Cruise Critic News: Carnival Cruise Line Limits Capacity on Select Voyages in May and June

[Cafedumonde]

Oh yes, Carnival!  Go, go, go.  What a great cruise line.  I noticed they were the last to fall.  Now maybe they will also be first out of the gate.  My favorite cruise line, definitely.

[Saint Greg]

26 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

 

I am trying to recall correctly but to the best of my remembrance chengkp75 said they couldn't do the cruises to nowhere since the crew would have to have a different kind of visa and they were harder to get.

I don’t know about that part. I just know what JH posted on his Fb page on March 23rd. 

[InDaPast]

2 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I understand there are reasons for announcing cancellations the way they are doing it, but I wish Carnival, and other cruise lines for that matter, would just state the obvious that no one is going on a cruise any time soon. Articles like this one give people hope that cruises might actually happen in May or June. The chances of that happening are the same as the Bengals winning the Super Bowl next season. 

 

Yea...dream on Carney....

 

Or, is it a ploy to hang onto folks deposits longer? IE, they want to give folks hope, while the MBA grads in the head office know otherwise.....maybe they were interns at Enron....

[ONECRUISER]

8 hours ago, coevan said:

still not sure I would be comfortable with a couple of thousand people. The article does not allude to the actual reduced capacity.

Agree. Even had 2 airlines send me questionnaires asking would i feel safer/more likely to fly with everyother seat empty. Think reduced Passenger Cruises, flights and anything publics coming and will be here while. At least til Vaccine. Same with restrictions/Dr note to Cruise for over 70 group

[LadySpoilt]

While I am sure there are many people that are happy with this scenario and are still wanting to go in May, I am not one of them. I hope Carnival at least gives those of us that are scheduled on one of the first cruises out the opportunity to cancel.  Not interested in being "one of the first" to still go with things as they are.  Also for those with jobs that have been out of work, this will probably be occurring just as some are to return to work.  I am quite sure that many employers are not going to find this acceptable.  And lastly while I do agree that they may/will make a really big effort to contain and control any contagions, with the virus still being quite active in the world there is virtually no way to totally accomplish this.  I want to be able to enjoy my vacation, not continually worrying if I am going to be confined, that only a limited number of people can attend something  (what do you do line up outside of whatever venue to see if we can get in, a ship that is probably not totally staffed or worse yet quarantined because someone thinks  I might be sick.

Again, for those that still want to take their cruise I am happy for you truly, but for myself and our 3 generations going its not the vacation we signed up for and paid thousands of dollars for.  All I want is for Carnival to give us the opportunity to cancel without losing all our money

[DallasGuy75219]

8 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

I don't think cruises to nowhere are allowed. I wonder if they could get around that by docking somewhere and not letting any passengers off.

Cruises to nowhere aren't allowed with the D-1 visas that most crewmembers have.  Prior to 2016 CBP looked the other way when the mass market lines scheduled occasional CTNs. Then a casino ship out of Florida tried to push the envelope by running solely same-day CTNs with employees with D-1 visas.  The case went to court and the cruise line lost, ruining it for the mass market lines who scheduled occasional CTNs. 

 

CTNs now occasionally happen (with a CBP waiver) when a ship is unable to follow its scheduled itinerary and make a foreign port due to reasons outside its direct control (e.g., hurricane or a mechanical issue takes a ship out of service mid-itinerary).  But CTNs can't be intentionally planned.

 

The pseudo port stop where passengers can't debark is not allowed (again at least on a scheduled basis and without a waiver). One of the lines tried this in Ensenada on their closed loop Hawaii cruises from California. NCL challenged this as a violation of the PVSA and won, so scheduled pseudo port stops are not allowed either.

 

Both of the above are obviously subject to change by new laws.  But Congress' disdain for US-based cruise lines sailing under foreign flags to avoid US taxes shows in the way they excluded them from the last stimulus package, so I wouldn't count on any changes to these laws for the benefit of the cruise lines.

[chengkp75]

5 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I don’t know about that part. I just know what JH posted on his Fb page on March 23rd. 

And this is yet another instance of him not knowing what he's talking about.  The PVSA, a law passed by Congress, still specifically allows foreign flag ships to make "cruises to nowhere".  CBP, however, has made a decision, clarifying their interpretation of existing US immigration law, that foreign crew on foreign ships performing a cruise to nowhere, which they know is legal under the PVSA, would essentially be working full time in the US, and therefore would require H1-B work visas, and not the C1/D1 crew visa they currently have.  This change came about in 2016.

[Mellylucy]

9 hours ago, UGACamper said:

Speculate where the cruises could go...

As the Caribbean was/is for the most part the least affected and is so dependent on tourism, are those cruises the ones that were pulled and held for capacity control?  I know mine was Southern to Aruba, Curacao, and 2 DR ports. I'm good with switching out the DR for Half Moon Cay!

 

The ABC islands are shut down and are not allowing any cruiseship to visit their ports. 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Mellylucy

[UGACamper]

Of course. But these are cruises that are 5 to 8 weeks away.  Just as someone has to be the first to cruise, someone has to be the first to accept said cruises. Someone said that private islands would be the obvious first places, which I agree. Do the cruise lines band together and use each others private islands? I wouldn't mind checking out CoCoCay, Great Stirrup Cay, Harvest Caye, etc. 

[quattrohead]

I know 100% I am not putting any money down based purely on speculation.

All the cruise companies are now gambling...in their own casino lol

[stormynow]

When ever someone sneezed or coughed next to me, would have to go change my shorts.  Talk about a shortage of T-paper.

[Joebucks]

I'm not aware of all of the ports that are shut down. Why couldn't the ships go to Half-Moon Cay or Princess Cay? Maybe even an overnight there could be cool.

[Cafedumonde]

I suspect that a lot of places in the Caribbean will be happy to have cruise ships stop there in a couple of months.  The Bahamas only had a short lockdown in the end of March.  I don’t think Mexico will stay closed to the US very long either.  I don’t think they can survive long without the tourist income.   

[Cafedumonde]

2 hours ago, LadySpoilt said:

While I am sure there are many people that are happy with this scenario and are still wanting to go in May, I am not one of them. I hope Carnival at least gives those of us that are scheduled on one of the first cruises out the opportunity to cancel.  Not interested in being "one of the first" to still go with things as they are.  Also for those with jobs that have been out of work, this will probably be occurring just as some are to return to work.  I am quite sure that many employers are not going to find this acceptable.  And lastly while I do agree that they may/will make a really big effort to contain and control any contagions, with the virus still being quite active in the world there is virtually no way to totally accomplish this.  I want to be able to enjoy my vacation, not continually worrying if I am going to be confined, that only a limited number of people can attend something  (what do you do line up outside of whatever venue to see if we can get in, a ship that is probably not totally staffed or worse yet quarantined because someone thinks  I might be sick.

Again, for those that still want to take their cruise I am happy for you truly, but for myself and our 3 generations going its not the vacation we signed up for and paid thousands of dollars for.  All I want is for Carnival to give us the opportunity to cancel without losing all our money

When is your cruise

[CRocks]

Hmmm, our May 25th cruise to Bermuda dropped from the website but still shows on my planner. Can't believe they still expect to sail outta NYC next month. Or, that anyone could get there for the cruise.

[UGACamper]

While I for one am ready to vacation, I respect those who are not for whatever reason. All cruise lines need to offer a cancel for any reason policy right now and until 2021 minimum.

 

Also, I think the passengers would be those who can drive to port for the most part.

Edited April 9, 2020 by UGACamper
Added

[andie1969]

18 minutes ago, CRocks said:

Hmmm, our May 25th cruise to Bermuda dropped from the website but still shows on my planner. Can't believe they still expect to sail outta NYC next month. Or, that anyone could get there for the cruise.

 

My June 12 cruise out of PC disappeared on Monday but I haven't received cancellation notice and it's still in my planner. I hate being in limbo!

[luvsboozecruises]

According to cruise industry news today,,, carnival to start cruising again in mid May, go to site to see starting dates for each ship, I think it's a dream on there part, but let's see what happens, stay safe everyone..

[NDIrishO3]

I started a separate thread on this asking for help, but I just got off the phone with Carnival trying to redeem an upgrade offer and it seems like their reps either don't know, or have been told not to say, that they are doing this.  I have an upgrade offer for my June 15th Sunrise cruise out of NYC.  I know it's likely to be cancelled, but I figured on the chance that it's not I'd love to have the balcony upgrade.  I tried to do it online and got an error message.  I tried calling last night and the rep told me I couldn't do it because the ship was full.  I tried to explain that I think it's not full, they're just limiting capacity so there should still be room to switch an existing reservation, and she just told me no and seemed annoyed by it.  This morning, I called the specific phone number in my upgrade email to try again.  The woman I talked to today was much more interested in trying to help, but still said I couldn't do it because the ship was full.  I explained what I had read in the article, that it's not really full but they are limiting capacity so they've probably reduce the number and it LOOKS full when trying to book it, but that when I log in to look at the upgrade offer I'm seeing quite a few rooms I can choose from.  She asked where I saw the article, I told her and quoted her pieces of what the Carnival spokesman said, and she told me it's not true and Carnival wouldn't do that, and again said I couldn't upgrade because the ship is full so there's no room.  I'm kind of frustrated - the offer is still sitting in my cruise manager and I can still go in there and see a bunch of available rooms, but I can't get it switched!  The most frustrating thing though is that the reps either don't know or have been told not to say that they are limiting capacity.

[quattrohead]

They are trying every angle possible, and seeing which offers people like the look of.

Massive gamble that they don't wizz people off big time.

Being in limbo is worse than knowing something is not going to happen, no matter how much you were looking forward to it.

[Earthworm Jim]

Aside for the question many have brought up about what port would take them, there's also the major issue of the cruise lines having to provide transportation home from US ports without the use of any public transportation, such as commercial flights. Without that restriction being lifted, these cruises aren't happening unless they restricted bookings to those within driving distance.

Edited April 9, 2020 by Earthworm Jim

[jimbo5544]

4 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

And this is yet another instance of him not knowing what he's talking about.  The PVSA, a law passed by Congress, still specifically allows foreign flag ships to make "cruises to nowhere".  CBP, however, has made a decision, clarifying their interpretation of existing US immigration law, that foreign crew on foreign ships performing a cruise to nowhere, which they know is legal under the PVSA, would essentially be working full time in the US, and therefore would require H1-B work visas, and not the C1/D1 crew visa they currently have.  This change came about in 2016.

So, if they were to (hypothetically speaking) rescind this for the obvious reasons for a temporary time, it would come from where?

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, andie1969 said:

 

My June 12 cruise out of PC disappeared on Monday but I haven't received cancellation notice and it's still in my planner. I hate being in limbo!

John discussed this this morning.  They have closed off bookings on these cruises so they can manage the number of people on the ships

[andie1969]

10 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

John discussed this this morning.  They have closed off bookings on these cruises so they can manage the number of people on the ships

 

I know that, but I'm still not convinced those cruises will even happen at all.

[chengkp75]

15 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

So, if they were to (hypothetically speaking) rescind this for the obvious reasons for a temporary time, it would come from where?

This would need to be an agreement on changes in policy between Department of State (visas) and Homeland Security (CBP and who can enter the US).