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Broadcasting from the Tripinsurance.com studios in Jacksonville, Florida. This is Cruise Radio.

Hey, how's it going? My name is Doug Parker. Thank you so much for checking out this episode of Cruise Radio. Very happy to have you here, my friend. Coming up on this week's show, a review of Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas. Yeah, it's their latest ship and currently the largest ship in the world. Also, staff writer Richard Sims is here with Cruise News. As always, you can check out our daily cruise news updates, just opposite

of this channel or cruise news today on YouTube. All right, jumping right to Richard for news.

Hey, buddy. Hey, Doug. Been waiting on this one for a while, a long while. CDC drops to cruise travel

warning. Down to zero. You know, we've sort of, it's almost been like one of those

countdowns. You know, it started at four, then it went to three, then it went to two. They skipped

one entirely and went straight to zero. You know, it's important to note that the removal of this

doesn't necessarily mean that the agency thinks it's a great idea for people to cruise. In fact, they gave a

statement to USA Today where they said travelers will make their own risk assessment when choosing

to travel on a cruise ship, much like they do in all other travel settings. That basically sums up

what the cruise industry has wanted from the very beginning. They have wanted to be treated like

everyone else. If you're not going to have rules about what you have to do to fly, then why do you have rules about what you have to do to sail? If you're not going to have a travel advisory against, you know, any other form of transportation, why do you have it against cruising? So this sort of levels the playing field. What will be interesting is, I can't help wishing that they've gone from like two to one. You know, like, let's keep at least something in there. Because my fear is this. You know, three weeks, six weeks, eight weeks from now, a new variant comes out and the CDC says, okay, we're going to boost the ratings back up again. We're going to go up to, say, a two. And it's going to seem very extreme. And cruisers and the cruise lines and the cruise line industry are all going to get up in arms about it. Whereas if they'd just gone to one, you know, they leave themselves that little bit of wiggle room to say, well, you know, we're going to just reinforce the one.

We're not going to have to boost the rating up again. But for right now, it's good news. It's at zero, and that's going to be really great news to a lot of people. This does not mean that you don't need a vaccine. This does not mean that you might not have to wear a mask. Each cruise line is still, you know, responsible for both the setting of and the enforcement of their own protocols.

But it's a. wear a mask. Each cruise line is still, you know, responsible for both the setting of and the enforcement

of their own protocols. But it's a really great step for people who've been looking for the CDC

to sort of level the playing field. And Carnival Cruise Line details the new zone or neighborhood

aboard the upcoming Carnival Celebration. Don't you dare call it a neighborhood.

It's not a neighborhood.

It's a zone.

That's a different line, Doug.

This is a zone.

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