So there's loads of cruise news updates.
Join us as we keep you informed with the latest news
From all of the major cruise lines.
Including online who has surprisingly Retracted their cruise protocols.
[ben and david] Well ahoy there cruises.
Before we begin this cruise news roundup.
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So that headline story with One cruise line taking down their protocols.
Well carnival cruise line is apologizing for prematurely
Posting its covert health and safety protocols.
These protocols were expected to be put in place When they resume sailing whenever that may be.
Cruise lines have to post their information For their passengers.
Which is required as part of the centres for disease control's
Conditional sale order.
Which we've told you about before.
But in a u-turn, this was quickly taken down
After carnival said that information had not been finalized.
So why on earth was it put up in the first place?
Well, carnival talked to cruiseradio.Net and said;
In our haste to keep guests and travel agents informed
We posted some information that was not finalized.
As we have said previously guests should expect to wear masks,
Testing, distancing, and other protocols.
They intend to provide more details over the coming weeks
As they work to resume operations.
But yeah what a u-turn.
Yeah, what a strange u-turn that is.
To put them up then take them down.
A premature posting.
Yeah we did take a look at the protocols and it seems that
Some of the protocols did not meet the CDC conditional sale order.
So we think they're going back to the drawing board
And working on them again.
As you know the CDC has been particularly hard on cruise while
Letting other forms of vacation and transport operate with close to zero rules or regulations.
There was lots of discussion about the policies online.
Especially a section stating that venues would have reduced capacities
And the possibility of a reservation system to use areas around the ship.
Such as pools, casinos, gyms, restaurants, bars And entertainment venues.
So basically looking like, it didn't quite say that but looking like
You're going to have to book absolutely everything.
So how do you feel about this?
Would you be okay with booking absolutely everything?
It would make the vacation a little bit less last minute
And sporadic you would have to organize everything in advance.
But basically, they're saying "No booking, no access".
So would this put you off cruising at the moment?
Yeah what happens if you forget to book
Or you don't book quick enough and you've got nothing booked?
What do you do then?
Absolutely yeah.
It could be very much like the Disney world way of doing things
With fast passes and things.
You've got to organize everything 160 days in advance.
It's quite um-
Where do you want to be and What do you want to eat in six months?
Well, the thing is we like to do things last minute.
So we're quite sporadic, aren't we?
We don't have a plan.
We know where we're going to be each day according to the ports
But we don't plan anything in advance, do we?
Yeah and what happens if you've had a long day
And sometimes you want to take a night off or take a nap.
Sometimes you feel a bit bored and want to go and do something.
That's the great thing about the cruise.
You've got all the facilities just a couple of steps away
And this kind of takes away a lot of that freedom.
Next up news from the Royal Caribbean.
They have confirmed some things Despite the uncertainty of the pandemic.
So before the pandemic hit
Royal Caribbean had lots of plans on the drawing board.
Including new terminals, massive ship upgrades and much more.
Yeah they actually had over 20 projects on the drawing board
Before the pandemic.
But lots of these upgrades and projects Have been put on hold during the pandemic.
But they have now come out and just whittled this down
To just two projects.
So just ten per cent of the projects going ahead.
So, first of all, they're going to push ahead with A building of the new port of Galveston terminal.
Which can accept oasis class ships.
So the biggest ships in the world.
The project had been delayed almost a year But construction will now begin on April 1st.
That's not an April fool's joke.
It's actually starting on April 1st.
So the other project is actually a development At freeport in the Bahamas.
You might remember a while ago they Bought some land.
Basically, it's a $300 million development.
The project will redevelop the freeport cruise terminal
And include a one-of-a-kind hotel, convention centre,
Water adventure park and more.
This sounds really exciting.
We can't wait to see more about this project.
Could we see royal Caribbean cruise/hotel breaks become a thing?
Yeah it's very interesting, isn't it?
It seems that they're diversifying their portfolio Into other forms of vacation.
Yeah like cruise and stay.
So you stay while in the Bahamas And enjoy the water park and
the very um- unique hotel there.
That sounds great.
So next let's get an update about the cruise and Canada situation
That we told you about on our last video.
So last week we brought to you the sad news that cruising would
not be possible in Canada and New England until at least March 2022.
As Canada has banned all cruise ships from their waters.
So this was due to the passenger vessel services act of 1886.
Some people call this the jones act.
That's actually the cargo part of it but it's exactly the same.
In a nutshell, it means cruise ships leaving and returning to a u.S port
Must visit a foreign port on their sailing.
This foreign port being Canada for new England and Alaska.
So Canada has banned all cruise ships carrying over
100 passengers from its waters.
So defending the controversial move.
Canada's minister of transport Omar Alghabra said;
This is the right and responsible thing to do.
Now we agree with that.
We think they should ban cruising.
But why all the way into march 2022?
It is so far off we don't know what the situation will look like then.
For example, it's 13 months away.
13 months ago the pandemic hadn't even started.
We predict that flying in and out of foreign countries from Canada
Will be allowed way before that date.
For some reason, governments are constantly picking on cruising.
Even though it will be the safest form of transport when it returns.
When it's right to return.
We're not saying it should return right now.
We're saying when it's right to return it will be.
Yeah, the cruise line international association-
[slurs] association.
More commonly known-
[ben slurs] association.
[david slurs] association.
More commonly known as CLIA.
Agree with us saying that they;
Understand the reasoning behind the move
but at the same time, they are surprised that the length of the extension of the order.
So basically saying they're surprised that it's going into next year too.
We can't understand it.
I mean Canada really need to get their vaccination game up and running.
And we know that they're having problems there.
But it's a year and a month away.
That's a long time, isn't it?
It is.
Maybe it's a good thing though to know that there is going to be no cruises for a year.
So that the cruise lines can plan for that.
Or maybe it's just a knee-jerk move from them.
Let us know what you think.
But it's going to hit Alaska so hard.
The cruise industry was responsible for over 1.24 billion dollars
Indirect expenditures in Alaska alone.
With total employment over 22,000 jobs on the line And over $1.5 billion in wages alone in the state.
You guys have commented on our last video in Alaska
saying how devastating this news is to your towns and your communities.
Uh- it's awful to hear as well isn't it?
It's really sad to hear.
So hopefully that changes.
Fingers crossed that's not a definite date.
If things are starting to look good in six months or so
Canada will turn around and change that date to make it a little bit sooner.
But it's a long time.
But it's not a complete ban though.
There are some small cruise ships and cruise lines that will still be sailing in Alaska.
Hopefully this year
Companies such as the small boat adventure line UnCruise Adventures.
Have said that they will be sailing in Alaska in 2021.
So that's a little bit of good news there isn't it
But it's still sad that 99% of all of the major cruise lines cannot cruise there.
A few cruise lines such as princess cruises have announced that they are figuring out
and thinking about what they're going to do next.
And they've basically said if it carries on and they'd go on with this ban
it will they will have to cancel their cruises.
Which is really sad.
Yeah, a few of you viewers even said the only way
they can see them doing it is going from L.A. and visiting Mexico first
Or going to Russia first which I don't see happening.
Or for New England going to the going to Bermuda.
But again that would take up so much of the cruise that it's not worth it.
And especially that we know that cruises are going to be shorter in length when they first come back.
I just- it's a recipe that I don't think is going to happen.
There was also a discussion of the act been removed.
But we don't think this will be a priority for the current u.S government.
We, again, can't see that happening.
Right next up from princess cruises.
Princess Cruises have released a short video about how cruise will look when they return to service.
It looks really cool.
It really highlights their ocean medallion technology
and it's going to make cruising so much safer and easier.
What's great is that they already had this in place before.
So using the ocean medallion before even cruising you can do all of your pre-arrival stuff
and select a window for arrival at the port.
You can even watch your safety drill on your stateroom tv or mobile device through the app.
Access to your stateroom will be touchless using your ocean medallion wearable technology.
Shopping is contactless too.
Reserving theatre seats and things at bars and restaurants is really easy as well
And you can order drinks and food using the app anywhere on the ship.
We use this awesome medallion technology in 2019
on the beautiful sky princess And it really is amazing.
Make sure you check the video out here or here.
Next news from CMV.
In some sad news, the former Columbus from the Cruise and Maritime Voyages
or CMV cruise line is expected to be scrapped in the near future.
According to sources from cruise industry news.
The ship was built in 1988 and she'll be heading to the scrapyard
in India or turkey very very soon.
So another popular ship with a lot of history there been sent to the scrapyard.
Finally for Oceania cruises.
Cruise demand is looking good and strong
as their 180-day worldwide cruise for 2023 sold out in one day.
Get this, the fares began at over £38,000 which is around $54,000.
Wow! I wish we could afford a cruise like that!
But one day it sold out.
Crazy!
Could you imagine your bar bill after that cruise?
Oh, how amazing would it be?
The cruise looks fantastic.
And one in five people on that cruise has even extended it further to over 200 days.
[david] wow 200 days. [ben] that's the life.
I think people are desperate for a cruise vacation, don't you?
I mean. I know people have been stocking up on vacation days throughout the pandemic.
But that is a lot of vacation days.
We couldn't take that amount of vacation days.
But what do you think about how cool is that.
So that's it for this episode.
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The captain of the week is Christine.
Ahoy there Christine!
That's it till next time, happy cruising.