NEWS UPDATE: Carnival cancels until April, will P&O follow? NZ talks for cruise resumption and more!

Join my private Facebook group for cruise deals, tips and advice - the more members we have, the better we’ll get! www.facebook.com/groups/CTGdeals Head to my website for great cruise and travel deals: www.thecruiseandtravelguy.com.au Follow me on Facebook and Instagram: www.facebook.comn/thecruiseandtravelguy www.instragram.com/thecruiseandtravelguy As we edge closer to Christmas, eager Australian cruisers are keeping a watchful eye on the calendar - not for December 25 but instead for December 17. The federal government’s ban on cruising is set to expire on that date, and so far there have been no announcements to the contrary. Based on past extensions, by now we would expect to have received the news that the ban had been prolonged. The fact that we haven’t gives us some hope that finally, at least on the federal level, the ban might come to an end. With only one week to go, let’s keep our fingers crossed. Assuming the ban is lifted, it will be up to the individual states and territories to manage the resumption of cruising within their jurisdictions. Despite the many public claims of government support however, the NSW state government is yet to make a formal announcement relating to the resumption of cruising. The state was reportedly leading the pack when it came to discussions with the cruise industry and key stakeholders, including meetings held only weeks ago with health officials - but as yet there have been no firm decisions made as a result of those meetings. All of this leads me to Carnival’s decision to extend their own pause in local operations. Yesterday morning, Carnival announced the cancellation of all departures onboard the Sydney based Splendor through to and including April 8th, and all those onboard the Brisbane based Spirit through to and including April 10th. With spades of uncertainty and not much else, cruise lines have no choice but to continue with their rolling suspensions, upsetting not only cruise lovers but everyone with a keen interest in the industry. Norwegian Cruise Line had been planning a number of local departures during the summer and into autumn, but these too are no longer available for booking on the NCL website though I have had trouble finding an official announcement cancelling these voyages. P&O Australia suspended its own departures into early March only a couple of weeks ago. They haven’t yet announced if they too will be extending their pause in local operations. Up until now, they have been following Carnival’s lead when it comes to extending their pause in local operations, so it remains to be seen if those March departures onboard P&O’s ships will also get the chop. Should the federal ban end next week as hoped, the fate of cruising will rest firmly with the states and territories but honestly, I’ll speak for myself and probably some of you too when I say that the whole thing is just fatiguing at this point. Cruise cancellation fatigue - is that a thing? It should be a thing, like seasonal affective disorder except instead of happy pills, we just need a cruise. I have seriously considered heading to Singapore early in the new year to jump onboard World Dream, but both the travel requirements and the fluid health environment makes the prospect a little daunting. With this new variant, Singapore now requires daily covid testing and paired with the requirement to have another covid test within 3 days of returning to Australia, it makes a short trip to Singapore untenable at this point. In CLIA’s recent member newsletter, Managing Director Joel Katz wrote that CLIA and the New Zealand Cruise Association are preparing for a round of meetings with New Zealand officials. The hope is that the government will include cruising in its four step pathway to reopening, with a heightened focus on the return of trans-tasman cruising. The issue being of course, that NZ appears to be following in Australia’s footsteps when it comes to their conservative reopening and when it comes to cruising, that’s no good thing. While all this is going on, Royal Caribbean have celebrated their one year anniversary of returning to service after the start of the pandemic - with Quantum of the Seas offering local cruises from Singapore since December 3, 2020. The ship remains in Singapore to this day, and despite competitor World Dream offering cruises for sale to Australians, as yet Royal Caribbean have not confirmed when those from down under will be able to join their Singaporean friends onboard. Thanks for watching, and see you soon!