Hi I'm Chris Frame and thanks so much for joining me. One of the most searched for terms on Google
you'll still see cruise ships pulling into port or weighing anchor and heading off to sea. We
know that cruising is largely suspended and given that it costs quite a bit to keep a cruise ship
operational, I can understand why seeing cruise ships still sailing around is a bit confusing.
So why are the cruise ships still at sea? Well there are a few reasons.
The first one is probably the easiest to explain but perhaps the least known and that is that some
cruise ships are cruising again. Yes actual cruise holidays are taking place at this very moment!
This is happening with a minority of cruise ships, but it's still notable
as some of the world's largest cruise ships are among those that have returned to cruising duties.
Italy was among the first to allow limited cruising in their waters with MSC's Grandiosa
and Seashore sailing local cruise voyages for Italian guests during both 2020 and 2021,
while Costa undertook some limited cruising last year. Dream Cruises have been sailing successfully
in both Taiwan and Singapore using the World Dream and the Explorer Dream while Royal Caribbean has
been sailing in Singapore as well using Quantum of the Seas and are sending the new Odyssey of
the Seas to cruise from Israel. These large ship cruises are in addition to a variety of smaller
ships that are cruising in local waters. An array of river cruise ships have resumed
sailing particularly in European waterways while even in the relatively strict Australian waters,
Aussie flagged ships from Coral Expeditions have resumed sailing on the Kimberley coast and the
Coral coast. All of these operational ships are sailing with COVID regulations and safety measures
in place making the experience a bit different from what it was like prior to the cruising
shutdown. Changes include COVID testing, reduced passenger capacity, limited access to shoreside
activities and in the case of cruising from Israel, mandatory vaccinations for all passengers
and crew. It hasn't been all smooth sailing though and there have been multiple false stars
with some limes... limes... with some lines having recommenced cruising only to have to
postpone it again due to outbreaks on board. But if you're living near a port where one of these
operational cruise ships are sailing from you'll see the familiar sight of the ship's arrival and
departure as well as all the associated activity that goes into keeping a cruise ship running.
This includes fuel bunkering, loading of food as well as cleaning and waste removal services.
So we know that there are some cruise ships sailing, even during these COVID times,
but what about the hundreds of other cruise ships that aren't cruising, why are they still sailing
around? The majority of the world's cruise ships are still laid up. Historically this term is known
as in-ordinary and was coined to refer to naval vessels that were no longer operational but had
been deactivated in such a way that they could be brought back into service should
they be needed. While the term often invokes imagery of decommissioned and derelict ships
this is far from the case. Ships in layup are often expected to eventually sail again,
so are quite often well maintained. And there are two distinct forms of layup,
warm layup or cold layup. Let's start with cold layup. A cruise ship in cold layup is deactivated
meaning its on-board machinery and mechanics are shut down. This is done for long-term storage
where the costs of shutting the ship down and reactivating it again later are lower than the
costs of running the ship during the period that it will be laid up. During cold layup, vital
equipment is mothballed to preserve it as such ships in cold layup rely on external power for
basic services. Key components such as lighting and emergency services such as fire sprinklers
can be powered by shore side electricity. But the process of shutting a ship down is costly
and reactivating the ship is equally so, as well as being time consuming. It is for this reason
that we haven't seen many cruise ships in cold layup during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact the
vast majority of cruise ships are in another form of layout known as warm layup it's also sometimes
referred to as hot layup. Cruise ships in warm layup remain operational they run on their own
engines thanks to an onboard team of engineers who maintain all the systems and services and I made
an entire separate video about this which you can check out in the info card or description below.
So most of the cruise ships are in warm l meaning that they are still operational.
It is for this reason that you see so many cruise ships still sailing around
even during the COVID-19 shutdown. Cruise ships in warm layup have a small living crew so they
require food medical supplies and crew changes this is facilitated by visits to ports such as
Southampton, Genoa, Civitavecchia, or Manila while in the case of the Caribbean many US-based ships
have actually been using the cruise line's private islands to get their provisions via tender boat.
There is also limited space around the world to dock all the cruise ships not to mention
the fact that the ports still need to make money so they mostly can't offer the space for free. As
a result many of the cruise ships have spent much of the past year at anchor not far off the coast,
offering amazing sights for shore side spectators of large clusters of ships all together. But
you'd notice that they don't just stay put! They regularly set sail going out for short cruises
to nowhere before returning to anchor for a few more days. This activity is undertaken to ensure
that all of the cruise ships can share the limited anchorage positions around the world. Setting sail
also allows vital machinery such as propellers rudders and pods to be tested and run during the
shutdown, to keep them operational and as the cruise ships create their own fresh water by
desalination plants they also collect new seawater while on their joints to open ocean. Over the next
year, you'll see more and more ships returning to cruising, which will require the cruise ships
to spend more time in port, as they take on their full complement of crew and provisions to prepare
the vessels for passengers again. But this will be a phased approach so in the short term you'll
still see all those cruise ships laid up at anchor heading out to sea to keep them ship shape and
ready for when they return to service. Thanks so much for watching and I hope you found the video
interesting? If you did please don't forget to give it a like and hit the subscribe button and
notification bell so you don't miss future videos. If you're interested in learning more about
what happened with cruising during the COVID-19 shutdown, check out my Cruising and COVID Playlist
or you can find details at my websites, I've linked them in the description box below. Thanks
once again for watching and when it is safe for us to set sail again i hope to see you on board!
[Happy Music]
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