In a shocking move, the white house overruled the CDC in extending the no-sail order into next year.
We have this and much more cruise news from all the big cruise lines so stay tuned.
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So in that headline news, the CDC has extended the no sail order until October the 31st.
This doesn't really affect many cruise lines as they had already
cancelled cruising till November or later anyway.
But it could have been much worse if the CDC had got their wrong way.
The CDC director wanted it extended until at least the 15th of February 2021.
At a task force meeting this week
Dr Robert R. Redfield, the director of the CDC, had recommended the extension
and was worried that cruise ships could become viral hotspots.
As they did at the beginning of the pandemic.
But the plan to cancel cruising till at least
February from the states was overruled by the white house
according to a senior federal health official
who was not authorized to comment and so spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The administration will instead allow ships to sail after October the 31st.
The day the industry has already agreed to on its own.
As you know most cruise lines have already agreed to a voluntary suspension on cruising
until November with the cruise line international association
more commonly known as CLIA.
And what's shocking is all of this was announced
two hours before the current no-sail order was due to expire.
Talk about last minute!
Oh my gosh yeah down to the wire wasn't it.
The CDC under Dr Redfield's leadership has received harsh criticism from
scientists for its handling of the pandemic.
GBeginning with the botched rollout of testing kits last spring.
If it had been pushed back till next year it would wreak havoc on an already suffering industry.
Especially in Florida where they rely on cruise ships so much
with all of the different ports there.
But it really angers us, to be honest.
The CDC has allowed flights to go ahead fully booked.
You are allowed to sit three inches from
a stranger for four hours or longer on a domestic flight.
It makes no sense at all.
With no testing or anything.
It's a direct contradiction to the things that have been required from cruise lines.
You're allowed to go in all hotels and vacation spots they're all allowed to be opened
and they've even allowed theme parks to be open for example Walt Disney world.
It's no different to a cruise really.
You check into the busy hotel,
spend a day at the parks in the resort mixing with hundreds if not thousands of different people
and then you eat in the resort sleeping there and so on.
But again cruise has been the one who has been penalized.
It isn't fair.
Yeah and even the way their language-
the way they said that cruise was a hot spot for the virus.
As if that was the place the virus was coming from.
The language there is like what we've been hearing from the media of really demonizing cruise into
being the one that has to blame for this virus.
Yes, the CDC is just placing all the blame onto cruise because they're
the only industry, we've said it so many times,
that give the figures for the number of people who had coronavirus.
The CDC has no idea
how many people spread on flights, in hotels in resorts, anywhere but cruise.
I mean at universities in the UK we're having a big issue with
students going into halls of residence and they're becoming hot spots.
So isn't that just the same thing?
Yeah the whole thing is becoming completely ridiculous now.
It's becoming to be a bit of a joke isn't it.
It is and we're not under the impression that cruise is exempt from this
we know that they have got big challenges ahead
but the cruise lines know that as well
and they have been proactive and cautious with their return to service.
Just look at what's happening in Europe with the two cruise lines over here.
They have put lots and lots of measures in place to return to cruise as safe as possible,
And they're working MSC has been cruising for
three or four weeks now with absolutely zero incidences,
When there are incidences already going on in
Italy there hasn't been any on the ship so it makes no sense to us.
They're going to kill off an industry if they're not careful.
There is only so long that cruise lines can last through this.
We are starting to become very worried.
Yeah and it's not just the cruise lines we've said this before it's everything associated to cruise.
cruise lines prop up economies all around the world
Just here at home cities like Southampton rely on cruise and cruiser passengers
to fill their hotels to employ people in the area.
It's going to have big knock-on effects.
So in another news Royal Caribbean has extended the popular cruise with confidence scheme
through November the 30th 2020 for all sailings departing through April 2022.
The cruise with confidence program allows you to make last-minute changes
before your cruise is due to depart.
You can choose to change the date
or receive a future cruise credit up to 48 hours before your cruise.
They are also now offering the best price guarantee
which is also valid up to 48 hours before your sailing.
Ensuring that you get the best possible rate.
What it means is that if the price of your cruise does drop
you can request a rate adjustment if the price does drop before the final payment due date.
If it's after the final payment due date and up to 48 hours before you sail
you will receive a non-refundable onboard credit to be spent on your next cruise.
So make sure you keep an eye out on those prices
if you have booked and contact Royal Caribbean to get that extra money.
Yeah it's good that they're doing as much as they
can to entice people back to cruise and make people a little bit more confident.
I think we're going to have to see more cruise lines adopt this approach just to reassure people.
Virgin Voyages have cancelled all of its scheduled November cruises.
So they are now planning to resume sailing in December 2020.
It's been a harsh start for the cruise line who so far have not been able to launch at all.
The ship is currently in cold layup at the port of Genoa in Italy.
The second ship the Valiant Lady is receiving her finishing touches in the Genoa shipyard too.
We got to stay on the Scarlet Lady for a few nights in February and we were super impressed.
She's worth waiting for.
Why not check out our video which will put a link in the corner of the screen right now.
Yeah it's a really exciting ship guys you've got to see it for yourself.
We're super excited to see her sailing where she's supposed to in the Caribbean.
Yeah it's a such a shame for them because they've tried launching about five times now.
It's oh the worst moment they could have possibly chosen in the whole history of cruising.
And after months of delays due to the knock-on effect of in the shipyards,
Princess Cruises have finally taken delivery of its brand new
royal class cruise ship - the Enchanted Princess.
Enchanted Princess is the hundredth cruise ship to be built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri.
She will have many of the same features of sister ship Sky Princess.
So she sure is going to be a big winner.
We had an incredible cruise on sky Princess last year.
She is a stunning ship so we can't wait to get on board Enchanted.
Yeah definitely we'd love to be on Enchanted.
Once again if you want to check out that Sky Princess video we'll pop a link in the corner.
In other Princess news,
the cruise line has announced that two ships will be leaving the fleet.
The older sun-class ships which consist of the Sea Princess and the Sun Princess
have now been sold off.
They were both vital in bringing premium cruising experiences to
Australia and growing the cruising sector down under.
We don't know if they'll be going to another cruise line or they're just going to be scrapped.
Several sources have claimed that the peace board organization
which focuses on promoting peace, human rights and sustainability
have acquired the sun Princess for 170 million dollars.
But it's yet to be confirmed.
As a result, all cruises have been cancelled on the two ships.
Next up one of the first cruise lines to resume sailing
Tui Cruises based in Germany have had a scare this week.
On Monday greek authorities reported that a dozen crew members had tested positive for the virus
which is terrible news as the world is watching very
closely the first cruise lines to resume sailing.
But in a good turn of events by Tuesday afternoon the crew members who had tested positive -
had been retested three more times with each test coming back negative.
Two were done on land and one was done on the ship.
So Tui Cruises have then issued a statement announcing that Greek
authorities confirmed that there are no virus cases aboard the ship
and the voyage can proceed as planned.
We are all breathing a big sigh of relief after the multiple retests found no trace of the virus
onboard the Mein Schiff 6 cruise ship.
Obviously, the media were very very quick to pounce on the story.
Posting clickbait headlines making it look like a terror story
and so far they've been very slow to correct the
story that nobody on board actually had coronavirus.
Typical but does that just go to show how unreliable test can be.
It's unclear how these 12 false positives were found.
That's a lot it's crazy isn't it yeah that is crazy.
Carnival Cruise Line has also announced earlier today that they will be cancelling
most of its 2020 sailings.
The only exceptions are ships sailing out of Port Miami and Port Canaveral in Florida.
This is disappointing but not entirely unexpected as we were
expecting a slow start when cruising does resume
to test out the new procedures and prove that they actually work.
Finally, in some great news Carnival Cruise Line's new ship the Carnival Mardi Gras
is out to sea completing her first set of sea trials.
The hundred and eighty thousand ton mega-ship has left the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland.
This is a major step into her being introduced into service.
It's great to see even though this pandemic that the ships are still been finished and delivered.
The sea trials will test all parts of the ship including the engines,
manoeuvrability and emergency procedures.
The ship features a few firsts at sea
including a roller coaster on the top deck.
Whatever next!
The Mardi Gras is used to be delivered in February 2021.
So wow what an interesting week for news there
especially with the white house overruling the CDC.
We would love to know what you feel about this.
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The cruise captains of the week this week are the Travelling Garrett's.
That's it until next time,
Happy cruising.