…es and Silversea, and are joint ventures in Mein Schiff and Hapag Lloyd in Europe, are burning through $270 million every month. Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which has 28 ships in their fleets across Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas are burning through $175 million every month. The amount of cash these groups are burning is mind boggling. That is way over $12 billion so far in the shutdown. However, the good news…
…ign that ocean cruising will be resuming in the United States, UK, most of Europe and Australia anytime soon. So, what is going on and why? Virtually all of the large popular cruise lines have in recently pushed their hoped for start up dates at least into April (for lines like Carnival Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Cruises) or increasingly May (such as Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Cunard, Holland America, Virgin Voyages and Princess)…
…widespread in cruising. We are already seeing many cruise countries in the Europe like Greece, Spain and Cyprus pushing for all of EU to adopt this rule to allow people in without quarantine and limits on exploring. Linked to that, irrespective of what happens on vaccines, Covid testing is a key part of the return-to-cruise protocols, and looks to be for a while. Positive Test You will be banned if you test positive before boarding, of course. You…
…around the no sail in reigns like the United States and many countries in Europe Updated 27 April with new Azamara sailings UK Domestic “Staycation” Cruises Only available for UK residents. All require vaccines unless noted Celebrity Cruises Silhouette (under 18s allowed with PCR test) Cunard Queen Elizabeth Disney Magic (Final dates and vaccines TBC) Fred Olsen Borealis and Bollette (Vaccines TBC) Hurtigruten (Vaccines TBC) Marella Cruises Marel…
…And this is French Polynesia. It took me over 24 hours flying to get from Europe to Tahiti, and it takes a good eight hours from Los Angeles. French Polynesia is eye-opening on so many levels. First of all, the beautiful scenery and beaches on all the islands is breath-taking (literally). Second, I found the people to be so kind, gentle and welcoming and thirdly, observing and immersing myself into the unique culture, cuisine and distinctive musi…
…-West Coast Repositioning. He hardly ever cruises in areas like Alaska and Europe because they are much more expensive. The fifth decision is how low can you keep your outgoings going out? There is no escaping taxes, port fees and gratuities. However, Mario hardly ever leaves the ship in ports and almost never pays for excursions. He doesn’t do specially dining, go to the casino or buy drinks packages, but he does have WIFI. How much will doing it…
…on my recent Oceania Panama Canal cruise there was a storm passing through Europe and my flight was cancelled with just 10 hours to go before take off. As I had planned to get there early, there was enough time to find new flights and routings that would still get me there the day before embarkation. Check-in Second, and this is even more important post shutdown, is I book as early a time to check in as possible. Before the whole Covid shutdown, m…
…ships in the UK and do incredible Round UK, Norwegian Fjords, and Northern Europe sailings. Ships based in Australia do phenomenal cruises around Australia and New Zealand. They also base ships on the US West Coast and do Hawaii and West Coast deep dives. The other close competitors visit many of these but with limited sailings by comparison. Getting Right #3: Multi-Generational? The next thing that I think Princess are doing well is, although I’v…
…these days for most ships that is Ravenna or Trieste). It’s more common in Europe and Asia but does apply in Alaska where, as I discovered on my recent cruise, while the itineraries say Anchorage, the actual ports of Whittier and Seward are around 60 miles away. #7 Cruise Insiders – Too Late Another key mistake that they see us making is not booking everything we hope to do on the cruise in advance and waiting until on board. Things like excursion…
…e are many well-known European river cruise lines there like Viking, CroisiEurope, and AmaWaterways. And watch out because like all river cruises at certain times of the year it suffers from water level disruptions. #8 Danube River Cruise I’ve done various European River Cruises and the Danube is the one to do. I love experiencing a range of countries, history, and cultures. A classic Danube cruise includes Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary….
…real Captain Masden says he has been contacted by thousands of women from Europe, Japan, China, and Australia, who have been scammed. He even put a warning on his Facebook page pointing out that he’s gay and married to a man. But Captains do seem to be a blind spot for cruise lovers, as in the UK a man called Jody Oliver pretended to be a Captain on Carnival Corporation’s P&O Cruises. He managed scam over £320,000 (about $400,000) from friends an…
