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