Do you want to cruise in the UK this summer?
Well, we have the breaking news just out of all of the details to get on board.
So stay tuned.
Well ahoy, there cruisers.
Welcome to this cruise news roundup.
With those cruise with Ben and David.
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with everything that's going on in the cruise industry.
So we've got that breaking news that just came out this morning.
P&O Cruises have announced that they will be offering ultimate escape UK holidays this summer
And they've also given us details of their brand new ship Iona and her very special
new maiden cruise to her namesake island of Iona in Scotland.
As you know we brought you the news last week that P&O and Princess we're going to be doing
these cruises but we've got the actual details now including some protocols that you might be
really surprised with. Paul Ludlow P&O president said: “as we have spent the majority of last year
at home, to be able to have a restorative and relaxing break, sit on the deck with a sea view
in the summer sunshine and then enjoy an indulgent dinner. I'm sure it's certainly what we all need
this year and we cannot wait to have our guests back on board” oh my gosh we agree so much. Oh
my gosh. Yeah, I mean definitely summer sunshine, sea breeze, cocktails in the sun. Fingers crossed
the sun. Heavenly heavens. So let's take a look at all those details that P&O have
released about the summer sailings. So these new summer cruises will take place on the ship Iona.
As well as the Britannia. These cruises will depart from Southampton between June and
September. Sailing around the UK coast where the sun shines brightest. Not too sure about that one.
Well, it is true for the best chance of any kind of good weather or sunny warm weather
you'll usually find on the south coast. So out of all of the places, this is the best place to be.
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Now back to the show. So let's break down those details. First up on the P&O Britannia. Britannia
will offer three and four-night breaks as well as one six-night holiday running from June the 27th
through to September the 19th. Three-night cruises on Britannia will start from £449 per person
and four-night cruises on Britannia will start from £499 per person. This price includes full
board meals and entertainment onboard and it's also for a balcony cabin. Inside and ocean view
cabins will be blocked off and not available just to give everybody the chance to have some fresh
air. Yeah absolutely. We had a tour of Britannia and we've sailed on her before. She was recently
refurbished and we got to have a look around us so take a look at that video to see what it is like
onboard the ship. Next up the Iona. This is P&O's brand new excel class ship. The new LNG powered
ship holds 5200 guests and will be the largest ship ever built to serve the UK market. Iona will
feature enhancements to the already successful signature venues from the P&O fleet. As well as
new features developed specifically for Iona. I just find that word hard to say. Specifically...
Specifically... Specifically... Iona will offer seven-night itineraries running from august 7th
to September 18th. It's great the first cruise, the inaugural cruise is called the Iona maiden.
Love that. The seven-night cruise will depart from Southampton on august the 7th prices will start
from £1109 each. Again the price includes full board meals and entertainment as well as a balcony
cabin. The cruise will depart from Southampton and obviously return to Southampton. With coastal
cruising to Scotland. So it's going to go all the way up to Scotland where the weather might not be
quite as good but it's going to include the inner Hebrides and a visit to the island of Iona. Wow,
how amazing is that. Yeah, I've never heard of a big ship that size doing that sort of cruising
before. So yeah a visit to the island of Iona. I bet that's going to be stunning. We've been to the
Hebrides before, the outer Hebrides and the Inner Hebrides, and it is spectacular. It's
such a beautiful place to visit. So it's going to be a fantastic cruise. Just pack for all seasons
that's our biggest tip. So the other seven-night cruises on Iona are called voyage to the sun and
these prices start from a little lower at £779 per person. Again these depart from Southampton and
will be coastal cruising past the channel islands and along the coast of France. But it won't be
visiting the channel islands or France. It is just coastal cruising. And again as with Britannia,
these prices are for a balcony cabin. The cruises are going to go on sale next Monday march the 22nd
at 8 30 a.M UK time and will be available to book online or through a travel agent. Just a reminder
again for anybody who's not in the UK you won't be able to cruise on the ship. This season is just
for UK residents only. But we have the big question of what will be required to get on board.
It's not only that you're going to have to be a UK resident, there's going to be some protocols and
procedures in place. Vaccines will be required. Both doses will be required and at least a week
before travel. Everyone must be vaccinated. This means no exceptions and no age limit.
So this means there's going to be no families or children allowed on board. That is going to be
very strange. And at the moment the UK don't even plan to vaccinate children.
This means young people in general and young people like us in their 30s and 20s will not
be allowed to cruise. Also, it looks like the crew will not be required to be vaccinated too.
The press release says that proof of vaccination and the dates given will be required. Approved
forms of evidence will be confirmed closer to the date of departure and this will be required to be
shown at the terminal prior to boarding. Failure to provide the evidence will result in denial of
boarding. And as you know we have no proof at the moment. All that we have are the cards that
are given out, which is an appointment card, so there isn't actually any formal um uh passports
at the moment. Health passports or anything. So we'll see how that's gonna work. So the
vaccination rollout here in the UK is doing great at the moment. It's over 55s only. Obviously,
by the time that these cruises start in June and August, we're going to be much further down the
line. But again it's a 12-week week wait to your next vaccination so if you haven't been vaccinated
by sort of April or may you're not going to be cruising until at least September. Next up let's
talk about travel insurance. Now travel insurance will be required and is mandatory. You will be
asked for proof of your travel insurance when you board the ship. Likewise, if you don't have that
proof or it isn't the correct type of travel insurance, which we'll come on to in a second,
you will be denied boarding. So when travelling with P&O the insurance must include medical and
repatriation cover for a minimum of £2 million. That includes cover for emergency evacuations
and medical expenses. Now not many insurance companies are offering this, but luckily P&O have
joined forces with a company called holiday extras to offer full protection insurance. We checked
online for an adult on a week cruise in July. Somebody who has absolutely no medical conditions
doesn't take any medicines or anything like that, and it comes in at around 80 pounds per person
for the lowest type. Now, this is a little bit more expensive than normal. For example, we pay
around 80 pounds per year for travel insurance. But it's to be expected. You're getting covered
here and you definitely want to be covered. So it's worth keeping that extra cost in mind. If
there's two of you travelling, you're going to be paying around 160 pounds for your insurance. Yeah,
and at the moment we did try to have a look around different insurers to see what they were offering.
But we couldn't find anything that was a clear direct comparison because we aren't cruising at
the moment. There's no way of knowing what the travel insurance other travel insurances will be
covering. But we're sure that they'll come out of the woodwork once they learn about these cruises
and give something that they can offer as well. So there might be some cheaper options as well in the
future. Now the big question that we keep getting asked is what will life be like onboard and will
there be protocols such as mask-wearing and social distancing. Well, we now know that all guests and
crew will be required to follow enhanced medical and well-being measures to protect everyone on
board these cruises. These protocols have been developed with guidance from global medicine and
public health experts and scientists and in close coordination with the UK government agencies.
For crew and guests will be required to wear a face mask in certain areas of the ship. In
public areas, we should imagine. When not eating or drinking in public areas. There's also going
to be enhanced sanitation measures and social distancing will also be in place. The crew will
also undergo strict testing and quarantine regimes as well as regular testing during their time
onboard the ship. So really David, this is really great news. As we said the UK is doing really well
with its vaccination program and by august, the majority of the country hopefully would have been
vaccinated. So three months after that, most of the country will be able to travel. They want to
get cruising as soon as possible and they want it to be as safe as possible and they cannot afford
another breakout on a ship. It'll be an absolute nightmare just from a public perception point of
view. But this is just one step closer to cruise opening up properly and around the
world. Don't forget that these guidelines are only in place now, at first when cruise does return,
and as things get a little bit more back to normal these guidelines will ease and we'll
see a return to regular cruising. So that's it for this episode. Thank you so much for watching.
We really appreciate it. Please make sure you hit that subscribe button. We're going to be going on
loads of cruise lines such as the P&O Iona when we can. So we'll be bringing you all of that footage
and thank you so much to all of our patrons as well. You guys are incredible we give you loads
of things behind scenes footage extra episodes and postcards when we're away. Our captain of
the week is Shawn. So hi there sean. And thanks to fabulous for sponsoring this video.Click the link
in the description section below to take your free trial. That's it till next time, happy cruising.