When will low passenger cruises end?

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, At Sea At Peace said:

They will have to soon 'fess up

The Q3 SEC filing may show something - should be out in late October.

[HEATH3913]

Not going to lie. I am glad I am using all my FCC in three weeks. It appears cruise lines are having way too hard of a time selling right now considering how many people have FCC from the last 18 months.

[ampurp85]

 RCG isn't in the business of releasing capacity until someone on the ship says it. So if you read the live blogs you will find out what the number is. I am told this weeks Allure has 2300, odyssey has around 1400, I think I read that Oasis is sailing with 2600, don't quote me but you get the gist. Basically they are all currently sailing below 50% With it being shoulder season, I expect they will stay that way until a Thanksgiving sailing.

[Iamcruzin]

1 hour ago, gretchengao said:

I have a different question: We are going to sail on the New Year's eve Cruise this year. I wonder if they are going to enforce capacity limit and kick me out of my booked cruise? Right now they do not have that problem (capacity is naturally low). But not for holiday sailings, it looks like my holiday cruise is pretty booked at this point. 

Probably booked to the lower capacity limit and not the usual 104% fully booked pre covid.1

[cruizzing]

3 hours ago, kruzerci said:

Lol. No just way more people. We had fun but wouldn’t repeat the weekend. Way too many people for the protocols in place. Over 50% occupancy but less than 50% of pool chairs and tables/seats open. It was disappointing. 

Sorry it was disappointing.  We're planning on this one in January, so hearing this worries me a little.  Heard your Nassau day was cancelled? How long in advance were you notified? We were on Mariner this weekend, but did go to Nassau.  Wonder why she made the cut to go to port as opposed to Freedom, and if having the sea day contributed to your experience, whereas we had people off the ship on both full days? 

[Iamcruzin]

14 minutes ago, HEATH3913 said:

Not going to lie. I am glad I am using all my FCC in three weeks. It appears cruise lines are having way too hard of a time selling right now considering how many people have FCC from the last 18 months.

If it wasn't for all of the unused FCCs I wonder how many would be willing to cruise right now. Not me. It's too much of a crap shoot with changing rules and itineraries. I'm not one to sit on my balcony and watch the world go by or people watch.  There doesn't seem to be many people to watch on some of these sailings anyway.

[smplybcause]

2 hours ago, Deez123 said:

Completely agree.   Our cruise 2 weeks away was great; but shows were a mess at 28% ship capacity.   How the heck can they get even close to full without p*ssing off all the passengers.     RCL should be happy with break-even for awhile.   Better than bleeding cash.

 

On Mariner in the vax section in the theater the only thing blocked was the first two or three rows. They made an announcement to keep two chairs between you and the next group but no one was enforcing it. Tables were blocked in Windjammer but in main dining you were sitting a foot away from the next occupied table in mtd. No bar seats were blocked off. Tables were blocked off in the cafe but not in the bars. They did have fewer lounge chairs than normal on deck, but there was no attempt to distance them beyond there being less. Though they were distanced on coco. There also wasn't always someone checking at the vax only places. 

 

Windjammer was the only place where there was a wait and that was at 50% capacity. 

[Cmackdaddy]

We were on the Independence 8/22 and there were 1072 passengers. Ship was like a ghost town. I loved it but realize RCCL can't stay in business at those levels. We have 8 more booked through '22 and expect to see full or close to capacity next year.

[ampurp85]

I think they will be under 50% until Dec 31st....that's when the current covid related CWC protocols will expire. I cannot image them continuing to offer refunds, private flight etc. when capacity is over 50%

 

The higher the pax count, the more probability of people catching covid because there will be less "space" available. I don't just mean from a logistical standpoint but with time and crew.

[pcur]

All I could think of when I read the title of this thread was, "NO cruise line wants to go through the bad press and media attention they got in March 2020, stuck outside of port, quarantining bunches and bunches of passengers because of a COVID outbreak".  This isn't about revenue, or people not wanting to book, this is about keeping the Feds and their future revenue happy.

[ReneeFLL]

11 hours ago, tampadee said:

We are scheduled October 23 on Odyssey.  Will this be back to regular amount of passengers?

No one knows for sure at what capacity any of the ships will be sailing in the near future. Someone would have to be in the know like an employee.

[Biker19]

7 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Someone would have to be in the know like an employee.

Even they won't know - with the new protocols (2 days COVID test) and other factors, you won't know how many are on the ship till you sail away.

[Slidell_Cruiser]

There is low demand, no one is being turned away.

You can book any cruise any week.

If these protocols are the new normal, agree with them or not, we may never see a full sail again, plus, I’m afraid it’s economically unsustainable.

Stay Safe all..

[bucfan2]

1 hour ago, Slidell_Cruiser said:

There is low demand, no one is being turned away.

You can book any cruise any week.

If these protocols are the new normal, agree with them or not, we may never see a full sail again, plus, I’m afraid it’s economically unsustainable.

Stay Safe all..

Indeed. Just upgraded a free 7nt (port fees only) from an interior to a balcony for $77 for the two of us….yes, just over $5/day/pp to upgrade a free cruise.  I’m not an economist….and nor do I need to be to understand that those numbers won’t/can’t be sustained indefinitely. 

 

This is much less expensive than cruising their 'maskless' sister line we cruised on a month ago....oh wait, of course it is.  IMO, the general public will not heavily support these protocols when other vacation options/lines (including RCCL's sister) have more attractive protocols.

Edited September 7, 2021 by bucfan2

[jean87510]

16 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

422 on Adventure this week. The ship is a ghost town.

good.  hope it stays like that thru November.  🙏

[billslowsky]

12 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

If it wasn't for all of the unused FCCs I wonder how many would be willing to cruise right now. Not me. It's too much of a crap shoot with changing rules and itineraries. I'm not one to sit on my balcony and watch the world go by or people watch.  There doesn't seem to be many people to watch on some of these sailings anyway.

Not me either.  And I'm not flying to a port city with the logistics required.  If something were available that I could drive to in the northeast, I'd consider it, but not for some 7 day trip with stripped-down services for two days at a cruise line owned island.  Like going to EPCOT and being told you've been to a foreign country, no thanks.

[bajathree]

I was on the very first sailing post covid from the US on Celebrity edge. We had around 1500 aboard and it was a bit quiet but nice. Almost always had your own elevator. The irony was they had suites at pretty much 100% so the retreat felt like normal. 

Will be on Odyssey Sat for the 8 night. This weeks 6 night is reported around 1700 but the prior 8 night sailed at just around 500. Will be interesting to see if this 8 night sails at only around 500.

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, jean87510 said:

good.  hope it stays like that thru November.  🙏

If numbers stay as is, the count towards the end of November might be 0 as in not sailing.

[jean87510]

1 minute ago, grandgeezer said:

If numbers stay as is, the count towards the end of November might be 0 as in not sailing.

i doubt it but we shall see.