Should Royal Caribbean suspend all cruises for 60days

[Blizzard54]

I am sitting here with cruises 43, 53 and 68 days out, waiting to see if we will be able to take any of them.

 

[Goodtime Cruizin]

5 hours ago, rolloman said:

You do realize they will soon have plenty of kits?With money to be made producing these kits I am confident it won’t be too long before you can go to any CVS and pick one up.

 

This is great news! I'll be able to get CV19 tests along w/ TP, and hand sanitzer too! Can't wait. 

[Miloomar]

5 hours ago, rolloman said:

You do realize they will soon have plenty of kits?With money to be made producing these kits I am confident it won’t be too long before you can go to any CVS and pick one up.

Cute that you believe that. If this was true, they would have been making them months ago 

[MoniMommy]

3 hours ago, mike123abc said:

The easiest/best financial thing for RCL (and other cruise lines) to do now is delay.

 

They all probably have plans now to close up shop for a period of time, but the longer they delay the announcement the more cash they can conserve.  If at this moment they do the Princess/Viking policy, they will start having to refund cash.  But, the phone lines are jammed with people voluntarily taking FCCs instead.

 

The faster they can process these FCC for customers calling in the more cash they can conserve, plus they are assured of a lot of bookings once the problem clears up.  This also has the added benefit not having to discount as much in the future since people will have to use these credits before they expire.

 

I know it is a bit cynical thinking this way.  Princess probably had so many cancellations with their bad press that they were probably at the point that cancelling did not cost them much actual cash.  Once the other lines reach the same point of minimal cash outlay for cancelling they will probably make the same announcement.

Good points. The FCC could have been a precursor to an eventual cancellation. Everyone thinks they are being generous and doing the right thing. When all along they were just plotting and calculating. We should have expected nothing less. I myself was torn between taking 50% refund and the rest as FCC or waiting to see if cruise could be cancelled allowing me to have a 100% refund. If I were a gambling person I would have waited it out. But I am not. I have already rebooked for September with a REFUNDABLE deposit. I have already marked my calendar for June 26, a few days before final payment. If the travel warning is still in effect I was cancel first a full refund. I dont want any more FCCs.

[tottenhamfc]

Barcelona now disallowing docking after Allure tomorrow. Until March 26. Spain is suffering a high incidence of cases and deaths in the last few days.

Edited March 13, 2020 by tottenhamfc
Missed a point

[firefly333]

Actually I heard last night that the drive thru test used in South Korea was defective and would not pass FDA approval.

 

Results will take 2 to 3 days for the foreseeable future...

 

[MoniMommy]

So many organizations from sports to Disneyland have close. Royal will close up shop too. The pressure will mount. I don't think even the cruise ship lobbyist can prevent a shitdown.

[rolloman]

7 minutes ago, Miloomar said:

Cute that you believe that. If this was true, they would have been making them months ago 

Wrong answer....they did not know the genetic makeup from the disease months ago....you can blame China for not sharing in a timely fashion. You can't make a test kit when  you don't know what it is to test.....

Edited March 13, 2020 by rolloman

[Miloomar]

1 minute ago, rolloman said:

Wrong answer....they did not know the genetic makeup from the disease months ago....you can blame China for not sharing in a timely fashion. You can'[t make a test kit when  you don't know what it is to test.....

How is it that Korea is testing 20,000 people a day then? What are they using? Do you think China shared with them and kept it a secret from the rest of the world?

 

With the way the administration hid from this, I expect nothing for at least 2-3 months

Edited March 13, 2020 by Miloomar

[Blizzard54]

6 minutes ago, Miloomar said:

Cute that you believe that. If this was true, they would have been making them months ago 

Until about a week ago the Federal Government did not allow anyone to make kits.  That is the main reason we have a shortage of test kits.

[awestover89]

So my original vote was no, but the more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards yes.

 

a) There's a ton of uncertainty, and if they don't suspend operations then pretty much everybody with a booked cruise is in limbo, not knowing if their cruise will go on, be changed, or be cancelled. If Royal were to suspend operations then at least the short term uncertainty would be cleared up.

 

b) Customer service agents are completely overwhelmed right now. Flat out cancelling instead of having everybody choose what do to will free up quite a few resources with Royal

 

c) With so many ports closing and travel restrictions, I feel it will look better if cancellation comes preemptively from Royal rather than suddenly forced at the last minute.

 

d) I feel there's a certain ethical responsibility to do everything within one's power to minimize the spread, and in this case that would involve the cruise lines voluntarily suspending operations until the spread is contained.

 

e) I feel cancelling will ultimately make the most sense financially for Royal. We've already seen Princess be sued by at least one passenger, if Royal continues to sail and has an outbreak I could see many more lawsuits. Not only from the people on board the ship, but potentially people in port cities who feel their health was put at risk by the cruise line's decisions. If a number of other cruise lines suspend operations and Royal doesn't, it will look even worse.

[rolloman]

1 minute ago, Miloomar said:

How is it that Korea is testing 20,000 people a day then? What are they using? Do you think China shared with them and kept it a secret from the rest of the world?

What do I think? I think your political bias is forcing you to view things in a skewed manner....

[Blizzard54]

Royal and Celebrity will now require a doctor to sign off one anyone over 70 to board a ship.

[firefly333]

Wrong quote, but this again is why we are not using south Korean test. Fda says defective.

 

Fda will not approve the test used in South Korea, they say its defective and doesnt meet FDA standards.

 

Question asked and answered on tv news. Others were asking too. 

 

Another company selling in other countries has a 90 minute test. 

 

Fda has to ok it. They said only approved test takes days for results

Edited March 13, 2020 by firefly333

[time4u2go]

2 minutes ago, Miloomar said:

How is it that Korea is testing 20,000 people a day then? What are they using? Do you think China shared with them and kept it a secret from the rest of the world?

Good point.  Dr. Fauci even stated that the U.S. has failed at producing enough test kits.

[MoniMommy]

Disneyland already closed. Now Disney World in FL is closing too. Disney Cruise line also hitting the pause button.

Edited March 13, 2020 by MoniMommy

[awestover89]

1 minute ago, Blizzard54 said:

Royal and Celebrity will now require a doctor to sign off one anyone over 70 to board a ship.

 

Carnival is requiring that as well, and is denying boarding to anybody with a chronic medical condition or who has been hospitalized in the past two months, with full refunds to any denied boarding, and FCCs to anybody in their group who chooses to cancel as well.

[emory2001]

Disney now closing cruises and Disney World: https://www.kpax.com/news/coronavirus/disney-to-close-theme-parks-cruise-lines-amid-coronavirus-spread

[firefly333]

15 minutes ago, Blizzard54 said:

Royal and Celebrity will now require a doctor to sign off one anyone over 70 to board a ship.

I see yikes. I for sure dont want a fcc now since I'm 69 now.

Edited March 13, 2020 by firefly333

[emory2001]

1 minute ago, firefly333 said:

Not a fact, just opinion 

 

 It's a fact: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/itinerary-updates

[AlohaBoundHK]

7 hours ago, gjkubel said:

I don't like it, but the truth is we all need to do our part to slow down the spread and that means all non-essential travel needs to be cancelled for the time being.  It's not enough to say I'm young and don't care or the odds are low I'll actually get sick.  With exponential growth we need to act swiftly and decisively.  I hope RCCL follows suit shortly here.  If they don't, something will force their hands sooner or later.  Be that the ships are too empty to be financially viable to sail or outbreaks occur on their ships and then the impact will be even worse.

Yes, this!  Just heard on the news that Disney World in Orlando (and Disney Land in CA) is closing...now that is big!

[MoniMommy]

12 minutes ago, awestover89 said:

So my original vote was no, but the more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards yes.

 

a) There's a ton of uncertainty, and if they don't suspend operations then pretty much everybody with a booked cruise is in limbo, not knowing if their cruise will go on, be changed, or be cancelled. If Royal were to suspend operations then at least the short term uncertainty would be cleared up.

 

b) Customer service agents are completely overwhelmed right now. Flat out cancelling instead of having everybody choose what do to will free up quite a few resources with Royal

 

c) With so many ports closing and travel restrictions, I feel it will look better if cancellation comes preemptively from Royal rather than suddenly forced at the last minute.

 

d) I feel there's a certain ethical responsibility to do everything within one's power to minimize the spread, and in this case that would involve the cruise lines voluntarily suspending operations until the spread is contained.

 

e) I feel cancelling will ultimately make the most sense financially for Royal. We've already seen Princess be sued by at least one passenger, if Royal continues to sail and has an outbreak I could see many more lawsuits. Not only from the people on board the ship, but potentially people in port cities who feel their health was put at risk by the cruise line's decisions. If a number of other cruise lines suspend operations and Royal doesn't, it will look even worse.

Disney cruise line has joined princess and viking. The dominos are falling. Its just a question of when not if they suspend operations. Which I had waited it out for a 100% refund in cash rather than 50% cash and FCC.

[jp2746]

We are trying so hard to get out on a ship for spring break.  We have had two cruises canceled and have rescheduled two cruises.  Now it looks like those will be canceled.  I guess I will give up. If Disneyland is closing down the world really is coming to an end.  

Edited March 13, 2020 by jp2746

[awestover89]

2 minutes ago, MoniMommy said:

Disney cruise line has joined princess and viking. The dominos are falling. Its just a question of when not if they suspend operations. Which I had waited it out for a 100% refund in cash rather than 50% cash and FCC.

 

And Virgin as well. So 4 cruise lines ranging from a 2 week shutdown (Disney) to 5 months (Virgin)

[LMaxwell]

19 minutes ago, Blizzard54 said:

Until about a week ago the Federal Government did not allow anyone to make kits.  That is the main reason we have a shortage of test kits.

We were supposed to have a million ready a week ago? Why not just claim 11 trillion?