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| PHOTO: THE BOSTON GLOBE |
The new CDC rules led to cruises of more than 7 days disappearing from the websites directed to that market. And they might not come back for the whole of next year …
The ‘Framework for Conditional Navigation’ established by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) of the United States on October 31 prohibits all cruises of more than seven nights that sail, arrive or call at any port in that country and while that provision is in effect.
Therefore, longer trips disappeared from the websites of shipping companies oriented to that market, and travel agents received orders to suspend their marketing.
One of the first to remove trips of more than a week from its website was Carnival Cruise Lines, followed by two other brands in the same group, Princess and Holland America Line.
Both also clarified that the sale of this type of cruise will remain on hold until they define how they will address the controversial regulation.
And the fact is that the CDC, which is the national authority on public health issues in the United States, also reported that it reserves the power to “shorten or lengthen the number of days allowed to navigate, depending on public health considerations and according to what is established in instructions or technical orders. “
“While we wait for more information, we have temporarily stopped taking reservations for all cruises of eight days or longer that operate or call at any port in the United States and that begin between January 1 and November 1, 2021.” Princess Cruises said in a statement.
For its part, Royal Caribbean Group (RCG) announced that its US cruises of more than a week are also “temporarily paused” for the same period or, at least, until the company decides what to do with them.
“To ensure compliance (with the CDC framework), we have temporarily halted the sale of such cruises as we evaluate options and determine necessary updates or changes to itineraries,” the Norwegian-US shipping company informed travel agents. , last week.
At the same time, Royal Caribbean assured that “in the coming weeks” it would be providing more information about what will happen with these trips.
In reality, Royal Caribbean cruises in the United States do not usually exceed seven nights, so the trips affected are not that many, but repositioning cruises or those to more exotic destinations.
Furthermore, many itineraries that ‘go down’ from the north of the East Coast to the warmer southern latitudes tend to be longer, due to the time they need to reach the warm waters of the Caribbean.
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And yet another stupid move by the CDC. It’s like they have some secret vendetta against cruise lines and are purposely trying to run the cruise industry out of business. You can just as easily contract the virus on a 3 day cruise as a 10 day cruise. Makes absolutely no sense.