molecrochip

Despite the doom and gloom focused on Carnival and its debt pile, I thought this chart was interesting. It shows the three major cruise lines performance for the last months. What you will notice is that they track each other. Therefore the performance of Carnival's stock price has followed the rest of the market and not followed any particular concern about the group.

August float out and October Ems transfer are the dates I've heard so far.

The final Rotterdam cruise is 14 days.

@Snow Hill, you seem to misunderstand the purpose of the trial. It is not looking at whether removing pre-boarding testing increases the incidence of Covid full stop (i.e. during and post cruise). The trial is only concerned with whether the removal of testing increases Covid during the course of the cruise. Very much a valid trial. They have their control data and are now in their trial phase gathering comparative data. They do not need post cruising data as a comparative as that's not part of their control data.

Paul Ludlow actually commented on the staff shortages on his update this morning. As with the restart dates - little point mentioning publicly a date and then missing it. Yes, the debts are what cause the need for an adjustment in price. The rest will impact on future profitability but moving into profitability has been the biggest task since restart.

Enchanted?

Great comment. There is currently nothing that is causing comments such as 'struggling to survive', its just a very different company financially to what is was 3 years ago. That requires an adjustment in stock price. The company has $7bn in the bank, a +ve balance sheet, reduced operational costs from ditching the older ships. The real only question is how quickly the economy/covid will allow passengers to return in order that they can pay down the debt.

Just to add, that formal service dress is acceptable (although no ceremonial blades, if applicable).

This was/is a first stage trial across Iona/Rotterdam. Rotterdam's last cruise in the trial is 14 days long. This trial is focused on determining whether pre-cruise testing stops a bigger outbreak during the cruise. The "problem" is that once someone disembarks the ship, steps away from the bubble, the likelihood that Covid +ve is caused by the cruise diminishes. Someone who tests positive three days later might have picked it up on their 3 hour train journey home or in Tesco later that day whilst doing their shopping. I thought I had read that if you were back to back on the same ship then you only had a test at the start of your first cruise therefore this isn't affected. I hope your wife is fully recovered. The problem with Covid is that whilst it is most likely to have caused the infection of 14 other people, unless those 14 other people were solely in contact with your wife and did not leave the same house, there will have been other contact points (shops, transport, places of work, the petrol station, the postman etc. etc.) which could also be to blame. Maybe not in all cases but in a few of those 14 with somewhat co-incidental timing. A very long way of saying, this is why the trial is interested in results which it has a degree of control over.

I can confirm. Arcadia didn’t leave the dockside. It was to ensure crew were up to speed.

My information is correct. 12+ must be vaccinated. P&O said: "All guests aged 12 to 15 years need to be fully vaccinated* with an approved COVID-19 vaccine a minimum of 14 days prior to travel. A booster vaccine is not required." School vaccinations stopped in April 2022 when the NHS vaccination program took over vaccinating 5+ as there was slack in the system. Details on how to book are here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-for-children/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-for-children-aged-5-to-15/

I'm pleased to read you had a good time - and great to hear about it too. An awful lot of people are having great fault free holidays. Its just not interesting reading most of the time.

Yes, you can buy the children's drink package without buying an adults drink package. If you do buy the Ultimate package for your adults, you get the children's package for free for any kids in your cabin. You can also buy the children's drink package for adults and the Non-Alcoholic package for children (if they like Mocktails/Costa Coffe/TeaPigs Tea's or bottled water.

So a little more background to this. Iona (P&O) is the first ship to trial, with Rotterdam (HAL) being the second ship to trial. There are a number of similarities. Essentially, all the cruises go to Norway, who have provided their agreement for the trial. (One HAL cruise also calls in the UK). The cruises also return to home ports (Southampton/Amsterdam) where there is no inbound testing/vaccine requirement. The purpose is to collect data to support removing the testing mandate altogether. Can it be shown that without testing, Covid onboard is no worse then with testing? To support this, I would expect there will be cruises following the tests which revert to mandatory testing. As the before and after provide control data (in an ever moving field). Additionally, the trials stop before the main school holidays when unvaccinated numbers rocket, although its worth noting a lot of the "unvaccinated" kids will have had their first jab now as the 5+ program started in April. In other, but related news, all brands operating out of the UK have now aligned their vaccination policies. Princess had required vaccinations for 5+ but, in line with Cunard an P&O, have changed this to 12+. Testing requirements still vary.

In response to feedback, all speciality restaurants are now not opening for booking in advance until a lot nearer sailing to avoid people booking and being cancelled. This is once crew availability schedules are more final. Also, cruises due to depart soon appear to now be book on board and the emails are going out to explain the situation.

Its better that they cancel a three day cruise than have to cancel another two week cruise later to finish the work. Its not utter contempt, its unfortunate. I'm keen to know what other post dry dock cruises have been cancelled in recent years. I don't recall any. The only actual cancellation I remember (pandemic excluded) was Ventura when she had engine problems in Tenerife back in 2019. Once someone has booked a cruise, it will always be too late to announce a cancellation however it has always happened in the cruise industry. In fact, the American based lines are the worst as they don't schedule dry docks as far out therefore normally always have to cancel multiple cruises once they schedule them in.

I believe Brexit supply chain issues were causing problems with the dry dock in Northern Ireland so that was 'abandoned' late on and Hamburg was found as a suitable solution. Sadly, its still not been possible to finish the works in time.

I've spoken to someone who disembarked and their view was very different. No afternoon tea, rubber collapsible kettles, crew and passengers coughing everywhere (high level of covid?), bar service a bit poor and surprisingly very little by way of hand sanitising stations. I'm not writing this to disagree with you view - I'm glad you were impressed. But it shows how two people travelling on the same ship at the same time can have very different views. I think the afternoon tea point is interesting as this is happening both on Princess and P&O and, for me, is a clear indicator of staff shortages. It seems key staff issues are either galley or waiting staff.

Its partly because Princess were crewed up in anticipation of having one more ship back in service by now but that's not happened. As for food shortages, its menu/brand specific. I understand that Emerald, sailing out of Southampton has been subject to speciality restaurant closures however she is sailing fairly full so staff are need in the MDR for example. On Enchanted, their sailings are not as full given that they only went on sale in March accordingly its easier to spread staff around without a noticeable impact on service.

I must remember, quick replies are never the thing to do. Sorry to anyone offended. I was focused on the comment that it was false advertising by showing restaurants that P&O know are closed. My point, made badly, was that cruise personaliser doesn't list these restaurants as open. It just lists the restaurants that are on the ship. They could be closed, fully booked or available to book on board. What I am seeing more and more is a passenger expectation that things are back to the pre-pandemic ways of working. This is despite being told that there are changes. Unfortunately, I fear we have these difficult times for a little longer.

Nothing to do with varying numbers of passengers on board. You crew up for the ship as even at 50% full, you still need the majority of your crew in the event of an emergency. You can't just move staff between ships. When new crew join any ship (or even re-join), they need to undergo a number of days of familiarisation - of the ship, the safety procedures, their specific role etc. Yes, additional staff have been, and continue to be recruited. Not at all. Arcadia was delayed once and the decision was made not to delay again. There are new crew joining all the time but perhaps just not as quickly as liked. Additionally, you can't account for someone testing positive the day before flying. It's not a case of having a hotel full of spare crew sat in Southampton. Also, the problem is not just staff, its supply chain too

Cruise personaliser had been listing 'enquire on board'. That doesn't say open, it says ask.

Would expect Aurora to leave Hamburg on Saturday.

That said, I believe that P&O is second behind CCL in % of available cabins occupied. In the investor call, it was actually noted that the UK brands had bounced back almost as well as CCL. Princess is hampered by its Asia/Oz market being closed still. Aida has been caught by the slower release of restrictions in Germany. Costa is hurting from having ships for China/South America it can't sail and also from the fact that its core market is Mediterranean, often fly to cruise, and Eastern European. So many smaller issues affecting Costa.

Maybe, but the ratios are in line with U.K. legislation for childcare settings. Having legally applicable operating practices in the kids club has always been a cornerstone in P&Os offering. Compromises can be made in some areas (stewards, bar staff etc.) but this isn’t one.