We've got lots of cruise news headlines to talk about over the last week for you to catch up
on. Including breaking news from a new motion filed against the CDC in Florida. Well ahoy,
there cruisers where cruise with ben and david. I'm ben. Please hit that subscribe
button. It really helps us out. And give us a like if you love the video. First up, Florida
is seeking an immediate injunction to overturn the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
also known as the CDC, order that is currently blocking cruising from resuming in the USA.
As you know last week Alaska joined forces with Florida in a lawsuit against the U.S
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an attempt to revoke that Conditional Sail Order.
It threatens to destroy a whole second season of cruise which is shocking. It'll be the second
consecutive season that would be destroyed. But unsurprisingly this was shot down in
the senate. Well in breaking news today Florida continues to put pressure onto the government
to remove that Conditional Sail Order. Florida has filed a motion in a district court in Tampa asking
for an immediate injunction that would rescind the CDC's current orders. The motion reads;
without this court's intervention Florida will lose millions if not billions of dollars and
if companies like Carnival follow through with their threat to move operations abroad
the state of Florida may never be the same again. Wow, some serious words there. They're
losing millions if not billions of dollars. The CDC and the government really need to
do something about this. Everywhere else is opening up to capacity. Why are they blocking
cruise still? But we still can see this not going through. For some reason, the USA are dead set
on not allowing cruise back anytime soon. Is this because they're offshore companies not paying tax
in the USA? Are they being punished because of this? Well maybe. Florida Governor Scott added,
“with the way this is going, it seems that the CDC doesn’t want the cruise industry to be in business
because they are not setting the rules in a manner that the cruise industry feels they can comply and
safely return to work”. Well, we always hope for the best so fingers crossed this does have some
sort of impact. Next up Disney Cruise Line. Disney Cruise Line has announced that they will require
the vaccination for all over 18's onboard their cruises. All guests must also present a negative
PCR test. This must have been taken between 5 days and 24 hours before boarding. Regardless
of whether or not you have been vaccinated. And then in the terminal on embarkation day
another quick test, an antigen rapid test, will be administered before boarding. So that's two tests
and a vaccine. Then once onboard you are going to have to wear a mask except when dining, swimming
or in cabins. Social distancing, more cleaning and much more. They are taking this really seriously,
aren't they? They're taking no chances at all. It also looks like they will be requiring
reservations on everything onboard including kids clubs. Even the fitness centre and gym
and live shows. Virtual queues will be utilized for amenities including goofy's pool deck area
and the aqua lab deck area. So you're going to have to virtually queue for these things. But
in good news, you're going to be able to make all your bookings beforehand on the Disney navigator
app 30 days before you sail. We're going to be booking a Disney cruise this Thursday so stay
subscribed for that. We're going to bring you all of the videos. And Disney Cruise Line have also
revealed some new design details and inspiration for its brand new ship the Disney Wish. The design
has been inspired by three different core themes. These are fairy tale castles, forests and animals,
and the spirit of the ocean. Sounds very, Disney. A bronze statue of Cinderella will feature in
the grand atrium. We're attending a virtual event that we've been invited to this week
so we'll bring you all of the news as soon as we have it. It sounds really exciting. Now for some
UK news. There's more news from our government here in the UK on cruises starting next month. So
they've set out some rules finally. It came late but hey. When cruise ships are permitted to sail
once again in UK waters they will be initially restricted to 1 000 passengers. And all passengers
must be residents of the British isles. Groups of more than six people or two different households
will not be allowed to mix indoors on the ship whether or not they're originally booked in
the same group. These rules go up until at least June the 21st. And MSC is only one of the only
cruise lines that are going to be sailing before this time. Our MSC Virtuosa cruise is going to be
so lovely. We're sailing on the first sailing ever of the MSC Virtuosa on May 20th. So we'll
be bringing you along. We're going to have the ship to ourselves. It's going to be less than 20%
full as the ship normally has a capacity of up to 5 000 people. So it's going to be lovely. No
queueing for the bars, no lining in the buffets, it's going to be really relaxed. After June the
21st here in the UK they're hoping to remove some or all of the restrictions. Does this mean that
mask-wearing could be scrapped? We hope so. But we can still see that being around for absolutely
ages. And on that note about MSC. MSC has already said that port calls with embarkation and
disembarkation will be managed through controlled tour excursions. Supporting passengers to remain
in bubbles to minimize the risk to communities. So this means no leaving the ship by yourself.
So we're not going to be able to leave the ship in port and do anything by yourself. You're going to
have to do it as part of a ship shore excursion. This makes no sense to us because we are all
UK residents, in our own country. And we have no restrictions on travel in our own country.
We see this as a little cheeky thing maybe. Are they making more money from excursions this way?
We don't understand that. But we'll bring you all of the news once we're on our cruise. And
next some updates for those summer Caribbean cruises starting in June. Well, Bahamas have
dropped testing requirements for fully vaccinated visitors. So that's really good news. So beginning
may the 1st fully vaccinated visitors to the Bahamas will no longer have to provide a negative
test upon arrival. So it means you don't have to do a test if you've been vaccinated. But you do
have to be vaccinated. All people over the age of 18 on Royal Caribbean cruises, Celebrity cruises
and proof of vaccination and that it's been two weeks since you've had the final dose will be all
that is medically required to enter the country. So it's going to make it really easier for people
planning on taking Adventure of the Seas cruises from Nassau. And whilst the island is desperate to
get cruise back and get back up and running with their tourism. Not everybody is on board with
the cruise restart. The president of the Bahamas nurses union said it's far too soon to relax any
restrictions. The island currently has over 500 cases. So what do you think about this? Do you
think it's the right time? I mean cruising has to restart and tourism has to restart. Islands like
the Bahamas rely on it so much and without it, their residents are not making any money and the
country is not bringing any money in either. Royal Caribbean also working with airlines to be able to
provide cheaper flights to ports in the Bahamas and Bermuda. With fares starting at just $99
per person for a round trip if you book them with Royal Caribbean. We did check out some flights to
Bermuda and the Bahamas and booking with the airlines themselves with American Airlines, Delta,
Jetblue is really expensive. So it's really worth checking out these flights with Royal Caribbean
first. We've seen them at three times the cost of $99. So next up some good news for Alaska. Well,
a river cruise line will be getting around the rules by sailing smaller American flagged ships
from June this year. American cruise lines announced that it will be sailing from Alaska
from June to September in 2021. They operate the small United States built, crewed and flagged
vessels that hold just 100 to 190 passengers. This way they can get around to the USA cruise ban and
the passenger vessel services act which has been blocking some of the cruise lines sailing into
Alaska. The cruises will be both eight night and 11-night cruises aboard the American constellation
cruise ship. And they're going to be sailing the inside passage which is in the southeastern region
of the state. American cruise lines will sail with reduced capacity, pre-boarding testing,
enhanced cleaning, medical staff and much more. All cruisers will also include a pre-cruise hotel
night in Juneau, Alaska. So this is some good news for you guys in the United States. Thank you so
much for watching. We really appreciate it. Please do hit that subscribe button. It really helps
us out and we've got eight cruises this summer make sure you check out our video to see where
we're going to be going and when. And a big thank you to all of our patrons as well. You guys are
absolutely amazing. You really help support us. We bring you extra videos, behind the scenes footage,
a live zoom call every month, as well as postcards whilst we are away. Our captains of the week are
Mary and David. So ahoy there Mary and David. That's it till next time. Happy cruising.