Carnival CEO Admits: “I Don’t Know When We’ll Sail Again”

[harkinmr]

On 6/12/2020 at 2:27 PM, donaldsc said:

As many of you who have read my posts my posts know, I am sort of cynical.  My read on his 1st post is that he knew that there was no chance at all them cruising put he put out the date to see how much interest there was in starting cruising again.  He can then use the hopeful customer responses to pressure the CDC to let them start cruising again.  

 

DON

Not likely.  CDC is not going to be pressured to lift the no sail order just because there is consumer interest in cruises.  There have been bookings all along since March, and the order was extended anyway.  

Edited June 13, 2020 by harkinmr

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

30 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

 

Country approval is the key for cruises that might visit only private islands (or ports, think Grand Turk, Amber Cay, etc.)  Citizens of those countries are employed at these islands and ports.  Even if the cruise line has invested money to develop that piece of real estate, it remains real estate that is in a foreign country.  

Correct.

All the private islands information.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1418

 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

24 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Given where I live, driving/flying to Florida for such a short cruise would not be considered by me.  Make it a b2b or a b2b2b with a slightly changing itinerary and/or, hopefully, a somewhat differing onboard entertainment program?  I would consider such.  If I am in Florida already for a different purpose other than just sailing on a cruise, a short one would be a reasonable thing to book.  

Short hop to Freeport or Nassau. Bahamas Paradise Cruise line. Palm Beach, Fl. Grand Bahama Freeport starts July 25, Nassau starts Oct 2. Maybe!

[nbsjcruiser]

On 6/13/2020 at 12:13 AM, donaldsc said:

 

A 3 or 4 day cruise from Florida to a private island.  You would have to be really desperate to get on a cruise ship to do do one of those cruises and you would also have to live either in or within a short drive of Florida to do one of those cruise.  I can't imagine anyone who would take one of those cruises although I am also sure that I am wrong and they will fill the ships.

 

Definitely not for me. I can get that kind of experience at any beach side hotel without getting a ship.

 

DON

agreed. We'd have to fly to a port, get on a ship and then sail to a private island, basically a glorified resort. If I was going to do that I'd much rather just fly to a resort. At least I skip the part where I'm jammed on to a ship with 3 or 4 thousand people, a perfect breeding ground for Covid. Nope. Not me. At least once I hit the resort I wont be nickeled and dimed to death. 

[rkacruiser]

On 6/13/2020 at 5:08 PM, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Short hop to Freeport or Nassau. Bahamas Paradise Cruise line. Palm Beach, Fl. Grand Bahama Freeport starts July 25, Nassau starts Oct 2. Maybe!

 

I follow the BPCL Message Board and am aware of this.  Frankly, I would be surprised if the July 25th sailing starts as well as the October 2nd.  I hope they do; it would be a good first step by a non-major cruise line.  Test the waters:  maybe that is what needs to happen.  

 

 

 

 

[WAMarathoner]

Hmmm... we booked and paid in full for January based on the August 1 announcement.  If he doesn't know when they'll cruise again, why did they take all of our $?  He needs to clarify - was it, "We will open August 1 depending upon which countries allow us in port," or "We are desperately hoping to open August 1, but will happily take your money even if we're going under."

[mnocket]

4 hours ago, WAMarathoner said:

Hmmm... we booked and paid in full for January based on the August 1 announcement.  If he doesn't know when they'll cruise again, why did they take all of our $?  He needs to clarify - was it, "We will open August 1 depending upon which countries allow us in port," or "We are desperately hoping to open August 1, but will happily take your money even if we're going under."

They have taken on substantial debt in order to raise sufficient cash to continue operations for approx a year, so it's unlikely they did this to pocket some deposits.  I think it probably reflects how up in the air the whole situation really is.  

[nbsjcruiser]

On 6/13/2020 at 3:33 PM, mnocket said:

In my opinion, cruise lines will not resume sailing until the risk to THEM is seen as acceptable.  The downside of a misfire is just to large.  Even if they were to test everyone before they boarded, there's still a risk of a COVID outbreak during the cruise.  If it were to happen, it would be a disaster for the cruise line.  They would immediately have to suspend cruising once again and the damage to their reputation might be irreparable. This is especially true for Princess since they experienced more than their fair share of COVID issues, and media coverage, the first time around.  It might well represent the final nail in their coffin.  

This is the point that hits home to me as well. Everyone's comfort level is different, I get that, but until the cruise lines can adequately layout their process for what they will do in case of a breakout, I wouldn't step foot on a cruise. What's the plan when the Diamond Princess has a breakout again? They just gonna float around the ocean aimlessly hoping a port somewhere will take them in? Am I going to be stuck on a cruise ship for 3 or 4 weeks, locked in my room? Will my insurance cover me if any of this happens?

 

Until I get an answer that satisfies me to these questions, cruising is not on my radar. Even if there is a vaccine I'll need these questions answered. There will be too many irrational people who will not vaccine and so the risk of getting abandoned on a ship will always be there unless they deny boarding to people who do not vaccine.

 

The cruise lines have lost a lot of my trust and faith these last months and I'm not about to simply pick up where I left off. I don't trust that they have anyone's interests at heart other than their own so they have a long way to go before I'll put any faith in their ability to provide a good vacation product while at the same time protecting the well being of me and my family.

[PrincessLuver]

1 hour ago, nbsjcruiser said:

This is the point that hits home to me as well. Everyone's comfort level is different, I get that, but until the cruise lines can adequately layout their process for what they will do in case of a breakout, I wouldn't step foot on a cruise. What's the plan when the Diamond Princess has a breakout again? They just gonna float around the ocean aimlessly hoping a port somewhere will take them in? Am I going to be stuck on a cruise ship for 3 or 4 weeks, locked in my room? Will my insurance cover me if any of this happens?

 

Until I get an answer that satisfies me to these questions, cruising is not on my radar. Even if there is a vaccine I'll need these questions answered. There will be too many irrational people who will not vaccine and so the risk of getting abandoned on a ship will always be there unless they deny boarding to people who do not vaccine.

 

The cruise lines have lost a lot of my trust and faith these last months and I'm not about to simply pick up where I left off. I don't trust that they have anyone's interests at heart other than their own so they have a long way to go before I'll put any faith in their ability to provide a good vacation product while at the same time protecting the well being of me and my family.

 

I would think as we learn more about COVID-19 and also the fact that many experts do not see it going anyway anytime soon, possibly at least a year, I would say it does not bode well for cruising.  

 

If we are seeing how people in many places just ignore social distancing and wearing masks when things open up I cannot believe behavior will be much different on a cruise ship.  Cases are going up and not down because of the flippant ways we are dealing with COVID-19 and that appears to be here to stay along with COVID-19.

[rkacruiser]

8 hours ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

I would say it does not bode well for cruising.  

 

If we are seeing how people in many places just ignore social distancing and wearing masks when things open up I cannot believe behavior will be much different on a cruise ship.  

 

I posted this comment on a thread this afternoon, but I think it is disappointingly significant.

 

I needed to go to my local wine store to replenish my supply this afternoon.  All of the staff were wearing masks.  NONE of the customers, other than me, were wearing masks.  That was a change from what I observed one + weeks ago.  Several of the customers were in the "high risk" group for the virus.  

 

What are people thinking?  I don't like wearing a mask!!!! But, I know it is important to do so.

[nbsjcruiser]

13 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I posted this comment on a thread this afternoon, but I think it is disappointingly significant.

 

I needed to go to my local wine store to replenish my supply this afternoon.  All of the staff were wearing masks.  NONE of the customers, other than me, were wearing masks.  That was a change from what I observed one + weeks ago.  Several of the customers were in the "high risk" group for the virus.  

 

What are people thinking?  I don't like wearing a mask!!!! But, I know it is important to do so.

I don't get it either. The first few times you wear it you feel awkward and strange but after you realize you're not alone, its not so bad. The sad thing is that wearing a mask protects others from you more than it protects you from others. If wearing a mask was a self protecting thing, more people would wear them. What does that say about society's view of their fellow citizens?

[PrincessLuver]

1 hour ago, nbsjcruiser said:

I don't get it either. The first few times you wear it you feel awkward and strange but after you realize you're not alone, its not so bad. The sad thing is that wearing a mask protects others from you more than it protects you from others. If wearing a mask was a self protecting thing, more people would wear them. What does that say about society's view of their fellow citizens?

 

I was glad to see today that United Airlines and possibly another airline will put passengers on an  "internal no fly" list for their company if passengers refuse to wear a mask.  They will lose their opportunity to fly on United for an extended period of time.  United says protecting its passengers is one of its main company values.  Way to go United and maybe we will see more denial of service for people who refuse to comply to wearing of face coverings when required by a business.

Edited June 16, 2020 by PrincessLuver

[ontheweb]

15 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I posted this comment on a thread this afternoon, but I think it is disappointingly significant.

 

I needed to go to my local wine store to replenish my supply this afternoon.  All of the staff were wearing masks.  NONE of the customers, other than me, were wearing masks.  That was a change from what I observed one + weeks ago.  Several of the customers were in the "high risk" group for the virus.  

 

What are people thinking?  I don't like wearing a mask!!!! But, I know it is important to do so.

And I went grocery shopping, and the person ahead on me on the checkout line was wearing a mask, but it was around his chin! You are not allowed in stores here without a mask, but having it around your chin does zero.

[billco]

15 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I posted this comment on a thread this afternoon, but I think it is disappointingly significant.

 

I needed to go to my local wine store to replenish my supply this afternoon.  All of the staff were wearing masks.  NONE of the customers, other than me, were wearing masks.  That was a change from what I observed one + weeks ago.  Several of the customers were in the "high risk" group for the virus.  

 

What are people thinking?  I don't like wearing a mask!!!! But, I know it is important to do so.

I order my wine in the Total Wine app. When its ready they send me a text and I go to the store. They bring the order out to the car. Last week I ordered a pizza from Round Table Pizza. No contact delivery drops it off at my front door. Whole Foods has someone passing out masks. We just have to do our best and not worry about the rest. I believe that when it is time to cruise that Princess will have enough safeguards in place that the risk will be minimal.

Edited June 16, 2020 by billco

[voljeep]

10 minutes ago, billco said:

I order my wine in the Total Wine app

same for us at our local ABC Liquor store - order online - email when ready - pull up to express delivery - they bring it out

[nbsjcruiser]

2 hours ago, billco said:

We just have to do our best and not worry about the rest. I believe that when it is time to cruise that Princess will have enough safeguards in place that the risk will be minimal.

 

Oh boy, you have more faith in Princess than I do.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

5 hours ago, nbsjcruiser said:

I don't get it either. The first few times you wear it you feel awkward and strange but after you realize you're not alone, its not so bad. The sad thing is that wearing a mask protects others from you more than it protects you from others. If wearing a mask was a self protecting thing, more people would wear them. What does that say about society's view of their fellow citizens?

I only wear one when gong grocery shopping. No where else. That is only to make others feel better. Not other reason. You see those driving a car wearing them, walking down the side walk, bicycling, jogging, working in their yard, washing the car. A bit over done don't you think? Just the common FLU is a major killer and no one wears a mask. A vaccine is available and how many do not get the shot every fall? More and more are tested and have the virus. So what! So many have the FLU also. How many will die from either one is what is important. Nothing else.

[npcl]

On 6/14/2020 at 10:25 PM, mnocket said:

They have taken on substantial debt in order to raise sufficient cash to continue operations for approx a year, so it's unlikely they did this to pocket some deposits.  I think it probably reflects how up in the air the whole situation really is.  

I would disagree.

 

If you look at their last SEC filing, the amount of customer deposits across the CCL lines still exceed 4 billion.  So if they were to refund all of that, most of the money they raised would be gone.  The cruise lines need to keep as much of those deposits as they can (get people to accept FCC's) and need to get as many people to book going forward as they can. 

 

When one considers they they still do not know when they can start, what cruises will look like when they do, the cost of getting ships back into location, getting them staffed, extra operational costs, use of existing FCC's instead of new money.  They will need every cent they can get.

[npcl]

26 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

I only wear one when gong grocery shopping. No where else. That is only to make others feel better. Not other reason. You see those driving a car wearing them, walking down the side walk, bicycling, jogging, working in their yard, washing the car. A bit over done don't you think? Just the common FLU is a major killer and no one wears a mask. A vaccine is available and how many do not get the shot every fall? More and more are tested and have the virus. So what! So many have the FLU also. How many will die from either one is what is important. Nothing else.

Unlike flu there is more to COVID than just the mortality rate.  COVID is also showing that even for those that survive there are also long term health impacts including but not limited to loss of lung function, kidney damage, stroke, neurological impact. Then you have the people that seem to get relatively minor cases (no hospitalization) but where they have symptoms that last for months. Then you get the inflammation syndrome showing up in children and young adults.  Far more impact than mortality than the flu.

[npcl]

19 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I posted this comment on a thread this afternoon, but I think it is disappointingly significant.

 

I needed to go to my local wine store to replenish my supply this afternoon.  All of the staff were wearing masks.  NONE of the customers, other than me, were wearing masks.  That was a change from what I observed one + weeks ago.  Several of the customers were in the "high risk" group for the virus.  

 

What are people thinking?  I don't like wearing a mask!!!! But, I know it is important to do so.

The interesting thing is that a study looking at infection rate in New York city and in Italy determined that the action that most impacted the trajectory of the infection rate was when they mandated that masks be worn by everyone in public. That the social distancing orders, the shutdown, the stay at home orders were not sufficient to dramatically impact the curse until the mask order.

 

Based upon that and other studies, it seems that the US would have done better, if it had not shutdown most things, but instead had mandated mask usage along with social distancing   Of course at that time not enough masks.

 

Masks do work.

[nbsjcruiser]

10 minutes ago, npcl said:

Unlike flu there is more to COVID than just the mortality rate.  COVID is also showing that even for those that survive there are also long term health impacts including but not limited to loss of lung function, kidney damage, stroke, neurological impact. Then you have the people that seem to get relatively minor cases (no hospitalization) but where they have symptoms that last for months. Then you get the inflammation syndrome showing up in children and young adults.  Far more impact than mortality than the flu.

Not only that but it is much more infectious.  A person with Flu will spread it to one in 4 people on average. Someone with Covid spreads it to 2.5 people on average. Much more infectious and deadly. Anyone comparing flu to this is not paying attention or is wilfully ignorant. Common seasonal flu has never killed 120K people in the US in under 3 months. 

[memoak]

2 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

I only wear one when gong grocery shopping. No where else. That is only to make others feel better. Not other reason. You see those driving a car wearing them, walking down the side walk, bicycling, jogging, working in their yard, washing the car. A bit over done don't you think? Just the common FLU is a major killer and no one wears a mask. A vaccine is available and how many do not get the shot every fall? More and more are tested and have the virus. So what! So many have the FLU also. How many will die from either one is what is important. Nothing else.

The common flu does not kill 1,000 people a day.  Wear the damn mask when you are near people and keep everyone safe.  Unless you are tested daily you have no idea if you are infected

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

19 minutes ago, memoak said:

The common flu does not kill 1,000 people a day.  Wear the damn mask when you are near people and keep everyone safe.  Unless you are tested daily you have no idea if you are infected

Flu season in the US, which runs from October through May, claims tens of thousands of lives every year. This season CDC estimates that, as of mid-March, between 29,000 and 59,000 have died  You want to wear a mask. Fine. Do NOT tell me what I should do. So I guess about 8000 a month die from the common flu is small to you. Have you ever wore a mask to protect you from the common flu? As I said I wear a mask when grocery shopping and no where else. That is to make others feel comfortable and for NO other reason. If I catch it, so be it. I can get killed and die many ways. I am not going to live like a hermit or be uncomfortable for no one.. You want to. Fine. Why are you on a cruise forum if you are worried so much about catching the virus. Guess you will not be going on any cruises either.

As I said. You certainly can do what ever you want and I do not like the nasty word in your reply. Totally unnecessary. Darn would have been a more educated reply.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

30 minutes ago, memoak said:

The common flu does not kill 1,000 people a day.  Wear the damn mask when you are near people and keep everyone safe.  Unless you are tested daily you have no idea if you are infected

35 million this season were infected with the common flu. If you had the flu. Did you wear a mask to prevent others from catching yours? I doubt it. I doubt if you ever would either.

[npcl]

49 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

35 million this season were infected with the common flu. If you had the flu. Did you wear a mask to prevent others from catching yours? I doubt it. I doubt if you ever would either.

 

I get a flu shot. If I have the flu I stay home.  Flu has three major differences  1. far shorter incubation period  2. Is considered to be infectious at most 1 day prior to symptom onset. 3. Flu does not have infectious asymptomatic cases that make up 50% or more of the COVID-19 cases.  In other words far less likely that someone will be infectious without symptoms.  Most spread with flu is when people have symptoms, but still chose to go out in public, go to work, go to school etc.

 

In many ways Flu is spread by people that chose to not get a flu shot, and do not stay home when sick.

 

Covid is spread by people who also do not take reasonable actions, including wearing a mask and social distancing.