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6 KEY CRUISE UPDATES: No-Cruise USA Advice, Trouble On Cruises Running, Royal Caribbean & More
Jan 28, 2025
Here are the 6 breaking cruise news stories that you need to know about, including the CDC in the United States dialling up it’s advice against cruising, 3 huge new challenges cruises that have resumed are now dealing with, what a Royal Caribbean cruise is actually going to be like, a big surprise financial bail out for the cruise lines and more.
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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.
00:00 Start
00:29 USA No Cruise Advice
02:10 New Cruise Challenges
05:04 Royal Caribbean On Board
07:50 Passengers Kicked Off
08:52 Cruise Technology
10:29 Cruise Line Bail Out
#CruiseUpdate #CruiseNews #CruiseNewsUpdate
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
here are the six breaking cruise news
0:02
stories that you need to know about
0:04
including
0:04
the cdc in the united states dialing up
0:06
its advice against cruising
0:08
three huge new challenges cruisers that
0:10
have resumed are now dealing with
0:12
what a royal caribbean cruise is
0:14
actually going to be like a big surprise
0:16
financial bailout for the cruise lines
0:18
and more i am gary bembridge and this is
0:20
another of my tips for travellers
0:22
cruise updates where i unpick the
0:25
biggest cruising news
0:26
and discuss what it means for all of us
0:28
as cruisers
0:30
firstly a really significant development
0:33
in the us
0:34
of a the cdc has
0:37
significantly increased their travel
0:39
advice against
0:40
cruising moving it from a level two up
0:43
to a level
0:44
three warning u.s residents to avoid all
0:47
non-essential travel especially cruising
0:50
they call out cruising
0:51
in some detail in this update their
0:54
advice says and i quote
0:55
the cdc recommends that travelers defer
0:58
all cruise travel
1:00
worldwide they highlight the ongoing and
1:03
increased levels of covert 19 infection
1:05
across many countries including the usa
1:08
and argue and again a quote cruise
1:10
passengers are at increased risk
1:12
of person to person spread of infectious
1:14
diseases
1:15
included covert 19 and outbreaks of
1:18
cover 19 have been reported
1:20
on several cruise ships now the lifting
1:22
of the no sale order
1:24
is key to cruise lines being legally
1:26
able to resume
1:27
sailing but this advice against cruising
1:30
is also significant
1:31
as it usually negates travelers
1:33
insurance and of course deters many from
1:35
traveling making resumption
1:38
really challenging for the lines as i
1:40
record this some lines have already
1:42
started to cancel
1:43
and push cruisers out even further
1:45
virgin voyages
1:46
being one of the first canceling right
1:48
through to the 3rd of january
1:50
although at the same time carnival
1:52
cruises
1:53
has brought back some crew into saint
1:55
martin to join
1:56
carnival horizon carnival pride and
1:59
mardi gras although it's not clear
2:01
if these are to place crew in cold layup
2:04
whose contracts have ended
2:05
or with an eye to resuming cruising
2:09
meanwhile across in europe we have seen
2:12
three
2:12
new issues the lions are now facing in
2:15
recent days first of all the fast rising
2:19
cases in some countries has made lions
2:21
much more skittish
2:22
and nervous about who they accept on
2:25
their cruises
2:26
carnival's costa cruises for example
2:28
which resumed cruising with just italian
2:31
passengers
2:32
has cancelled plans to accept guests
2:34
from
2:35
other european countries whose cases are
2:38
higher than in italy
2:40
costa was due to open to eu travelers
2:42
but now travellers from countries
2:44
as far apart as france austria
2:47
switzerland spain the uk
2:49
croatia poland and portugal cannot
2:52
cruise with them
2:53
now the policy will be reviewed at the
2:55
end of november
2:56
but they also have announced that they
2:59
are extending the ban
3:00
on u.s travelers through towards the end
3:03
of december the second challenge
3:07
is that lions are having to get used to
3:09
modifying itineraries at short notice
3:12
as travel advice keeps chopping and
3:14
changing as infection rates develop
3:16
so for example carnival's aida cruisers
3:18
which cater for
3:19
german-speaking travelers had to
3:21
overnight drop some italian ports in
3:23
regions the german government
3:25
now advised against travel to so they
3:28
dropped popular
3:29
ports like naples for example and added
3:31
messina
3:32
and sudoku's where travel advice is
3:35
still okay
3:36
certainly for now this all also means
3:38
they abruptly dropped la spezia
3:40
in italy as an embarkation port and
3:43
travelers can only embark their cruises
3:45
into ceviche
3:46
near rome across europe which was
3:48
selling on many rivers
3:50
has announced multiple cancellations and
3:52
they've scrapped their entire
3:54
christmas season sailings due to
3:56
changing travel advice changing
3:58
restrictions
3:59
on attractions what hospitality is open
4:02
and
4:02
all those kind of restrictions now
4:05
thirdly
4:05
the lines are discovering as i covered
4:07
in my last update
4:09
there is still of course risks of
4:11
outbreaks on board despite testing
4:12
physical distancing creating of bubbles
4:14
for excursions as we saw
4:16
on costa dia derma that i spoke about in
4:18
my last update
4:20
but in recent days for example there was
4:21
a reported outbreak on a river cruise in
4:23
germany
4:24
on the ms vista serenity it led to
4:26
guests actually being transferred home
4:28
to isolate and 13 crew testing
4:31
positive so though the new protocols
4:34
mean
4:34
quick identification and only having to
4:37
isolate
4:37
those infected or their close contacts
4:39
it does create
4:41
a really difficult on-going challenge
4:43
that the lions are having to adapt and
4:45
learn to manage
4:46
so certainly as cruises getting the go
4:48
ahead to resume
4:49
is as we are learning just the start
4:52
lines
4:52
have to keep adapting and changing who
4:54
can sell where they can call on
4:57
and how they handle the different
4:58
flare-ups if and when
5:00
they happen however in more positive
5:03
news
5:03
we have confirmation on what cruising on
5:06
a royal caribbean ship
5:07
is really going to be like so how do i
5:09
know that well by looking at what
5:11
they've put in place
5:12
as they resume cruising on the quantum
5:14
of the seas
5:15
out of singapore overall it's very very
5:18
consistent with what we've seen on
5:20
carnival's european lines
5:22
sailing so that's cost to cruises aida
5:24
and royal caribbean's joint ventures
5:26
of mine shift and hapag lloyd lines and
5:29
also importantly things they included in
5:31
the healthy sailing panel
5:32
proposals that they submitted to the cdc
5:35
in the u.s
5:36
now there are five things that really
5:38
stand out to me
5:40
firstly guests have to take a cover 19
5:42
test 48 to 72 hours before boarding but
5:45
the cost of testing is included in the
5:47
fair and it's arranged through the line
5:49
now if you or your party tests positive
5:52
or fails the pre-board
5:53
screening you get a hundred percent
5:56
future cruise credit
5:57
so it's really good to finally know what
5:59
happens if you can't go on a cruise
6:01
because of covered
6:02
because this applies also if you have to
6:04
isolate and can't go on the cruise it's
6:06
good to get that answer
6:08
the other thing we found out is the ship
6:09
will be sailing at maximum of 50
6:12
capacity and all the venues swimming
6:14
pools restaurant bars
6:15
and so on will operate at half their
6:17
capacity with numbers being controlled
6:20
and booking is required for most of the
6:22
venues
6:23
in advance only four people can be in an
6:26
elevator at one time a lot of people ask
6:27
me that question
6:28
as well thirdly the windjammer buffet
6:32
will
6:32
as we expect not be self-service all the
6:34
items will be served by crew
6:36
but it's recommended that guests book a
6:38
time to go to the buffet now this
6:40
of course is not going to be popular
6:41
with many fourthly
6:43
again something that's not popular masks
6:45
are going to be required in almost all
6:47
situations
6:48
except when you're eating or drinking
6:50
and seated down so masks
6:51
are needed inside the ship but also out
6:53
on the deck
6:54
when you're taking part in outdoor
6:56
activities except the flow rider
6:58
it wouldn't stay on anyway they even
7:00
have to be worn around the pool when
7:01
you're not in the water
7:02
now this is not the case on european
7:04
cruises
7:05
the fifth thing that stood out is some
7:07
really big modifications have been made
7:09
to the ship with new ventilation
7:11
and filtration systems and a very
7:14
expanded medical center which now
7:16
has more doctors more nurses and a
7:18
dedicated isolation ward
7:20
for curved care patients importantly
7:23
also
7:23
royal caribbean will cover all covert 19
7:26
related medical treatment on board
7:28
and also the cost of any quarantining of
7:30
the ship and travel home if required so
7:32
it's also good
7:33
to finally know how this is going to be
7:35
handled and who's going to pay for it
7:37
so as you can see these are pretty
7:39
consistent with other cruisers that have
7:41
resumed to date
7:42
but we are now getting answers to some
7:44
of those questions we
7:46
all have been asking around things like
7:48
who pays for
7:49
what now despite all of this a lot of
7:52
people are still
7:53
skeptical that the cruise lines will
7:55
really enforce all these new protocols
7:57
and rules now based on the news that
7:59
keeps coming through
8:00
we are seeing really strict enforcement
8:03
i have previously covered msc cruisers
8:07
throwing guests off their cruises in
8:08
europe for breaking
8:10
some of the new rules and in the past
8:12
week carnival zaida has done
8:14
exactly the same so one of the new rules
8:17
is
8:17
only being allowed to leave the ship on
8:20
a cruise line excursion
8:21
and you can't leave that excursion to
8:24
self-explore visit a shop or bar or
8:26
whatever
8:26
now a passenger on a cruise on naida
8:28
blue left one of their tours in catania
8:31
italy and he was refused permission to
8:33
reboard and had to organize getting
8:34
himself
8:35
back home to germany now i predict we
8:38
will
8:39
keep seeing stories like this when they
8:41
occur because cruise lines
8:42
want potential cruisers to know sticking
8:45
to their new protocols
8:46
is non-negotiable and an absolute must
8:50
now technology is being ramped up as
8:52
well to help with these new protocols
8:54
and their enforcement
8:56
it wasn't a surprise to me therefore
8:57
that another major cruise group
8:59
is looking to add technology to help
9:01
deliver more touchless services on board
9:04
their ships and also improve the ability
9:06
to do smarter track and trace
9:08
on board as well royal caribbean have
9:11
now trademarked a wearable bracelet
9:14
device called
9:14
tracelet which sounds a lot like
9:17
carnival corporations ocean medallion
9:19
that's been used by their princess and
9:21
costa brands so far and msc
9:23
cruises they have a wearable msc for me
9:25
bracelet device
9:27
although described as a bracelet things
9:30
like ocean medallion do come in
9:31
different formats
9:32
to suit how people may actually want to
9:35
wear or carry these things
9:38
now these wearable devices are given to
9:40
all the passengers and they help
9:42
track who they've been in close contact
9:44
with for 15 minutes or more and the data
9:47
then enables
9:48
much more specific track and trace so if
9:50
a guest shows cover 19 symptoms
9:52
it should only allow those who've been
9:54
in contact with them
9:56
to have to quarantine and avoids entire
9:58
ships
9:59
having to be put into lockdown as
10:01
happened in the run-up to the shutdown
10:03
so it's got to be a good thing although
10:04
i know people
10:05
are skeptical the werewolf devices allow
10:08
contactless opening of common doors
10:09
paying for items on board
10:11
ordering drinks and food when used with
10:13
a phone app so they do have
10:15
many other applications increased
10:17
technology
10:18
and faster adoption of these wearable
10:20
devices i think
10:22
look to be another really key change
10:24
coming out
10:25
of this pandemic now as workers affected
10:28
by the shutdown of crew sports in
10:30
florida
10:31
held rallies in miami port everglades in
10:33
fort lauderdale
10:34
and port canaveral lobbing for cruisers
10:36
to be allowed to resume news has also
10:38
come
10:38
from that area but cruise lines have
10:40
been given a substantial
10:43
bailout now the cruise lines because
10:45
they're flagged and registered
10:47
out of the u.s didn't qualify or get any
10:50
bailout
10:50
or assistance from the government in the
10:52
us however
10:54
port miami got miami-dade county to
10:56
waive 285 million dollars
10:59
in fees that the cruise lines owe under
11:01
minimum rent deals they signed years ago
11:03
to use the docks the terminals
11:04
and the garages owned by the county so a
11:08
big bailout
11:09
now these are the biggest news stories
11:10
breaking that i felt you need to know
11:12
about and what i think they mean for us
11:14
as cruise lovers i have loads more tips
11:17
for travellers episodes
11:18
full of cruising advice and tips so why
11:21
not
11:22
enjoy another one right now
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