Cruise Radio News Briefs | Week of June 13, 2023

This week’s cruise radio news includes the following stories: 1) The cruise industry is seeing great growth in the number of passengers traveling on cruises of less than a week. 2) The cruise industry saw a record number of passengers over the past year. 3) The cruise industry is seeing a decline in the number of passengers traveling on cruises of less than a week.

Live from the International Cruise Conference in the Canary Islands, it’s your boy Sean on your home turf! We’ve got a whole host of great shows to get your week started:

As of this week, the US Department of Transportation has approved the merger between Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, which will nearly double the number of companies operating cruise ships to over 16. That number is expected to climb even higher, to over 40, in the next five years.

Welcome to Cruise Radio’s news bulletin for the week of the 13th. June 2023, where we talk about cruise news, our weekly podcast and the latest YouTube videos. 1. Unfortunately, Royal Caribbean has had to cancel the first cruises of the brand new liner Odyssey of the Seas after several crew members were diagnosed with COVID. Six of the eight crew members were asymptomatic and the other two had mild symptoms. (Photo courtesy of Port Everglades of Broward County). 2. Royal Caribbean has finally hit the ground running for a brand new terminal in the Port of Galveston. After a delay of more than a year, the $110 million terminal will become the third in Galveston and accommodate Oasis-class vessels. 3. The CDC has revised its cruise warning to state that unvaccinated guests are at high risk for VTEC infection. People who are not vaccinated should not go to sea.

Mardi Gras arrives in Port Canaveral 4. Carnival Cruise Line has released information on the return protocols for its newest ship, Mardi Gras. Under the new rules, all guests must be vaccinated against COVID, including children who are of age to receive the vaccine, although guests on the ship are not required to wear masks. 5. Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Apex will host its first-ever dogecoin and crypto-currency vacation this April. The cruise website claims that you will make hundreds of new friends after this cruise.

Selected item: Celebrity Millennium travel report, day 7: Goodbye

Author Susan Young recounts her experiences on one of the first cruises since the pandemic began. She explains how it was different from other cruises, whether she had to take a COVID test to leave the ship, and what disembarkation was like.

This week’s podcast: Celebrity Millennium Review

This week we bring you coverage of one of the first North American cruises since the pandemic, aboard Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Millennium. Find out what it was like, how the cruise changed and what happened when two guests on board were diagnosed with COVID.

Featured video: Symphony of the Seas Cruise

It may be a while before the public gets to see the Odyssey of the Seas, but in the meantime you can always find our cruise and ship tours online by subscribing to our YouTube channel. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of news and events for the cruise industry. In the US, the Trump administration’s budget proposal included a nearly 40% cut to the Department of Education’s budget. This will directly affect the life of cruise line employees, who received a raise to $75k/year from their employer last September. Cruise lines are also lobbying against the recent policy that would allow passengers to bring their own liquor on board.