How Long is Too Long?

[jetsfan58]

Cruise fanatics good afternoon. With the Covid Virus looming larger each day, what would make better sense for Carnival? 

 

Do they start (whenever the Cruising resumes) with shorter (4 days or less) cruise ventures? Maybe starting with the 7+ day cruises will open them up to increasing possibilities of alarming rates of the Virus being spread? I know that the longer Cruises are more profitable for the organization; but are they healthier and safer?

 

Your input please?   

[Dave0311]

I think the first cruises will be short cruises (4 days or less). Those cruises will probably only go to private islands to minimize the amount of cruise passengers mingling with locals (less chance of spreading the virus). I'm not sure if there will be cruises out of ports that could not reach the private islands for a 4 day cruise at first. If things go well, they'll probably expand to short cruises to other ports that will accept cruise passengers. After that they'll return to longer cruises.

[Host Carolyn]

Please don't turn this into another mask, statistics, political debate or it will go poof. 

[jetsfan58]

Thanks Carolyn. Our Professional Cruisers will hopefully keep it on target. 

[beerman2]

Agree shorter (4 days) will probably go first to test the waters.

[Tapi]

Short cruises would make sense for the reasons that you present.  

 

It will be interesting to see how MSC cruises in the Mediterranean (scheduled to start in 5 days) go. Hopefully those cruises will proceed without a hitch, and the cruise lines on this side of the Atlantic will be able to learn from their procedures.

[Elvis1001]

I think they start with shorter 4-5 night cruises to build confidence that it can be done safely without the virus outbreaks and quarantining entire ships for 2 weeks again. After a few weeks of success the 7 night cruises can be added, but the itineraries may be fewer port days (2 private islands) and more sea days. I think cruising to traditional ports like Nassau/Cozumel is still doubtful in the near future. It would be great if Carnival, Royal, Disney, and Norwegian would share their private islands and have a 7-day cruise visit 4 or 5 private islands (but it will never happen). 

[PhillyFan33579]

2 hours ago, jetsfan58 said:

Cruise fanatics good afternoon. With the Covid Virus looming larger each day, what would make better sense f

Do they start (whenever the Cruising resumes) with shorter (4 days or less) cruise ventures? Maybe starting with the 7+ day cruises will open them up to increasing possibilities of alarming rates of the Virus being spread? I know that the longer Cruises are more profitable for the organization; but are they healthier and safer?

When I was at a Diamond party on Liberty last year,  the topic of short cruises vs. long cruises came up since Liberty has only been doing 3-4 day cruises for most of the last several years. The staff on the ship said that short cruises are very profitable and passengers on shorter cruises usually spend more money per day on the ship than passengers on longer cruises. I found that interesting since Carnival does not do things on shorter cruises like offer lobster in the MDR with no upcharge or host D&P parties. It would make sense, at least to me, to only start with short cruises, which should significantly cut down the chances of a major COVID-19 outbreak happening during the cruise. 

[Saint Greg]

I think longer are better to start with. They already are likely going to have more strict cleaning practices. Now you’re talking turning over the entire ship with those practices every 4-5 days instead of every 7 days. I think shorter cruises will be more stressful on the crew.
 

Edited August 10, 2020 by Saint Greg

[Kudos2Fly]

We had a 4 day booked back in June with the GrandKids, but got cancelled of course. We live in Florida. I personal don't know anyone that has come down with Covid 19. I have a LOT of second hand stories. But we just booked a 7 day on Mardi Gras. So Carnival is providing 7 day cruises. We do have the kids booked on this cruise and hoping to get other family members to come along. 

[PhillyFan33579]

2 hours ago, Kudos2Fly said:

We had a 4 day booked back in June with the GrandKids, but got cancelled of course. We live in Florida. I personal don't know anyone that has come down with Covid 19. I have a LOT of second hand stories. But we just booked a 7 day on Mardi Gras. So Carnival is providing 7 day cruises. We do have the kids booked on this cruise and hoping to get other family members to come along. 

Right now there is a BIG difference between booking a cruise and the cruise actually happening. From texting with the few officers I keep in contact with on Carnival ships, their plan for awhile has been to resume cruising with a limited number of ships only doing short cruises. As of a few days ago I heard that was still their plan, but they have no idea when Carnival will actually resume operations. 

[xDisconnections]

9 hours ago, jetsfan58 said:

Cruise fanatics good afternoon. With the Covid Virus looming larger each day, what would make better sense for Carnival? 

 

Do they start (whenever the Cruising resumes) with shorter (4 days or less) cruise ventures? Maybe starting with the 7+ day cruises will open them up to increasing possibilities of alarming rates of the Virus being spread? I know that the longer Cruises are more profitable for the organization; but are they healthier and safer?

 

Your input please?   

Short cruises can actually be more profitable with higher per diem rates and increased F&B spend onboard.

[xDisconnections]

12 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Right now there is a BIG difference between booking a cruise and the cruise actually happening. From texting with the few officers I keep in contact with on Carnival ships, their plan for awhile has been to resume cruising with a limited number of ships only doing short cruises. As of a few days ago I heard that was still their plan, but they have no idea when Carnival will actually resume operations. 

If that’s been determined to be the plan, it’s sad they are still selling longer cruises. But you know, if they believe what they’re selling will sail, I’m happy to relay that information to those concerned 😉 

[donnajo]

I disagree. A shorter cruise doesn't mean you have lower risk of being exposed. You are still with the same people, touching the same things etc. 

The only difference is that you would start symptoms once you are home instead of onboard. No way to even try to contain it then.

People not reporting it, would lead to false numbers of Covid free cruises as well.

I also feel that turning over a ship every few days is even more stressful for the staff.

Personally, if I am going to take the risk, I am sailing for at least a week.

[PhillyFan33579]

5 minutes ago, donnajo said:

I disagree. A shorter cruise doesn't mean you have lower risk of being exposed. You are still with the same people, touching the same things etc. 

The only difference is that you would start symptoms once you are home instead of onboard. No way to even try to contain it then.

People not reporting it, would lead to false numbers of Covid free cruises as well.

I also feel that turning over a ship every few days is even more stressful for the staff.

Personally, if I am going to take the risk, I am sailing for at least a week.

I think that’s the point, passengers wouldn’t show symptoms until they were off the ship. 

[sanger727]

3 hours ago, donnajo said:

???

 

If passengers become symptomatic and covid postive mid sailing - then the cruise lines have to worry about quarantines. If the sailing ends after 3 days, everyone goes home to their respective cities, a few people get sick and test positive - quarantining falls on them at home with their local health departments. I don't think the cruise lines want to be in the business of "containing" a spread. I think they want to be in the business of making a quick buck and sending people home so they can flip  the ship and start all over again. 

[jetsfan58]

That's the whole point for shorter cruises in the interim. So you limit and/or shorten the immediate exposure time.

 

This would actually be something that I would like to see analyzed. What is more profitable the longer or shorter cruises? I can certainly see where both are profitable in their own ways.

 

1). Shorter Cruises = Normally they are associated with the smaller fleet vessels. Less passengers. Less Crew and less overhead. Generally lower ticket rates and possibly some adventures may be lower. Maybe since the shortened nature of the Cruise people spend more readily to "hurry up" and consume the fun?  

 

2). Longer Cruises = Normally they are associated with the larger vessels. More passengers. More Crew and more overhead. Generally higher rates for tickets and possibly for some adventures. Maybe since the longer nature of the Cruise people spend at a "slower rate" knowing that they have more time to enjoy?  

[keywest1]

I agree that a major plus for shorter cruises would be less chance of being quarantined on the ship, which is my personal nightmare.

I have to wonder though if the crew being exposed to double the number of cruisers or more would be a bigger problem. (two sets of cruisers/week vs one set for a 7 day cruise).

[Kudos2Fly]

14 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Right now there is a BIG difference between booking a cruise and the cruise actually happening. From texting with the few officers I keep in contact with on Carnival ships, their plan for awhile has been to resume cruising with a limited number of ships only doing short cruises. As of a few days ago I heard that was still their plan, but they have no idea when Carnival will actually resume operations. 

True that there is a difference. When booking talking to the agent he said they are planning on sailing Mardi Gras in Feb, but only 70-75% of people on board. They may start out this year with only shorter cruises. But next year they will want to ramp up pretty quickly. He said Carnival had no plans to sail any of the ships full. Only 70--75% all of 2021.

[jetsfan58]

My intent was to start a conversation regarding a very serious part of coming back to Cruising. The cruise industry has many issues to debate prior to boarding any passengers. I am simply trying to gauge what do our Cruise family members think about Short or Long Cruises? How they will effect Carnival?

[HaveWeMetYet]

22 minutes ago, jetsfan58 said:

My intent was to start a conversation regarding a very serious part of coming back to Cruising. The cruise industry has many issues to debate prior to boarding any passengers. I am simply trying to gauge what do our Cruise family members think about Short or Long Cruises? How they will effect Carnival?

They have said short cruises to start and with a limited number of ships. Port stops will be either US ports or private islands if the country the private port is in allows it.

Also, no back to back cruising and cruise line port excursions only. No getting off and wandering around on your own.