When Will We Cruise Again?

When will we cruise again?

This is currently our most asked question.

And before I attempt an answer, I’m always quick to let our clients and readers know that my crystal ball broke many years ago.

Nonetheless, here are my current thoughts on the issue:

• As we talk to our clients each day, many report that they have received their Covid-19 vaccinations.  Further, the folks in the UK are well along with their vaccinations.  It seems that folks in Europe are a few months behind the U.S. and the UK, but I suspect that they will also be reporting large swaths of their populations have been vaccinated in the next few months. This bodes well for a restart of ocean and river cruising.
• As we reported a few months back, Canada has closed its cruise ports through January of 2022.  This caused a great deal of dismay for the cruise industry as this effectively shut down Alaska cruises and the popular New England Fall Cruises for 2021. The U.S. and Canada are working together on a possible solution.  Some speculate that this was in retaliation for our current administration’s immediate shutdown of the gas pipeline. While I don’t know about all of that, I further suspect that this will change as both countries get further into vaccinations.  After all, Canada’s cruise port cities make a lot of money from American cruise line passengers.
• U.S.-flagged cruise lines American Queen and American Cruise Lines have started sailing in U.S. waters this week. If all goes well, we expect a big influx of new bookings for these “close to home” cruises.
• Viking announced yesterday that they were putting one of their ships in the water to sail in European waters.  This sailing is strictly for UK residents.  The cruises sold out in a day. All eyes will be on Viking to see how this goes.
• Many of the European cruise brands are currently sailing in the Mediterranean.  Again, another good test to possibly reveal the safety of cruising post-Covid.
• A number of the large-ship cruise brands have recently suspended sailing through the end of June 2021.  They have very high hopes for a restart in July.
• Genting, an Asian-focused cruise line, recently announced their 100,000th cruise passenger post-Covid.  Again, providing further evidence that cruising is again starting in various parts of the world.
• For reasons unknown to the cruise community, the CDC has been very slow to provide guidelines for a restart of cruising from American ports.  I was reading a JP Morgan report yesterday, and they believe that we will get some guidance from the CDC on this issue very soon. This will be a big shot in the arm for the cruise industry.  Pun intended. 🙂
• We are beginning to see country after country announce that they will begin to accept international travelers who can demonstrate that they have received a Covid-19 vaccination. This is fabulous news.

All of the foreign-flagged cruise lines have suspended all cruises through the end of May.  And as I mentioned above, a few have suspended their cruises through the end of June.

So, when might we begin sailing again? I believe there is significant momentum afoot that might allow cruise lines to begin sailing this summer.

As I started at the beginning of this article, my crystal ball broke a long time ago.  Nonetheless, we’re finding tremendous industry optimism to support our theory.

Fingers and toes crossed! 🙂

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