We've got good news and bad news.
From a successful first MSC cruise
to brand new ships being named
to more cruise cancellations.
As well as passengers being denied boarding
and another ship being scrapped.
Stay tuned for more.
Ahoy there cruisers.
We're Cruise with Ben and David.
If you're brand new to this channel why not hit that subscribe button.
I guarantee you will like what we put out.
Let's kick off with Royal Caribbean.
So there are still rumors that Empress of the Seas will be sold off or scrapped.
Even after Royal Caribbean have denied the rumors strenuously.
On tracking sites now the ship is moving closer and closer to Turkey
where cruise ships are being scrapped on a daily basis unfortunately.
There's also been rumors that Grandeur and Majesty of the seas will be leaving the fleet too.
Something Royal Caribbean again have also denied.
Majesty of the Seas is heading to Valletta in Malta.
The same way Empress of the Seas did a few months ago.
To reportedly unload equipment before moving closer to Turkey for scrapping.
Who knows but it certainly doesn't look good for these old ships.
Where there's a rumor there's usually some truth to it.
But Royal Caribbean, as we said, are so far denying all of this.
Especially as the ships are literally sailing slowly towards the ship graveyard.
It looks like they are going to the scrapyard.
They might not be sold yet but it does look like they're planning to maybe sell them in the future doesn't it.
Next up Royal Caribbean released a brand new video featuring the public health and chief medical officer
Dr. Calvin Johnson.
About what Royal Caribbean is doing to tackle the challenges ahead.
He specifically mentioned a brand new saliva test which he feels will be a game changer
for enabling fast testing.
And this new test that we're hearing about um- this ability to do it based on saliva
that will really be a game changer because it's-
it's fast, it's easy and it'll be allowed us to do so many tests that we can really get this thing under control.
Some people are calling it a pseudo-vaccine.
And this saliva based test is one where
it's not very invasive to to get it. I
t really relies very much on on saliva and as the sample that's used and we expect
it to be increasingly accurate over time.
So it does sound like they're going to go the same way as MSC
with requiring all of those who are boarding to take a test.
Until at least there is an actual vaccine available.
Yeah not surprised there.
I think that's the only way that they can get cruises back and going -
is to uh -
ask everybody to have a test before they get on board.
Absolutely.
And talking about MSC Cruises on the second sailing of the MSC Grandiose from Genoa
15 French passengers were turned away from the port.
A young man tested positive in two pre-boarding checks.
He had both an antigen swap test and a follow-up PCR test
and tested positive in both of them.
So, subsequent quently was denied boarding.
As well as the rest of the party that was with him.
It must be absolutely devastating for them to get all the way to the port
to be denied boarding.
But, this is the risk that you take isn't it Ben.
Absolutely but yeah -
Being turned around at the port after you've traveled all of that way.
They traveled via mini bus all the way from France
and all 15 of them were denied.
It must have been heartbreaking but that's just the way it is.
Yeah and the reason that all 15 of them were denied was because they traveled together in the minibus.
So yeah, it must be devastating but it's good that they caught it before it got onto the ship.
But talking about the first cruise it went really really well.
We spoke to some passengers on board who said the atmosphere was great.
The pre-boarding checks and the checks on board did not impact their vacation they said at all.
We're super jealous that we're not able to sail yet.
As you know that first sailing is for Schengen-zone residents only.
It's so good though to see cruising back and we can't wait to get on board.
Yeah make sure you subscribe as soon as we can cruise we will do to bring you
everything all of the information live from the ship.
Whenever that may be.
This is really fantastic news we saw some great footage from Instagram here which you can see over the top
of people enjoying themselves on MSC Grandiosa.
It looks like a great cruise doesn't it.
It really does it looked like really fun.
We were sat at home with our cups of tea crying.
The tears falling into the tea.
The cruise tears.
MSC have also postponed the start of sailings unfortunately
for their second ship the MSC Magnifica.
They've pushed back the start date to the end of September.
The MSC Grandiosa will continue to offer seven night cruises from Genoa.
But MSC said it has seen a fall in demand
after additional testing measures were introduced for Italians traveling to Greece.
Essentially guys they just didn't have the demand to get the second ship online.
It's really concerning to hear that people weren't willing to cruise it's another blow to the cruise industry.
Yes and Greek ports made up three of the ports on the second ship's itinerary.
It really there wasn't a demand for people on that ship.
But not to worry.
MSC said that they believe the reservations will start to pick up again in the coming months.
Guests affected by the cancelled cruises will be offered alternatives.
Such as a cruise on the MSC Grandiosa or receive a future cruise credit.
Like MSC the Italian cruise line Costa Cruises
have confirmed that it will require all passengers to take a test at the terminal.
before embarking.
Not surprising.
They are also only allowing passengers off the ship and ports with cruise booked excursions.
Just like MSC.
They're planning to resume cruising on September 6.
Yes take a look at last week's cruise news roundup
for the family that were denied boarding back onto the ship
because they deviated away from the planned shore excursion.
So they are taking these rules really seriously.
Yeah but in some good news from MSC.
MSC Cruisers will be offering discounts of up to 50%
for worldwide healthcare workers and their families.
To thank them for their selfless and tireless contribution during the pandemic.
This is absolutely fantastic.
The offer running from Monday the 31st of August all the way up till April the 30th 2021
will be available on all cruises up until the end of next year.
The offer will be available to all healthcare staff.
Those on the front line and back office workers.
Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and all of those who work in research laboratories.
This is a really fantastic job from MSC.
So if you do work in these fields thank you personally from us.
For keeping your countries going.
But it's fantastic, 50% off guys.
Get booking!
How fantastic is that.
That's great
and you've got such a long time to use the offer as well.
So, now news from Carnival.
The second Excel-class ship has been named as the Carnival Celebration.
Ben, that name sounds really familiar...
Yeah so we've already obviously had a Carnival ship called Celebration before.
She'll be the sister ship to the Mardi Gras that is due to start sailing next february.
The ship will offer many of the same features as the carnival Mardi Gras.
Including the Bolt roller coaster.
But she will come with some unique design features too.
The ship will join the fleet in November 2022.
This will coincide with the cruise line's 50th birthday.
Hence why it's called the Carnival Celebration.
The ship will offer cruises from PortMiami.
So some sad news from Carnival.
A Carnival favorite cruise director- Matt Mitcham from the UK
Unexpectedly quit this week.
He was due to be the first cruise director on board the Carnival Mardi Gras.
He announced this decision to his 100,000 followers on Facebook saying;
The time had come to retire and move on to his next adventure.
He also added he would be forever grateful to Carnival and cruise passengers.
So this is really sad news.
Best of luck to him-
him for everything that is going on too in the future.
And Carnival have sent another ship to the scrapping yard this week.
The next ship to meet its end will be the Carnival Imagination.
She's headed to Turkey where her sister's Inspiration and Fantasy were already scrapped.
Carnival Fascination is expected to be the next ship to make this final fateful voyage.
But it hasn't been confirmed yet.
But it's super sad to see all of these ships being destroyed because of the virus.
Awful isn't it.
In other news let's take a look at some further suspensions in the cruising industry.
Royal Caribbean have cancelled all of the Australia and New Zealand cruises
until at least November.
That's really sad for everybody down under isn't it.
They were still expecting to cruise there.
It's basically wiped out the 2020 season now.
Marella has suspended all cruises until at least November the 15th.
Another sad one there they were hoping to resume cruises relatively soon.
And following suit
Princess Cruises have also extended suspension of cruising in Australia until December the 12th.
They have also cancelled several world cruisers.
This is a recurring theme.
Regent Seven Seas have also cancelled world cruises.
As well as P&O Cruises from the UK.
Scrapping Arcadias world cruise next year.
As well as Cunard.
They have cancelled its cruising well into 2021.
With Queen Elizabeth not sailing until March 25th 2021.
Queen Mary 2 paused until April the 18th
and Queen Victoria not to start until May the 16th.
This is really sad news.
That's well over six months away.
That's really sad news yeah.
You know what this'll mean?
it'll mean that Cunard ships have not had any passengers on board
for well over a year.
It's really awful.
In addition to this as well.
All of Queen Elizabeth's sailings due to depart between March 26th and December 13th 2021
in and around Australia, Japan and Alaska
have been replaced with sailings from Europe departing from Southampton.
This is a trend we are seeing guys.
These big international cruises are just too hard to plan.
They are logistical nightmares.
Oh my gosh can you imagine all of the countries they visit.
The world cruisers have for now have got to be a big no no.
That's why we're seeing them cancelled.
Imagine getting all of those countries to agree to a cruise coming from -
obviously passing on diseases and things
it's a nightmare.
And just passengers get into the ports as well.
Flying into the ports.
Particularly a company say like P&O where passengers would fly from the UK
because most of the passengers are in the UK.
We're going to see shorter cruises from home ports like Southampton.
Like msc in Genoa and the US line sailing from Miami.
It's just really starting to get really concerning
that we're seeing cruise lines cancel till the middle of 2021.
How long can these cruise lines keep going with no sailing because that is
an awful long time isn't it it.
Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
We love to read your comments and get your feedback
and thoughts on everything that we've talked about in this week's show.
So that's it for this episode thank you so much for watching we really appreciate it.
We'd appreciate it even more if you could consider giving us a subscribe
and hitting that bell button as well so you're notified when we upload a brand new video
and we've got lots coming.
We do yeah and we don't usually mention it often guys but why not give us a follow on instagram.
You can find us we're called cruise with on instagram.
you can also find us on facebook and twitter as well.
And thanks so much to our Patreons as well.
Captain of the week is Matthew so ahoy there.
That's it till next time, Happy Cruising.