Ship capacity when sailings start

[brenderlou]

We have a quick 3 nt cruise out of Miami on 8/8 and hoping it’s a go. Anyone have an idea what the max passenger capacity would be when they start sailing again?

[ONECRUISER]

Nope, an unknown. Many guesses but would say well over 50%. 

[taglovestocruise]

  They are not saying how things begin but expect a few months until back to normal.

      Richard Fein, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., said that “As this virus continues to throw all of us for a loop, the good news is that we’re beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We’re stronger than this virus and now it’s time to emerge gradually, thoughtfully and preparedly.”

“It will definitely be a staged approach as we work with the ports and Coast Guard, and on complying with the general CDC order. We’re also dealing with public opinion. We want to gradually phase our operation back to full capacity, which will probably take a couple of months.”

[Jingerwoppy]

As many as they think they can get away with onboarding.

[firefly333]

Carnival is cutting off bookings at 50%. As usual rcl is keeping facts close to their chest.

[cruzeluver]

Nope. And anyone claiming to know is lying.

[RKHOOKER]

As every week goes by more & more data is painting the virus picture.  The biggest part of the picture currently, densely populated indoor activities where people movement occurs in an air conditioned environment over an extended period of time is the perfect scenario for a super spreader event. Unfortunately, that sounds a lot like cruising.  I’m not sure if reducing the ship capacity to only 50% will make much difference. 

[bretts173]

6 hours ago, RKHOOKER said:

As every week goes by more & more data is painting the virus picture.  The biggest part of the picture currently, densely populated indoor activities where people movement occurs in an air conditioned environment over an extended period of time is the perfect scenario for a super spreader event. Unfortunately, that sounds a lot like cruising.  I’m not sure if reducing the ship capacity to only 50% will make much difference. 

Right, what I dont understand is why all the talk of social distancing on a ship. The talk should be of making sure it does not get on board in the first place.

[Spurschick]

I’m expecting it to be around 50%Just rebooked a cancelled cruise for off peak January and cabins were slim pickings. Normally when not many cabins available I see a price hike but prices were not high given number of cabins available.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Spurschick

[Newleno]

7

[twangster]

You might as well ask if it will rain during the cruise.  

[John&LaLa]

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2020/06/09/amc-plans-to-reopen-us-movie-theaters-in-july

[Milwaukee Eight]

9 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2020/06/09/amc-plans-to-reopen-us-movie-theaters-in-july

Could you please find out when COBB plans to open?

 

And while your at it, when will Best Buy be open other than by appointment. 

 

Asking for a friend 

Edited June 9, 2020 by Milwaukee Eight

[rtazz17]

On 6/8/2020 at 6:48 PM, RKHOOKER said:

As every week goes by more & more data is painting the virus picture.  The biggest part of the picture currently, densely populated indoor activities where people movement occurs in an air conditioned environment over an extended period of time is the perfect scenario for a super spreader event. Unfortunately, that sounds a lot like cruising.  I’m not sure if reducing the ship capacity to only 50% will make much difference. 

Loo,this “super spreader” phenominom is yet to be proven. Its a crock of crap. The “experts” have been throwing darts at this for 4 months doing complete 180s on what they said a month ago. Lol,superspreader..... yes I know what its all about but its unproven. Just basically been said enough so now it must be true.

[B-52]

There has been speculation they will go with larger ships with less capacity.....at least in the beginning.

I have been getting e-mails from United concerning our flights this Jan, 2021, to log in and cancel, re-book for another date, or modify existing reservations. I ignored these e-mails because I have no intent on canceling our flights.....utill yesterday.

When i finally went to my reservation, I found United had changed everything. And I needed to re-configure my reservation.
They changed the plane from an average size plane, to a Jumbo plane that holds considerably more people  (has the center row)

The seats I had previously selected were erased. I had to re-confirm the reservation, along with the date and departure time, AND I had to select new seat assignments.
What they did was Grey out every other seat so that you cannot select.

So now I have the same reservation, but on a much larger plane with less people onboard...with every other seat unoccupied to maintain distancing.
Had to do this for both flights, a roundtrip reservation.
I was also charged about $65 for 3 people, for some unknown reason.

 

Is this a concept to be followed by the Cruise Lines also?  Larger ships with less capacity?

The airlines are certainly doing it to get back in business.

Edited June 11, 2020 by B-52

[cruisefan0110]

This is the one topic I have been interested in. We usually get the Promenade view rooms. We stumbled on a January 2021 Explorer cruise aft balcony. We are really excited about this. But the questions now are around capacity and who stays and who goes and who gets moved. Hopefully we will stay in place. I

[BirdTravels]

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out. Vegas said they were "starting with reduced occupancy" and by next week, the property occupancy rates were up at 80% and 90%. So they started to open more hotels.  

[48traveler]

On 6/8/2020 at 3:37 PM, firefly333 said:

Carnival is cutting off bookings at 50%. As usual rcl is keeping facts close to their chest.

So for our Sept 14  Carnival Dream cruise will the ship be at half full ?  Thanks

[firefly333]

16 minutes ago, 48traveler said:

So for our Sept 14  Carnival Dream cruise will the ship be at half full ?  Thanks

The bigwigs use words like capacity controlled. No one knows or has what it means in writing. I expect to hear more next month when the no sail order expires. 

[bigrednole]

I am getting a strange feeling the order is going to continue longer. Part of that is the unknown, another part is the manipulation of numbers, and the final part is the current estimated cruise start date is 6-weeks away. I don't think they have any plan in place at the moment to be ready. No plan in place on sailing orders if the CDC does open ports but they can only have every other room occupied and sail at say 50% capacity. This poses a tremendous number of questions...

 

1. Who is in the 50% if the sailing is booked at 90% currently?
2. If the CDC requires every other cabin (lets assume even is empty), if a family has a connecting room, does the connecting room get the boot?
3. Because the cruise line will have to compensate, will they lower their losses by booting off the lowest fares first? Financially it is the smartest decision. Why give 125% FCC to a family spending $5,000 for their room versus someone else spending $3000?
4. Do they target reservations with 4 to a cabin first versus 2 to a cabin? They are getting more money per person for less people in a room. Which means more cabins, but relates to #2 by having only every other cabin occupied.
5. What happens to that higher priced reservation for an Ocean View Balcony and told their only choice now is an interior cabin because of CDC requirements. Do they have to voluntarily cancel without compensation?
6. Will the entertainment/service be to the same caliber with only 50% of the capacity? 

Simply put, there are too many unknowns and a very short time to the hopeful sailing dates. A tremendous amount of work needs to be done and I am sure their entire C-Suite is going BSC trying to get answers, running What-Ifs, actuaries running every financial model that can possibly be dreamed of, and a worse case scenario of no cruises until January 2021. I am sure they will use that as some leverage to open. They will be telling the CDC and some government committee that if sailings are delayed to January 2021, they will be forced to layoff another 25-50% of workers. It would be a leverage game, but it may be a reality as well. 

[bouhunter]

2 hours ago, bigrednole said:

. A tremendous amount of work needs to be done and I am sure their entire C-Suite is going BSC trying to get answers, running What-Ifs, actuaries running every financial model that can possibly be dreamed of,

That probably sums it up quite well.

[LXA350]

On 6/8/2020 at 9:17 PM, brenderlou said:

We have a quick 3 nt cruise out of Miami on 8/8 and hoping it’s a go. Anyone have an idea what the max passenger capacity would be when they start sailing again?

 

How the situation currently looks, I would say earliest October, maybe even November before crusing will begin in the US. However if you are flexibile with the dates, the 3-4 night cruises are likely the first ones to begin, hence one things have finalized you can spontaniously book on one of the first cruises that will sail.

5 hours ago, bigrednole said:

I am getting a strange feeling the order is going to continue longer. Part of that is the unknown, another part is the manipulation of numbers, and the final part is the current estimated cruise start date is 6-weeks away. I don't think they have any plan in place at the moment to be ready. No plan in place on sailing orders if the CDC does open ports but they can only have every other room occupied and sail at say 50% capacity. This poses a tremendous number of questions...

 

1. Who is in the 50% if the sailing is booked at 90% currently?
2. If the CDC requires every other cabin (lets assume even is empty), if a family has a connecting room, does the connecting room get the boot?
3. Because the cruise line will have to compensate, will they lower their losses by booting off the lowest fares first? Financially it is the smartest decision. Why give 125% FCC to a family spending $5,000 for their room versus someone else spending $3000?
4. Do they target reservations with 4 to a cabin first versus 2 to a cabin? They are getting more money per person for less people in a room. Which means more cabins, but relates to #2 by having only every other cabin occupied.
5. What happens to that higher priced reservation for an Ocean View Balcony and told their only choice now is an interior cabin because of CDC requirements. Do they have to voluntarily cancel without compensation?
6. Will the entertainment/service be to the same caliber with only 50% of the capacity? 

Simply put, there are too many unknowns and a very short time to the hopeful sailing dates. A tremendous amount of work needs to be done and I am sure their entire C-Suite is going BSC trying to get answers, running What-Ifs, actuaries running every financial model that can possibly be dreamed of, and a worse case scenario of no cruises until January 2021. I am sure they will use that as some leverage to open. They will be telling the CDC and some government committee that if sailings are delayed to January 2021, they will be forced to layoff another 25-50% of workers. It would be a leverage game, but it may be a reality as well. 

 

as you hined, it's very easy, they will need to go by revenue and therefore mainly cancel reservations in the lowest fare classes (Inside, Oceanview). I doubt the CDC will com up with a every other cabin occupancy solution, what would it help, it's about overall capaciy.

 

At some point cruiselines will need to restartcrusing even during the COVID-19 times and as long as the virus is around there is a likelyhood that you will have passengers that will develop COVID-19 during the cruise, hence a clear concept has to be found, how such passengers can be isolated without getting a outbreak on the whole ship and without getting into situations that the ship will not be granted to dock anywhere. This is probably the whole key for which the cruiselines are working on a solution, before no clear solution is found, cruises can't resume.