Cruise Planners’ Michelle Fee on lifting of the cruise ban

After the CDC replaced its No Sail Order with a Conditional Sailing Order detailing how cruise lines can return to the water, senior editor Jamie Biesiada spoke with Cruise Planners’ Michelle Fee to get the CEO and founder’s take on what it all means for the hard-hit travel agency community.

Q: The No Sail Order has been lifted. What does that mean for travel advisors?

A: Although there are still a few hurdles to jump over, it means that we are definitely moving in the right direction. We were hoping this truly was a green light, but there are things that now are put in place that make it nearly impossible to sail in 2020, moving it to 2021. Most important  and this is what we’re waiting for  is that final date as to when cruising will actually start. When that happens, I truly believe that the cruisers are going to come out in droves and start booking travel.

Q: It does seem pretty clear there won’t be any sailing in 2020, and some financial analysts are estimating a restart no earlier than February. What does that timeline mean for the travel agency community?

A: I think we have to do what we’ve been doing: We’ve got to pivot a bit. There are places available for people to travel to. It could be ski vacations in the wintertime. It could be the holidays, all-inclusives. There are still places that travel advisors can sell travel to, and I think that’s what they have to focus on. And when cruising does resume, we pivot back to selling cruising, because that’s who we are. We are cruise advocates and we always will be, but if that’s not available, then we just find different kinds of travel to sell to our customers who are looking to travel right now.

Q: Travel agents are a major cruise distribution channel. What should travel agents do now to prepare for the resumption of cruising? And conversely, what should the cruise lines be doing for advisors right now?

A: Advisors have got to be working with their representative, whether it’s their business development manager or director from that particular cruise line vendor. Cruise Planners will be helping our agents and providing talking points, but for those agents out there who are on their own, they need to buddy up. I know cruise lines are already working on some of this stuff, where they’re going to provide us with talking points for their particular line. Those are the things we’re going to need to navigate through all of this. When I show up for the cruise, what is it that I’m going to need to board that ship besides a mask and social distancing? What else is there that I’m going to have to do in order to be able to get on board? Working very closely with the cruise line or any travel vendor is going to be essential. We really need those protocols in a format that will be easy for us to email to customers.

Q: When cruising does resume, what kind of itineraries do you expect the cruise lines to focus on?

A: Obviously, they have to be under seven nights. We’ve all heard that when they do return, they’re going to keep it in a bubble, in a sense, to make sure that once they work through all those protocols they continue to be Covid-free. [We’ll likely see itineraries] with their private islands and maybe out to sea one night. Then they’ll start into the Caribbean and try to create bubbles within some of those port cities, making sure people are tested so it’s not brought back on the ship. I know they’re working really closely with people down in the Caribbean islands. From there, this seven-day maximum just came out of nowhere, so I don’t know how they’re going to handle Europe next summer. Obviously, we have some time to get there. But when they start off, we’re hearing three, four, five nights, and as the months go on they’ll add ships and they’ll add days and they’ll add itineraries.

Q: What’s your best advice for advisors navigating through all of this?

A: Create talking points. Make sure your customers know how safe it’s going to be. Continue to be that cruise advocate, because travel is not going to go out of style.