines for both passengers
6:40
and crew when they're allowed to start
6:42
sailing now of course they're an
6:44
adult only line so they don't face that
6:46
whole dilemma
6:47
and discussion on what should they do
6:49
about excluding under 18s
6:50
from their cruises that other lines do
6:52
of course as in the uk
6:54
people under 18 cannot yet be vaccinated
6:57
now
6:57
tom mcalpine he's their ceo he said in a
7:00
statement i'm going to quote it because
7:01
it's
7:01
pretty important to see the thinking our
7:04
goal is to ensure that we're providing
7:06
the safest
7:06
travel experience which means
7:08
vaccinations for both our crew and
7:10
sailors
7:11
this is a step towards this safe return
7:14
to sailing and is the right decision
7:16
for virgin voyages of course they join
7:19
american steamboats
7:21
line and victory line requiring vaccines
7:24
in the united states for their settings
7:26
we're going to watch with great interest
7:28
what the cdc
7:29
and uh perhaps other lions do especially
7:32
for those test cruises that we're
7:33
waiting
7:34
for and eventually for fair paying
7:36
cruises particularly when they start up
7:37
and resume
7:38
and whether they follow the approach to
7:39
the uk done you know the startup cruises
7:41
having the vaccine requirement the
7:44
second really big news which you
7:45
probably are no
7:46
is the norwegian group norwegian region
7:48
seven seas and oceania
7:50
they've cancelled all their cruises
7:51
through to july others inevitably will
7:54
and they probably have
7:55
by the time you watch us follow because
7:57
they all have the same reason
7:58
the cdc and those rules the cdc they
8:02
again went out reforming their stance
8:05
against
8:05
any travel at this point in time there's
8:08
no news
8:08
on when technical details to plan those
8:11
tests cruises will be
8:12
and even if you move away from the cdc
8:15
of course we've seen various speeches by
8:16
president biden
8:18
which spoke about some of the effects of
8:20
vaccines will only start playing out
8:21
sort of from july
8:23
onwards in terms of rules and
8:24
regulations so it's really a waiting
8:26
game
8:27
on the positive side point number three
8:29
is both american cruise line
8:31
and american steamboat line they have
8:33
resumed some of their river cruise
8:35
services so certainly
8:36
there's a river cruising option now in
8:38
the united states
8:39
the fourth thing really sort of linked
8:41
to the us is crystal cruisers
8:42
they're going round all those cdc rules
8:44
by home porting
8:45
the crystal serenity from the third of
8:47
july of the bahamas with seven night
8:49
cruises
8:50
with embarkations of both nassau and
8:52
bimini
8:53
so will other lions be tempted to try
8:55
one or two ships in the islands there's
8:57
lots of limitations
8:58
on islands actually being able to handle
9:00
the logistics and the numbers and what's
9:02
required
9:03
but it'll be interesting to see if any
9:04
others start to follow
9:06
now the outlook for european river
9:08
cruising has unfortunately
9:09
slumped a bit since my last update the
9:12
slower kind of progress of vaccination
9:14
in europe versus say the uk
9:16
and the us is probably reducing optimism
9:19
within europe
9:20
because it's going to affect when
9:21
borders open for ships to sell freely
9:24
and also really importantly for people
9:25
entering the eu to join the river
9:27
cruises
9:28
50 of the river cruise europe
9:30
association members they met online
9:32
very very recently and there were a
9:33
couple of really big takeouts from me
9:36
from that meeting that i thought i would
9:38
share with you because i think they're
9:39
really important
9:40
first of all what they said is european
9:43
river cruising is at best
9:44
expected startup only in the second half
9:47
of may but with domestic routes only so
9:50
only within one country so only
9:51
within germany or say portugal now this
9:54
is due to the various limits
9:55
that are being set by countries on
9:57
opening up travel and all the various
9:59
restrictions you know a number of
10:00
european countries
10:01
seem to be heading into a potential
10:03
third wave and there are increasing
10:04
restrictions
10:06
and lockdowns so that's making that more
10:08
pessimistic about when they could open
10:10
certainly they're not thinking it'll be
10:11
for easter
10:12
secondly cross-border cruises are
10:14
forecast to only start
10:16
from the earliest july probably more
10:18
from august so those are the ones that
10:19
you know go
10:20
right along the danube or the rhine and
10:22
thirdly they do believe that because
10:24
of those issues with coming in out with
10:26
air transport
10:27
capacity they think that europeans are
10:30
going to again
10:31
this year be the bulk of customers for
10:33
another year
10:34
and they don't think all the fleets are
10:36
therefore going to come back into
10:37
service of course they
10:38
hope that things will change
10:39
particularly once again into september
10:41
now around the world we are seeing very
10:43
different paces and plans when it comes
10:45
to cruising now
10:46
one key factor definitely there's a roll
10:49
out of vaccines
10:50
and the confidence in each of those
10:51
different countries and the authorities
10:53
to open
10:54
their various countries so we saw that
10:56
in asia
10:58
we're seeing it now in the uk and we're
11:00
seeing it in parts of
11:01
europe the very first key step in all of
11:04
those cases has been to open
11:06
domestic travel and domestic cruising
11:08
for local residents it's something that
11:10
is just not possible in the united
11:12
states
11:12
due to the passenger vessels services
11:15
act which means
11:16
cruisers have to call on a foreign
11:18
country you can find out much more about
11:20
the protocols that are being used for
11:22
cruising
11:22
in all these various countries opening
11:24
and which are likely to stay
11:26
by clicking on this here to view a
11:29
playlist of two videos
11:30
i've made on this topic so why not do
11:32
that
11:34
right now
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