In Travel News for November 17th, 2022 we have Cruise industry news from Japan, Disney Cruises, and Royal Caribbean Group.
Japan to Soon Welcome Cruise Ships
Over the last few months Japan has started to reopen in earnest, allowing travelers to visit, dropping the Travel Visa requirement for select countries and allowing self guided travel. It wasn’t a complete reopen as cruises were still not allowed but that is about to change. Soon cruise lines will be allowed to once again sail to Japan for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. We’ve talked a lot about how cruise lines are eliminating pandemic era health and safety protocols with the exception that if a destination requires it. In which case those sailings on that itinerary will have to follow the protocols of that destination. Japan is one such destination. To take a cruise that visits Japan you will need to have at least two rounds of covid vaccinations. That’s the initial vaccine plus a booster.
Disney Cruises Expands their Fleet
Disney Cruise Line will be expanding their fleet, the company recently acquired the partially build mega ship, the Global Dream. The roughly 6,000 passenger ship was about 75% completed when both the ship yard and customer went bankrupt. The ship was originally being built for the now defunct Dream Cruises which was owned by Genting Hong Kong. If that name sounds familiar it’s because Genting also owned the Luxury Cruise brand Crystal Cruises. It was Gentings sudden collapse that caused Crystal Cruises to be liquidated. Like the Global Dream, most of the ships owned by Genting have been purchased by other companies such as Silversea Cruises. The Crystal Cruises brand along with two of the ships was purchased by Abercrombie and Kent and is currently being relaunched. The yet to be renamed Global Dream will enter service for Disney Cruises in 2025.
Royal Caribbean Commits to Miami Port
Royal Caribbean Group has just received approval to start construction on a new terminal at PortMiami. Known as Terminal G, it will be used exclusively by Royal Caribbean Groups various brands which include Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises. Royal Caribbean has committed to more then doubling the annual passengers moving through the port. The agreement will see more then 600,000 Royal Caribbean Group passengers annually passing through the port during constructions, and more then 1.5 million passengers annually once the terminal is completed in 2027.