While this past week had a number of canceled cruises and missed port calls attributable to the continuing challenges of COVID-19, it's been a positive week, too, on many fronts. Here's a look at some of those steps for cruise industry recovery.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) citing the past performance by cruise lines in implementing strict health/safety protocols, let its Conditional Sail Order expire on January 15. The CDC has transitioned to a voluntary Risk Mitigation program for foreign-flagged cruise ships that operate in U.S. waters.
Exciting news emerged Tuesday from American Cruise Lines (ACL), which announced details of "Project Blue," an innovative “new build” effort. The company will construct 12 new identical sister hybrid catamarans that will more than double the nation’s current capacity for U.S. domestic coastal cruises.
In a similar vein, American river lines are now seeing soaring interest from consumers seeking to avoid international travel in the Omicron era. ACL, American Queen Voyages and Viking River Cruises are all seeing strong demand for North American voyages, as are agencies. Cruise Planners reports an 84 percent increase in American river cruise sales for 2022, versus 2019.
Carnival Cruise Line “restarted” cruise operations from Charleston, SC. The line has a 12-year history in that home port and Carnival Sunshine is now back operating cruises year-round. .
The world's ocean cruise fleet continues to expand, as well. Viking, according to our sister publication Luxury Travel Advisor, announced the float-out of its newest ocean ship, Viking Neptune. The 930-passenger ship is set to officially debut in November 2022.
Also on the new build front, Scenic tapped De Wave Group as a major contractor for the outfitting of Scenic Luxury Cruises’ newest Discovery Yacht, Scenic Eclipse II, currently under construction in Croatia. The group will be creating the 114 "six-star" guest suites, guest suite wet rooms, guest suite area corridors; dining venues and behind-the-scenes spaces, too.
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