NEWS UPDATE: Aus MP Calls for Restart | Venice Bans Ships | Carnival Does Buffets | NCL Sues Florida

@POCruisesAustraliaChannel Fly the Flag - change your Facebook profile picture here: https://www.facebook.com/profilepicframes/?selected_overlay_id=856475041933014 Join my private Facebook group for cruise deals, tips and advice - the more members we have, the better we’ll get! www.facebook.com/groups/CTGdeals Head to my website for great cruise and travel deals: www.thecruiseandtravelguy.com.au Follow me on Facebook and Instagram: www.facebook.comn/thecruiseandtravelguy www.instragram.com/thecruiseandtravelguy Federal Coalition MP Warren Entsch is leading the charge to bring cruising back to Australia’s east coast. He has echoed CLIA’s calls for a return of safe domestic cruising, designed to re-invigorate the tourism economy of dozens of regional coastal towns. From Eden on the NSW south coast to as far north as Cairns, the reintroduction of cruising would provide economic relief for many businesses that partly or wholly rely on cruise tourism. It’s definitely refreshing to see someone in a position of public authority finally onboard with exactly what we’ve all been saying for the better part of a year. P&O Australia are pushing a campaign called Fly The Flag for P&O which lets all of their cruising fans change their Facebook profile picture to include a special frame showing their support for return of the local line to Australian waters. Click the link at the top of this description to learn more. Venice has officially banned large cruise ships from entering their famous lagoon and canals. The new rules apply from August 1 and prevent ships over 25,000 tonnes from heading into the city centre. Instead, a new docking facility will be built in an industrial part of the city, protecting the delicate waterfront. Although the change has been made with great support, many tourism-dependant workers living in the city are not happy with the decision. Whilst Europe enjoys a resurgence of cruise traffic, Venetians will not see the economic benefit of the restart until the new docking facility has been completed. First reported by Singapore Cruise Society, a passenger onboard World Dream tested positive for COVID earlier this week, during a 3 night seacation cruise from Singapore. The guest, in their 40s, was fully vaccinated and tested positive during routine onboard testing. The ship returned to Singapore immediately. The subsequent 3 night cruise was cancelled as a precaution. So far, no other guests onboard the ship have tested positive though they will need to monitor their health for 14 days after disembarking. World Dream has been operating seacation cruises out of Singapore, exclusively for Singaporean residents since the end of 2020. In the US, Norwegian Cruise Line is suing Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees. It is currently illegal for companies operating in Florida to ask for anyone’s vaccination status with fines of $5000 for each occurrence and NCL wants the law overturned. Royal Caribbean have recommenced operation in Florida, getting around the new law by allowing their passengers to volunteer their vaccination status during booking and boarding. In the case that passengers are unvaccinated or unwilling to provide proof of vaccination, they will be subject to different rules onboard including limited access to public venues. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming weeks. Transport Canada has announced that its ban on cruise ships will end come November 1st. That means that the Canadian cruise season should be up and running by 2022 which is fantastic news for everyone and provides some hope that countries like Australia and New Zealand may soon follow suit. The US passed legislation to circumvent the dated Passenger Vessels Service Act, now allowing cruise ships to complete closed circuit domestic loops from Seattle to Alaska, bypassing Canadian ports. Perhaps the stark reality of a reduction in ships home-porting in Canada during the Alaska Cruise season has spurred them into action? Carnival have announced that the self-service buffet will return to action onboard their July and August US departures. The buffet will operate as it always did, except now you can expect masked crew to enforce hand sanitisation before you have a chance to self-serve. Health aside, I much prefer P&O Australia’s The Pantry concept. Each food station offers its own unique cuisine, much like a food court environment, and crew serve you from behind the counter - something I think more cruise lines should look at adopting in a post-covid cruising world. Thanks for watching!