Well, what can I say we've got some pretty shocking breaking news coming. We did not
expect this to come so stay tuned. Well ahoy there cruises welcome to another episode of cruise with
Ben and David. My name is Ben. David's doing some work in the other room while I bring you this
breaking news. Make sure you hit that subscribe button because we're going to be bringing you
lots of fantastic videos, cruise news updates and more. Once we get back cruising. So on that
shocking breaking news which is just coming in now. We are bringing you the very latest news.
Basically, the government of Canada has announced a one-year ban for pleasure craft and cruise
vessels. This is being done to keep Canadians and transportation workers safe and healthy. That's
the top priority of transport Canada. The minister of transport announced today two brand new interim
orders which will prohibit pleasure craft in Canadian arctic waters and cruise vessels in all
Canadian waters until at least February the 28th 2022. Yes, you heard me right February the 28th
2022. That is over a year away. We are February the 4th now. So it's not even just a year,
it's a year and a month. Absolutely crazy news and really shocking. We were not expecting this.
This is going to be for any cruise vessel carrying a hundred people or more and they will be
completely prohibited from operating in Canadian waters. Those who do not comply with these new
rules could face up to a million-dollar fine and being thrown into prison for a term of 18 months
or a combination of both. It's really serious stuff. The Canadian government is taking this
very very seriously we're just shocked. We were expecting some type of announcement but
for a whole year. It's been almost a year since any vessel has actually sailed in Canada. Well,
cruise ships anyway. So this could mean almost two years guys. A whole two years without any
sailing in Alaska at all. Just think about all of those ports that rely on it and all of the people
who rely on it for the business. It's really really awful. Now you might be asking yourself,
well so what Canada's closed their waters why can't we still cruise there on a USA cruise?
Well, there's a little thing in the USA called the jones act. This means that cruise ships have
to visit another country, such as Canada when doing round trips just from the USA.
So foreign-flagged cruise ships or cruise ships not built in the USA and some other
rules. Basically every cruise ship floating guys. They're all registered in the Bahamas, Panama,
places in Europe and not in the USA. The only ship that was made in the USA and is registered here
is the Norwegian Pride of America. So no vessels are going to be able to do round trips. So they
can't do trips from, for example, LA, San Diego or Seattle because they have to stop at another port
in a different country such as Vancouver in Canada. It's going to put a complete stop to
that. It's really sad news and something that we weren't expecting. Yep, we are a little bit
surprised. This news is just coming in now so we're just trying to react to it. But again two
years since any Alaska cruise. This really puts any hope of sailing soon anywhere in the world
in doubt. Again it doesn't look like we're going to have a spring start. Cruise lines in
Europe Fred Olsen for example in the UK have now cancelled all the way into July. Watch this space,
more cruise lines will follow suit. In other news, MSC Magnifica has cancelled all of her cruises
until at least the end of April. They're hoping to be able to sail in Greece again by Easter
but they've all been cancelled because of several issues with the government there.
And in the USA MSC have now cancelled all cruisers until at least May following suit of all of the
other big cruise lines. Like we said they would do. But in a little bit of good news, MSC took
delivery of MSC Virtuosa. It was done during a private flag ceremony held in the Chantiers
de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint Nazaire, France. Sorry about butchering the pronunciation there.
It's a big shipyard in France that we've actually visited before. We saw her steel being cut two
years ago I think. It was crazy. So now she's been delivered. She's going to have some of the
most advanced environmentally friendly technology onboard including wastewater treatment systems,
a hybrid exhaust gas cleaning system, shore to ship power connectivity and an underwater radiated
noise management system that will minimize the sound impact on marine life. So a big bravo to MSC
for all of those things to make their ships more environmentally friendly. We need more
cruise lines to follow suit. She's also going to be the first cruise ship in the world to receive a
BIORISK notation from the bureau veritas in recognition for its ability to mitigate and manage
infectious disease risk for passengers. So she's the first brand new ship to have this. So a
brand new recognition to say that she is super safe and fit with all of the latest technology
to keep things like at bay. She's the sister ship of the beautiful MSC Grandiosa. We travelled on
her last year. So make sure you take a look at the ship tour. She's going to be doing northern Europe
itineraries and is planning this to start on May 8th 2021. Fingers crossed that this happens.
We can see things being pushed back even more. Well more news now on those cruise vaccines.
Well as expected three more lines have come out and said that they will require them
to sail with no exceptions. This is first of all the American queen steamboat company and
the victory cruise lines which operate from the USA. They're saying crew members and non-shipboard
employees of the lines will also be required to receive the vaccination across all seven vessels
in the two fleets. Well, first of all, it's really great to see that they're making sure that their
crew and all of the employees that have anything to do with the ship need to be vaccinated as well.
But how is this going to be done? At the moment only older people are being vaccinated in the USA
and in Europe. How are the younger people who work for the cruise line going to be vaccinated because
private vaccination is not an option at the moment? So you can't just pay to get the
vaccination you have to wait your turn. Does this mean that they're not actually planning
to sail for months? At the moment they're saying July 1st but we really can't see this happening.
Ponant cruises, which offer smaller boutique cruises, have also announced the same thing.
That vaccinations will be needed. Well, guys just a quick update there. We really hope you
enjoyed the episode. As we said we wanted to bring you that breaking news about Canada.
It really is shocking. Again let us know what you think about this in the comment section below.
We love to hear from you. I also just have to say a big thank you to all of our patrons
as well. You really help keep our channel running. We bring you loads of extra videos
behind the scenes footage and little extra stuff you don't see on this channel.The
captain of the week is paul. So ahoy there paul. That's it till next time happy cruising.