You asked for this show
We know what's happening in the USA with cruise
So let's take a look at the latest cruise news And all the updates
And what's happening in the rest of the world
Including some shocking news from the UK
As well as updates from Europe and Australia
Well ahoy there cruises
Welcome to this show from us cruise with Ben and David
Make sure you stay on top of everything going on in the cruise world
It's a crazy time at the moment
By subscribing to our channel
Hit the subscribe button just below this video
So let's start off with some news from the UK our home country
Well like the CDC our government is just as useless and incompetent
Just yesterday our minister of transportation Grant Shapps
Advised everyone not to book or plan any holidays including cruises
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's "Today" program he said
On the shrinking chance that everybody listening to this interview
At this stage and thinking of booking a holiday under the current circumstances
Please don't go ahead and book holidays for something which at this stage is illegal
To actually go and do
Whether it's here or abroad
Well gosh how silly can you get
We can't believe we have to clarify this
First of all, let's make it very clear that there is nothing illegal or wrong with booking a holiday
In fact, it's actually really good for you and it's really good for your mental health
to have something to look forward to
Nobody's really had a holiday or vacation in over a year now
To have something to book is really good
It's currently illegal to go on holiday in the UK
Or from the UK
But it's absolutely not wrong to book or plan a holiday or trip
As we said it's the opposite
We cannot believe our government came out and said this
It's really crazy how our minister,
who is responsible for travel, can say this is just outrageous
Is he trying to send an industry that's already suffering the worst
time in its history even further into trouble?
I can't understand it
He's basically saying
Obviously yeah we can't go on holiday right now
We are in lockdown
But he's saying don't everything about booking anything for later in the year
Next year or even the year after
He's saying don't book anything
And as you can imagine his comments have really angered the travel industry
Which is really fighting for its survival
Travel organizations have said the mixed messaging risks confusing members of the public
And damaging the tourism business
Which needs some good news
Noel Josephides the chairman of a large UK travel brand
said that the comments risked causing the collapse of the UK travel sector
He said that the prime minister's announcement on the 22nd February
had to lay out a road map or he'll face the collapse of an 80 billion pound industry
As everybody is running out of cash
And guys you think you've got it bad with the CDC in the USA well
Let's look at our government
They've just said hold my beer
Yeah exactly yeah there's been absolutely no information from them
No, and even more strange is that our health secretary,
Matt Hancock, who is responsible for all of the health in the UK
announced that he's booked a summer holiday hours before the announcement.
You really can't make this incompetence up can you
It's what's that old saying the left hand's doing one thing the right hand is doing another
Oh my god again please do book there is absolutely no reason not to
All the cruise lines and other vacation types are offering excellent cruise with confidence schemes
Basically meaning you can change or cancel your booking without losing any money at all
So you've got nothing to lose
Absolutely and as I said earlier you can book late into this year or even next year as well
If you do want a bit more room to see how this plays
I just cannot believe it
I cannot fathom why the minister for transport in our country
would come out and tell people not to book holidays
And make it sound like they're doing something illegal by doing so
I know and it's at a time as well when we've had so much turmoil in the travel sector in the UK
We've lost a lot of big players in the travel sector here
Only uh last year we lost Thomas Cook which was one of the biggest
and oldest travel brands in the UK
They were an airline. They were a travel agency, they supported
hundreds even thousands of jobs across our entire country
And we're also losing airlines at an alarming rate as well
We've seen Norwegian airlines which had a very big base here in the UK at Gatwick airport
Completely cut their entire long-haul network
Which was a huge part of the travel industry here in the UK
Going to destinations such as Miami and Orlando
Yeah and we lost one of the biggest cruise lines here in the UK, CMV
So Cruise and Maritime Voyages
They had five ships
Completely went bust
All of the ships have been sold or scrapped it's really sad
Do they want more blood on their hands?
So there is nothing wrong with the booking of a holiday
We're not seeing cruise now
Obviously don't go on holiday right now it's not the right time
But the vaccine rollout in the UK is good
So it's going to be soon
So where are we with cruising in the UK
Well unlike the USA and the CDC there is no clear
guidelines set out for what cruise lines are required to do to return to service
There hasn't really been much information or discussion at all
So we're kind of stuck in limbo at the moment
The UK's chamber of shipping's chiefs said;
If we want the UK cruise sector to have a fighting chance of a successful 2021
we need the green light now.
So basically nothing's happening at all
There's no test cruising
There's no information or guidance at all from our government
And the government's advice for cruise is way out of date,
back into last year when the pandemic first started
Cruise lines as you know have been working really hard on new protocols
But the foreign office which is basically like our CDC has not updated its advice
We don't know why the government is being so hesitant
We need guidance and we need it now because it's going to take months for cruise lines to
come up with all of the new protocols and procedures
Absolutely
It's disappointing but we will keep you updated on
this channel so make sure you do subscribe to us right now
So at the moment here are the dates that the UK cruise lines plan to sail.
So first of all P&O Cruises UK is planning to return to service in mid-April.
Marilla cruises have said they'll return to service
on the 1st of April in Europe and the 1st of May in the Caribbean.
And saga from the 4th May.
But don't forget guys vaccines are required to sail on Saga.
We did a show about that a couple weeks ago.
We'll put the link in the corner there where you can find out all about that.
And Fred Olsen cruise lines have said they're returning in July.
And Cunard has said they'll be returning in mid or towards the end of May.
Yeah for the big cruise lines and the American cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean, Norwegian.
Just what they're saying.
I think it's all all the end of May at
the moment but there's been no information about these at all.
The good news is that the vaccination rollout in the UK is ahead of most of the world.
We have already vaccinated over 90% of all over 70s
And the plan is to vaccinate all over 18's by the summer/autumn.
So this is really really good news.
The deaths and hospital admissions are going to drop massively over the next few months.
But travelling to different countries could still be really difficult because
everybody's on a different schedule.
Some countries are slow at getting the vaccine out.
So are we going to expect cruises just for the UK residents to UK ports?
Or cruises with no port stops?
So so maybe a round trip from Southampton all the way up to the Norwegian fjords
but with no stops as some German lines did.
Yeah absolutely because we are so close to other countries here and
most of our cruises from the UK do visit Europe.
So even the short cruises do a stop in the Netherlands or in Belgium.
But they're so far behind compared to where we are with the vaccination program.
I can't see that being feasible when cruise first does return.
Yeah so definitely expect to see maybe a no-fly model at first.
But what about the cruise lines that are going to require a vaccination?
Well, there's a bit of a problem with this.
Proving that you've actually had it.
The UK government have already said
That they are not planning to produce an
electronic health passport to prove you've had the vaccine.
So there is no real official way at the moment to prove you've actually had it.
Apart from a little piece of card.
So we'll keep you updated about what's going to happen about that
and how you're going to be able to prove it.
Maybe going to your GP.
So your general practitioner medical centre and asking.
But this is going to take a lot of time for them to do
and take away from the good work they're already doing.
Yeah, the GP's and the hospitals are already under a lot of pressure.
I don't really think it's fair that people should be taking up
more of their GP's time just to get a certificate so they can go on holiday.
There needs to be a better way to prove you've had the vaccination.
But some medical practitioners and authorities are still saying it's a little bit discriminatory-
[makes sound]
It's a bit discriminatory.
Uh to have uh-
I don't think I still said that right.
Discriminatory.
They are still discriminating against people who can't have the vaccine.
So we'll see how that pans out as well.
We'll keep you updated so stay subscribed.
Now let's head over the pond to our friends and neighbours in Europe.
So Europe is one of the only places you can find cruise ships currently sailing
right now on this side of the world.
For months now several cruise lines have been sailing successfully in European waters.
But unfortunately, some lines have had to scrap cruising.
Because of new travel restrictions and new requirements in parts of Europe.
Such as Italy and Germany.
To stop the coronavirus from spreading even further
For example, you've got carnival corporations Aida cruises
It's one cruise line to actually suspend operations
It had started cruising from Italy in the autumn
Only to suspend operations due to new german and Italian restrictions
In December two of their ships began operating cruises around the canary islands
But new regulations have prompted Aida to announce
that it is now cancelling the canary island cruises
Till at least the beginning of march
The carnival corporation's Italian brand costa cruises have also done the same
Delaying their restart to cruising until mid-march due to new rules and regulations
They were sailing before Christmas but have now stopped due to all these new rules
But then you've got german cruise lines such as Tui and Hapag-Lloyd
They're continuing to monitor the situation but
are continuing their current canary island cruise programs
So they're flying out people from uh Germany keeping them
in a bubble then going on their cruises
Tui have two ships operating and Hapag-Lloyd have one ship operating at the moment
MSC Cruises is also operating one ship at the moment
The MSC Grandiosa is currently sailing in the Mediterranean
Calling out Italian ports and Valletta in malta
They were hoping to have the MSC Magnifica sailing as well
But that didn't happen because of some problems in Greece
But they are hoping to have another cruise ship cruising in Greece by April
All these cruise lines that we've mentioned have great procedures and protocols in place
To prevent the virus from getting on board
Including tests before boarding, social distancing and mask-wearing
And so far there's been no cases on any of these sailings
Yay!
So that's great news
Knock on wood
Hey!
It proves it can be done doesn't it
These cruises are only for local residents or EU Schengen zone residents
Meaning that anybody in the UK, USA or outside this area
Cannot cruise with them
Damn it
Your name's not on the list you're not getting in
So next up with Australia but whilst we make our long way there on our flight
[australian accent] Daawn under
Several ships are still cruising successfully in Singapore
These cruises are for Singaporean residents only
And they are cruisers to nowhere
Just sea days for two, three, four-night sailings
Royal Caribbean have their only ship in the whole world operating there right now
And they've just announced some great news that these cruisers will continue till at least June
And also the Asian cruise line dream cruises are operating one ship - the world dream
And they're pretty much doing the same thing
But in March they plan to do longer itineraries to Korea and Thailand
Great news
So in Australia, health department officials are working with the cruise industry
to finally produce a plan for the phased restart of itineraries in Australia
So there isn't any really big plan yet
And cruise must be restarted
The cruise industry delivers a whopping 5 billion Australian dollars of business to Australia
And supports thousands upon thousands of jobs
But the good news is that there are already some smaller ships sailing
For example, you've got the coral expeditions
A small expedition cruise line
It restarted cruising on one ship all the way back in October last year
So basically day cruises and smaller domestic cruises on ships with fewer than 100 passengers
Are permitted under the current national cruise ship ban
Subject to state and territory requirements and restrictions
The current cruise ship ban lasts until the 17th March 2021
And we expect that to be um lengthened even further
Yeah P&O Cruises Australia have already cancelled all cruises until at least the 29th of April
And several small cruise lines such as Silversea and Ponant have had ships under 100 passengers
And they are very keen to get restarted
These ships are tiny
And there is no sign of any larger cruise ships or bigger ships operating in the near future
Cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean are in talks with the federal and state governments
To get cruising restarted
But again when it does restart like Europe and the UK
Could we see domestic only cruises to nowhere?
Which are pretty normal for Australian sailings apart from to new Zealand and back
For Australian citizens only?
Well we think so
Yeah definitely
We think that's one of the things we'll do
to uh reduce the amount of risk of getting onboard cruise ships
Well we hope you enjoyed it this week show
We really listened to you
So thanks for giving us some suggestions about talking about
what's happening in the rest of the world
Unfortunately, it's not really great news on the whole
But again please subscribe for more cruise news updates
And we'll have some fantastic videos such as ship tours and vlogs once cruising restart
And thank you so much to all of our patrons as well
We bring you extra videos and behind the scenes footage
We're just about to upload a video of us making the really cool studio
Paul is our captain of the week
So that's it till next time, happy cruising!