Royal and NCL "Healthy Sail Panel"

[dkjretired]

Royal Caribbean and NCL created a "Health Sail Panel"

 

https://www.rclcorporate.com/royal-caribbean-group-and-norwegian-cruise-line-holdings-form-healthy-sail-panel/

 

Just curious, could this be a first step to a merger.......

Edited July 6, 2020 by dkjretired

[TeeRick]

7 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

Royal Caribbean and NCL created a "Health Sail Panel"

 

https://www.rclcorporate.com/royal-caribbean-group-and-norwegian-cruise-line-holdings-form-healthy-sail-panel/

 

Just curious, could this be a first step to a merger.......

I do not take it to be a step toward merger.  But a good idea.  My guess is that perhaps Carnival will join.  It is better than just guidelines from CLIA as it has external experts and health experts involved.

[C-Dragons]

More info from the X website.

The entire 7 page article can be read at www.celebritycruisepresscenter.com

 

 

[bEwAbG]

I don't' think this has anything to do with a merger.  Lots of industries are essentially doing the same thing with hiring experts to figure out a way forward.  Strength in numbers and it costs less than each company doing it on their own.  The leadership makeup of this one are professional lobbyists.

[Cruising89143]

I wonder why Carnival Corp. is/was not included? I think it would be better if all were putting forth a united plan of action. 

[deliver42]

Carnival, all of a sudden, seems to be marching to the beat of a different drummer.

[gerelmx]

By the end of August the panel hopes to provide the initial recommendations to cruise operators.

 

Hope we can cruise soon.

Edited July 6, 2020 by gerelmx

[bikerunner]

This would go hand and hand with the letter received from Celebrity.  I do not think it has anything to do with a merger working together.  Neither company has assets to be able to do it economically.  Will see what happens with it but its a step in the direction needed.  Changes of who knows what will be happen 

[ipeeinthepool]

How's this for a euphemism?   "we're still defining all those enhancements"  Who's looking forward the Covid enhancements?

[Georgia_Peaches]

I don't think it's a tell for a merger.  I think it's a smart move to join forces with the key players though.  This effort will ensure consistency and has the potential to play well for the industry as they collectively seek to begin sailing again.

 

With everyone having to do the same work, it makes sense to work smarter instead of harder.  In this case, the more people you have sitting around the table, the better the chances of leaving no stone unturned.  I think this is a very smart move.

[Georgia_Peaches]

32 minutes ago, bikerunner said:

This would go hand and hand with the letter received from Celebrity.  I do not think it has anything to do with a merger working together.  Neither company has assets to be able to do it economically.  Will see what happens with it but its a step in the direction needed.  Changes of who knows what will be happen 

Interesting that this announcement comes on the heels of the EU release of its 49 page document on forthcoming changes to cruising from European ports.  I hope this panel of experts isn't entertaining some of those measures...

[Georgia_Peaches]

4 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

I wonder why Carnival Corp. is/was not included? I think it would be better if all were putting forth a united plan of action. 

Agree.  Seems short sited on their part not to join the other two.  There's strength in numbers and from my perspective, Carnival has nothing to lose and everything to gain by joining the group.

[Seacruise]

5 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

I wonder why Carnival Corp. is/was not included? I think it would be better if all were putting forth a united plan of action. 

This WTTC and Carnival Corporation Present COVID-19 Scientific Summit could have something to do with it for now.

[Baron Barracuda]

Working together allows them to submit a common proposal to CDC.  Prevents CDC from nit-picking differences between proposals.

[Ride-The-Waves]

Way too much politics in this.  One from Dubya's administration and the other from the current.  Yet, no one from the US Navy or other navies.  This is all political fluff and nothing more.  Very bad choice of participants.  Maybe wise that Carnival Corp is not involved.

[Fouremco]

2 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Way too much politics in this.  One from Dubya's administration and the other from the current.  Yet, no one from the US Navy or other navies.  This is all political fluff and nothing more.  Very bad choice of participants.  Maybe wise that Carnival Corp is not involved.

I have great respect for the navies of this world, but I'm curious as to what value added you believe that they could bring to the table.

[chengkp75]

14 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Interesting that this announcement comes on the heels of the EU release of its 49 page document on forthcoming changes to cruising from European ports.  I hope this panel of experts isn't entertaining some of those measures...

The cruise lines were major participants in the working group that created the EU's interim guidelines, and those recommendations are very similar to what the CDC is looking for, so I would say that the odds of them "entertaining" most of "those measures" to be quite high.

 

I don't see any inkling of a merger, I see an industry coming together to form a basis for knowledge exchange, much as is done at the USCG Cruise Vessel Center of Expertise, where cruise lines and maritime safety professionals get together to determine industry best practices.

11 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Way too much politics in this.  One from Dubya's administration and the other from the current.  Yet, no one from the US Navy or other navies.  This is all political fluff and nothing more.  Very bad choice of participants.  Maybe wise that Carnival Corp is not involved.

As another poster has said, there is very little that the naval services of the world could bring to the table on this subject.  First off, naval vessels have a different mission, and therefore different design, from quarters to HVAC to sanitation, to medical, that deals almost entirely with that primary mission of combat, not housing and entertaining thousands of civilians, who likely won't "follow orders".  Secondly, lets look at the US Navy's handling of covid outbreaks, to see how much expertise they brought to the table.

 

I disagree with your assessment of the participants.  You have some epidemiologists and infectious disease experts, some hospitality industry experts, and some cruise line experts.  This gives you input on "what needs to be done" by the scientists and doctors, and "what can be done physically and financially" by the hospitality and cruise line experts.

 

I also see this as a potential joining of forces to share the burden of the CDC mandated "hospital", "quarantine", and "accommodation" ships that the CDC is currently mandating, by utilizing assets across more than one fleet.

[hcat]

As always..good thoughts!

Hopefully , the advisors  decision makers have cruised a few times and not  as VIPs!

[ew101]

Chengkp is right.  The idea is to band together and make (big) industry wide safety changes.  And have standardization of protocols.  And it sounds like mutual aid for problems.  Which has been the Law of the Sea forever - helping vessels/mariners in distress.  

 

I would personally like to see an "arms race" across the lines for who can make the safest ship.  (And the one with the lowest emissions but that is off topic).    

[Georgia_Peaches]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

The cruise lines were major participants in the working group that created the EU's interim guidelines, and those recommendations are very similar to what the CDC is looking for, so I would say that the odds of them "entertaining" most of "those measures" to be quite high.

Well, actually I think most interim measures are quite do-able.  However, there is one guideline calling for the separation of passengers by age demographic.  Of course more would need to be revealed on how this would work.  It would be very difficult for multi-generational families to sail together unless they are considered a travel bubble and allowed to remain together.  Separation by age poses many problems in my mind so I guess if that's the case, for the immediate future at least, it would prevent many from cruising.

 

[cangelmd]

This is the most encouraging piece of news I’ve seen to date.

 I don’t know anything about ship operations or hotel admin, but I know that everyone else on that list is a fairly heavy hitter in the scientific/epidemiology world, and they even included a pathology person as one of the MDs!

There are some people with CDC inside ties and HHS connections - I know for many people that brings up conspiracy ideas and quid pro quo, but it is also true that if you don’t speak the language of HHS and CDC, your plan isn’t going to get very far.

As for Carnival, whether they truly were less compliant or not, their corporation is the face of the cruise ship pandemic, and it may be that through CLIA, they chose to stick to the international scientific summit (which may be where this working group gets a lot of the scientific legwork done in a single document), in an attempt to avoid controversy.

As for the navy, the military always has something to offer in any logistics discussion, but I would think that it would more apply to crew than anything else on a passenger vessel.

 

 I read this as CDC kinda saying, “we don’t have time or manpower to deal with you people, you need to present us with a plan, but it better pass muster with a lot of infectious dz and epidemiology experts or you’re wasting your time”.

[TeeRick]

The more experts from different interested areas that are assembled on committees, panels, seminars, whatever, to discuss recommendations to get cruising going again, the better.  The US CDC has its hands full in our country just trying to deal with the overall pandemic.  They are not focused on cruise ships- nor should they be - when our infection numbers continue to increase in certain regions of the country.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, cangelmd said:

I read this as CDC kinda saying, “we don’t have time or manpower to deal with you people, you need to present us with a plan, but it better pass muster with a lot of infectious dz and epidemiology experts or you’re wasting your time”

This has always been how the CDC operates, they set guidelines or requirements, and expect the industry to provide the best possible working solution.

[DCGuy64]

I watched a video yesterday on YouTube with the head of Royal Caribbean and Gov. Leavitt. They addressed the issue of Carnival not participating. I highly suggest people check it out. (it essentially boiled down to a "too many cooks" situation). Very informative and encouraging, the whole video is well worth watching.

[Baron Barracuda]

Fain and Del Rio just gave lengthy interview on CNBC.  Stated panel has been at work for two months.  Cruise lines and panel working "warmly" with CDC.  Their response to questions about masks, buffet and dealing with covid passengers was basically "we're interested in seeing what the panel comes up with".  Emphasized RCL still looking to provide a "marvelous" cruising experience, but doing it in  a healthy way.  Was not directly asked about re-start date but Fain said "we actually have a while because covid continues to expand so it will be  a while before we can come back into service.so we're taking advantage of that time to develop the very best kinds of protocols".  Doesn't sound optimistic for this fall.  Del Rio was asked about cash position.  He replied NCL was ok through 2021 but hopes to re-start much earlier than that. 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/07/07/royal-caribbean-and-norwegian-to-partner-on-health-protocols-for-cruises.html

Edited July 7, 2020 by Baron Barracuda