UPDATE: Princess NEW Back to Back Protocols for Australian Voyages

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 Follow me on Facebook and Instagram: www.facebook.com/thecruiseandtravelguy www.instragram.com/thecruiseandtravelguy Head to my website for great cruise and travel deals: www.thecruiseandtravelguy.com.au The excitement for the return of the cruising to Australia is palpable, with P&O commencing operations this month and Princess Cruises from June 16th. Last week, Princess released its comprehensive set of protocols and requirements for their upcoming season, but some questions remained surrounding guests who were choosing to complete a back to back cruise. Back to back cruises occur when a guest books two or more consecutive cruises, ordinarily, there isn’t much to it and the cruise line takes care of all the details once a guest is onboard, but, these aren’t ordinary times. Princess have clarified that if a guest is completing a domestic back to back cruise, they can remain onboard the ship with their luggage. They will not need to disembark between voyages. If the guest is switching cabins between domestic voyages, they will need to pack their bags and store them with the ship’s handlers whilst both cabins are deep cleaned. During this process, the guests will be free to take advantage of the public areas onboard. Where a guest is completing an international itinerary as part of the back to back cruise, for example the Conflict Islands voyage departing on August 22nd, the guest will need to disembark at the conclusion of their first cruise. The guest will also be required to complete the Ocean Ready check in process using their Medallion app, or the Princess website, in order to allocate themselves an embarkation time for the next voyage. If a guest is remaining in the same stateroom for both journeys, they can leave their luggage in their cabin. If not, luggage will need to be taken off the ship at the conclusion of the first voyage. The guest can choose to leave their luggage outside of their stateroom the night before disembarkation with luggage tags for the next cruise attached, these will be provided by the cruise line, or they can remove the luggage themselves in the morning and bring it back on themselves. Guests completing a back to back cruise will need to complete a rapid antigen test within 24 hours of embarking for the second cruise. The test will be supplied by Princess. If a guest tests positive, them and their cabin mates will need to isolate for 7 days either onboard, or on shore in hotel accommodation if their home is not easily accessed. In that event, the cost of onshore accommodation will be paid for by Princess. Where isolation is required, whether onboard or onshore, you’ll also receive the value of any missed cruise days as a pro-rated future cruise credit. There’s no doubt that there are some interesting times ahead, but at the core of this, cruising is finally returning to Australia. We only need to look overseas for a glimpse into how Australia will, I’m sure, soon treat cruising. Many of these protocols will be eased eventually, but for the time being, we’ll need to learn to approach some of these complexities with a bit of an open mind. Thanks for watching!