Get ready for a real rollercoaster of a cruise update.
Just as news was breaking that 8 lines were cancelling their cruises into June and July,
along came unexpected and truly remarkable developments that look to be (at last) game
changing. Although in what remains a roller coaster ride, as all that excitement built,
Disney threw a wobbly ball into the mix for USA cruise passengers. While Cunard turned
that into further dismay
So, what is going on and what does all of this contradictory news mean for travellers
like you and me keen to start cruising again.
The 8 lines I mentioned that have just pushed their earliest start dates into June and July
are Princess, Holland America, Seabourn, Celebrity, Silversea, Azamara, Virgin and Royal Caribbean.
However, in those announcements the first big signs that things were starting to change
for cruising (but not the biggest which I will get to next)
For me, the most significant part in the announcement by Royal Caribbean Line that they were cancelling
cruises into June - is where they had to say, well actually we are not cancelling everything.
Singapore sailings for Singapore residents on Quantum of the Seas that have been sailing
incident free for months continue.
Odyssey of the Seas that will be starting up for vaccinated Israeli residents to Greece
and Cyprus will be starting up as planned
As will Chinese sailing for locals on both Spectrum of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas
starting in a few weeks
This came just days after Ben Bouldin (Vice President of Europe, Middle East and Africa)
for the line told Cruise Critic, that they are actively looking around the world for
countries that also want to work on start running cruises for local residents, even
if that means offering domestic itineraries only.
He stressed that the key was that successful restarts depend on cooperation from politicians
in government, both in terms of homeports but also agreeing the places you can visit.
This is true, as in addition to those countries I mentioned so far, the others with sailings
allowed have been Italy, where there is a massive cruise ship building industry and
where the Prime Minister was active in letting cruising open.
They also are happening with German lines, including the Royal Caribbean part owned Mein
Schiff and Hapag lloyd lines, another country with a huge cruise ship building industry
and leverage with government. They are also happening in Norway where Hurtigruten is locally
owned and sails between all the ports along its vast coast
Sailings have also been taking place successfully in Japan and Taiwan.
Announcements by Holland America and Princess also spoke about cancellations by region and
even port, suggesting that we are heading towards more regions opening before others.
So, bearing all that in mind. Along came the pleasant and surprising news that cruising
will be allowed to resume in the UK from May 17.
The first sign that something was about to happen was when the biggest UK based line
(P&O Cruises) suddenly pulled all advertised cruises through to September / October, saying
they would aim to introduce domestic cruises for UK residents once that was possible. Princess
Cruises who were due to have 3 ships sailing out of the UK did the same for all UK departures.
Saying they would do the same.
Cunard meantime said they will also do domestic UK cruises in Summer on Queen Elizabeth, cancelling
existing Queen Victoria to end August, Queen Elizabeth to 11 October and Queen Mary 2 until
12 November.
Royal Caribbean, also with ship based in UK in the summer, said if it was possible they
would do too. But did not cancel anything
Then the big news came. As in those other countries where we have seen sailings happen,
the UK Maritime Minister, Robert Courts, took a leadership move, encouraged by the
very fast roll out of vaccines and the Prime Minister's overall roadmap to open travel
from May 17, and announced the government will support the resumption of cruising from
17 May
There are still 5 unanswered questions though:
1: Will this be for all the UK, or England only? The roadmap and date for opening of
travel and cruising from May 17 is currently only for England, as the devolved adminstrations
in Scotland, Wales and Northern Island define their own road maps.
However, Jackie Doyle-Price, chair of the APPMPG and MP for Tilbury (home of the London
Cruise Terminal), said: "This is a point we will be taking up with the devolved administrations
in the coming days to ensure that the re-opening of the domestic cruise market is UK-wide,"
2: What will the protocols be? Will they be those proposed by CLIA and the lines, which
mirror those being used by MSC Cruises in Italy, Royal Caribbean in Singapore and so
on, and include reduced capacity, testing, masks, distancing, line only excursions and
so on?
Or will they incorporate vaccines as per Royal Caribbean in Israel? Or will they be closer
to pre-Pandemic cruising as the roadmap in the UK has the goal of removing restrictions
like social distancing from middle of June by when all UK adults who want to be vaccinated
will have been
3: When will cruises actually start up? All the lines are saying it will be many weeks
as they will need to plan the cruises and ports within what is allowed, get crew back,
train them, implement any new protocols, restock ships and so on
P&O: 'Several weeks' after May 17 to restart Cunard: 'Some months' before sailing
Saga: Suspended until late June Fred Olsen: Suspended until end of June
Hurtigruten: Suspended until the end of May
4: How many ships will be sailing? Even with lots of demand for UK residents keen to have
a break in summer, it is hard to see all ships from P&O, Princess, possibly Cunard, Royal
Caribbean, MSC Cruises, Fred Olsen, Saga and other lines who sail out of uk just going
to Uk ports
5: When will they be able to sail further afield? There is a strong suggestion that
the UK will not be lifting travel advice against international ocean cruising. So not letting
ships sail out fo UK
The answers to these will emerge and I will update as they do
The key point of all of this is that it takes government and political will to open up cruising.,
which brings me to what is happening and what this all means for the United States.
Disney are the latest line to give thoughts on timing, and have said they do not expect
cruising in the United States until Autumn, which is a really long way away.
Bob Chapek (CEO of Disney) said at their latest shareholders meeting (and I quote) "As of
right now, we don’t have any definitive information in terms of when we will be able
to open up our cruise lines....We are anticipating that with some luck and the increase in the
number of vaccinations out there and the encouraging that we are seeing that maybe by this fall
we might be able to have some limited operations of our cruise ships, but that’s all going
to depend on the incidence of the virus and the vaccination of the general public"
There is a one big problem the USA faces that these other countries do not. Some of you
will say that is the CDC,. and I will come to that, but unlike the pockets of countries
opening to cruising the USA does not have the option of doing domestic cruises or even
cruises to nowhere. Ships have to sail to a foreign port due to the Passengers Vessel
Services Act.
Almost all of the countries allowing cruising, like the Uk most recently, are domestic
cruises for residents only. These governments, and their health authorities, have more control,
total oversight, and the support networks are all there and for their residents in any
ports they call on. It stays within the country. But for the USA, the ships have to leave and
call somewhere that is not under USA juristiction and supervision.
This has to be an issue in the background. Politcians and governments in those other
countries supporting cruise opening is all domestic.
Then in the USA there is the CDC.
The CDC still, well at time of recording, has not issued the technical specifications
for the test cruises they require. despite early in February saying it was a few weeks
away. So cruising is in limbo with not timeline.
As I was preparing this update, I noticed the CDC remain unethustatic - not just about
cruising but travel opening generally in the United States, which does not bode well.
This revelation came in a White House coronavirus response briefing just after the CDC said
those who are vaccinated can meet with others who are vaccinated indoors in private settings
without social distancing or masks, exciting many who thought this could be a sign of how
protocols for things like cruising could head once vaccines rolled out further
However, the recently Biden administration appointed CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky
said (quote) "Every time there's a surge in travel, we have a surge in cases in this country,"
This does not augur well.....
two federal health officials went on to tell CNN that as the CDC worked to prepare guidance
for people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the possibility of changing travel
recommendations was discussed but there was never a lot of momentum behind adjusting it
right now,
As covered before cruise line excecutives are wondering if the CDC will have vaccines
in any final requirements
For example, asked about the requirement of vaccines to cruise, Tom McAlpin of Virgin
Voyages said to Travel Weekly Magazine this week (quote) “A lot of this depends upon
what the requirements of the CDC are. I’m not a scientist so I don’t understand how
all of that works. But I suspect that as we get a very high level of folks vaccinated
within the US and the UK, things may change; we may not have to get 100% vaccinated. It
would be nice to get 100% but I don’t know that is achievable or needed.”.
Based on all of this, it seems there is still little and no change on the momentum,
such as in the UK, for the USA administration to put dates and timing to the Framework For
Conditional sailing.
As an interested party looking in, in those countries where cruising has opened it has
been led by the government and minsters not the health authorities equivalent to the CDC.
Until that changes, it does feel less like USA cruising will move much
There has, therefore, been lots of speculation if USA lines will try and set up home porting
in the Caribbean meantime.
This seems unlikely as the logistics to build supply chains to cope with the volume of supplies
and getting numbers of people in and out to join multiple ships and cruises will probably
take as long as waiting and working through the CDC process, which once eventually done
will be simpler and more lucratuve
Of course, Royal Caribbean will be using Barbados as a homeport with Grandeur of the Seas from
December offering seven and 14-night Southern Caribbean itineraries from the island. Cozumel
has been lobbying but that seems a long shot.
So as news of small scale but steady openings are happening around the world for cruisers
to step back on ships is happening into summer, we wait fro movement in USA. The rate of vaccinations
will hopefully see more confident to move to at elast the test crusie stage.
AS we look at other big cruising nations, Australia it too has a minster engaged. The
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt there says government continues to work closely with
state and territory agencies, national health committees and the cruise industry to develop
a framework for the staged resumption of cruise ships in a manner that is proportionate to
the public health risk.
Ships are banned right now until middle of June and in reality the season is over as
they head into winter, so the real impact may not be until much later in the year.
Clearly we are starting to see pockets of domestic cruising opening, and more to come
I am sure.
If you found this helpful, I have pulled together a short playlist of three other tips for travellers
videos with some key information about cruising outlook and protocols for this year that I
think you will find relevant and interesting. So, why not click to watch those now