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5 Things This Pandemic Taught Us About Cruising. I discuss the 5 biggest things this pandemic has taught us about cruising. The good, bad and sometimes surprising, and revealing, things we learnt about the cruise industry and cruising as a result of the pandemic.
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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.
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0:00
what has the pandemic taught us
0:03
so far about cruising i'm gary bembridge
0:06
this is tips for travellers whether you
0:09
love cruising or you loathe cruising the
0:12
lockdown and the last
0:13
months have taught us enormous amount
0:16
about cruising
0:17
why did cruising become such a poster
0:19
child of
0:20
coronavirus and did cruise lines need to
0:22
dispose of some of their fleets and what
0:24
the big money really thinks about the
0:26
future of
0:27
cruising let's explore the five big
0:29
learnings
0:30
that i think we've got about cruising so
0:32
far
0:33
through the pandemic one of the biggest
0:36
learnings that we got
0:37
is that cruising and cruise lines have
0:40
very
0:40
few influential and important friends
0:43
that includes governments
0:44
that includes health authorities that
0:46
includes the media and even states
0:48
and countries which have an enormous and
0:50
really important cruising
0:51
business going through there like
0:53
florida or even spain they have
0:54
certainly turned their back on cruising
0:56
and being
0:56
quite hostile to cruising now cruisers
0:59
and cruise lovers have got very upset
1:01
about the lack of support and the lack
1:03
of
1:04
friends and influence however i think
1:06
there are a number of
1:07
critical things that have created that
1:10
first of all the cruise lines are flying
1:13
as flags and convenience
1:14
so they are genuinely the big cruise
1:16
companies the three really big cruise
1:18
companies a carnival corporation
1:20
royal caribbean and norwegian cruise
1:22
line they don't
1:23
have their head office and they're not
1:25
incorporated in one of the big countries
1:27
like the united states
1:28
so they're registered offshore or their
1:30
ships are registered offshore
1:32
so they're not seen as a fundamental
1:34
part of any of these big countries
1:37
also really importantly that also means
1:39
because of the way that they recruit
1:40
people although they do
1:42
obviously employ a lot of people in
1:43
countries like the united states the uk
1:45
and so on but most of the people who
1:47
work on those ships are seen
1:48
as foreign so they're not seen as being
1:51
a fundamental part of the countries they
1:53
operate in even though there are
1:54
really big companies secondly and
1:57
linked to that is they're seen as
1:59
entirely recreational and not strategic
2:01
so when you look at the airlines for
2:02
example
2:03
they're seen as really fundamental and
2:04
strategic not only because they
2:06
are seen as being one of the companies
2:09
you know the registered domiciled in a
2:11
particular country but they're also seen
2:12
as fundamental for moving cargo around
2:14
for building business links for
2:16
connecting families for opening up
2:18
access to
2:19
out of the way places so airlines are
2:21
seen as fundamentally and strategic
2:24
whereas cruise lines are seen as just
2:25
recreational they are discretionary
2:27
and there's a certain amount of snobbery
2:29
around it because cruises are actually
2:30
still seen as being
2:31
kind of a luxury thing even though we
2:32
know there's a wide range of cruises so
2:34
they're also not seen as strategic and
2:36
fundamental so
2:37
they're not seen as being really
2:38
important to defend or look after
2:40
to the same degree one of the really
2:43
important
2:44
reasons that they don't have friends is
2:45
they're seen as a drain on resources
2:47
certainly
2:48
when the lockdown started there was
2:50
cruise ships all around the world trying
2:52
to get into ports
2:53
they were looking for help from the
2:54
maritime authorities maybe from the
2:56
health authorities
2:58
to try and help repatriate people of the
3:00
ships so they were
3:02
seen as a real potential drain on the
3:05
resources
3:06
of a particular state of course then
3:07
linked to that they are not that good
3:09
for the environment they also create
3:10
lots of
3:11
noise and people and over tourism so
3:14
there's a sense also that from that
3:15
perspective they're not great
3:17
what's really interesting though is if
3:18
you look at countries where they do
3:20
have cruising companies which are either
3:23
incorporated
3:24
in that place or have major operations
3:27
we've seen a very different approach so
3:28
let's take a look at norway for example
3:30
who de grueten
3:31
and sea dream which are both norwegian
3:33
owned they were one of the first
3:35
to be allowed to get back into some form
3:37
of cruising in germany
3:39
where tui is a massive big travel
3:42
company
3:42
in germany they have a joint venture uh
3:45
cruising so they have mine chief cruise
3:47
line they have habakkuk lloyd again they
3:48
were allowed
3:49
to start up really early msc cruisers
3:52
are owned by an italian family based out
3:54
of switzerland but again
3:54
very strong links with the italian
3:56
economy they have a huge cargo operation
3:59
which operates out of italy they are
4:02
seen as really really fundamental and
4:03
again
4:04
we saw the italian government being very
4:06
keen and open to letting them start
4:08
in france you have ponont which is a
4:09
french-owned company again
4:11
being allowed to start up so where
4:12
you've seen those companies which have a
4:14
strong route they are
4:15
opening up and we're allowed to open up
4:17
much more the second thing that we
4:19
learned
4:20
about cruising is it was seen as the
4:21
poster child it seemed to represent
4:23
a lot of things that coronavirus is and
4:25
it stands for
4:26
but again i think there's a really good
4:28
reason why that happened at the time the
4:30
diamond princess
4:31
outbreak happened where there was that
4:33
big spread through the ship
4:35
it was quarantined in japan there was
4:38
a huge press focus on it that was the
4:40
only
4:41
really major outbreak of covet 19 that
4:44
affected western
4:46
people and western businesses up until
4:48
then it had been seen
4:49
a problem that was happening in asia it
4:51
was bubbling up in china
4:52
vietnam cambodia wherever that then
4:55
followed on with things like ruby
4:56
princess in australia we then had all
4:58
those ships sailing around the world
4:59
with western passengers trying to find
5:01
ports of core being turned away
5:02
all through south america all around the
5:04
world eventually having to
5:06
head into the united states it is very
5:08
frustrating for many people that
5:10
the cruise industry was seen as and
5:12
still seen as such a major issue
5:14
when it comes to coronavirus when you
5:16
look at the spread of coronavirus around
5:18
the world it's very clear that
5:19
cruising could not possibly have been
5:22
the cause of its rapid spread it must
5:24
have come
5:24
through people for example flying around
5:26
the world and bringing from one country
5:28
to the next and spreading it if you just
5:29
look at the way it spread
5:31
however the airlines never were seen as
5:33
the flashpoint for coronavirus the
5:35
airlines had never been
5:36
as intimately associated with
5:38
chronovirus although
5:39
actually practically which drives people
5:41
who are
5:42
big pro cruisers very drives them
5:45
actually crazy and frustrates them
5:47
is the cruise industry didn't
5:48
necessarily spread coronavirus around a
5:50
lot other than potentially could argue
5:52
in australia but it did seem as a flash
5:55
point and it really was
5:56
the symbol of travel that made
5:58
coronavirus so tangible for many people
6:01
also what's important to bear in mind is
6:03
another reason that it became such
6:05
a poster child is not only was early
6:08
outbreaks
6:09
and that floating petri dish was a very
6:11
dramatic
6:12
term was coined but it made for very
6:14
good stories people were
6:15
stuck on ships for long periods of time
6:17
that media was able to
6:18
have lots of imagery around it they were
6:20
able to focus on it they're able to tell
6:22
the stories of the people involved they
6:23
could track the whole story of people
6:25
so actually from a storytelling point of
6:27
view
6:28
it became a really powerful symbol
6:29
whereas people are an aircraft and they
6:31
disappear all over the place
6:32
we see that of course in the countries
6:34
that we live if there's an outbreak in a
6:35
pub
6:36
or even in a factory it becomes a fact
6:38
rather than a story and i think that's
6:40
another reason why
6:41
cruising has become such a big focal
6:43
point for
6:44
as opposed to child for coronavirus it's
6:46
also important to note
6:47
that where startup cruises have started
6:49
the media have made an enormous
6:51
story around the outbreaks however there
6:53
has only been
6:54
as cruisers started up one true outbreak
6:56
which was on her to growth and roland
6:58
amundsen
6:58
where they didn't follow the right
7:00
procedures and protocols for
7:02
quarantining crew and there was a
7:04
genuine outbreak on board the ship
7:06
however all the other reported things
7:08
like sea dream uncruise
7:09
poor gargan that was actually a case of
7:11
protocols working where one
7:13
guest either who'd been on the cruise
7:14
previously or was on the cruise
7:16
was picked up as having a positive test
7:19
and they were able to be isolated taken
7:21
off the ship
7:21
and everyone was tested everyone was
7:23
fine but the media had reported
7:26
this whole wave of covert outbreaks the
7:28
same thing doesn't happen of course if
7:29
one person
7:30
is positive in a pub or a any other kind
7:33
of situation
7:34
the next thing that we learned which i
7:36
found is really interesting is whilst
7:37
there's a doom and gloom around
7:39
the money certainly believes there is a
7:41
lot of potential in cruising
7:43
there was lots of talk as the lockdown
7:44
started that cruise companies were going
7:46
to go bus they were all going to go to
7:48
the wall
7:49
now at the time of recording they
7:50
haven't sailed for nearly six months or
7:51
so and it's very unlikely the way things
7:53
are heading that they're probably going
7:54
to be cruising
7:55
anytime this year or certainly they're
7:57
very lucky towards the end of the year
7:59
in a
7:59
formal fashion however they have raised
8:02
an enormous
8:03
amount of money from either new
8:04
investors in the case of carnival with
8:06
the saudis came in and took a big chunk
8:08
of it
8:09
or from loans and other kind of fund
8:11
raising
8:12
they're burning through now that they've
8:14
dialed back the ships with cold storage
8:16
between 150 million
8:17
and 250 million dollars every single
8:21
month
8:21
but they have raised enough money to be
8:23
cruising for a good nine months to
8:26
a year longer with no cruising so
8:28
certainly
8:29
the financial industry the investors
8:32
see an enormous potential in cruising so
8:34
whilst other people are losing faith in
8:36
cruising the long-term future
8:38
where the money are placing their bets
8:39
is very pro cruising
8:41
and i think that's a big learning is
8:42
that people when they look at the longer
8:44
term
8:45
see the future of cruising the other
8:47
thing that i think we learned
8:48
is that the cruise lines because there
8:49
was so much demand we're actually
8:51
running quite a lot of unprofitable
8:53
or borderline profitable ships so we saw
8:55
as the lockdown happened
8:56
that cruise line started to get rid of
8:58
the less efficient parts of their fleet
9:00
the most significant of those was
9:01
carnival they got rid of almost 10
9:04
of their fleet they got rid of 13 ships
9:06
either by sending those
9:07
for scrap or selling those on royal
9:10
caribbean haven't sold any of their core
9:12
brands
9:12
but pullman tool which was another joint
9:14
venture which had a couple of ships
9:15
those ships have gone and been basically
9:18
broken up or in the process of being
9:19
broken up
9:20
what's very important though is we
9:22
haven't seen as people had predicted
9:24
big bankruptcies and that ships and
9:27
cruise lines were going to disappear
9:29
there probably only been two really key
9:31
ones one of which was pullman tour the
9:32
one that i've already mentioned
9:33
although that as a brand name still
9:35
survives and then cruiser maritime
9:36
voyages
9:37
based on the uk they did go bankrupt
9:39
there's been some other very small
9:40
individual ones but none
9:42
of the key major ones have gone bankrupt
9:44
crystal holding company
9:45
is doing some financial reconfiguring
9:47
but i really clear that that is going to
9:49
keep on sailing we haven't seen the
9:50
massive contraction
9:52
certainly at this point of time that
9:53
people have predicted in cruising
9:55
there's been a bit of shedding
9:56
because they were inefficient ships but
9:58
they ditched all the unprofitable ships
10:00
very early on the next key thing that i
10:02
think we learned is that cruising is
10:03
going to take time
10:04
to return we've seen as cruising have
10:06
started again in europe the demand
10:08
hasn't been
10:08
perhaps as robust as many people had
10:10
thought it would be we
10:12
although they're selling with 60 to 70
10:14
capacity
10:15
msc cruisers have postponed bringing a
10:17
second ship
10:18
back into service because demand has
10:19
been relatively weak
10:21
so demand hasn't been massively huge i
10:23
think we're going to see it's going to
10:24
take
10:25
some time for people to get the
10:26
confidence to move back to cruising i've
10:28
done a whole other video where i've
10:29
looked at the reasons that people
10:30
aren't coming back so quickly but one of
10:32
the key stumbling blocks for people who
10:34
love cruising
10:35
is many of the protocols that are being
10:36
required to get cruising back
10:38
and up and running is not creating the
10:41
kind of vacation experience that people
10:42
love cruising for so it's going to be a
10:44
challenge over time is
10:45
marrying protocols that are safe enough
10:48
to get cruising sailing again
10:49
with creating an environment on board
10:51
that people really want to embrace and
10:53
spend their money on and you can go and
10:54
watch that video if you want to find out
10:56
more about that so far in the pandemic
10:58
we've learned a load of things about
11:00
cruising cruise lovers and cruise haters
11:02
have really strong perspectives what
11:03
i've tried to do
11:04
is take a look in a slightly more
11:05
balanced way i think anyway
11:07
at what we've really learned about
11:08
cruising i have loads more videos of
11:10
cruise updates
11:11
cruise tips and advice so why don't you
11:13
watch another one of those
11:14
right now
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