Last week we saw Royal Caribbean and Celebrity begin requiring pre-embarkation COVID testing regardless of vaccination status, and now Carnival Corporation has announced the same for their three major North American brands.  Further, they've updated their guest mask policies...

In this episode of Billy's Cruise Takes we discuss Carnival's return to service, the importance of Alaska sailings resuming, mixed vaccines, the state of the Conditional Sail Order, and a new cruise that we just booked

As we eagerly await a safe return to cruising out of North America, the world’s largest cruise company, Carnival Corporation, recently published new policies that give us a clearer picture of what cruising will be like.  Only a few days later however, they pulled these policies from their website.  We’ve reviewed the COVID-19 Policies and Procedures the company posted (removed as of early Feb 7 2020), which should give us some idea of what to expect on all of their lines, including Holland America Line, Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Cunard Line, and others.  Below we’ve called out some of the highlights, and summarized what this means for your cruise experience...

Long time industry veteran Rick Meadows announced today that he'll be leaving Seaborn at the end of May 2020...

Ashford, a five year veteran of premium cruise line Holland America Line, is stepping down and leaving at the end of May according to a press release on May 12, 2020...

Passengers traveling with many cruise lines enjoy White Pass Scenic Railway when visiting Alaska, but now the largest cruise company in the world will own it.  This week Carnival Corporation & plc announced they are purchasing TWC Enterprises Limited's White Pass & Yukon Route division in Skagway, Alaska.

Continuing to build momentum in a quickly changing world of alternative-fueled ships, Carnival Cruise Line has signed another in a series of agreements today with Shell to be their supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for North America's first fully LNG powered cruise ships. The ships will be largest for the cruise line, at 180,000 gross tons, and due to sail in 2020 and 2022.  They'll be fueled through Shell's LNG Bunker Barge (LBB).  The LBB was recently announced as part of a plan to develop a global LNG bunkering network (bunkering is a nautical term referring to fueling-up ships) to support the growing number of LNG-powered ships being constructed, allowing them to refuel along the south-eastern US coast...

Miami-based Carnival Corporation & PLC, the world’s largest leisure travel company and parents to numerous cruise lines announced that they’ll be deploying new connectivity to their ships which will be enabled by SES Networks.  

The service – delivered in connections with SES networks – will use geostationary earth orbit and medium-earth orbit constellations, managed services, and shipboard technologies to deliver reliable and high-speed connections at sea.  By combining multiple sources of bandwidth, over different bands and different satellite systems, connected to an “unprecedented volume” of shipboard access points, the aim is to deliver guests what they want when they want it, regardless of...

Carnival Corporation & PLC announced today that they’ve signed a memorandum of agreement with Fincantieri shipyard to bring a new vessel to Cunard Line.  The yet unnamed vessel will be the largest in the Cunard fleet with an expected delivery date in 2022.  While the new ship will be the 249th to fly the Cunard flag in Cunard’s 178 year history, she will only be the fourth ship in the current fleet, alongside Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, and Queen Mary 2...