0:00
you're about to discover everything you
0:02
need to know about the new cruise ban
0:04
put in place in the United States
0:06
I'm Gary Bembridge this is another of my
0:08
cruising tips for travelers on the 9th
0:11
of April the CDC in the u.s. which is
0:14
the Center for Disease Control issued a
0:16
pretty strong ban on cruising with a
0:19
whole lot of terms and conditions that
0:21
the cruise industry has to address and
0:23
put in place before they will even
0:24
consider lifting the ban so what I'm
0:26
gonna do is try and unravel that and
0:28
explain what it means I'm going to talk
0:30
about how long the ban is looking like
0:31
it's gonna go on for the reasons that
0:33
for the ban that they stated in their
0:35
document and thirdly the seven things
0:38
the cruise lines have to respond to and
0:40
get approval from the CDC before they
0:42
will even consider lifting the ban and
0:44
some of those are pretty big changes
0:47
first of all let's take a look at just
0:49
how long the ban is on for what they
0:52
said is there's three possible scenarios
0:54
but all of them look like cruising will
0:56
won't happen for a pretty long time the
0:59
first one is probably the one that
1:01
suggests this could go on for the
1:03
longest period of time and that is what
1:05
they're saying until covert 19 until the
1:07
outbreak in the u.s. is no longer deemed
1:11
a threat or risk to public health the
1:14
ban will stay in place the second
1:17
scenario is if the CDC decide that
1:19
they're going to change or lift the ban
1:21
for some reason the third one is
1:23
probably the most interesting because it
1:24
puts in place more of a time scale and
1:27
what that says is if none of the above
1:30
have happened so the public health
1:32
threat hasn't been lifted or they
1:35
haven't changed the notification for
1:37
some reason then crusing can recommend
1:41
after 100 days so that takes us through
1:44
to Saturday July the 18th so this will
1:47
recap those three scenarios and what
1:50
they're saying it's the quickest of
1:51
these three to happen first of all if
1:53
covered 19 is no longer ruled to be a
1:56
major threat to public health I that
1:58
general advisories lifted secondly
2:00
unless they make some changes and decide
2:03
on an earlier date as the CDC or thirdly
2:05
if after 100 days neither of those have
2:07
happened then cruising could
2:09
theoretically recommence subject to the
2:13
those seven things I'm going to talk
2:14
about so we're looking like a good
2:16
couple of months cruising is already
2:19
banned in the US and US waters so why
2:22
have they done this first of all what
2:23
they're saying is they believe that
2:25
cruising is a risk to bringing and
2:28
spreading the virus around the United
2:32
States the second thing they say is I
2:33
don't believe that the cruise industry
2:34
has really done enough to stop the
2:38
spread and deal with the outbreaks when
2:40
they've happened the third thing that
2:42
says they also believe that the cruise
2:44
industry is relying too heavily on
2:45
resources and medical operations within
2:48
the United States to deal with the
2:50
outbreaks there are seven things that
2:52
they have laid out that are really
2:55
specific that the cruise lines would
2:56
have to convince them on before they're
2:58
even going to be prepared to look at a
3:01
return of cruising well the first one is
3:03
around the screening and monitoring of
3:05
both crew and passengers and they do
3:07
talk about they also understand the
3:10
so that it sounds they're looking at
3:11
it's not only in the embarkation process
3:13
out of their screen crew and passengers
3:15
coming on but also they're implying that
3:17
they're looking for more ongoing testing
3:19
during the course of a cruise what's
3:21
also really really important is they do
3:22
talk about temperature checks but they
3:24
also talk about testing and the ability
3:27
of cruise lines to test and they talk
3:28
about medical screening so certainly my
3:30
take from a would be is that temperature
3:33
screening alone is not going to be
3:36
they are implying that there's some form
3:38
of testing going to be required and
3:40
certainly much more in-depth medical
3:42
screening required so they're looking
3:44
for proposals on how they're going to do
3:45
that most of the facilities they're
3:47
going to have onboard and the process at
3:48
the gun on board to be able to screen
3:50
and test passengers and crew the second
3:54
thing which really struck me is also
3:56
what they're saying is they want to
3:57
understand how the prisons are going to
3:59
deal with any outbreak it's really
4:01
making the cruise lines be able to deal
4:03
with outbreaks and treatments so for
4:05
example they do talk about if there's an
4:07
outbreak on board the cruise line has to
4:09
be able to deal with it themselves
4:10
without relying on any resources on land
4:14
so they're talking about if an outbreak
4:15
comes they would have to be for example
4:18
a hospital ship where the infected
4:20
patients are moved to that have to be a
4:22
quarantine ship where people who've been
4:25
exposed or potentially
4:26
those don't move - and then have to then
4:28
be a residence ship where people dealing
4:31
with the outbreak obvious people who are
4:32
not infected or don't have to be
4:34
quarantined are so they are talking
4:36
they're either they have to be other
4:37
they have to be dedicated chips for that
4:39
role which can be deployed or they have
4:42
to be plans that other cruise ships can
4:43
be sort of moved in to deal with that
4:46
what they're saying is if there's an
4:47
outbreak you have to find a way of
4:48
dealing it by also dispersing croon
4:50
passengers across three different types
4:52
of ship facilities the third thing they
4:55
talk about is they also want to
4:56
understand the isolation the quarantine
4:59
and what I've always very telling is the
5:01
social distancing processes on board the
5:04
fact that they mentioned social
5:05
distancing I found very interesting
5:06
because it kind of implied that they
5:08
were talking about ongoing operations
5:10
how are you going to make sure that
5:11
there's more space passengers aren't
5:12
crammed together and we've already seen
5:14
some indications for example some of the
5:16
Asian Cruise Lines talking about
5:17
introducing more social distancing when
5:19
they can go back they were talking about
5:20
things for example about only letting
5:22
the theater be half full and so it does
5:25
sound like they're asking the cruise
5:26
lines to create much more social
5:28
distancing and as we know at the moment
5:30
the model is about getting lots of
5:32
people on board you know making sure
5:34
it's really really full so that they
5:35
sell with lots of people on board
5:37
because that's the revenue model but it
5:39
does seem to me that they're implying
5:40
there has to be more social distancing
5:42
on cruise ships so it's gonna be really
5:44
what that actual model looks like and
5:47
how they dress address that the fourth
5:50
thing which is also for me feels like a
5:52
really big change is they're also saying
5:53
they want to understand the medical
5:55
facilities how many doctors how many
5:56
ventilators harmony isolation beds
5:58
isolation Ward's are going to be on
6:00
board they do specifically talk about it
6:03
needs to be more resources on board and
6:04
they do talk about there needs to be
6:06
more equipment on board now medical
6:07
centers of the moment on cruise ships
6:08
are really designed as a way of
6:10
stabilizing people before they can get
6:12
them off and this is a really
6:13
fundamental change because they're
6:14
effectively saying the medical center
6:16
needs to be turning itself into almost
6:18
more of a hospital as such with the
6:21
ability to deal with affected patients
6:23
isolate them have ventilators and
6:26
probably much more doctors on board so
6:29
that seemed like a significant change
6:31
that they're looking for
6:32
again it links back to that point where
6:34
they don't want any cases to be brought
6:37
on land the next area was around repair
6:40
what they're also wanting is plans on
6:42
how they will repatriate crew and
6:44
passengers if there is any issues and
6:46
what they're saying this has to be done
6:48
all privately so it has to be privately
6:50
funded medevacs if they do ever need to
6:52
medevac anybody rather using the Coast
6:55
Guard they have to use private
6:56
transportation chartered flights
6:58
transportation which can be isolated
7:00
specifically for the cruise and the
7:02
whole process for moving people off the
7:04
ship if there are issues they are saying
7:07
that you can't use commercial flights or
7:10
move people through I guess airports in
7:13
the usual way because they did talk
7:14
about what the process would be for
7:16
ensuring that no one else is exposed in
7:18
this of the chain to get people home
7:20
also they want to know a lot around the
7:23
cleaning protocols and then the
7:25
disinfecting protocols if they ever are
7:26
an outbreak and that is probably one of
7:29
the things that cruise on to be able to
7:30
answer in some ways the easiest because
7:31
they have already instituted many of
7:33
those during the whole build-up and also
7:35
they did have protocols in place that
7:36
for norovirus which have been ramped up
7:38
so that's probably actually one of the
7:40
easiest ones for them to do and the
7:42
other one that they've got is
7:43
significant increases in the way that
7:45
there's monitoring and tracking or
7:47
people onboard the ship with different
7:49
types of illnesses and some daily and
7:51
some weekly reporting or whatever was
7:52
very interesting is they are
7:54
specifically calling out a number of
7:56
different conditions one of which
7:58
obviously is respiratory influenza-like
8:01
symptoms pneumonia and then very
8:04
specifically covered 19 so this new
8:07
change from the CDC the no sail cruise
8:10
ban is a pretty dramatic document in my
8:13
view it certainly implies that cruising
8:15
is going to be shut down well into July
8:17
if not even longer because they also
8:20
have to be satisfied that not only is
8:22
the Cova 19 spread on land under control
8:26
but also they have to be convinced that
8:28
at least those seven things and there's
8:30
plans and ways of dealing with them and
8:32
some of them to me imply quite big
8:34
changes in to the way the cruise ships
8:35
operate how many people are onboard the
8:37
facility they were board and does seem
8:39
to me that there's going to be some real
8:40
fundamental structural changes as well
8:42
so that's the latest on updates I have a
8:45
whole other series of different
8:47
questions and issues related to the
8:48
shutdown of cruising please watch
8:51
another one of those now and I also try
8:54
many questions as people are sending me
8:55
of course one of the most important
8:57
messages of all at this time is that
9:00
it's really important that you stay home
9:02
stay safe stay well and keep looking
9:05
after yourself and your family as we do
9:07
venture dream one day I'll being able to
9:09
go back traveling and of course for
9:10
those of you who want to and love like
9:13
me to be able to go back cruising