This government are so reckless. So it's now okay to fly, go back to work, go to pubs and get a manicure, but you cannot go on a cruise. In my opinion now that we are aware of this pandemic, cruise ships, being isolated entities, now stand a chance to be the most hygienic environments to be in. How much do these 'herd immunity' scientists really know anyway. Not much if you ask me. From experience these decisions are always politically based.

Where in the FCO cruise advice does it mention river cruises specifically?
Are private motor yacht charters sailing within one country and catering for up to 30 people also included in this advice? So much is unclear.

The Saudis own shares in one of the cruise companies.

Ridiculous statement from the government. Like advising people not to go to pubs when all the pubs were shut anyway. Clearly the billionaire Tory donors don’t own any shares in Carnival...

Clearly you do.

Maybe just maybe the FCO have been listening to my views - cruising is out until 2022 at the earliest. Health before wealth. On a liner of say 3/5000 passengers it just takes one person to be diagnosed and the ship is closed by EVERY port. This government is doing a marvellous job - well done.

I am not sure that it is. The furlough scheme is masking a tsunami of redundancies which risks a level of unemployment not seen in 100 years. Instead of paying companies to keep employment going - by reducing the 13% on-costs of every job - they have come up with odd moves like changes in Stamp Duty. COVID-19 is now under control in the UK but the economic storm is yet to break. It will be a terrible shock to many who have not even seen a prolonged recession.

The Virus is not "now under control". The U.K. will experience a similar spike to the U.S. (where the lockdown was lifted prematurely).
Even places such as Hong Kong and Australia, known for robustly controlling the virus, are seeing spikes. Parts of Melbourne are back under lockdown.

Hard to predict. I hope you are wrong but if there is no vaccine before winter...

The complexity and variability of the restrictions is a disaster for the sector. Combined with the lack of financial support the travel industry as we know it is history.

This will be in place until a vaccine is found. No question.

Agreed. It would also be an absolute PR disaster for any Ocean cruise line to recommence and have postive cases onboard. The ship would be banned from entry to any port and there would be an enforced quarantine for everyone onboard again.

Does the FCO advice extend to the British crew on the cruise ships? What happens to all the cruise ships moored off the South Coast of England?

Very very few crew are British, mainly Asian.

Even if it is a few, does it extend to them?

This sounds good advice.
I have been awaiting communication from Barrhead Travel regarding a cruise booked through them for sept. I know this has been cancelled from the cruise web site. However Barrhead have failed to answer emails sent since May all phone lines have answer phones on.
Barrhead Travel have not informed me this cruise has been cancelled
We have paid thousands of pounds for this cruise. Barrhead Travel have shown little regard for me it’s customer.
Anyone else having problems with them?

The service

yes, I finally had a response from them 2 days after our Cruise & Maritime ship should have sailed in May. They telephoned then confirmed by email "I have now officially asked Cruise and Maritime for a full refund. It may take some time to get this to you but as soon as the money comes back to us, we will get this refunded to you"

Don't forget it is now under American ownership and the green back speaks louder than you can shout..

Jane, perhaps you could threaten Barred with legal action. That should yield some results.

Threaten litigation as loud as you wish - totally meaningless.

We all know Mr Peter M (MUNRO) that you sir could not give two figs for customers HENCE your "TOTALLY MEANINGLESS" statement

You have no clue what it going at travel agents, no one is keeping anyone’s money and all travel firms are working in date order and doing there best. Every customer who has lost a holiday will be given the option of a full refund. Not sure if you have been living in a cave the last few months but there is a global pandemic that has brought the travel world to a standstill! Also being lockdown and not being able to have your normal workforce to manage the volume of cancellations and all the holidays effected at the one time is rather challenging.

what does the LAW say its is that simple, whould you accept a note from a customer that said I WILL PAY YOU FOR THE HOLIDAY AT A LATTER DATE no then why should the customer be asked to wait for its money back the law is the law Jonathon

I booked a cruise through Hays Travel
2 cabins sailing with P&O as the lead name I cancelled and was told P&O refunding direct to customer my friends had confirmation of the cancellation and a refund 7 weeks ago. It took me several emails to get confirmation and still no refund although my friends had an email re my booking talk about data protection... Oh I do gave a clue as I worked ine the travel industry for 30yrs. Do you have an answer for thus one!!!

This makes for such sad reading :-( Nothing that we didn't already know but seeing this in B&W doesn't leave much room for positivity. The bookings may be coming in but not much saying they are going to be going anywhere (dependant upon date/s of travel of course).

Well I think we can all forget cruising in 2020. It would just be impossible in the present environment. It makes no difference on the size of the ship. Countries at the moment dont want cruise ships. Simple. Travel is coming back, cruising is the not for the near future.

disagree - The French and German river cruise companies are already cruising - river cruise ships are a totally different product and the FCO should have said OCEAN cruises. Hopefully CLIA can make the strongest representation on this point

Disagree as much as you want - a voice in the wilderness.

Sorry should of clarified I was not talking about River Cruises but even that is very difficult. When you read all the talk from everyone nobody is addressing the issue of social distancing. World Cruises next year would just need one case onboard and that ship is going nowhere. I have not heard any positive comments from anybody about cruising. We could be having the same conversation in 12 months time. Sad times.

The small coastal cruises in Croatia with only 38 guests can't be put into the same category as the big monster ships.

Some clarity would be helpful.
Ocean or River or Both?
So you can fly to France stay in hotel walk around and come home, but you can't go on river boat on the Rhone with fewer occupancy etc...??

I think you can assume the issue is being on board a ship, not whether the boat is in salt water or fresh water

agreed

But also theres a huge difference between a 3000 passenger crusieliner and a 200 pax river cruiser so its a fair point - are Rowing Boats not allowed? ;)