Category: The Cruise Examiner

by Kevin Griffin

After last week’s demise of Cruise & Maritime Voyages in the mid-size sector, this week’s news is exclusively from the small ship sector. The biggest news is the return of Swan Hellenic Cruises using two ships presently under construction in Helsinki for delivery to Vodohod in 2021 and 2022. Elsewhere, Norway’s Hurtigruten have announced four ex-UK cruises they intend to operate this September as the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic hopefully recede. And France’s Ponant, at the beginning of its own post-Covid 19 recovery is now up to operating eight ships. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

While several older, less efficient cruise ships have gone for disposal recently and it is to be surmised that newer more cost-efficient ships wiill be replacing them. Last year, 30 million cruisers took to the seas. With the latest Covid pandemic having wrecked this year’s cruise market, how many intending travellers will actually end up saililng in 2020? With full seasons cancelled in many cases – Alaska, the Great Lakes, Canada and New England and elsewhere – will cruise travel fall by more than half? And how quickly will it pick up again? And we take a quick China check with Royal Caribbean. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

The UK affirms a “vague” piece of advice advising all its citizens against taking cruises. Meanwhile, Pullmantur Cruises may on the ropes and ugly words and attitudes circulate in the once calm, waters of the cruise world. Is cruising becoming a victim of politics? (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

While Hurtigruten was the first operator to begin regular cruises again following the latest Covid-19 pandemic, more news from the same operators says that they will begin cruising from the UK in March 2021, with a series of new itineraries from Dover. Elsewhere in Europe, Celestyal Cruises is cancelling all Greek Island cruises until 2021. And the European Union has released a 49-page guide to suggestions for healthy cruising in Europe. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

While Hurtigruten and SeaDream cast off for the Norwegian Fjords and the North Cape, to restart cruising after the world economy was hit so hard by the Coronavirus Pandemic, the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency a week ago announced that it was detaining five of six ships operated by Cruise & Maritime Voyages. And this week guest reviewer Jennifer Holland PhD, reviews Christopher Wright’s new book Of Penguins and Polar Bars. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

The MSC Seaside, which had been dedicated to the Miami cruise trade, is about to be sent back to Europe, where she will cruise from Genoa. The smaller MSC Armonia will now replace the Seaside in Miami. And MSC will enter the port Canaveral trade. Meanwhile, new expedition and Mississippi ships are planned to join Viking’s fleet of ocean and river cruise ship over the next few years. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Actions by Canada have now effectively cancelled the 2020 Alaska and Canada and New England cruise seasons by banning cruise ships from operating into Canadian ports until November 1, 2020. An earlier ban had already been enforced in March, which was now simply being extended. Prohibited vessels are defined as having overnight accommodation for more than 100 persons. The order came from Transport Minister Marc Garneau. The reason given by Transport Canada is to close a potential line of infection and protect its population from Covid-19. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

This week sees The Cruise Examiner’s guest editor Jennifer Holland deliver the conclusion of her four-part series concentrating on the perceptions of risk in the cruise industry. Elsewhere in these days of non-stop Covid-19, bad news returns with the announced withdrawal until the end of the year of Atlantic Container Line’s weekly North Atlantic cargo-passenger service. Once or twice a year we do a cargo-passenger update so this week we will also advise of better news elsewhere. And that is that the NSB container ship Conti Annapurna now offers a way to travel from Asia to the USA on an ESTA Electronic System for Travel Authorization, whereas previous carriers had required a full US B1/B2 Visa. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

This week sees The Cruise Examiner’s guest editor Jennifer Holland deliver her third article in a four-part series concentrating on the perceptions of risk in the cruise industry. Elsewhere in these days of non-stop Covid-19 bad news in an industry that has been devastated we are pleased to have some good news. Ocean Residences has set in course a program to build an 85,000-ton residential yacht to be called the Njord. And this weekend, Brodosplit launched Quark Expeditions’ new 200-berth Ultramarine in Croatia. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

This week sees The Cruise Examiner’s guest editor, Dr Jennifer Holland deliver the second of her four-part series concentrating on the perceptions of risk in the cruise industry. Elsewhere we look at how the combination of Covid-19 and the CDC have affected the repatriation of thousands of cruise ship workers to their homelands. Finally, Congress is preparing to throw the Christians to the lions in Washington. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

This week sees The Cruise Examiner introduce a guest editor, Dr Jennifer Holland, who over four weeks will deliver a four-part series concentrating on the perceptions of risk in the cruise industry. Elsewhere we look at how Covid-19 has affected two Great Lakes operators, causing the withdrawal of two ships with a total of 432 berths from that market this year. And we catch up with the latest news from One Ocean Expeditions. For them, after the edicts of Public Heath Canada and Transport Canada, there would have been no Canadian Arctic season this year anyway (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

With Cunard Line, Hurtigruten and Windstar all cancelling their Alaska cruise seasons this year and industry leaders Holland America and Princess cutting back substantially, Canada’s inside Passage and Alaska’s fjords will be seeing much less traffic this summer than last. Cunard’s 2,101-berth Queen Elizabeth, now in the UK, is a long way from Alaska and after an appearance in 2019 will be absent for the whole of 2020. Similarly, Hurtigruten’s 530-berth Roald Amundsen has cancelled her planned Alaska season as well, in her case because she will not be able to perform her planned transit of the Northwest Passage in 2020. And Windstar’s 320-berth Star Breeze will be delayed from her refit in Italy. Disney’s 1,750-berth Disney Wonder, however, will likely offer a truncated Alaska season from Vancouver. This week, we have a new book for you and next week the start of a 4-week series from guest editor Dr Jennifer Holland that we are sure you will find of interest. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

The 386-berth Viking Mississippi and intended sister ships start service in 2022 and reservations have now opened. Elsewhere we look at how cruise lines are using their own ships to repatriate cruise ship crews to their home countries until they are needed again. And we observe the passing of Capt Petr Golikov, well-known for many years as the master of the Kapitan Khlebnikov, who passed in Toronto last week. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

For the past three weeks, cruise ship news has been overwhelmed by the Corona-virus. This week, it gets worse with the CDC starting to interfere with how cruise ships should organise themselves. And while we note what is occurring with the present virus, we look back to another life-threatening disease from almost two centuries ago, that of cholera. And a replace of an Irish trader of the period. And we look at another ship, the St Louis, that was refused docking in US ports, a position in which several cruise ships have unwantingly fiound themselves. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week, Holland America’s Zaandam and Rotterdam arrived at Port Everglades. Last week we looked at a third Princess ship affected by corona-virus as Ruby Princess arrived and was laid up at Sydney. This week it is the turn of the Coral Princess arriving at Miami from South America. Meanwhile US authorities have issued new regulations concerning domestic fights in the US. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

This week we look at a third Princess ship affected by corona-virus (why is it only Princess as a brand that seems to have this draw?), as Ruby Princess is laid up at Sydney. The Canadian Arctic meanwhile will see no cruises this year unless one of the professional expedition companies manages to negotiate its way in. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

In a period of just three weeks, the Coronavirus C-19 has hit the world hard. Cruise ships taken out of service for 30, sometimes 60 days, ports refusing entry to cruise ships where there is any hint of fever on board, whole countries such as India and Canada banning cruise ships to protect their own populations, whole fleets of aircraft grounded, huge hospital ships deploying to New York and Los Angeles. Kevin Griffin has been writing the weekly “Cruise Examiner” column since 2008. He also owns The Cruise People in London, and is now called away to save his business and its jobs. Lots of things are happening to tight deadlines this week. So because of the various items delineated in his briefing below, there will be no “Cruise Examiner” this week. But we plan to return next week. (more…)