Germany goes back to Sea! Cruising Restarts in Europe.

Cruising is back! Cruising has resumed with several cruise ships now offering cruises in 2020! Travellers can now take a river cruise, small ship cruise or even a big ship cruise! 🎥 This video looks at the 2020 resumption of cruising during the COVID-19 pandemic including cruises aboard Hurtigruten, Mein Schiff 2, A’Rosa, Dream Cruises & AIDAperla! While the 2020 cruise pause was a voluntary move, it was also a wise move. The COVID-19 pandemic had already led to outbreaks aboard cruise ships which were causing the industry huge repetitional damage. These included Diamond Princess, Ruby Princess and Artania. The cruising pause reduced the risk to public health and the reputation of cruise lines. But months later, its becoming clear that at some point in the future, cruise lines will run out of the cash reserves needed to keep over 300 cruise ships laid up around the world. So can cruising restart before there is an effective vaccine? Well the answer is, it already has - but in a very limited capacity. German River Cruise Line Nicko Cruises recommenced sailings in June 2020. The 135m long NikoVision was the first of their ships to weigh anchor. A’Rosa Cruises has also restarted cruising. Another German based cruise line, A’Rosa was originally established by P&O Cruises in the early 2000s. A’Rosa’s resumption of cruising was on cruises that sailed the Douro River & Rhine River. A’Rosa Cruises implemented social distancing requirements, and sailed with a reduced capacity on board. River Cruising in France has also recommenced, with Croisi-Europe starting river cruises on the River Seine from mid-July 2020. Small ship ocean cruising has resumed with cruise line Hurtigruten. The Norwegian cruise line was the first ocean cruising line to put their cruise ships back to work. These cruises depart Germany and sail north for a two-week cruise along the Norwegian coast. However, unlike ocean cruises of the past, cruising during COVID-19 means a return trip with no port calls. This is done due to the strict international border restrictions that are in place worldwide. German brand HAPAG-Lloyd has recommenced cruising with Europa 2 setting sail on 31 July. These cruises are open to residents of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and follow the same health and safety guidelines as noted above. Cruises will offer guests a deck chair view of the Norwegian and Scandinavian coasts, and will later be expanded to include a second cruise ship - Hanseatic Inspiration. Two cruise lines are spearheading the return to large ship cruising, in two distinct geographical areas – TUI and Dream Cruises. In Europe, German operator TUI Cruises has recommenced cruising with Mein Schiff 2. A large ship of over 300m in length, the cruise ship commenced cruises with 1,200 guests aboard. On the other side of the world, in the waters around Taiwan, Dream Cruises has resumed cruising from Keelung port with the 75,000 ton Explorer Dream. The final cruise line I wanted to mention was AIDACruises. Based in Germany, the line is owned by Carnival Corporation and plans to recommence cruising in August. The line expects to restart cruises with its 125,000 gross ton cruise ship AIDAPerla on 5 August 2020. A large ship AIDAperla will implement various procedures to keep those aboard safe during the cruise. They also plan to send AIDAblu and AIDAmar cruising in 2020. BUT: For the vast majority of cruise lines, resumption of cruising is a long way off! So - Would you cruise? Let me know below! Images: All images are Chris Frame / Rachelle Cross unless credited. All other images attributed in video – licenses are as follows: 1: Carnival Fantasy - Matt65 - Public Domain - https://bit.ly/30eMTRV 2: Nicko Cruises - GT1976 - CC BY SA 4.0 https://bit.ly/3jXnTqc 3: Wikimedia Commons/Karl Gruber / CC BY-SA-4.0 https://bit.ly/39Ha8Hq 4: A'Rosa Brava - Rolf Heinrich, Köln - CC BY SA 3.0 https://bit.ly/3jW55HR 5: Hurtigruten Ship - Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) - CC BY SA 4.0 https://bit.ly/39IseIZ 6: Hurtigruten Ship - JoachimKohler-HB - CC BY SA 4.0 https://bit.ly/2CY1KHM 7: Europa 2 - Dr. Karl-Heinz Hochhaus - CC BY SA 3.0 https://bit.ly/2ED1Gh1 8: Mein Schiff 2 - HenSti - CC BY SA 4.0 https://bit.ly/3gfCcEr 9: Explorer Dream - Victor Rull - CC BY SA 4.0 https://bit.ly/30fTzzq 10: Superstar Virgo - Hajotthu - CC BY SA 3.0 https://bit.l y/3fdj4FK 11: AIDAblu - Martin Falbisoner - CC BY SA 4.0 https://bit.ly/2BLu5Ar Music: You Tube Audio. Cruise Lines Links: Hurtigruten: https://www.hurtigruten.com Aida: https://www.aida.de A’Rosa: https://www.arosa-cruises.com Nicko Cruises: https://www.nicko-cruises.de Dream Cruises: https://www.dreamcruiseline.com TUI: https://www.tuicruises.com #cruisenews #cruiseline #cruiseship