Finally cruise lines are putting together a string of good news.
Since this pandemic started, it's been a string of setbacks, delays, false starts and more
hurdles.
Now since anytime since cruises returned, there is more reason than ever to be optimistic
-- including some comments from cruise executives that you don't want to miss.
All that is right now.
Hello, it's Tanner from Cruzely.com.
When it comes to the health crisis, you know that perhaps no industry has been so perfectly
positioned to be impacted as cruises.
They've made headlines, had trips delayed and rescheduled, and had to completely revamp
the experience.
And that's on top of having to pause for 18 months.
But the past few weeks have shown some very positive signs that aren't getting as much
press as the negative news.
In fact, I count three big things that cruise lines -- and those that love them -- should
be happy about.
Let's talk first about those plummeting cases.
When Omicron hit, it hit especially fast on land.
The first word about the variant didn't come until Thanksgiving.
By New Year's, it was everywhere.
Of course, if there are cases on land then there will be cases at sea.
Especially for one that was more transmissible and evaded vaccines.
According to the CDC, there were about 5,000 cases on ships it tracked in the second half
of December.
Since then, however, it has seemingly taken a U-Turn, just like on land.
Now we don't have official case counts, but we do have public comments from some executives.
Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty said that cases on his company's ships have been
declining rapidly and have returned to pre-Omicron levels.
He went on to say that they've averaged just a handful of guest cases per cruise, and that
quote -- it appears the worst is behind us.
Michael Bayley, who is the President of Royal Caribbean International then said that he
thinks we're moving into a better environment and as such the cruise line will start to
remove many protocols that exist today while working with the CDC.
In fact, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and Carnival have all taken moves in the past few days
to start easing some protocols, including around masking and smoking in casinos.
Then there is the comeback of "green" cruise ships.
You may know that the CDC tracks all the cruise ships sailing, or planning to sail in the
United States.
Each day, they assign a color status to this list of more than 100 ships, depending on
case status onboard.
Now the agency just revamped the entire color-coded tracking system, which frankly is a whole
other YouTube video.
But one thing remains the same -- if a ship is assigned "green" status, then it means
no cases onboard.
Right before Omicron hit, the number of green ships peaked at 81 in mid-December.
But from there, it nosedived down to just nine ships in mid-January, with most of those
being ships that had only crew onboard.
Since then, however, things are turning back in the right direction.
Latest count is that there are 29 ships that now have green status.
And while the first ships to turn green were those with only crew (meaning there weren't
lots of passengers coming and going), we are now seeing ships carrying passengers turning
green as well.
So there is still a way to go to get back to the levels we saw before the latest wave,
but things are quickly trending back in the right direction.
Finally, and perhaps the biggest is news that came from the CDC regarding a travel warning
for cruise passengers.
Back in late December as the Omicron variant was ramping up, the CDC moved its warning
to Level 4.
That warning said that the public should “avoid cruise travel, regardless of vaccination status.”
So even if you had your shot, were boosted, wore a mask, stayed distant, the CDC still
said that you still shouldn't take a cruise.
That's despite most people having to have the shot and test before boarding.
But, it didn't go as far as putting in a No Sail Order like it did in 2020.
Yeah, it seems confusing to me too.
But now that Level 4 warning has been lowered to Level 3.
Now the CDC says that travelers should be quote "up to date" with their COVID-19 vaccine
before sailing.
So what does that mean?
Well, if you had a two-shot doze like Moderna or Pfizer, then it means having a booster
at least five months after your second shot.
Have a one-shot vaccine like the J&J?
Then the CDC says you should get a booster of Pfizer or Moderna two months after the
first shot.
At least right now, however, most cruise lines aren't requiring booster shots.
So just like when the CDC said that people should avoid cruises, they were still allowed
to sail.
Now the CDC says that you should be up to date with your vaccine, but it a suggestion,
not a requirement to cruise.
Even so, the fact that the agency decided to make this change is a positive sign for
cruises.
CLIA, which is the industry's trade group called it "a step in the right direction"
as cruise ships have by far the most stringent health protocols in travel leading to lower
cases that are most often mild or asymptomatic.
In fact, of the 1.3 million passengers Royal Caribbean said it has sailed with since restarting,
about 2,500 -- or less than 0.2% -- tested positive on the ship.
Now this doesn't account for people that might test positive later or crew cases.
Even so, those numbers are pretty good.
So does all this mean that cruising is about to return to what it was before the pandemic?
My guess is no, and the testing and vaccine protocols are likely to stick around unless
it becomes clear that we are through the last wave.
So don't expect any major changes just yet.
But for an industry that's been battered from starts and stops, waves of the virus, and
bad headlines, the past couple of weeks have finally delivered some good news for a change.