Today, as part of its new "voluntary compliance program," the United States Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) is posting the health/safety status of cruise ships from U.S. ports on its web site Dashboard. Most major cruise lines have opted in to the new program.
In fact, the CDC Dashboard now lists 110 ships as participating under that new voluntary compliance program. Ships of lines not opting in are marked as "grey" on the CDC's online status chart. That means that the CDC is not working with those cruise lines on health/safety compliance and cannot attest to the status of health/safety on board.
Earlier last week, the CDC lowered its Travel Health Notice advisory about cruising from a Level 4, the most severe/highest threat level to a Level 3 due to sustained lower COVID-19 cases onboard.
Brand Updates
Cruise Planners provided an update on its operations, and said that Alaska and Europe are selling well for cruises.
Carnival Cruise Line announced a new fleet deployment program, while Swan Hellenic floated out its second expedition ship. In building its newly expanded brand, American Queen Voyages issued its first Atlas for travel advisors and consumers.
On the sustainability side, MSC Group, parent of MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys, became the first major cruise company to join the Green Marine Europe Label.
Travel Agent also recently spoke with Kristin Karst, executive vice president and co-founder of AmaWaterways, to see what the latest was in terms of the line's plans for 2022, as well as what the top trends were among consumers. Travel advisors can expect a 36 percent capacity increase for AmaWaterways sailings compared with 2019, due to three new ships and two that were recently renovated hitting the waters.
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