Well ahoy there cruisers welcome back to another episode of cruise with ben and david. Don't forget
to hit that subscribe button for more news like this. At last, we have some great news from
Norwegian Cruise Line. After being very quiet over the last few months. And not following the lead of
other cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity and MSC in announcing summer cruises.
Norwegian has finally broken their silence. They've written to the director of the CDC.
They have sent a letter outlining a plan to be able to restart cruises in the United States
beginning July the 4th. Independence day. The new plan suggests 100% vaccination of all
guests and crew. As well as strict health and safety protocols for all sailings up until at
least October 31st 2021. Norwegian said after this date they would follow the science to see
if vaccines would still be required after October. In a statement from Norwegian they said. Norwegian
trusts and is optimistic the CDC will agree that mandatory vaccination requirements eliminate the
no sale order and therefore requests for lifting the order for Norwegian vessels. Allowing them to
cruise in u.S ports starting July the 4th. They also said that by requiring a full and complete
vaccination of all guests and crew. They believe it shares in the spirit and exceeds the intent
of the CDC's conditional sailing order. To advance mutual public health goals and protect guests,
crew and the communities they visit. I mean this is great news and quite surprising. Norwegian are
really pushing to open up cruising in the United States and we wouldn't be surprised at all to
see more cruise lines such as Carnival push for exactly the same thing. So Norwegian Cruise Line
has submitted a five-part plan that will allow them to restart cruising in the USA. Let's take
a look at number one. Well, it's the requirement that all guests embarking from a US port
and or disembarking in the US port provide proof of having been fully vaccinated with an approved
vaccine no less than two weeks prior to the departure date. Number two. All crew on Norwegian
vessels will also have to be fully vaccinated with the same approved vaccines two weeks prior
to commencement of their duties onboard a vessel. Number three. Norwegian will also incorporate
and operationalize the protocols developed with Royal Caribbean and the healthy sail panel led by
former secretary of the department of health and human services Michael Levitt. These protocols
include things like testing of all guests and crew combined with required vaccines
for all guests and crew. Therefore creating a safe bubble-like environment. Number four. On or about
July the 4th Norwegian vessels will begin cruise operations at an initial reduced capacity of 60.
Gradually ramping this up in their fleet from u.S ports increasing their capacity by about 20
every 30 days or so. And finally number five. These stringent requirements will remain in place
until public health conditions allow for the implementation of more lenient protocols. This is
such fantastic news. What do you think about this? Are you excited? Finally, we've heard
some things from Norwegian Cruise Lines. We've had so many people asking for information and updates
and we haven't had anything till now. But this is great news. Thank you so much for watching.
Please make sure you hit that subscribe button and that's it till next time. Happy cruising.