What is happening to Grand Voyages?

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Does anyone have any numbers, or even an educated guess, indicating whether or nor HAL actually makes money from the Grand Voyages?

 

Following Captain Mercer's blog during the just completed GWV on the Amsterdam, he listed the amount of what just the fuel costs were.

 

With the problem reported by some of the GWV passengers regarding the internet, I'm sure there were concessions made by HAL, thus some of that income was negated.

 

I don't know if HAL makes money on the Grand Voyages but I suspect not. We were on the Holiday Cruise in December before the World and one of the dining room managers told us that there were 1014 on the 1st leg between Florida and Australia. Amsterdam capacity is 1380 so I wouldn't think there was much profit there.

 

Also today's posting of Bill and Mary Ann notes that the HM indicated that the Asia Pacific cruise this year was the last one.

[wander]

I am sad to hear of the demise of the Grand Asia-Pacific (or some version thereof) Cruise! I have been on it three times now and thought of going again in a few years. Guess I have to keep looking. For me it would not have to be a Grand cruise, of course that assumes it would cost less. But, I do love the long cruise, same ship, pretty much the same crew and many of the same folks. Oh well, things change. And, maybe it will be resurrected some year. Of my 550+ days on HAL it has by far been my favorite cruise for several reasons. (Actually I have enjoyed all my cruises, but this is the one I have repeated several times by choice.)

 

I loved being able to board and disembark on the West coast of the US. When ready I guess I will have to see what all is available that I could piece together to make the longer trip, although b2bs or whatever they call it now are just not the same as one long cruise with segments in my experience. (Differences? - Well for a few, food options each night do not repeat and in general neither does the entertainment on a long cruise with segments versus 2 or 3 or 4 cobbled together.)

Edited May 7, 2014 by wander

[USN59-79]

A better look at fuel costs: Wikipedia (I know) claims Amsterdam burns 140mt of fuel per day at 21 knots. A little research on my part, and this number holds up pretty well (perhaps a little conservative, but I'll give HAL this one). Today's bunker fuel price is $580/mt (average), so for every sea day, the ship will burn $82,000 in fuel, or nearly double the cruise watch figure. Theirs is an average, including port days, but a sea day intensive voyage like this would be closer to my figures, so there goes $30-35k of your profit. And fuel prices will only continue to rise.

 

Also realize that a voyage of this type requires storing at various places around the world, so the ship cannot take advantage of the bulk discounts most ships get from vendors because they are placing huge orders every week. And in some locations the Amsterdam would be taking huge amounts of supplies from the local economy, so a premium price would be paid for food.

 

Most cruises cover the overhead with cabin prices. Profit generally comes from onboard revenue only. I assume that HAL would adjust the price on select cruises like these Grands to ensure a better profit, but I don't believe they would be making more than 10% (at the very best) before onboard revenue.

 

On the last Grand World Cruise Capt. Mercer mentioned that the cost for fuel was $6 million. They went roughly 30,000 miles, so it costs about $200. per mile to run the Amsterdam. The food served is better and presumably more costly than normal voyages. Most of it is shipped in refrigerated containers from the USA. The Hotel Director mentioned that since we unexpectedly missed two ports in Africa (due to the ebola outbreak) they had a container waiting for us there that couldn't be trans-shipped to us. It was $60K worth of food that had to be sold locally for about $2K. The ship was never completely full and many passengers that booked at the last minute paid much less than the advertised price. With all the extras involved, such as paying for Bishop Desmond Tutu and his entourage to come aboard for a few days, I doubt that HAL made a profit on the Grand Voyage.

[twodogmom]

The World Cruise 2014 was not Grand in my opinion. The gifts over all were few and far between, and many of low quality. They said they wouldn't give as many, but they would be better gifts. This was far from true. To add insult to injury they gave us a huge and heavy book about Tutu. I'm sure they paid quite a bit for it. That was certainly not a grand gift. In addition, they changed tradition, by not giving us the gifts on formal nights. This was probably so we would realize how few we received or how bad and cheap they were.

 

Paying $100,000 for Desmond Tutu to come on board was excessive. I'm not sure how many rooms were occupied by he and his family, or the singers that came on. Being at sea one extra day from Durban to Cape Town could have given us more time in Cape Town.

 

Both the CEO of HAL and Carnival were on board for Tutu's visit. The HAL CEO announced that they were not having the Grand Asia, nor were they

changing the new policy of dumping everyone in Europe after the Grand Med.

 

They ended up discounting the internet people had used near the end to 50%. It was given as an on board credit. The way they handled the internet issue overall was very bad. I would have much rather had the old slower service, than not being able to send and receive emails for around 3 months. The new internet is and was horrible. It was a bad management act to put on a new system right before a world cruise.

 

The best things about the WC was the Captain, cruise director (Gene) and the staff. The worst were the shows and internet. In addition, we were lied to many times on the WC.

 

 

 

I did put a deposit for the WC 2016, unless they change it dramatically I will be cancelling my reservation.

[USN59-79]

The World Cruise 2014 was not Grand in my opinion. The gifts over all were few and far between, and many of low quality. They said they wouldn't give as many, but they would be better gifts. This was far from true. To add insult to injury they gave us a huge and heavy book about Tutu. I'm sure they paid quite a bit for it. That was certainly not a grand gift. In addition, they changed tradition, by not giving us the gifts on formal nights. This was probably so we would realize how few we received or how bad and cheap they were.

 

Paying $100,000 for Desmond Tutu to come on board was excessive. I'm not sure how many rooms were occupied by he and his family, or the singers that came on. Being at sea one extra day from Durban to Cape Town could have given us more time in Cape Town.

 

Both the CEO of HAL and Carnival were on board for Tutu's visit. The HAL CEO announced that they were not having the Grand Asia, nor were they

changing the new policy of dumping everyone in Europe after the Grand Med.

 

They ended up discounting the internet people had used near the end to 50%. It was given as an on board credit. The way they handled the internet issue overall was very bad. I would have much rather had the old slower service, than not being able to send and receive emails for around 3 months. The new internet is and was horrible. It was a bad management act to put on a new system right before a world cruise.

 

The best things about the WC was the Captain, cruise director (Gene) and the staff. The worst were the shows and internet. In addition, we were lied to many times on the WC.

 

 

 

I did put a deposit for the WC 2016, unless they change it dramatically I will be cancelling my reservation.

 

Altho we only took the second half, boarding in Hong Kong, I would respectfully disagree concerning the gifts. I love and will treasure the Tutu book; the two carry-on bags and the blue shoulder bags were very well made and useful and we particularly liked the HAL themed Steif teddy bears. The box of candy we received for Easter was also very nice. True, they made a big mistake with the new internet system, and I wasn't very impressed with the enrichment speakers or their subjects, but the excellent Captain and crew made it an enjoyable experience.

[chengkp75]

On the last Grand World Cruise Capt. Mercer mentioned that the cost for fuel was $6 million. They went roughly 30,000 miles, so it costs about $200. per mile to run the Amsterdam. The food served is better and presumably more costly than normal voyages. Most of it is shipped in refrigerated containers from the USA. The Hotel Director mentioned that since we unexpectedly missed two ports in Africa (due to the ebola outbreak) they had a container waiting for us there that couldn't be trans-shipped to us. It was $60K worth of food that had to be sold locally for about $2K. The ship was never completely full and many passengers that booked at the last minute paid much less than the advertised price. With all the extras involved, such as paying for Bishop Desmond Tutu and his entourage to come aboard for a few days, I doubt that HAL made a profit on the Grand Voyage.

 

That's the other side to obtaining food and supplies locally, and generally what most lines do to keep quality uniform. This then involves shipping the containers to the ports required, having them arrive in time, but not so far ahead that the food is damaged from long storage, or that the food is lost due to failure of the refrigeration system of the container. Refrigerated and frozen containers are "lost" due to mechanical or operational (power failures) all the time, whether in major ports like LA, or in third world ports. Can you imagine if a cruise ship reaches a port and the food has spoiled?

[whogo]

Altho we only took the second half, boarding in Hong Kong, I would respectfully disagree concerning the gifts. I love and will treasure the Tutu book; the two carry-on bags and the blue shoulder bags were very well made and useful and we particularly liked the HAL themed Steif teddy bears. The box of candy we received for Easter was also very nice. True, they made a big mistake with the new internet system, and I wasn't very impressed with the enrichment speakers or their subjects, but the excellent Captain and crew made it an enjoyable experience.

What do you do with it all? I am not ready for a world cruise, yet, but I already have more stuff than I know what to do with. I already have too many bags and books. I do not take Mariner tiles any longer. If I took the gifts, I would just be offering inconvenient transportation of them to Goodwill.

[Aruba]

I don't know if HAL makes money on the Grand Voyages but I suspect not. We were on the Holiday Cruise in December before the World and one of the dining room managers told us that there were 1014 on the 1st leg between Florida and Australia. Amsterdam capacity is 1380 so I wouldn't think there was much profit there.

While I've never (yet) done a world cruise, I have noticed on longer sailings (such as Atlantic Adventurer and Voyage of the Vikings) that there were far fewer people buying cocktails in Mix or Ocean Bar, or ordering wine bottles at dinner, or paying the surcharge for Pinnacle or Canaletto than on a typical 7-night cruise. That's got to hurt revenue also.

[summer slope]

To hijack this thread for a moment. I have a question. How do you pay your home expenses if you are gone 77 or more days? I'm looking at a 28 day cruise and am having problems figuring out how to pay the bills when I'm gone.

[chengkp75]

To hijack this thread for a moment. I have a question. How do you pay your home expenses if you are gone 77 or more days? I'm looking at a 28 day cruise and am having problems figuring out how to pay the bills when I'm gone.

 

As a merchant mariner who deals with single crew on a daily basis (and who are away from home for 5-6 months), the best way is to either set up auto payments (if your bank has online payment service, just set up the date you want the payment made, and base the amount on what you've paid in past months. You may overpay slightly, but that will just be credited on next months bill), or set up with your utilities to pre-pay enough to cover the month you will be gone.

[Aruba]

To hijack this thread for a moment. I have a question. How do you pay your home expenses if you are gone 77 or more days? I'm looking at a 28 day cruise and am having problems figuring out how to pay the bills when I'm gone.

I get most of my bills via email so I pay them electronically from the ship. For recurring payments, I set them up in advance through my bank's web-pay feature. Never had a problem.

[summer slope]

Thank you for your replies.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Someone reported on this year's Asia Pacific roll call, that his research showed that less than 60% of the cabins for that cruise had been booked at this point.

[TiogaCruiser]

Someone reported on this year's Asia Pacific roll call, that his research showed that less than 60% of the cabins for that cruise had been booked at this point.

 

I'm curious as to how one would know that unless they were a HAL employee high enough up to have that access.... And if they are, why would they discuss it?

[Stratheden]

To hijack this thread for a moment. I have a question. How do you pay your home expenses if you are gone 77 or more days? I'm looking at a 28 day cruise and am having problems figuring out how to pay the bills when I'm gone.

 

I am assuming you mean utilities expenses, power, water, rates, phone etc. In Australia all utility bills can be paid by direct debit from your bank account.

The utility company sends you a form that you can complete, allowing them to debit your account for the amount of your bill.

It is extremely common here. We do not personally pay any bills at all and haven't since about 2007.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Stratheden