Princess suspends cruise ship operations for 60 days

[[g]cruiserke]

I think the ban on travel from most of Europe has forced their hand and will likely do the same for other cruise lines.

 

It's not just that a lot of passengers from Europe will not be able to travel to board the ships, reducing passenger numbers even further, but there is also the fact that a very large number of crew are European (and Celebrity specifically still has many Greek officers, due to historical reasons) and would not be able to join the ships so crew rotation would be impacted.

Edited March 12, 2020 by [g]cruiserke

[az_tchr]

5 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

I don’t care what Princess does.  I come here to find out about Celebrity.

It suggests what Celebrity is about to do.  

[Ellie_daisy]

Good for Princess! Not sure if Celebrity would be so generous. Even before the cancellations, they were offering additional onboard credit to the passengers who would decide to still sail. 

[mafig]

6 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

I would take the refund and the future credit, without a doubt.  I have a cruise on the Edge leaving on the 29th of March, as of this date, I am still booked and going.  IF they have to cancel for 30 days or so, I hope for something similar to this offer.  

 

PTGDAWG,

We're on the same cruise.😃

[travel1light]

As much as I would like an offer like this for my upcoming April cruise, I no longer feel Celebrity is in a position to afford it. A week ago, I scoffed at those that were concerned about them going bankrupt before being able to use FCC. That is no longer the case. In fact, I feel if support is not soon announced for the travel industry and in particular the cruise one, there is going to be very little left to save. Sad times....

[Pickels]

1 hour ago, luv4cruises said:

I sure hope Celebrity follows suit especially in light of ban on European air travel.

i am scheduled to embark this month.  Here is my HO:

 

It is time for Celebrity to offer full cash refunds to those embarking in the next 30 days. The NEW TRAVEL ban makes it impossible for European travelers to make connections.  So many cruisers come from the U.K., Germany and other European countries.  

Do the right thing, Celebrity, refund the money to all cruisers!  Holding our money until the Corona Virus threat is over, forcing us to hastily  book future cruises at a higher price even higher if you choose non-refundable deposits is unfair and not in keeping with the Celebrity brand.  I feel like my hard earned money has been taken hostage by Celebrity and the other cruises I have booked on other cruise lines,
Do the right thing, Celebrity, refund our hard-earned money!

Have you checked some of the cruise prices in 2021?  You'd be amazed.

[richsea]

25 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

I don’t care what Princess does.  I come here to find out about Celebrity.

Any other helpful thoughts? You do realize this affects the entire world, don’t you?

[richsea]

28 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

I don’t care what Princess does.  I come here to find out about Celebrity.

Delete, duplicate post

Edited March 12, 2020 by richsea

[JOHN474]

If princess cancelled all cruises for 60 days, I would think the other Carnival brands would be pressured to do the same. If all Carnival brands follow their Princess .... then RCL might be forced to do the same.

[actdir]

33 minutes ago, robertdeese said:

My guess is the terminology Suspended vs. Cancelled.  Bot sure you can double dip, meaning the insurance might only kick in if the cruise line does not reimburse. 

Woudn't the cruise lines benefit from people claiming the insurance?  Then maybe the insurance companies might go out of business.  Oh the implications of this.

[WonderMan3]

I’m sure all the cruise lines will follow. Princess is owned by Carnival so I expect Cunard, Costa, HAL and Carnival to be next since they are all part of that cruise family. Then there will be pressure on the Royal family, NCL, MSC, etc. to do the same. They are all likely scrambling to create their cancellation plans as we speak.

Edited March 12, 2020 by WonderMan3

[WonderMan3]

Just now, actdir said:

Woudn't the cruise lines benefit from people claiming the insurance?  Then maybe the insurance companies might go out of business.  Oh the implications of this.

 That is correct. You can only recover from insurance what the cruiseline won’t reimburse. You can recover other non-refundable expenses though that are not being refunded by the cruise line.

[JOHN474]

9 minutes ago, travel1light said:

As much as I would like an offer like this for my upcoming April cruise, I no longer feel Celebrity is in a position to afford it. A week ago, I scoffed at those that were concerned about them going bankrupt before being able to use FCC. That is no longer the case. In fact, I feel if support is not soon announced for the travel industry and in particular the cruise one, there is going to be very little left to save. Sad times....

 

It will be difficult for cruise lines to get financial support. Most are not US or European corporations, rather Panama, Liberia etc. How can governments like US ... justify giving help to companies that do not pay US or European taxes etc?

[travel1light]

On 3/8/2020 at 6:38 PM, bEwAbG said:

I speculated a day or two ago that the decision was about to be made for the cruise industry.  The writing was on the wall with this second Princess ship situation.  Too many resources to devote to people who are now willingly putting themselves into risky situations for leisure travel.

 

2 minutes ago, JOHN474 said:

 

It will be difficult for cruise lines to get financial support. Most are not US or European corporations, rather Panama, Liberia etc. How can governments like US ... justify giving help to companies that do not pay US or European taxes etc?

Excellent point, this will take smarter minds then mine. Let’s hope they are working on it. 

[LMaxwell]

6 minutes ago, JOHN474 said:

 

It will be difficult for cruise lines to get financial support. Most are not US or European corporations, rather Panama, Liberia etc. How can governments like US ... justify giving help to companies that do not pay US or European taxes etc?

The prudent thing is looking at how to shore up the double whammy Florida is about to take; job loss from service level workers that will not be needed and can not easily find substitute jobs since we are a tourism based economy, not industrial or manufacturing.  And the second side of that is going to be the huge loss of tax revenues for the state since we do not have a state income tax and rely on tourism out of state visitors and their sales tax dollars.  

 

This administration would not and should not bail out the foreign flagged cruise lines. THAT is the kind of socialism people are afraid of occurring. They chose to operate their business in a way that skirted regulation, labor laws, and taxes to their benefit for decades; they have had a half a decade plus of unprecedented booming revenue, profits, and C-suite compensation packages.  That it took all of 3 days for the industry to start panic borrowing and desperately holding on to every dollar they can keep from consumers is shocking.  

[[g]cruiserke]

9 minutes ago, JOHN474 said:

 

It will be difficult for cruise lines to get financial support. Most are not US or European corporations, rather Panama, Liberia etc. How can governments like US ... justify giving help to companies that do not pay US or European taxes etc?

 

The ships are flagged in those countries, but aren't the companies themselves mostly US based?

[Babr]

3 minutes ago, actdir said:

Woudn't the cruise lines benefit from people claiming the insurance?  Then maybe the insurance companies might go out of business.  Oh the implications of this.

Insurance will not pay if the policyholder has otherwise been compensated. Many policies will not pay if the cruise line cancels, probably because the cruise line makes restitution unless it goes bankrupt. That isn’t covered either, but if you think your insurance will give you a better reimbursement, ask them how to file a claim under the current circumstances. 

 

I’m sure the cruise lines are offering credits to everyone impacted as a goodwill gesture. Probably a lot did not buy insurance. This is an unexpected event that caught everyone.

[CAicruiser]

My Celebrity Reflection will be sailing tomorrow.

I will be flying out in 2 hours time.

[JOHN474]

4 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

The prudent thing is looking at how to shore up the double whammy Florida is about to take; job loss from service level workers that will not be needed and can not easily find substitute jobs since we are a tourism based economy, not industrial or manufacturing.  And the second side of that is going to be the huge loss of tax revenues for the state since we do not have a state income tax and rely on tourism out of state visitors and their sales tax dollars.  

 

This administration would not and should not bail out the foreign flagged cruise lines. THAT is the kind of socialism people are afraid of occurring. They chose to operate their business in a way that skirted regulation, labor laws, and taxes to their benefit for decades; they have had a half a decade plus of unprecedented booming revenue, profits, and C-suite compensation packages.  That it took all of 3 days for the industry to start panic borrowing and desperately holding on to every dollar they can keep from consumers is shocking.  

 

Agreed. I can see financial help to US citizens and US businesses hurt ... but not for foreign corporations. Of course that could hurt my FCC's.

[LMaxwell]

2 minutes ago, [g]cruiserke said:

 

The ships are flagged in those countries, but aren't the companies themselves mostly US based?

 

The way they operate is the US based headquarters is basically a hotel management / logistics company.  The ships are their own entities under the holding corp and leased back to the US based business for use.  On each ship you can usually find a vessel information sheet that lists the owners.  For instance, for years Brilliance of the Seas was owned by "Halifax Leasing Ltd"  that sort of thing. 

[LMaxwell]

Just now, JOHN474 said:

 

Agreed. I can see financial help to US citizens and US businesses hurt ... but not for foreign corporations. Of course that could hurt my FCC's.

 

I said in other posts, I'll say it here; The Florida Legislature has ignored the will of the voters multiple times on a certain revenue generating cash crop.  They may not be able to ignore it any more as they will now need that sales tax revenue.  I am not sure what an economic stimulus for Florida looks like, but you can't retrain people in a day and create new industries.  

 

What happens when the virus makes its way to the Villages and quickly overwhelms all healthcare providers?  Or when people at Disney start to get ill? I guess that's the third mega whammy (although probably the first to materialize before job loss and revenue loss).   

[neilrr]

30 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

I’m sure all the cruise lines will follow. Princess is owned by Carnival so I expect Cunard, Costa, HAL and Carnival to be next since they are all part of that cruise family. Then there will be pressure on the Royal family, NCL, MSC, etc. to do the same. They are all likely scrambling to create their cancellation plans as we speak.

WonderMan3 - I totally agree with you. We live in S. FL and are scheduled to leave on the Edge 3/22/20. We will see what RCCL/Celebrity does. They definitely are meeting, as we speak, to see what they can do re: cancellation plans...

Edited March 12, 2020 by neilrr

[cruiserchuck]

According to its most recent SEC Annual Report, "Royal Caribbean was founded in 1968 as a partnership. Its corporate structure has evolved over the years and, the current parent corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., was incorporated on July 23, 1985 in the Republic of Liberia under the Business Corporation Act of Liberia. . . .   Our ships are registered in the Bahamas, Malta or in the case of our ships operating in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador."

[smogfarmgirl]

Just now, neilrr said:

We live in S. FL and are scheduled to leave on the Edge 3/22/20. We will see what RCCL/Celebrity does. They definitely are meeting, as we speak, to see what they can do...

We are waiting too, scheduled to leave the day after you.  The sooner they announce the plan, the better...we will still need a vacation, and all available funds are tied into this.  We'd still like to vacation here in SoFlo, put some money into our service industry.  Maybe if we locals with potentially cancelled cruises can still do a little something here it will help out.

[JOHN474]

I expect DISNEYWORLD to close within days. How can they justify keeping it open, when some US states are banning groups of 250 or more folks. Just like a cruise ship, Disneyworld can not prevent infected individuals from entering the park, as some infected individuals do not have visible or measurable symptoms.