Costa Magica to Carnival Fleet

[KmomChicago]

On 5/14/2022 at 11:05 AM, toad455 said:

Still nothing from Carnival about this ship...

 

I can't see why they would be in any hurry at this moment. The whole fleet, with the exception of this one oldish ship, is back in service and there have been reports of difficulty with staffing, and I expect after the summer high season boost, demand will continue to be depressed in fall. I don't think we are at the point where ships will be running full year round, even with Ultra cruises for the gamblers, without rock bottom pricing for probably another year during the off seasons. Celebration is coming which will add even more capacity.  

 

Stupid Covid keeps stubbornly hanging on, supply chain problems make it harder and more expensive to get the food and other materials needed to serve all us hungry customers. Some of the CC threads say Carnival maybe pushed too hard and too fast to deploy the fleet without being quite ready. In addition, they have other brands to keep pushing along under the corporate umbrella that have not quite fully resumed service. 

 

I don't agree or disagree with that, but if I were them, I wouldn't necessarily see any need to rush on figuring out what precisely to do with Magica right now.

[CarnivalShips480]

On 5/15/2022 at 1:23 PM, KmomChicago said:

 

I can't see why they would be in any hurry at this moment. The whole fleet, with the exception of this one oldish ship, is back in service and there have been reports of difficulty with staffing, and I expect after the summer high season boost, demand will continue to be depressed in fall. I don't think we are at the point where ships will be running full year round, even with Ultra cruises for the gamblers, without rock bottom pricing for probably another year during the off seasons. Celebration is coming which will add even more capacity.  

 

Stupid Covid keeps stubbornly hanging on, supply chain problems make it harder and more expensive to get the food and other materials needed to serve all us hungry customers. Some of the CC threads say Carnival maybe pushed too hard and too fast to deploy the fleet without being quite ready. In addition, they have other brands to keep pushing along under the corporate umbrella that have not quite fully resumed service. 

 

I don't agree or disagree with that, but if I were them, I wouldn't necessarily see any need to rush on figuring out what precisely to do with Magica right now.

Yeah, I forgot about the staffing issues. They really don't need another ship until October for Brisbane unless they are adding new cruises before that.

 

I guess its better for Carnival to not announce it than announce it and have to delay because they don't have enough crew....

[toad455]

Carnival may just wait until 2023 to deploy her at this point.

[kicia]

On 3/12/2022 at 10:20 AM, CarnivalShips480 said:

Was looking at European cruises on Pride and noticed that they only have bookings for summer 2022, so they toke down summer 2023 cruises.

We have 5 cruises on the Pride in the  summer of  2023 in Europe so I sure hope it is still sailing there.

[cruisingguy007]

3 hours ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

Yeah, I forgot about the staffing issues. They really don't need another ship until October for Brisbane unless they are adding new cruises before that.

 

I guess its better for Carnival to not announce it than announce it and have to delay because they don't have enough crew....

 

Having another ship online helps the balance sheets for Carnival, I think that's better for Carnival. Cruise ships are pretty much booked as scrap if they are not operational. They are specific purpose vessels, having an itinerary planned greatly increases their booked value in the debit/credit ledger as "projections" are allowed. 😉 

Edited May 16, 2022 by cruisingguy007

[Lane Hog]

My guess is they're watching to see how demand for Australia recovers.  It's been a little over two months since the ban was lifted, and the first departures aren't until October.  If demand is soft, there's not much need for another ship in that market.

[cruisingguy007]

1 minute ago, Lane Hog said:

My guess is they're watching to see how demand for Australia recovers.  It's been a little over two months since the ban was lifted, and the first departures aren't until October.  If demand is soft, there's not much need for another ship in that market.

 

They are basically giving away cruises for Australia, I've been getting them for a long time now. Airfare kills it for many of us and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Airfares will continue to rise if people pay them and we've seen the airlines will fly empty airplanes to keep their airport slots. It will be interesting to see airline passengers appetites for these increased fares and the competition from low cost carriers. Something has to give, question is what/who? The monthly plans (like Alaska is offering now) are an interesting concept taken from similar jet offering pre-pandemic. Interesting times.       

[KmomChicago]

2 hours ago, toad455 said:

Carnival may just wait until 2023 to deploy her at this point.

 

That's more what I am thinking. Celebration will be here in time to add capacity for Christmas and then you get 5 or 6 weeks of total dead time until spring break picks up leading into summer so I could definitely see a mid-February deployment making the most business sense. 

[BlerkOne]

Cuba might become an option for this ship. 

[KmomChicago]

3 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Cuba might become an option for this ship. 

 

I've been wondering a little about resumption of Cuba cruises but I think we are years away from that. Domestic and international politics are not swinging in that direction at all.

[maryann2]

2 hours ago, kicia said:

We have 5 cruises on the Pride in the  summer of  2023 in Europe so I sure hope it is still sailing there.

Carnival always has a hard time filling ships in Europe. Too much competition from the Carnival family. HAL Princess Costa Aida Cunard  P&O

[CDaze71]

@JohnGc here is post about the Costa Magica.

[CarnivalShips480]

19 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Cuba might become an option for this ship. 

why cuba and not US like other ships have been doing?

[tidecat]

2 hours ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

why cuba and not US like other ships have been doing?

With it being new inventory for Carnival Cruise Line, it wouldn't require shuffling other reservations around. Adding a larger ship to other itineraries can create excess supply. Older sister Carnival Sunshine has called at Havana before. That said, I don't think Cuba can be counted on in the near future.

[Beezo]

Obviously Carnival Corp has current and future fleet, but on thing to consider is Carnival Corp has a total of 8 ships on order across all brands. Based on current supply chain issues/inflation/political issues since the initial announcement, does it make sense to pull a ship from Costa at this point. The line already released Victoria, neoRomantica, Atlantic, and Mediterranea in the last two years.

 

Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival Celebration

Carnival Jubilee

 

Costa Cruises

NONE

 

Aida

NONE

 

Holland American

NONE

 

Cunard

Queen Anne

 

P&O Cruises

Arvia

 

P&O Australia

None

 

Princess Cruises

Sphere Class 1

Sphere Class 2

 

Seabourn

Seabourn Venture

Seabourn Pursuit

[BlerkOne]

20 hours ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

why cuba and not US like other ships have been doing?

Profit comes to mind. Could charge premium rates instead of giving cabins away.

 

Safety. As a destination, Cuba is a highly vaccinated country against Covid.

[Itried4498]

2 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Profit comes to mind. Could charge premium rates instead of giving cabins away.

 

Safety. As a destination, Cuba is a highly vaccinated country against Covid.

 

Cuba isn't happening.  Cruise ships were previously authorized to travel under people-to-people (educational & culture visit), but the Trump Administration suspended it and the Biden Administration has opted not to restore it.   None of the other categories re-authorized by the Biden Admin would qualify:

 

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-243?language=en_US

The 12 categories of authorized travel to Cuba are: family visits; official business of the U.S. government, foreign governments, and certain intergovernmental organizations; journalistic activity; professional research and professional meetings; educational activities; religious activities; public performances, clinics, workshops, athletic and other competitions, and exhibitions; support for the Cuban people; humanitarian projects; activities of private foundations or research or educational institutes; exportation, importation, or transmission of information or informational materials; and certain authorized export transactions. 

[CarnivalShips480]

2 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Profit comes to mind. Could charge premium rates instead of giving cabins away.

 

Safety. As a destination, Cuba is a highly vaccinated country against Covid.

Its just that I don't see them sending Magica to cuba when they don't do that with any other ship

[chengkp75]

I believe that Magica is too big for Havana harbor.

[tidecat]

27 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

I believe that Magica is too big for Havana harbor.

Carnival Sunshine was at least scheduled to go there before the ban was reinstated. She and Costa Magica should be the same size for docking purposes:

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2018/05/10/cuba-cruises-charleston-carnival-industry-first/597759002/

[CarnivalShips480]

Costa Magica left La Speza and is going to Naples

[KmomChicago]

1 hour ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

Costa Magica left La Speza and is going to Naples

What does that tell us?

[BlerkOne]

On 5/18/2022 at 2:48 PM, Itried4498 said:

 

Cuba isn't happening.  Cruise ships were previously authorized to travel under people-to-people (educational & culture visit), but the Trump Administration suspended it and the Biden Administration has opted not to restore it.   None of the other categories re-authorized by the Biden Admin would qualify:

 

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-243?language=en_US

The 12 categories of authorized travel to Cuba are: family visits; official business of the U.S. government, foreign governments, and certain intergovernmental organizations; journalistic activity; professional research and professional meetings; educational activities; religious activities; public performances, clinics, workshops, athletic and other competitions, and exhibitions; support for the Cuban people; humanitarian projects; activities of private foundations or research or educational institutes; exportation, importation, or transmission of information or informational materials; and certain authorized export transactions. 

Support for the Cuban people should be easy to qualify for and is the most popular. How you get to Cuba should be irrelevant - you can buy a plane ticket today. What you can't do is spend money at government owned properties.

 

What qualifies as support for the Cuban people?

 

 

Staying in a room at a rented accommodation in a private Cuban residence (casa particular), eating at privately-owned Cuban restaurants (paladares), and shopping at privately-owned stores run by self-employed Cubans (cuentapropista) are examples of activities that qualify for this general license.

[Itried4498]

17 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Support for the Cuban people should be easy to qualify for and is the most popular. How you get to Cuba should be irrelevant - you can buy a plane ticket today. What you can't do is spend money at government owned properties.

 

What qualifies as support for the Cuban people?

 

 

Staying in a room at a rented accommodation in a private Cuban residence (casa particular), eating at privately-owned Cuban restaurants (paladares), and shopping at privately-owned stores run by self-employed Cubans (cuentapropista) are examples of activities that qualify for this general license.

 

Tourism is explicitly banned (as an exemption), and the lion's share of businesses are owned by the Cuban government.  There's absolutely no way Carnival's going to provide (and continually update) a list of acceptable businesses to transact with, police its cruisers to ensure they're not visiting non-acceptable businesses / or just visiting the beach.

 

Cuba isn't happening.

[BlerkOne]

56 minutes ago, Itried4498 said:

 

Tourism is explicitly banned (as an exemption), and the lion's share of businesses are owned by the Cuban government.  There's absolutely no way Carnival's going to provide (and continually update) a list of acceptable businesses to transact with, police its cruisers to ensure they're not visiting non-acceptable businesses / or just visiting the beach.

 

Cuba isn't happening.

Mere details. There are flights daily from the US to Cuba. You just need to keep records for 5 years of what you did. Here is a guide:

https://www.tourepublic.com/blog/how-to-travel-to-cuba/

 

The main obstacle to cruising I see is the lawsuit against the cruise lines for using the dock in Havana and violating the policy they were supposed to follow. When that gets settled I see little to stop cruising from resuming. All it would take is a sharpie.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/2022/03/22/miami-judge-deals-major-blow-to-cruise-companies-that-traveled-to-cuba/