NEWS UPDATE: Carnival Splendor to Alaska & new voyage home to Aus! NSW Gov working on cruising plan.

Watch my Royal Caribbean Loyalty Program video here: https://youtu.be/NKC37Ebje9A 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 Follow me on Facebook and Instagram: www.facebook.comn/thecruiseandtravelguy www.instragram.com/thecruiseandtravelguy Head to my website for great cruise and travel deals: www.thecruiseandtravelguy.com.au This week, cruise line representatives met with the NSW state government to officially mark the beginning of the eventual return of cruise ships to local waters. The meeting is one more positive step for an industry that contributes over $5b to the national economy every year. Last week, the eastern Australian States agreed to engage with cruise lines to nail down the requirements and protocols that will see the industry return to service this year. A Royal Caribbean spokesperson told Cruise Passenger: “We have every confidence ahead of 2022’s wave season with our first sailing from Sydney in October and Brisbane in November. We have missed out on two years of sailings in Australia, however we have every confidence that the no sail order will be lifted well ahead of our return to Australia in October.” According to an article published in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, a Health Department spokeswoman said that the removal of the commonwealth level ban was just “one step” in the broader scope of bringing the cruise industry back to life. Shoring up state and territory health systems so they have the capacity to respond to outbreak events is another, as well as making sure that appropriate health mitigations are implemented. My hope is, now that an offical dialogue has commenced, government and health bodies can finally acknowledge the immense work that cruise lines have put in to practice overseas to make sure that the shipboard life is, if anything, safer than what you’d experience on land. The next few months will be pivotal for the return of our cruise industry and I look forward to bringing you more updates about this progress in the coming weeks. This week, Carnival cruises confirmed that Splendor will be completing an Alaskan cruise season. The line had announced that Splendor would be joining her Aussie sister, Spirit, in the US but until now we weren’t sure exactly where she was going. Splendor will sail roundtrip from Seattle, carrying her guests to the spectacular sights of Alaska in comfort and unusual style… zoom in on zebra donuts… The redeployment of Spirit and Splendor to the US and the restart of the Alaska summer cruise season will mean that for the first time in over 2 years, Carnival’s entire fleet will once again be operational. Carnival Australia have also confirmed that keen travellers can look forward to Splendor’s return voyage to Australia. The epic journey will most likely be a transpacific itinerary, as this is the route most usually taken when repositioning a ship from the North American west coast to Australia. Though not yet on sale, agents have been told that more news about this lengthy sojourn will be forthcoming in a matter of weeks. Splendor’s first scheduled cruise from her home in Sydney is October 5th, so I would imagine that any return voyage would likely depart Seattle no later than early to mid September. Meanwhile, as we know, Carnival Spirit is not set to return to Brisbane until 2023, however the indication from Carnival’s local office is that Australia will still see 2 ships based locally. That should mean that Brisbane will have another of Carnival’s ships call the river-city home until Spirit returns. There has been some unverified chatter that Costa Magica may be transferred to Carnival Australia. I can’t confirm the veracity of the claims, but it wouldn’t be the first time Carnival Corporation has moved ships between its brands - hello entire P&O Australia fleet. Magica is larger and slightly younger than Spirit, and would give Carnival more capacity in the local market. We’ll put a peg in that one but it will be interesting to see if it comes true. In the US, the CDC has lowered its health risk rating for cruising to level 3, which means it is no longer advising travellers to avoid cruise ships. The change comes on the eve of revised onboard health protocols such as NCL’s move to eliminate its onboard mask mandate from March 1. Royal Caribbean is gifting cruise-starved Australians with additional loyalty points in its Crown and Anchor program. The double points offer extends for all bookings made before 31 March 2022 and sailed by April 30th 2023. Thanks for watching!