Has the pandemic made you rethink how you cruise?

[ducklite]

3 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

 

I think the poster is putting ship size in two barrels   main stream 2000+ pax

 and small lines   1000 or less pax  .... the haves and have nots ......$$  and $$$$$$,

nope. 1000 is still a large ship. Money has nothing to do with it. 

[GeekCruiser]

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited May 14, 2020 by GeekCruiser

[getting older slowly]

52 minutes ago, ducklite said:

anything over 500 max.  

 

Ok.....  but thats means

Oceania, Azamara, Viking, Regent Crytsal and some of Silver Seas are all out

 

So very little ocean cruising   basically expedition or river cruising 

 

with the exception of river cruising..... everything else it way out of our price point

[jeremyosborne81]

1 hour ago, ducklite said:

anything over 500 max.  

 

😆🤣😂🤣😆

Have fun on your little river cruises!

Hahahahaha!

[ilikeanswers]

4 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

and small lines   1000 or less pax  .... the haves and have nots ......$$  and $$$$$$,

 

It is not about haves or have nots. I am not wealthy but I chose to cruise less and save up so I can afford the cruises that are smaller and go to the destinations I am interested in. It is about prioritising, I know I can never afford everything so I have to decide what I really want. And most of the people I have met on these cruises are not wealthy either, they just saved for something they wanted. 

[clo]

48 minutes ago, getting older slowly said:

 

Ok.....  but thats means

Oceania, Azamara, Viking, Regent Crytsal and some of Silver Seas are all out

 

So very little ocean cruising   basically expedition or river cruising 

 

with the exception of river cruising..... everything else it way out of our price point

We were on Hurtigruten to Antarctica (400 pax) and a Norwegian coastal cruise (100 pax).

[clo]

42 minutes ago, jeremyosborne81 said:

 

😆🤣😂🤣😆

Have fun on your little river cruises!

Hahahahaha!

Or how about Antarctica? LOLOLOLOL.

[clo]

17 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

It is not about haves or have nots. I am not wealthy but I chose to cruise less and save up so I can afford the cruises that are smaller and go to the destinations I am interested in. It is about prioritising, I know I can never afford everything so I have to decide what I really want. And most of the people I have met on these cruises are not wealthy either, they just saved for something they wanted. 

Oh my, I've just found my new favorite person. As the saying goes, "we can have anything we want but not everything we want." For us our trip to Argentinian and Chilean Patagonian land tour and then to  cruise to the Chilean fjords, Antarctica, Falkland Islands. For us it was very expensive but it was bucket list. And I totally agree with you about the other pax. Thanks so much for speaking up.

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, ducklite said:

anything over 500 max.  

When we were on the former Ocean Princess for a British Isles cruise it sure felt like a small ship compared to others we have sailed on. You really got the chance to interact and know other people both passengers and crew. IIRC, it held somewhere around 700 passengers.

[KnowTheScore]

The entire nature of cruising is going to have to change.  People here are still thinking in terms of cruising as they have known it.

 

Those days are over.

 

What comes next will be completely different.   There's no way the cruise lines can operate as they were with say only half the cabins populate.   Not profitable.   So the entire cruising package and experience is likely to change imo.  Ships will become more like basic ferries, a mode of transport to get people to different places without flying.   The cruising business model was based on scale, on numbers, bums in cabins, rack 'em, pack 'em and stack 'em.   That is no longer going to be possible.

Numbers will have to come down vastly which means profits will come down which means in turn provision of service and quality will have to come down.

 

You will end up with varying types of cruise and ships.   There will at the top end be small hugely expensive ships that offer traditional service and quality but they will have only a few 100 passengers and they will each have to pay astronomical amounts for that privilege.  Think £10,000 a trip.   Then there will be less expensive ships again with only a few 100 passengers but which have massively reduced service and quality.  Might only have self-service buffets and no restaurants etc.

 

What we have had to date is no longer tenable.   You simply cannot keep social distance on normal cruise ships with 1000s of passengers nor is it possible to contain virus spread without "Diamond Princess" draconian measures which are of course unacceptable.  Cruising has to change completely from this point forward.

 

.

Edited May 14, 2020 by KnowTheScore

[jeremyosborne81]

6 minutes ago, KnowTheScore said:

The entire nature of cruising is going to have to change.  People here are still thinking in terms of cruising as they have known it.

 

Those days are over.

 

What comes next will be completely different.   There's no way the cruise lines can operate as they were with say only half the cabins populate.   Not profitable.   So the entire cruising package and experience is likely to change imo.  Ships will become more like basic ferries, a mode of transport to get people to different places without flying.   The cruising business model was based on scale, on numbers, bums in cabins, rack 'em, pack 'em and stack 'em.   That is no longer going to be possible.

Numbers will have to come down vastly which means profits will come down which means in turn provision of service and quality will have to come down.

 

You will end up with varying types of cruise and ships.   There will at the top end be small hugely expensive ships that offer traditional service and quality but they will have only a few 100 passengers and they will each have to pay astronomical amounts for that privilege.  Think £10,000 a trip.   Then there will be less expensive ships again with only a few 100 passengers but which have massively reduced service and quality.  Might only have self-service buffets and no restaurants etc.

 

What we have had to date is no longer tenable.   You simply cannot keep social distance on normal cruise ships with 1000s of passengers nor is it possible to contain virus spread without "Diamond Princess" draconian measures which are of course unacceptable.  Cruising has to change completely from this point forward.

 

.

And you base these silly assumptions on what?

No. Once this is all over, very little will change. Soon enough everything will be like it never happened. That's the way these events always play out.

[ilikeanswers]

😂 Talk about one extreme scenario to the next😂

[ducklite]

11 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

 

Ok.....  but thats means

Oceania, Azamara, Viking, Regent Crytsal and some of Silver Seas are all out

 

So very little ocean cruising   basically expedition or river cruising 

 

with the exception of river cruising..... everything else it way out of our price point

I can think of at least three ocean lines that have ships under 500 that you haven't mentioned.

[ducklite]

10 hours ago, jeremyosborne81 said:

 

😆🤣😂🤣😆

Have fun on your little river cruises!

Hahahahaha!

Jokes on you, I can think of at least three ocean going cruise lines that fit the around 300 bill.

[navybankerteacher]

7 minutes ago, jeremyosborne81 said:

And you base these silly assumptions on what?

No. Once this is all over, very little will change. Soon enough everything will be like it never happened. That's the way these events always play out.

 “Always” is a very long time.  On what comparable events in recent history are you basing these confident assurances?

 

Part of “everything” has to include the overall economy.  Have you considered the effects on “everything” if — 

 

a) local and Federal government DO NOT run up massive expenditures to help the many millions now out of work and without income - with the result that it will take years for our consumer-based economy to recover,  limiting (among other things) many  people’s ability to afford cruises - which must be more expensive to cover health precautions.

 

or

 

b) local and Federal government DO run up those massive expenditures to get our consumer-based economy back on track fairly soon - with the result that taxes will go up significantly, limiting (among other things) many people’s ability to afford cruises - which must be more expensive to cover health precautions?

[ducklite]

10 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

It is not about haves or have nots. I am not wealthy but I chose to cruise less and save up so I can afford the cruises that are smaller and go to the destinations I am interested in. It is about prioritising, I know I can never afford everything so I have to decide what I really want. And most of the people I have met on these cruises are not wealthy either, they just saved for something they wanted. 

Exactly. We aren't wealthy, which is why we don't cruise often.  Cruising ends up costing us twice as much.  We cruise when the itinerary is one that is best seen by cruise rather than a land based trip, or when we want to get a taste for places we're interested in to see how long we should plan on spending on a future land based trip.

When our wealthy friends cruise, it's not like you or I.  They charter a yacht.  We have friends who were asked to be filmed for Below Deck but declined.  They don't go on vacation to have a camera in their face, nor do they flaunt their wealth.

On the same note, we do know someone who was on that show as a primary guest.  While they aren't a friend, we have mutual friends and as a result occasionally run into them at parties and such. 

We have friends who were on House Hunters International.  They moved to another country when they retired as the cost of living is about a quarter of what it is here.  Not rich, just normal.  And smart enough to be really enjoying retirement at a much earlier age than most of us. 🙂 

Edited May 14, 2020 by ducklite

[ducklite]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

When we were on the former Ocean Princess for a British Isles cruise it sure felt like a small ship compared to others we have sailed on. You really got the chance to interact and know other people both passengers and crew. IIRC, it held somewhere around 700 passengers.

Still too large for us.  We really prefer being in the 200-300 range.

[jeremyosborne81]

1 hour ago, ducklite said:

Jokes on you, I can think of at least three ocean going cruise lines that fit the around 300 bill.

You can cross the ocean in a row boat, but regular, intelligent people don't want to be tossed around like a blanket in a washing machine.

[clo]

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

When we were on the former Ocean Princess for a British Isles cruise it sure felt like a small ship compared to others we have sailed on. You really got the chance to interact and know other people both passengers and crew. IIRC, it held somewhere around 700 passengers.

Agree. We were on a 400 pax ship for Antarctica and 100 pax on our Norwegian coastal cruise. 

[clo]

1 hour ago, ducklite said:

I can think of at least three ocean lines that have ships under 500 that you haven't mentioned.

Hurtigruten.

[jeremyosborne81]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

On what comparable events in recent history are you basing these confident assurances?

 

I was in New Orleans in 2007. Bourbon Street was still packed.

I've been to New York City. They just built more buildings and nothing has changed from Pre-9/11.

People will always continue their lives.

[clo]

4 minutes ago, jeremyosborne81 said:

You can cross the ocean in a row boat, but regular, intelligent people don't want to be tossed around like a blanket in a washing machine.

So have you ever cruises on a small ship? If not, then you don't really know what you're talking about, do you?

[ilikeanswers]

8 minutes ago, jeremyosborne81 said:

I've been to New York City. They just built more buildings and nothing has changed from Pre-9/11.

 

You haven't noticed a single change after 9/11 in travel😳? Do you live in some alternative universe😂? 

Edited May 14, 2020 by ilikeanswers

[jeremyosborne81]

2 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

You haven't noticed a single change after 9/11 in travel😳? Do you live in some alternative universe😂? 

That's not the conversation we're having, but in process, sure. In quantity it's continued it's upward trend. So no significant change.

[ducklite]

18 minutes ago, jeremyosborne81 said:

You can cross the ocean in a row boat, but regular, intelligent people don't want to be tossed around like a blanket in a washing machine.

You've obviously never been on a small ship.  Maybe you should take a cruise on one before making such uneducated statements.