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CoronaVirus Impact on the Cruise Industry


Hlitner
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Actually at least some lines have relaxed penalties for cancellation -- offering combinations of refunds and future cruise credits. 
 
But I agree that folks are probably not booking future cruises at the usual pace right now.
The best Cruise lines like Celebrity are doing this keeping their customers interest in mind, rather than their own profits.
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5 minutes ago, drsel said:
14 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:
Actually at least some lines have relaxed penalties for cancellation -- offering combinations of refunds and future cruise credits. 
 
But I agree that folks are probably not booking future cruises at the usual pace right now.

The best Cruise lines like Celebrity are doing this keeping their customers interest in mind, rather than their own profits.

A nice thought - but do you really believe any line is placing customers’ interest ahead of profitability?   They are simply smart enough in pursuing profitability to make gestures to customers (and future customers) sufficient to maintain their interest in cruising.

 

At the very core, the cruise line wants to separate as much money as possible from the customer. Occasionally, that might mean giving the customer a break (or, at least, convincing the customer that he is getting a break) to keep him coming back.

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Just off a cruise that ended in Dubai.  Flight home was 50% full IF THAT, (Both legs) and the screen in both Dubai and Moscow showed a HUGE number of "canceled" flights    Also, just looking at the various boards here it is obvious (at least to me) that certain cruise lines are HEMORRHAGING money at this point, and are doing anything in their power to avoid giving back anyone's deposits.    I would not be surprised if there are a number of airline bankruptcy's  in the near future, and even a few cruise lines.  

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2 hours ago, FredT said:

certain cruise lines are HEMORRHAGING money at this point, and are doing anything in their power to avoid giving back anyone's deposits.    I would not be surprised if there are a number of airline bankruptcy's  in the near future, and even a few cruise lines.  

 

Seems likely to me too Fred.  There is only one solution for the cruise industry which is to find a way to relax the awful quarantining protocols currently being used on the ships.  When someone gets Norovirus they are isolated for 2-3 days and everyone else just carries on.  If more people come down with it, they too are quarantined for 2-3 days whilst everyone else just carries on.  If the number of cases rises significantly then the ship implements certain protocols, removes salt/pepper pots, removes menu holders, maybe removes self-service in the buffet and starts extensive regular cleaning of hand rails and so on.

 

Something similar needs to happen with COVID-19.   If there's a case then quarantine that person or indeed get them off the ship completely.  Let everyone else carry on.  Any additional cases, again quarantine the victims or remove them from ship and let everyone else carry on.   This is the only way it's ever going to work.   Same as with Norovirus.  Otherwise it's going to be game over for the cruise industry imho.

 

 

 

 

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Every day we hear of new cases and escalating measures in countries and new cases and deaths in the US.  Testing is just starting and when those results come in there will be an explosion of more changes.


All the airlines I fly already have made it clear I can change my flights and I suspect I will as policy changes will continue as escalating rates.

 

anyone who cites a current policy as why something tomorrow will be okay is about as smart as POTUS

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1 hour ago, KnowTheScore said:

 

Seems likely to me too Fred.  There is only one solution for the cruise industry which is to find a way to relax the awful quarantining protocols currently being used on the ships.  When someone gets Norovirus they are isolated for 2-3 days and everyone else just carries on.  If more people come down with it, they too are quarantined for 2-3 days whilst everyone else just carries on.  If the number of cases rises significantly then the ship implements certain protocols, removes salt/pepper pots, removes menu holders, maybe removes self-service in the buffet and starts extensive regular cleaning of hand rails and so on.

 

Something similar needs to happen with COVID-19.   If there's a case then quarantine that person or indeed get them off the ship completely.  Let everyone else carry on.  Any additional cases, again quarantine the victims or remove them from ship and let everyone else carry on.   This is the only way it's ever going to work.   Same as with Norovirus.  Otherwise it's going to be game over for the cruise industry imho.

 

 

 

 

And this should include crew as well as passengers. On the ship outside of California, 19 of the 21 cases were members of the crew and only 2 were passengers.

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5 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Actually at least some lines have relaxed penalties for cancellation -- offering combinations of refunds and future cruise credits. 

 

But I agree that folks are probably not booking future cruises at the usual pace right now.

Actually most have revised their cancellation policies for cruises booked for departure between now and July 31. Typically it includes waivers in the way of future cruise credits for non-refundable deposits and full funds available for transfer without penalty to different cruises with cancellations, in some cases, accepted under these terms up to 48 hours prior to departure. These policies are temporary and will likely be retracted after July unless circumstances at the time warrant otherwise. 

 

As to the other comment made by another poster as whether or not people are making new bookings, we at least are.  We just recently booked an August Caribbean itinerary and are planning a NYE booking as well.  We also expect to book an Eastern Mediterranean cruise with a southern Italy land vacation in June 2021.  

Edited by leaveitallbehind
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I of course can't say what is occurring on every sailing on every ship. h

However, we just disembared from a Caribbean back to back. We observed full MDRs almost every night, and the Future Cruise staff seemed to be experiencing brisk business. I did observed a considerable increase in personal hygiene measures being used in public, which is good. And a lot of conversations around the bars seemed to tilt towards the thinking that the disease will eventually die down, and/or a cure( vaccine) will be found, making Covid a bump in the road, similar to diseases that have spring up out of nowhere in the past.

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On 2/24/2020 at 4:10 PM, Markanddonna said:

People seem to be shocked that Italy has been hit hard. My eyes were open in November when one third of  our ship's passengers were from China. The cruise began and ended in Rome. 

I later learned Italy is the top destination for the Chinese. It is so unfortunate that many panic just seeing an Asian person, but that is human nature when the world is close to a world wide pandemic. Chinese make up one third of high end buyers and travel so understanding the importance of the Chinese is essential as we make travel and financial decisions.

Not only is a tourist destination top

preference .... but sooo many Chinese investors have purchase restaurants in Rome ..... we went out one night to a place which used to be Nona’s secret.... to our suprise....few establishments had Chinese servers speaking fluent Italian.

 

The same applies to the Dominican.... just days before the first case in the island was reported I made a comment at home that the CV was going to arrive in the DR from Italy .... the southern part of the island is filled with Italian expats.

Edited by Ajkcruiser
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7 hours ago, sayanne said:

 

Oblivious, don't hold your breath. This is consistent with his behavior about major issues for 3 and a half years.

The issue for US travelers may be as this goes on we really are the ugly Americans and we face restrictions elsewhere. S Korea for example pumped out a huge number of tests that they executed within a very short time. The US officials still can't say how they are going to get out count of test kits up to snuff, let alone do the testing. FWIW, the US did much, much better in prior outbreaks in this area. So it would be easy to find surprising.

 

This is every bit as obnoxious as the people who insist on talking about politics in the MDR.

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9 hours ago, drsel said:

the present Cruises will be full, because people have booked and paid for them long ago and they are not getting refunds, so they are forced to go

 

That's what I was thinking.  The relaxation of the cancellation policies just occurred in the past week or so, so the less-than-full cruises will probably start now or in the next couple weeks.  

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We just returned a week ago from a 9 day Caribbean Cruise  to the ABC islands. I was hoping to get an upgrade when we boarded, but unfortunately, the ship was full.  

 

We avoided sitting next to others in the theater and ate lunch in the dining room instead of dinner to get a table a good distance from others.   I prefer NCL during Flu season cause they have sanitizer machines all over their ships.  This cruise was on RC.  They did have sanitizer in the dining areas but not throughout the ship.  I like NCL sanitizers at elevators and casino entrances.  All ships should increase the supply of these machines.

 

It was a great cruise.  Will hope to cruise to Bermuda this Fall.  

 

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I expected more of a show of elevated hygiene on this cruise (small cruise ship) 

Surprised food handlers not wearing gloves. Waiters touching hair and faces ... (?) Also surprised by the number of passengers who ignore sanitation stations entering the dining rooms.... I’m not a seasoned cruise person so perhaps I’m expecting too much (?)

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1 hour ago, Rumpoint Rani said:

I expected more of a show of elevated hygiene on this cruise (small cruise ship) 

Surprised food handlers not wearing gloves. Waiters touching hair and faces ... (?) Also surprised by the number of passengers who ignore sanitation stations entering the dining rooms.... I’m not a seasoned cruise person so perhaps I’m expecting too much (?)

You are not expecting too much 

everybody expects good hygiene.

Which small ship was this and from which port

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Cruise ships are now being held off shore by California, Malaya, Egypt and Malta pending tests on all.  A quote

 "

Also on Saturday, the port of Penang in Malaysia turned away the cruise ship Costa Fortuna because 64 of the 2,000 aboard are from Italy. The ship had already been rejected by Thailand, and is now heading to Singapore.

And in Malta, which reported its first case of the virus on Saturday, the MSC Opera ship agreed not to enter the Mediterranean country's port amid local worries - even though there are no infections suspected on board." end of quote.

 This is going to get a good bit worse......

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The origins of this thread were the impact of the virus on Cruise lines.....

Carnival Corp own:- AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises ,P&O Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia ,Cunard, Princess Cruises Holland America Line and Seabourn.

They must be hurting like hell.......

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10 hours ago, ontheweb said:

And this should include crew as well as passengers. On the ship outside of California, 19 of the 21 cases were members of the crew and only 2 were passengers.

 

should be obvious to most that the crews on ships are a significant risk to us all because:

 

1)  They are in constant contact with many 1000s of passengers cruise on cruise on cruise

 

2)  They are travelling constantly from port to port around the world often having a short period of shore time in many of those ports.

 

 

The rest of us are predominantly living and staying in one country

 

I wonder if the crew are having most shore leaving cancelled in the current climate though?

 

Edited by KnowTheScore
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12 hours ago, Ajkcruiser said:

Not only is a tourist destination top

preference .... but sooo many Chinese investors have purchase restaurants in Rome ..... we went out one night to a place which used to be Nona’s secret.... to our suprise....few establishments had Chinese servers speaking fluent Italian.

 

The same applies to the Dominican.... just days before the first case in the island was reported I made a comment at home that the CV was going to arrive in the DR from Italy .... the southern part of the island is filled with Italian expats.

 

Not sure I understand what kind of link you are making between these facts and coronavirus spread.

 

The Chinese invest everywhere. Now if you were talking about Chinese tourists in Italy, that I could wrap my mind around. (And BTW, Rome is not a hot spot for infections....yet).

 

Similarly, an "expat" is someone who lives permanently in a different place than their home country -- why should Italian ex-pats in DR lead to arrival of the coronavirus??

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Interesting....CDC issued a "No Cruise" notice on Royal Princess,  seems a crew member was transferred from Grand Princess,  although he has no symptoms and apparently no contact with any infected passengers or crew.

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4 hours ago, Cee_Jay said:

Cruise ships are now being held off shore by California, Malaya, Egypt and Malta pending tests on all.  A quote

 "

Also on Saturday, the port of Penang in Malaysia turned away the cruise ship Costa Fortuna because 64 of the 2,000 aboard are from Italy. The ship had already been rejected by Thailand, and is now heading to Singapore.

And in Malta, which reported its first case of the virus on Saturday, the MSC Opera ship agreed not to enter the Mediterranean country's port amid local worries - even though there are no infections suspected on board." end of quote.

 This is going to get a good bit worse......

Just off the NCL Spirit in Dubai.....   Honestly we were not really worried about getting the virus.   What we WERE worried about (As were a lOT of our fellow passangers) was getting OFF the ship and getting home if one or more of the ports we were stopping at panicked and did not let us in........  That is going to become as much of a worry to the cruise lines as the virus itself.  

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4 hours ago, Cee_Jay said:

The origins of this thread were the impact of the virus on Cruise lines.....

Carnival Corp own:- AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises ,P&O Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia ,Cunard, Princess Cruises Holland America Line and Seabourn.

They must be hurting like hell.......

Bizarrely Carnival will let you cancel and rebook, and yet its customers on Costa, which operates in the most affected region are being hung out to dry. If you cancel your cruise with Costa you loose everything. 

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