THE COVID-19 pandemic caught everyone by surprise. Its strength, intensity and scope was much greater than many assumed when it first appeared in Europe. Many of us viewed it as a - perhaps unusually virulent - strain of the flu. Something we have become accustomed to in our world. And something that we would simply develop another "flu shot" variant to combat. Not to in any way downplay the massive toll it took on human life, and essential elements of world economies, it might be an understatement to say it nearly decimated the Cruise Industry.
the pandemic most certainly changed the cruise industry
INDEED, THE travel industry as a whole would take a massive hit. In 2021, we traveled (by land) in Portugal for just over 2 weeks. As we have done on our cruises, we arranged several small, guided excursions. We heard some pretty sad accounts from a couple of our guides. One in particular, a gregarious, fun-loving guy from Lisbon, took us to the UNESCO Pena Palace in the village of Sintra and surrounds, told us of the many, many persons formerly employed in the business of tourism. A majority of them were now unemployed, and a shocking number had committed suicide! In addition to the tally on human life directly, the pandemic had tragic impact in far-reaching ways. Until that moment, I hadn't realized the effects were so devastating in what we assumed was an essentially "fun and games," industry. But to those real humans making careers and livings it was as real as could be.
Copyright Andy Richards 2021
All Rights Reserved
AS ANYONE who has cruised recently, or considered a cruise and done any amount of research should know, the pandemic most certainly has changed the cruise industry. Most of us remember the stories of the 1000's of crew members who were stranded at sea, proverbial prisoners of their ships, for months while cruise lines and their countries of citizenship scrambled with issues of safe transport and re-entry policies. Not only were we unprepared, but we were scared. In the aftermath of 2+ years of unemployment, as the cruise industry has gradually ramped up again, it has been a bumpy start. As most of us know, cruise employees work by contract, generally measured in months. Not all are the same time frame, and cruise companies have divisions dedicated to the logistics of providing crew for each ship and moving them on and off. But they never planned to move 10's of thousands at once. At the same time, world-wide reaction to the pandemic made it difficult for the employees to return home. Ports and countries closed any entry by anyone other than its citizens. This made transportation a nightmare.
a substantial number of employees - once they finally returned home - turned to other employment, never to return to the cruise ships
FACING MONTHS of unemployment (many crew members' cruise line earnings support their families back home), a substantial number of employees - once they finally returned home - turned to other employment, never to return to the cruise ships. Once the cruising "world" re-opened, the lines were faced with a new set of problems. In addition to complete changes in the way they prepared and managed their ships, they had a severe shortage of trained and qualified employees. At the same time, worldwide travel restrictions made it hard to get them to the ships.
Copyright Andy Richards 2021
All Rights Reserved
NOT SURPRISINGLY, our scheduled Canary Islands cruise (as were all other cruises) was cancelled. Ever optimistic, we booked another cruise, this one to Iceland. It too was cancelled. I think we went through a series of about 4 Celebrity bookings that were cancelled one-by-one as the pandemic continued on much longer than anyone had anticipated. Finally, a future cruise in 2022, on the Celebrity Edge, to the Baltic, stuck. More on that cruise in a later blog. In the meantime, my personal "cruise director" and travel planner found a cruise in late 2021, on the Regal Princess, out of Southhampton, England. Capitalizing on the cost to get over the pond and back, we spent a week in London prior to embarking from Southhampton. I hit London pretty hard, photographically, and if you are interested in that visit (not really a cruise blog topic, but related) you can start here on my LightCentricPhotography Blog, where there are a series of 13 successive blogs with many photos of our very eventful week in London and vicinity, before heading to Southampton for this cruise. Back in April of 2019 (blissfully unaware of things like worldwide pandemics), readers may recall that we made a brief, and probably not well thought out, trip to London from a cruise stop in Dover. We left there vowing to return to London on our own terms, and really seeing the city. So, given cost of getting over "The Pond" and back, we booked a hotel in one of London's great "suburbs," (Paddington) for a full week before taking the train down to Southampton to board the ship. We chose Paddington, not only for its central location (a major train interchange as well at Tube stop), but because it had an express train directly from Heathrow.
Copyright Andy Richards 2021
All Rights Reserved
THE ITINERARY for this cruise was kind of "ho hum," in my view. But we were once again on a cruise ship after a two-year hiatus. We were excited enough just about that. And an added positive for us was London! While we felt things were under some semblance of control, and that the world was slowly opening up again, we certainly were not completely done with the fallout from the pandemic. For this trip (from Tampa to Atlanta to Heathrow and back again), we had to test negative 4 times: first in the U.S. (within 48 hours of the flight) to board a plane for Europe. Then immediately upon arrival in London (we did a rapid test right at Heathrow, with results e-mailed to us while we were still on the train to Paddington). Then once again, before we boarded the cruise ship in Southampton (this one courtesy of Princess), and then again, the day we disembarked (again, courtesy of Princess). We felt some tension each time, and breathed a sigh of relief each time we tested negative. While we felt that Princess handled the Covid-Testing piece quite well, one has to wonder if a positive test and quarantine would have yielded the same good feeling. We were fortunate not to have to find out.
In La Rochelle and Bilbao there would be things to do, see, and learn ... in our alternative ports? Not so much
EVEN SO, the itinerary was changed, most certainly due to the still cautious worldwide attitude toward Covid. Originally a scheduled (and anticipated) stop, Guernsey was still closed to the world and that port was simply cancelled, adding another sea day. Next, Princess announced that two other ports had been changed (no reasons given). The first was that La Rochelle, France would no longer be our port of call. Instead, the ship would dock at Soulac-Sur-Mer. La Rochelle is an important port/maritime city of about 78,000 people. It is noted for its medieval and renaissance architecture and picturesque seaport. It is rich with European history, including the Siege of La Rochelle, essentially marking the end of the (Protestant) Huguenot rebellions, and solidifying France as a Monarchy. Things to do, learn and see. Contrast that with Soulac-sur-Mer. Population 2,600. Remote dock several miles from the only attraction in the area, a nice beach town. Not in season! Not sure what Princess was thinking here.
THEY THEN substituted Bilbao, Spain with A'Coruna, Spain. Again, one wonders what the thinking was. Bilbao is a major, bustling city of nearly 350,000, in the heart of the Basque Region. It houses the spectacular (architecturally) Guggenheim Museum on the banks of The River Nervion. It is also known for its Basque cuisine. The city looks vibrant and is said to be quite flat and easily walkable. Things to do, learn and see (have I said that already?). 😎. A' Coruna? Not so much. In fairness, A'Coruna is a fairly large city (240,000-ish). There are things to do there, and perhaps better research (and maybe more forewarning) would have helped. But the Guggenhiem? C'mon Princess. As it was, we got off, walked around the city in the port area, had a cup of coffee at a sidewalk cafe, and re-boarded the ship. One of the "negatives" we seem to notice since the re-opening of cruise travel is that the ports of call are not as good as they once were.
WE KNEW it was a short cruise, and London had really been the highlight of the trip. Onboard, the experience was mostly good. At the time, facemasks were still mandatory in most places. The ship's policy (and from my reading, it was the same on most other lines) was that you must wear a mask while moving about the public areas on the ship. Once you sat down somewhere, you could remove it. Effective? Good question. Food in the buffet was served by workers rather than self-serve. O.k., but not what we had become accustomed to (on Celebrity, today - 2023 - we seem to be back to the normal, self-serve buffet style). And drinks? The same. You were not allowed to approach any bar anywhere on board. You had to wait until a server approached you and served you. And the crew - all masked up. All the time. We understood it was necessary. But the easy camaraderie we had grown to enjoy with the wait staff and bartenders was missing. We couldn't see their smiling (we assumed) faces. It just wasn't the same and left us hoping this wasn't the proverbial "new normal." Thankfully, time has borne out that it isn't. I have been on 3 cruises in 2023, and things in that quarter seem to be back to normal.
AS FOR the Regal Princess? We liked her. One of their newest classes (the Royal Class), she is - for us "right-sized," modern, and clean. There is plenty to do on board. Princess may have the best shows in cruising, and their on-board cast and orchestra are superb. My bias believes that the food on Celebrity is a notch better. But only a small notch and we found the food aboard the Regal to be very good.
In 2017, Princess introduced its "Medallion" class aboard the Regal Princess. It was soon added to other ships in the "Royal" class, with an announced plan to eventually extend to all Princess ships (something I believe has now been accomplished). Our 5th cruise aboard Princess, the medallion was new to us. We really liked it. I am not sure why others have not copied this idea. Instead of the "Sea Pass" card we are all so used to, you are given a small, plastic medallion (about the diameter of a U.S. quarter - very similar to an Apple Airtag or equivalent). But inside there is digital magic. The medallion serves as your onboard pass, opening your stateroom, and used for all onboard charges. But that's not really the "magic." That is in the Princess Medallion "app." Princess, by the way, beats the heck out of Celebrity in this department, with an app that actually works (well most of the time). You can add other passengers to your app, and it will then use the medallion to locate them (some thought this a bit creepy, but you don't have to do it). My wife and I liked it because we could always know where the other was. We often are doing separate activities aboard and want to meet up. But it's even better than that. With the medallion, you can order food or drink anywhere on the ship - no matter where you are - and they will find you and bring it to you! Pretty cool.
IT WAS our first "post-Covid" cruise experience. It was nice to be on a cruise ship again. But we felt we had a way to go to get back to the cruising we knew and loved. It would get better. It had too! And as we have experienced over time, it did. We would cruise again in the Caribbean in 2022. We were on the way back.
