Will you need to have a vaccine to be able to cruise? Will you really be able to cruise
in March in the USA? Will Alaska cruises run? This and more coming up
I am Gary Bembridge and this is another of my cruise updates where I discuss the latest
cruise news and developments that you need to know about, and what it means for all of
us a cruisers.
First of all, as Covid vaccines start to be rolled out their role for cruising has been
in the news.
Whilst a very vocal number of cruisers have expressed strong resistance to prove they
have had a Covid vaccination before cruising, the lines have confirmed that they are seeing
them as key to rebuilding cruising, and are actively looking at these as a requirement
before people can board their ships once vaccination roll out is more widespread.
So, let me update what the latest news and developments are.
Firstly, building on comments by Roger Frizzell, chief communications officer for Carnival
Corporation lines, who called the vaccine “a positive development for cruising", the
CEO of the Royal Caribbean Group (so that includes Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Azamara
and Silversea) Richard Fain in the last few days issued a video saying that vaccines were
THE key to unlocking and opening cruising.
He said (and I quote) "The arrival of highly efficacious vaccines is a game-change. Previously,
we expected cruising to resume based on creating a virtual bubble of safety on the ship. Vaccines
change all that"
And importantly he went on to say (and again I quote him) "Today we envision that the key
will be the vaccines rather than purely the protocols."
He added: “But we also have implemented enhanced safety and health protocols on our
ships in close coordination with our medical and science experts along with health and
government authorities.”
Although he did not, in that video, talk about the requirement for guests to prove they were
vaccinated, calling it the key to cruising getting up and running and back to normal
seems to suggest it could be.
More evidence of that came from Frank Del Rio CEO of the Norwegian Group (so that includes
Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas). He said in an interview with
John Lovell, president of Travel Leaders Group, that Norwegian are actively exploring requiring
guests prove they have had the vaccine to board.
He said (and I quote) “It will certainly be a requirement for the crew” and confirmed
that their lawyers were currently looking at if they could require passengers to have
one before cruising with their lines.
He went on to say it is crucial in helping to (and I quote) “build confidence in our
customers and among ourselves that it’s safe to cruise". Going on to point out that
many travel providers, including airlines, are exploring requiring proof that travellers
have been vaccinated. So far, Qantas Airlines has already confirmed that they will be.
Based on all of this, Cruise Critic in the past week asked various lawyers in the US,
including Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial, to look at if the lines would be able
to require vaccinations.
Broadly speaking, although it is expected that if the rule came in there may be legal
challenges, all agreed that the lines as a private commercial operation could have it
as their condition to travel - as they already have with other conditions to travel - and
they felt that legal challenges would be unlikely to have it overruled based on how rulings
on topics such as requiring people to wear masks, religious objections and so on have
gone.
They also point out that many countries and ports are expected to have it as a requirement
for visitors to enter, just as some already have requirements for vaccines like Yellow
Fever, typhoid, cholera and Hepatitis A or B. So, cruise lines would also be obliged
to insist on it if ports they call on require them.
The only thing the lawyers said would be required is the lines would have to allow passengers
to cancel cruises and be refunded if they did not accept the requirement.
If you want to review what the legal arguments and views are, there is a link in the notes
of this episode to the article.
Of course, we also need to see what the CDC decides on the role of vaccinations, if any,
in their Framework For Conditional Sailing as roll out occurs.
I am sure there will be much more news on this topic over the coming months, and much
discussion and angst too. I will keep you posted.
Many people have asked me about the 2021 Alaska season, and if it will run. I have a keen
interest in this as I am booked on Princess Cruises in May.
It is not clear if the season will run in its entirety or even at all. There are five
developments you need to know about
First of all, Canada has to lift their ban on cruise ships in Canadian waters. The current
ban runs to February 28. Based on past extensions, the decision on lifting or extending the ban
is taken close to expiry date. So, we are unlikely to know well into February on the
lifting or extension of the ban.
By US law, foreign flagged ships (which all the main lines are) leaving and returning
to a US port have to call on a non-USA country in the itinerary. So unless Canada lets ships
call in there, the Alaska season cannot run. It is highly unlikely the US lawmakers will
change this law or allow a waiver on it.
Secondly even if Canada does lift the ban, Canadian British Columbia Premier (John Horgan)
where Vancouver, Victoria and Prince Rupert ports essential for Alaska cruises to run
are, made it clear in the last few weeks that his aim is to not allow travellers in until
a vaccines are in widespread distribution, and visitors are vaccinated before visiting.
So timing of vaccination roll out could be a big factor.
Thirdly, Norwegian Group CEO Frank Del Rio has said that the Alaska season is still very
up in the air, especially the early sailings. On the optimistic side, he believes that Alaska
will see some cruise ships sometime in summer, while by Autumn, thanks to vaccines, it should
be fully open.
Fourthly, due to all of this, some lines are starting to give up Alaska for 2021 and are
cancelling. Cunard scrapped their plans with Queen Elizabeth for 2021 and Windstar Cruises
have just cancelled their entire 2021 Alaska season.
Other lines have started replacing their existing Alaska plans with 7-night trips, due to the
CDC rules on cruise length.
Seabourn has the most significant change so far, ditching planned cruises and replacing
them with 18 7-night one way sailings between Vancouver and Juneau. This looks ambitious
as it makes Juneau an embarkation port, which I don't think it has been used for previously.
So, the answer to the question is Alaska cruising going to happen in 2021 is - it is uncertain
and signs are strongly pointing to at best a late start to the season.
So, if you hope to go in 2021 focus on cruises towards the end of the season to increase
certainty. I am looking at doing a lift and shift on my May booking to the end of the
season for that reason.
Other than the changes already mentioned, there has not been much more movement on cancellations,
although some signs some may be coming
The two biggest moves in recent days have been first Windstar moving resumption of cruising
from March into May. As they did, they ditched Alaska as well as any 2021 itinerary that
had a US or Mexican port. They replaced these with more sailings in French Polynesia and
Caribbean departures out of the islands mostly. Secondly, Disney abruptly removed all their
March cruises off their website.
The big question that many are asking, including me, is following on from these signals is:
are any of those March US cruises that the lines still have on sale going to happen.
Probably not it seems.
In recent interviews some of the cruise line CEOs have called March a "long shot" due to
the trends of the pandemic in the United States and challenges of meeting the CDC requirements
in their Framework for Conditional Sailing.
For example, Frank Del Rio (who I seem to have quoted a few times this episode !) said,
and I quote, “We hope that the pandemic will ease and we can work out our differences
with the CDC to start in mid to late March. It’s a long shot, but I want to keep that
possibility as long as I see a possibility.”
As I reported last episode, he said again that a more solid bet is their ships sailing
in April in Europe, where he said (quote) “I think there is a good chance that Europe
will be open to cruising in the April to May time frame".
In more positive news towards cruising resuming, Carnival Cruise Line is returning a third
ship into USA waters to work on those CDC protocols. Carnival Panorama will arrive in
Long Beach California from Panama on December 22nd.
And Norwegian Cruise Line's Senior Vice President of Entertainment and Cruise Programming (Richard
Ambrose) has confirmed that they will resume rehearsals in January at their central studios
in Tampa of all the shows for the ships.
It takes 90 days he says to work though all the staging, rehearsals to be ready to start
up the shows on the ships. So that suggests that do expect around April to have the shows
ready. So that also ties with a more likely April to May timeline.
To keep up to date with the latest on cancellations, you can visit the page on my website, TipsForTravellers.com,
that is constantly updated with which ocean and river lines are sailing and the latest
planned resumption dates, often by ship. A link is in the notes of this episode.
I hope you found this update helpful. I have hundreds more episodes packed full of cruising
updates, tips and advice - so why not enjoy another one right now?