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USA CRUISE UPDATE: USA Cruising Restart Now Seen In A Totally New Light. Why?
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Feb 18, 2025
In this latest cruise news update, I dive into a USA Cruise Update looking at why the restart of cruising is being looked at in a totally different way, despite what the CDC said recently about the Framework For Conditional Sailing about how cruising can resume in the USA - and what impact it has on when cruises can start in the USA. ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 77 cruises I have done to date. BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA ——————————————— TikTok: @garybembridge
View Video Transcript
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is the path to cruising starting up in
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the united states about to get
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much simpler and much much faster and
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have the test cruises already being done
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cruise industry leaders say yes to both
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of these
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so let's find out what is going on as i
0:15
explore the four factors that are coming
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together
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to drive this new optimism for cruising
0:20
out of the united states
0:21
in this latest cruise update and
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importantly of course what it means for
0:24
you as a cruiser
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by the way if you're new to my channel
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welcome aboard i'm gary bembridge and
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i'm here
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to help you make it easier to find plan
0:32
and have those amazing cruise vacations
0:35
that you're dreaming of so with that in
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mind let's
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get going with the u.s making fast
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vaccine progress
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not far behind the uk and with the
0:43
administration having the goal
0:45
of every adult offered a vaccine by july
0:48
what
0:48
impact is this expected to have on
0:50
cruising
0:51
opening timing now there is of course
0:53
some us cruising
0:55
already started linked to this progress
0:57
on vaccines so in the united states
0:59
lines not covered by the cdc rules which
1:02
only cover ships carrying over 250
1:04
people
1:05
they are actually starting up they have
1:07
all cited vaccine progress
1:08
as making this possible so uncrews will
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be sailing in alaska for vaccinated
1:14
adults
1:14
american steamboat cruise line they've
1:16
resumed already and they're going to be
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requiring vaccines from july
1:20
as will their sister victory cruise line
1:23
so we see increasing already starting
1:24
based on the rollout but emboldened by
1:26
roll-up progress
1:27
royal caribbean celebrity and crystal
1:30
have opened cruising or will be opening
1:32
cruising out of the caribbean from nasa
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and san martin
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for vaccinated u.s adults and for royal
1:37
caribbean and celebrity
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also for negative testing under 18s as
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well now norwegian cruise line
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they might be about to follow because
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they've just cancelled
1:46
their existing itineraries for norwegian
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encore norwegian joy
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and norwegian jade until the end of
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october
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freeing them up for what they call new
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deployments so something may be
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happening there too
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however while this is a welcome
2:00
development it's pretty small scale and
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niche
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it's almost a distraction from the main
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goal of cruising starting up
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out of the united states so currently
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the restart of cruising in the united
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states is based on the cdc that's the
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centers
2:12
for disease control and prevention
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framework for conditional setting that
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was issued
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you know some five months ago and it's
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as we all know
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stalled because they haven't issued the
2:24
technical specifications to run
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test simulated cruises which are
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designed to try out
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and stress test the new embarkation
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crews and disembarkation processes now
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pressed in a recent senate committee
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appearance the cdc director rochelle
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walensky she said she's unable to give a
2:42
timeline
2:42
for those details to be issued asked if
2:45
it would be a month three months
2:46
any time this year she refused to be
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drawn people were dismayed
2:50
just days later when the cdc issued a
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pretty stock statement saying that the
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framework
2:55
would stay in place this was in response
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to a request by clear to
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open cruising as soon as july however
3:02
things may not be as bad as they seem
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cruise line leaders believe that there
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is going to be
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a change in approach for cruising
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resumption in the united states
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and they think it's coming soon richard
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feyn he runs the royal caribbean group
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he said in one of his
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very recent video updates i'm going to
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quote what he said
3:19
the pace of science has simply overcome
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that process and he's referring there of
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course to the framework stages
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and the different requirements why well
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first of all there is a huge amount of
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data on how the protocols and processes
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work in real life already available
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which may make the need for test cruises
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less essential richard fame points out
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that test cruises have effectively
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taken place around the world over 350
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000 people
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have now cruised since the start of a
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pandemic for all caribbean
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there have been over 150 000 passengers
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there have only been
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10 positive cases identified on these
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cruises
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they were early and quickly identified
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due to their protocols
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through the testing ongoing temperature
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checks and
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so on but importantly the contact
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tracing which is another part of the
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protocols they quickly identified
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close contacts of those people they were
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able to screen them and they were able
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to
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find a way to keep going without having
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huge disruption
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for the rest of the crews they then had
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partnerships with local authorities
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contracted online medical and quarantine
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arrangements to get people home
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so this meant that this was all done in
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a way that did not
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cause a drain on local resources so very
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important
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these have effectively been test
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cruisers so richard thane
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in his video said i'm going to quote in
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essence we've just had a hundred
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thousand test cruises
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and demonstrated that the process works
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it is the most powerful
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and reliable evidence in multiple real
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world
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settings but secondly even more
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importantly richard feyne as
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other cruise leaders have done and
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pointed out that the cdc framework for
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conditional setting was actually created
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in a very different time before the much
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more accurate
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easy access to testing was available and
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of course before
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vaccines now he argues that this renders
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much of the framework
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completely out of date and he believes
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that if you look at what the cdc is
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already doing
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which is they're starting to issue new
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advice based on vaccines for people in
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the united states
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that he thinks rethink is imminent on
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travel and cruising
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he says i'm going to quote the
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conditional seller order was a very
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positive step
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at the time but that time has passed we
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don't know what the cdc is contemplating
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to address this very different set of
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circumstances
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but just as they and other public health
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officials are doing elsewhere
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we expect they will adjust to the
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changes that have
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been and are taking place thirdly
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despite this there is no suggestion or
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thinking that the cdc
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nor the lions will drop the protocols
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proposed as cruising reopens anyway
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they will just add vaccines to make it
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even safer
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and less risky now the lions plan to
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keep them
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to retain that proven model that was
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used to date
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right around the world so around the
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world cruising still has and will have
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when it opens for example in the uk
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reduced capacity testing before boarding
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social distancing measures
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masks when distancing is not possible
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especially inside
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no self-service dining cruise line only
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excursions to maintain the bubble
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and so on they are all going to stay so
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even as cruising returns in the united
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states
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it will not be cruising back to how it
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was that may of course come later it is
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really really important
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that travelers understand this fourthly
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the lines have pretty much
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in the u.s conceded that certainly as a
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resume that passengers
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and crew will have to be vaccinated all
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cruisers
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launched have incorporated this even
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before the cdc
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has actually expressed publicly a view
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on its role
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for travel ask if he thought the cdc was
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going to require vaccines
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to approve u.s cruising to reopen
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richard feyne henson he felt it was very
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likely he said
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again a quote we have announced three
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cruises that will
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require vaccinations for all adults
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and there are likely to be more vaccines
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set the stage for whatever we do
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and all our efforts are to make our
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cruises safer today
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a vaccine approach makes much more sense
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however this will all still take time
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lions are increasingly hopeful that they
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will be able to sail
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some limited sailings this summer though
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all of them
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including arnold donald of the carnival
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group the leadership of norwegian group
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and richard feyn they keep saying and
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reminding everybody that it takes
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months to reactivate a ship so they're
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not talking about restarting in the u.s
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right away and really quickly but
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they're hoping the cdc will shift
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in really really really soon so they can
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plan now for summer sailings on a few
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ships
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and they are using the us president's
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july timeline
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for a target to return to some kind of
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normality
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as a rallying cry and timeline too and
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richard feyn said quote we can be
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sailing in time to meet president
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biden's goal of reopening society
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in time for the 4th of july clear the
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cruise line association they've taken up
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the call
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for cruising to be allowed by july in
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the united states
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now in their statement calling for this
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they also referred
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to all that real life proof from around
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the world
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and they argued very strongly that the
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vaccine rollout
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should be triggering cruising reopening
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this is what they said i'm going to
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quote what they said the outdated
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framework for conditional sailing
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which was issued almost five months ago
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does not reflect the industry's
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proven advancements and their success in
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operating
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in other parts of the world nor the
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advent of vaccines and
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unfairly treats cruises differently
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so much has changed since october when
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the framework for conditional selling
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was put in place
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and it's really clear that vaccines are
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now the game changer for cruising around
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the world
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and the plans will have to factor this
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into them if they're going to work to
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ignore it would be
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kind of strange and illogical especially
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when the us president has been
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so public about his goal to use vaccines
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to get the u.s population
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back to doing the things they miss and
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want to do heading into summer
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by and from the 4th of july now we've
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seen israel and the uk
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they have made moves taking account of
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the vaccine progress
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and i really believe as those industry
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leaders do
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that it's right to expect the us is
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going to be doing the same
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sometimes soon it's really important of
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course to understand that the protocols
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that will be faced by this cruises when
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it returns
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be it israel the uk the new royal
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caribbean the crystal the celebrity
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cruises homeport in the caribbean
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and eventually the us will have all
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these protocols
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that we have come to read so much about
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so it's really important that you
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understand the protocols
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that are going to be in place when
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cruising returns to help you understand
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those i've put together a short playlist
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of two videos
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that is you can click on right here
9:53
right now and find out more about those
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protocols so why don't you do that
9:57
right now
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