How’d you like a nine-month, world cruise? Royal Caribbean has unveiled what it calls the world’s longest cruise, a 274-night marathon that begins Dec. 10, 2023 and ends the following Sept. 10, in 2024. Not only can you celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve at sea, you’ll visit all seven continents and more than 150 destinations in 65 countries around the world. Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas will sail in and out of Miami and also visit 11 “great wonders of the world.” A full 57 of the destinations will be new to Royal Caribbean, including Casablanca, Morocco, Shimizu, Read more
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Air Canada is trying to build consumer confidence as it also seeks a new approach to Canada’s borders. I also have news on United States tourism, Quebec tourism and Canadian travel (or lack thereof) to Europe this summer. My Future of Travel blog for July 17. Air Canada Health and Safety: Plus Renewed Calls For Border Reforms Air Canada hopes a program they staged for media and tourism/travel industry folks on Thursday will help build confidence in the concept of air travel. Airline officials also reiterated their call for more open borders to help Canada’s economy, albeit in a careful, Read more
COVID-19 “passports” to help revive the airline and tourism industries. Plus a look at what the future holds for cruising, a new rewards plan from CIBC that will help local restaurants, and great advice from the Canadian Automobile Association on summer road trips. That and more in today’s Future of Travel post. CORONAVIRUS PASSPORTS? COOL IDEA A company called Pangea has introduced an end-to-end platform for issuing a Covid-19 immunity ‘passport’ based on a biometric ID. The smart card holder will be granted free access to public areas including airport terminals and planes, as part of the effort to revive Read more
The Turks and Caicos say they’ll open for visitors on July 22. Meanwhile, Canada has extended its cruise ban on large ships, which will now be prohibited from docking in the country until October 31. I also have a report on Universal Orlando hotels re-opening June 2 and an item about a new Canadian Tourism Roundtable that aims to help the country recover from the COVID-19 crisis. Here’s today’s Future of Travel blog. UNIVERSAL ORLANDO HOTELS TO REOPEN SOON Beginning June 2, 2020, select Universal Orlando Resort hotels will reopen to guests. The reopening of the hotels will be carefully Read more
THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL This is a continuation of my Future of Travel blog series. Few areas of the travel industry have taken a bigger public relations hit than cruising. But there may be some surprising signs of strength. Here’s a story published the other day on the U.S. TravelWeekly website. TravelWeekly is part of the Northstar Travel Group, as is TravelPulse Canada, where I serve as senior editorial director. The media’s coverage of ships with Covid-19 outbreaks has left cruising arguably the hardest hit of any travel product. It was the first industry to shut down completely, and its Read more
