Could cruise still be over 6  months away before returning?

That what one big Floridian port is saying.

Plus, will children be barred from  cruising when it first returns.

We have this and the cruise  news updated you need to know.

So stay tuned.

Well ahoy there cruisers.

Welcome to this week's cruise news roundup.

If you want to stay on top of what's  going on in the cruise industry.

Make sure you subscribe to our channel right now by hitting that subscribe button down below.

So first up that headline  news from Port Canaveral.

It says it believes it won’t see  cruise ship until at-least July.

It’s one of the largest passenger  cruise ports in the world.

Handling around 4.5 million cruise  passengers every single year.

They have said when it does start up, they expect  

it to be a real slow re-start and a very careful approach.

Port CEO Captain John Murray said;

“The cruise lines themselves have 

kicked everything down the  road for three months already,

or at least through March and April.

The reality given the pandemic right now, until those numbers start coming down,

we just don’t see that this industry 

is going to get any attention  that it needs to get restarted.”

He also said vaccinations would need to increase before he expects restart to happen.

And it’s not just cruise lines  that have bleeding money.

It's the ports themselves.

For example, Port Canaveral has lost a massive $43 million over the last year.

They are moving $17 million from its reserve funds to help balance the budget.

They have said they are going to be fine 

for least another year without  any passenger cruising.

Port Canaveral is home to ships  from Carnival Cruise Line, 

Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian.

MSC Cruises also plans to homeport its ship 

MSC Seaside at Port Canaveral  once the pandemic is over.

This Ben re-itterates what we have been saying In the past couple of months.

First of all its going to be a slow start when cruise does come back.

And secondly, that the  shut-down of the cruise industry 

affects more than just the  cruise ships themselves.

People on land in the ports for example. Huge knock on effects from the fact that cruise 

isn't running at the moment.

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Now back to the show.

Next up everything has came  to a standstill unfortunately.

Cruise lines are desperately trying to comply with the CDC’s Conditional Sailing Order.

The order which replaced the  No Sail Order last October 

requires new health and safety  protocols onboard ships.

It also requires cruise lines to hold test cruises and recertify each vessel individually.

So, as you can imagine this is a huge complex job.

The major cruise lines have said they are making progress with the requirements.

But things have came to a standstill with the CDC.

They are awaiting further direction on what to do next.

But with the pandemic hitting the USA so hard it isn’t a priority at the moment.

We are now casting doubts on our own prediction of cruise been up and running by July.

We wouldn’t be surprised it we don’t see a resumption of cruising this year at all

or even into fall 2021.

So one cruise analyst has predicted the same thing that we just said.

That cruise will not resume till at least Fall.

Patrick Sholes a prominent  cruise industry financial analyst 

has indicated we might be waiting a while yet.

In a recent note to investors he said; 

"an optimistic view is that cruises  likely won’t resume from U.S. ports

until the second half of this  year, and possibly not until 2022."

But he did offer some positive news, saying that bookings for future cruises

are now exceed cancellations.

This is the first time this  has happened since March 2020.

So it's good to see more  booking than cancellations.

He also commented on the  CDC Conditional Sail Order. 

Saying it was basically a No  Sail Order with a new name.

He also highlighted that the CDC’s new order was very hard to achieve, saying:

“The concern is that the CDC’s hurdles are so high

that it will make it extremely  difficult for the cruise lines 

to sail with paid customers.”

So as we have been saying all along.

The CDC has been making it  incredibly hard for cruise lines 

to sail and resume compared to  other forms of transportation.

Such as flights, land transportation,  land vacations, theme parks.

The Disney Resort in Florida  been open for example.

How come they are allowed to open?

But cruise lines are been  made to jump through these 

ridiculous hurdles.

As you said, from the expert there.

The new Conditional Sail Order  

is just a No Sail Order with different clothes on.

It's exactly the same thing.

Yeah, and since that came in we have not seen any progress really from any of the cruise lines.

Except Royal Caribbean who was the only one, we said last week

actively looking for volunteers.

Yeah, cruise line haven't  actually dissed the CDC yet.

But they have said they are waiting for technical protocols from them.

So they are waiting for the  CDC the get back to them.

So nothing is happening at the moment.

Now more on vaccines being required to cruise.

As you know a few weeks ago 

we brought you the news of  british cruise line Saga

requiring everybody to have  a vaccination to cruise.

We had a very mixed response, some people were very happy

others were super angry.

Especially those that can't have the vaccine due to allergies, blood and heart conditions.  

Now Norwegian cruise line has said 

they are looking into the  legalities into requiring a virus.

CEO Frank Del Rio said;

“It’s too early to tell whether we  have the legal standing to mandate 

that you take a vaccine to come onboard,

lawyers are looking at it as we speak.”

One problem with this is that NCLs passengers are much younger than Saga’s.

It could take months, even years until under 65s receive the vaccination.

Some countries will only be offering it to older and more vulnerable people.

This means they are cutting off a huge percentage of passengers who could travel with them.

NCL has also revealed it  will require all crew members 

to be vaccinated against before  resuming work on its ships.

Which is fantastic news.

In contrast to this, Saga isn’t  going to require this for crew.

Putting them in more danger  of contracting the virus.

And here, in the UK, it's the government  plan to vaccinate all over 18s 

by fall this year.

So this brings up the question. What about children?

The vaccination will not be given to under 18s because not approved to be done so.

So does this mean children under 18 will not be allowed to cruise when it resumes?

As they will be unable to have the vaccine?

We can certainly see it being a possibility, when cruising first resumes.

Saga has already said that if you can’t have the vaccine  

due to health conditions

you will still be refused  travel - kids could be the same.

We are still not happy about this, we still think this is disability discrimination.

Children and teens are far less likely than adults to become seriously ill with the virus.

But they are just as capable  of carrying and spreading it.

For cruise lines such as Norwegian,  Carnival, Disney and Royal caribbean 

who carry lots of families and kids.

This could be a massive issue and cut off huge portions of their audience.

As soon as we hear more we will let you know so hit that subscribe.

And talking about Norwegian Cruise Line in some bad news

all Norwegian Cruise Line non-essential crew will be repatriated home by April 2021.

Norwegian Cruise Line brought  thousands of crew members 

back to it’s cruise ships in  November and December of last year.

To prepare the cruise ships for a possible restart in compliance with the CDC Conditional Sail Order.

Over 1000 crew members boarded  Norwegian Escape in Mumbai, India 

and over 1200 crew joined the  Norwegian Joy in Manila, Philippines.

But with the continued push  back on a resumption of cruise 

they have decided to send all  non essential crew back home.

This was a very difficult decision for Norwegian.

And they have said that they are going to prioritise those crew

who they have sent home to get back on the ships once it does start sailing.

But they think that the  crew are going to be happier 

at home with their families.

So now the two ships will now make their way back to where crew boarded to offload the crew.

The Norwegian Encore for example is in SOuthampton at the moment.

So it going to make its way all  the way back to Mumbai, India 

to return those crew home.

Sad news, but again showing  we are no closer to a restart.

Guys this hurts our heart so much.

And in other news.

As we predicted a few weeks ago, Sycamore Partners the company who bought Azamara

have purchased Pacific  Princess from Princess Cruises.

High five ben on getting that prediction right. Yay!  

The private equity firm bought boutique line Azamara

from Royal Caribbean Group last week in a surprise move.

She will be added to the fleet  of their existing three ships 

after a big renovation.

Can't wait to see what she looks like or what she is going to be called.

So, all of the Azamara ships; Journey, Pursuit... have something to do with movement.

Let us know your guesses of what the ship is going to be called in the comments section below.

And finally in Europe.

Costa Cruises has decided to postpone the restart of its ships to March 13, 2021.

This is following an evaluation of the measures in the Italian government’s decree

currently enforced in Italy regarding travel.

So basically, the cruise line didn’t feel that with the current restrictions in place  

by the government.

That would allow its customers  have a good time on its cruises.

Especially on land with all of the new restrictions.  

They said; “We support the collective effort that Italy

is making to deal with the health emergency and looks forward to mid-March for its return

offering its guests a relaxing and  enjoyable vacation experience.”

So even in Europe where cruise lines have been getting up and running, there is still push back.

Guys it still seems like we are far off from any 

sort of cruising in the USA  and a restart around the world.

Thanks for sticking with us  we are going to bring you 

all the latest news every single week.

Unfortunately, a bit of a  down beat show this week.

Things feel like they have taken a step back.

So that it until next time.

Thank you so much for watching.

Please make sure you hit that subscribe button.

It really helps support the channel and we have got so much fab content on the way.

Especially when we finally get to cruise!

So yes, subscribe please thank you.

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Cruise captain of the week is Tracy, So Ahoy!

That's it until next time, Happy Cruising.