Q3 2022 Cruise news incl. Bandwidth advancements

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Welcome to our news and blog section. Here you will find the latest updates from theICEway and our IT specialists at ICE. We are frequently invited to attend and speak at industry events, so if you don’t want to miss out on those, this is the page for you.

With more than 20 years’ worth of experience in cruise, travel and healthcare, you will also be able to read more about these key sectors. Of course, at the heart of it all is Information Technology – which some of you may know as ‘IT’ – and we’ll certainly include news on that.

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Q3 2022 Cruise news incl. Bandwidth advancements

Throughout the year we have featured monthly updates from a sector very close to our heart: The cruise industry. We continually build out and develop our products and services for cruise, so we’ll dedicate more articles towards that. We’re still keen to keep you up-to-speed on what is happening in the wider industry, however. Today then, we bring you our first quarterly round-up: Q3 2022 Cruise news.

July

Numerous cruise line giants announced the removal or elimination of COVID-19 Testing in July, including:

- Holland America (removed it at the pre-boarding stage for selected sailings)
- Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (pre-cruise)
- Azamara (at embarkation)
- Virgin Voyages (eliminated at pre-embarkation)
- Margaritaville at Sea (stopped during pre-embarkation)

From the world of IT, Cruise Industry News featured two stories on SES. One revealed that the world’s only multi-orbit satellite player will provide global connectivity services onboard the Explora I. This is due to launch in 2023 from Explora Journeys, MSC’s new luxury brand. Guests can expect complimentary high-speed, uninterrupted Wi-Fi access regardless of their location. They will also be able to stream content from any part of the ship. The second article looked at the work SES has done with Virgin Voyages to leverage MEO (medium earth orbit) satellites. This summer, two satellite beams were bonded on the Valiant Lady to achieve more bandwidth. The ultimate objective is to eliminate all existing connectivity barriers.

August

COVID-19 Testing plus vaccination requirement developments featured throughout August, involving major cruise lines and destinations:

- Carnival
- Celebrity Cruises
- Celestyal
- Cunard
- Holland America Line
- Lindblad Expeditions
- MSC Cruises
- Norwegian Cruise Line
- Royal Caribbean
- Princess Cruises
- Seabourn
- Silversea Cruises
- Windstar Cruises

St. Kitts and Nevis lifted restrictions and Martinique lifted them for international travellers. On a really positive note, Jamaica’s tourism industry seems to have reached a full recovery post-Pandemic.

IT was a busy subject too, with additional bandwidth announced by Carnival Cruise Line amongst other IT updates from them. This Cruise Industry News story revealed that Carnival’s VeriFLY travel app also hit one million users.

September

For this month, we turn to our friends at Seatrade Cruise. Our top cruise stories featured in September were as follows:

- Demand for Cruise demand tops 2019 levels in independent CLIA survey
- Seatrade Cruise Global 2023 details officially announced
- Disney’s next ship and destination to be solar powered

That is all for your Q3 2022 Cruise news round-up. What do you think of our picks? If you feel we made any omissions, then we’d love to hear your take.