Hi everyone I'm Chris Frame and welcome back to my channel.
The highly publicised and much anticipated relaunch of cruising
is already in distress only weeks after resuming,
with multiple coronavirus cases detected on several cruise ships
that were sailing with passengers. With COVID-19
still rapidly spreading in many parts of the world, most cruise lines remain in a
voluntary cruise pause. Cruise lines such as Cunard, P&O,
Princess, RCI, Celebrity, Saga, Crystal,
Holland America and many others have all taken a prudent
measure to extend their cruise pause into late
2020 or early 202. Yet despite an effective COVID-19
vaccine being some way off, and global travel restrictions still in
place in many nations, over the last month there have been a
relaxation of restrictions in some areas, leading several cruise lines to
recommence cruising in limited geographical regions.
The resumption of cruising has been widely covered in cruise blogs forums
and here on YouTube. I released the video about the relaunch
of cruising just last week, so for some detailed information on what
cruise lines are cruising you can check that out in the info card
or in the description below. But already that video is out of date
as things have changed so rapidly in just the last few days!
Hertigruten was one of the first ocean cruise lines to recommence cruising.
This is a Norwegian cruise line and if you hadn't cruised in Europe you may not
have heard of them. Yet Hertigruten's heritage can be traced
back to 1893. So it is well established. Today they have
an 18-ship fleet comprising of small ocean-going vessels
that offer expedition style voyages. In order to recommend sailings
Hertigruten implemented a variety of safety measures,
put in place to assist with social distancing.
This included sailing with a reduced capacity as well as enhanced cleaning
practices, a modified food service, health
declaration forms, and having the crew undertake the WHO's
COVID-19 course, covering hygiene practices. For full
details you can check out their website which
I've linked in the description box below. However despite these efforts at least
40 people including both passengers and crew
on board the Roald Amundsen, one of Hertigruten's ships that had re-entered
service, have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The
line says in a media statement on their website that the other 122 crew have
tested negative for the virus. This is a huge blow for cruising and
this incident has catapulted cruising back into the media spotlight
with countless news outlets across multiple countries reporting on the
situation. Additionally cruise experts and
influencers are also questioning the move,
with former Windstar CEO John Delaney taking to Twitter to question the
resumption of cruising at this time. I'll link to his tweet in the
description box below. In a statement on their website,
Hurtigruten say that they are working to take care of their guests and
crew, with 209 travellers from the ship's first
voyage and 178 from the second needing to
self-quarantine. Unsurprisingly the company has cancelled
future voyages, including their planned round Britain
cruises scheduled for later this year. Meanwhile one passenger on board the
Paul Gauguin cruise ship also tested positive for COVID-19. the
154 meter long ship has docked at Papeete,
in French Polynesia, while passengers onboard the ship
were confined to their cabins after the coronavirus case was identified.
Carnival Corporation AIDA were planning to restart cruising with large cruise
ships later this month, AIDA made headlines in recent weeks as
several crew were diagnosed with COVID prior to the cruise line taking on board
any passengers. But the company still had planned to
resume cruising in August, however while the AIDA Brand is German-based the
AIDA ships are flagged in Italy and the Italian authorities have not
provided clearance permission for the ships to resume passenger voyages.
If this seems a bit confusingI have another video where I spoke to retired
Commodore Christopher Rynd to explain how flags of convenience work.
You can check that out in the info card or in the description below. But in a
nutshell the cruise ship has to abide by the
rules of the nation where it is flagged which in this case means AIDA need
permission from Italy to resume voyages as a result cruisers on board AIDAperla
and AIDAmar have been cancelled, which is another
huge PR blow for the industry, though with what's going on at the
moment perhaps it's for the best. In other news Greece reopened its
cruising market in August. Open ports include popular cruising
destinations such as Piraeus, Rhodes, Voolos and Corfu.
Again this reopening has taken place before any effective vaccine is
available. With the success of cruising reliant on
the cruise lines, to implement health and safety protocols on board
in contrast many jurisdictions remain closed to cruise ships
this includes local voyages in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and
Australia to name just a few. In fact some regions have gone so far as
to ban cruise ships from local waters entirely!
Such as Australia where the cruise ban remains in place.
Cruise lines are losing millions of dollars a day keeping hundreds of cruise
ships laid up but COVID-19, is highly contagious and
has a high number of asymptomatic cases, making it hard to trace and meaning that
traveling during the pandemic will always have risks.
So it begs the question has cruising resumed too quickly.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Thanks so much for watching and I hope you found the video interesting. If you
did please give it a like and don't forget to subscribe and hit
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If you're missing cruising and you'd like to relive some cruising memories
check out my cruising review playlist. Or if you're interested in maritime
history, take a look at my maritime history playlist.
Thanks again for watching and when it is safe for us all to cruise,
I hope to see you on board.
(Music)