dasmonkey

14 hours ago, blackjack24 said:

One of my friends on board messaged and said all crew and entertainers are staying on the ship for 30 days. He said a lot of the regular crew are happy because it will be like a paid vacation. 

LOL!  They are going to be in for a rude awakening if they think the cruise line is going to let them sleep in and then lounge by the pool all day.   "Attention crew, please report at 6 AM to receive your bucket of bleach and rags for your cleaning assignments".  

3 minutes ago, CroozFanatic said:

NCLH is giving themselves 90 days to refund your cash....me smell something bad.

 

They have liquidity problems that are about to get a LOT worse.  
Waiting 90 days should come as zero surprise.  Be glad if you get it within' 90 days. 

2 minutes ago, MrMike45 said:

or just take your money back and wait to re-book...

Soooooo much this.  In what world would anyone want this company holding their money in their current financial condition.  
Grab any and all cash you can get! 

Just now, gritsnc said:

Forgive me if this has already been posted but I work in family medicine (don't even get me started on the insanity I've gone through this week now that we have cases in my county). A patient brought in a form that Royal Caribbean apparently sent out to passengers in a certain age bracket that they are requiring a physician to sign before allowing passengers to board. 

I am sure your signed right off on that!  😁

1 minute ago, The Grumpus said:

My thinking is, RCL is waiting for the Fed to close all ports.  That way would probably set them up for Federal Aid, whereas if they cancel sailings, they get no aid or next to no aid from the Fed.

Which would possibly give them a way to avoid cash refunds and instead give out FCC's/IOU's.   

2 hours ago, mafig said:

 

If they are planning that, then why did they institute the 70 plus doctor's note?

That came out of the meeting between CLIA and government agencies.  My bet is the government wanted them to suspend cruises.  They begged to not and pointed out their financial doom if shut down.  CLIA countered with their plan if allowed to continue running ships.  The 70 year olds and doctors notes was one of CLIA's counter proposals.
Shutdowns of other non essential entertainment providers have since escalated.
We are close to the point where the rest of the remaining cruise lines are going to have to shut er down.  

17 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Source please.

https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/03/13/feds-announce-flight-restrictions-cruise-ship-ban-amid-covid-19-outbreak/

The NBA and NHL have suspended their seasons.  MLB spring training appears to be shutdown, the season start has been delayed by two weeks.  The NCAA basketball tourney has been cancelled.  The SEC  has stopped ALL spring sports, baseball,  basketball conference tourney.  I am assuming other universities around the nation are doing similar.   Don't forget to mix in the closure of Disney World and Disney Land along with their cruise ships.

At this point you have to admit the national "optics" and general perception of the cruise industry that has decided to just sail on with business as usual is not looking good right now.  No matter your personal opinions on whether to cruise or not this just isn't a positive look for the cruise industry.   It is getting increasingly difficult for the cruise industry to argue that they are not putting profits over public safety.  

10 minutes ago, IrieBajan54 said:

.

Some pax use it to purchase CruiseNext or the balance on excursions over the $50 per port credit.

 
I always just roll it over onto a CruiseNext certificate.  That way it turns into "real" money and not junk.  

Shutting down temporarily is probably coming.  
All 3 major lines are loath to do that at this point.
They are all leveraged to the hilt and desperate for whatever income flow they can get.
The elephant in the room however is them having to hand cash back to a customer instead of an IOU in the form of a FCC if THEY do the cancelling instead of you. 

33 minutes ago, flyguyjake said:

I'm waiting for around $20 also. Question is what happens to stock if a company files bankruptcy?

It is worthless and you now can use it as a write off for some of your more profitable investments.  

39 minutes ago, kollegekreed said:

Is it risky, though? At $5 a share you can buy 100 shares and get onboard credit for the future (as long as the company doesn't’ go under) and the worst thing that happens if you lose $500? Many of us bring  many times more than that into the casino. 

This!  at that point you just look at picking up 100 shares as low key gambling.   They hopefully comeback in time, you get the $100 OBC in the meantime.

If they declare bankruptcy you shrug and write it off against your other stock gains.  

38 minutes ago, Bery said:

Both of us are over 80 and naturally concerned.  To our inquiry, our multi-years TA will also charge us $100 to cancel our July cruise if we need to do that.  We think it is a CRUel CON.

They got me once.  Have booked thousands of dollars worth of cruises since with other agencies.  Never looked back.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2741121-new-requirement-if-you-or-somebody-you-are-traveling-with-is-70-or-over/

NCL already rolling it out, so it's on the way...………..

Dear Valued Guest,

To help ensure the safety and well-being of all guests and crew worldwide, effective immediately, all guests who are 70 years of age and older must provide a Certificate of Medical Fitness to Travel form prior to embarkation.

This easy-to-complete form must be signed by a licensed medical professional and be dated no more than seven days prior to the date of embarkation or seven days prior to the start of a guest's travels if the guest is traveling for more than seven days before a voyage.

If you are 70 years of age and older, please bring the completed form with you as you will be required to present the form prior to embarkation. Those who do not present the form will be denied boarding and will be issued a future cruise certificate for the value of their cruise.

This update to our health and safety policies is being implemented immediately across our ships that embark or disembark in a U.S. port. While we apologize for any inconvenience, we are taking significant comprehensive preventative measures to maintain the safety and well-being of our guests and crew. We greatly appreciate your attention to this very important matter.

Thank you, as always, for choosing Norwegian Cruise Line. We look forward to welcoming you on board.

30 minutes ago, erdoran said:

WHAT THE HECK IS EVERYBODY’S PROBLEM?  Cruises will be around in the future.  This smells like a compromise between cruise lines & CDC where CDC probably wanted to shut them down because of the higher possibility of Covid-19 spread on ships, and the CLIA fought back and they eventually agreed to something to make it more difficult for the community at highest risk to cruise.

 

Ding, ding, ding!  We have a winner.  This is precisely what it is.  It has been floated over the last few days that the government wanted the ships shut down till this virus is controlled.  CLIA points out that if they shut the ships down they are all looking at bankruptcy.  Government agrees to various concession to let them continue to operate.  For now...………….

We are likely one or two ships from US ports being quarantined from having the keys taken away from all the ships.  

7 minutes ago, palmettostatecruiser said:

We are scheduled to sale June 21 out of Puerto Rico on the Freedom of the Seas. Our final payment is due Friday.  With the "pandemic" announcement, cancellations of events, speculation about bankruptcy and other future unknowns we are seriously considering if we should cancel prior to final payment. A week ago we had no intentions of canceling, but it seems like the reaction to this virus is getting worse by the day, on all fronts😟

I "had" one almost the exact same week in June.  For "me" it was a no brainer to get out before final payment.  With everything going on right now do you want to hold your cash or do you want RCL holding it in the form of a FCC?

"If" this all blows over in the next few months do really think the average Joe is going to be clamoring to get on a cruise ship.
I personally don't think they will.  If it does blow over just rebook the cruise close to the sail date at what I would bet would be a much lower rate.

1 hour ago, Iworktocruiseandtravel said:

@siestatom, this above.   I thought I read on these boards in another post someone else disputed some NCL charge (perhaps their room/fees), cc refunded it, and NCL said they were blacklisted from any future NCL sailings. 

They absolutely will as will any other cruise line. 

https://www.elliott.org/blog/do-not-sail-list-banned-from-cruising/

Your odds of getting something handled are far greater if you catch the billing "error" on board and plead your case while on board.  Once you get home your odds of getting cut some slack diminish greatly.  

8 minutes ago, siestatom said:

Ok, here's an update.  I heard back from NCL and they denied my claim.  They  attached a chart showing that, somehow, we HAD established and used two accounts.  I'm pretty sure I know how this happened.  I'm a rookie so I thought that you just had one account (and one log in) for each cabin.  So, we only used one log in.  EXCEPT, when my app shut down and I had to re-set it, logging in with my wife's credentials didn't work.  So the guy at the help desk had me log in by looking up my reservation!  Now that I was logged in as me (without realizing it - and without established a new sign in for me), he had me sign up for the wifi package.  I just figured it was a reset of everything.  I should have figured out that we weren't having to bump each other off when we both went online.  So in this case, I think both parties are culpable, and I'd be willing to split the cost.  Not sure if I'll plead with them a second time, or try the credit card dispute method.

Doing a charge back for charges you did in fact make will not end well.

13 minutes ago, leithbones said:

Precisely why I asked.

I come here to learn about matters from others who may be more informed than I.

When someone like dasmonkey presents himself as well-versed on a subject but can't attach the correct link, his expertise becomes suspect in my view.  The facts he cites are easily confirmed elsewhere, but....

Yes, it could also be a simple mistake, which an intelligent poster would readily acknowledge.

Edit:  Which I now see that he has done.

LOL!  It was corrected within'  minutes of my cut and paste of the incorrect link once my error was pointed out.

 

4 hours ago, Jam0610 said:

They borrow to remain liquid (pay expenses/payroll/service debt). With the cancellation policy and reduced sailings, cash outlay at this time has to be much more than was expected. If they borrow again in the short run, worry.

Would think they would be making stronger offers ( OBC, Drinks, Dining) to retain bookings. So far zip.

Keep hope alive!  Got an e-mail this morning for my March 21st sailing offering me 40% off a photo package and 50% off an interwebs package.   😁

2 hours ago, senriquez said:

Has anyone had experience in receiving a discount on a booked cruise for not cancelling the cruise because of the current situation with the virus?

I have a cruise "currently" booked leaving on the 21st and received an e-mail this morning from RCL offering me 40% off a photo package, 50% off an internet package etc.  They are really going all out to keep me from cancelling.  -sarcasm-

5 minutes ago, Regguy said:

NCLH's silence right now is deafening.  They have to send someone to CNBC or something to try to calm this somehow or this is going to turn into a real problem.  .

 

 

I am genuinely curious, if you were a NCL fat cat and they sent you over to CNBC what exactly would you tell people that would quell their fears?  What are we missing that would make us all start buying this or ANY cruise stock at this point based on what is currently known?

2 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

$16B assets, $10B liabilities.

that looks pretty good, on paper at least.

$6B wiggle room

 

16B assets = a fleet of  used cruise ships.
Roll up in the cash for titles loan joint and see how much those "assets" are really worth.

7 minutes ago, leithbones said:

Is this the correct Link you intended to embed?

Eek!  I had two windows open.
Here is the correct link.

https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/nclh/financials/balance-sheet

6 minutes ago, Lupush said:

 

What do you base this statement on?  Healthy companies do not go out of business overnight because of a change or disruption in business.  

https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/nwarf/financials/balance-sheet

Healthy?  -confuzzled-
As of the end of 2019 they have about 253 million in cash.  They owe over 10 billion dollars.
Any disruption in their cash flow puts them in a precarious position at best.
One might suggest the current market situation puts them in a very unhealthy position.