New 1 April 2021 Press Release from NCLH

[mrlevin]

Do you think it was about new itineraries?  Maybe additional cancellations?  Ship movements?

 

No!

 

Here it is in part:

 

MIAMI, April 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (“Norwegian” or “the Company”) (NYSE: NCLH), a leading global cruise company which operates the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands, today concludes its celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day. Throughout March, the Company celebrated its extraordinary women team members worldwide through a variety of initiatives including spotlight series, speed mentoring sessions and empowerment talks.

“At Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings we are proud to celebrate the incredible achievements of the countless female leaders across our Company,” said Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. “We believe in supporting and empowering women not just in March but every day of the year, and we are committed to maintaining a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace for all team members. This commitment is reflected across the organization from our Board of Directors which is comprised of one-third women to our shoreside manager and above leadership team which is approximately 50% female.”

 

This is not an April Fool's post; this is what appears to be most important to NCLH management.

 

BTW, Regent Reassurance was also extended today through bookings made by 30 April 2021 for sailing through 31 October 2021 ONLY.  I wonder how many of those will sail.

[mikenbob]

A press release celebrating their accomplishments toward the goals of equality, diversity and equity does not mean that it is the only thing that the corporation is focused on, just that they recognize its importance. Bravo to NCL for these accomplishments.

[Pcardad]

When they have a solid plan, they will share it. No point is sharing info only to change it later. The only thing worse than no information is BAD information.

[mrlevin]

2 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

When they have a solid plan, they will share it. No point is sharing info only to change it later. The only thing worse than no information is BAD information.

I agree, but I am concerned that they don't yet have a solid plan.

[Pcardad]

I don't see how they possibly can with everything changing so fast. 

 

Personally, if I ran Regent, I would not mess with these silly 7 day Carib cruises and wait for something with a little more meat on the bone.

[mrlevin]

Those silly seven day Crystal Caribbean sailings are going to host a lot of historically loyal Regent cruisers; maybe they never return to Regent.  I still think Regent should start with Splendor (or maybe Voyager) out of Athens; get some money coming in and getting some crew employed.  Something.

[mariners]

Although it doesn't include the information you would like it to include, I think the Press Release is a brilliant move.  I, totally, agree with mikenbob's comment (#2).  As well, this release also keeps NCLH in the news, in a positive way, and might attract new customers who agree with their approach to equality ...

 

Before COVID threw a curve ball, I/we had spent the last couple of years researching World Cruises.  Crystal and Regent were both on the list.  Luckily, we had not yet booked anything so have not had the issues that many of the passengers have had in getting refunds from cancelled cruises in a timely fashion (mainly from Crystal).

 

So, although I/we love Crystal, there are lots of issues that need to be resolved before I/we will choose to sail on them again. 

 

I am impressed that Regent is not just "going with the flow".  My biggest concern is that multiple cruise lines will be sailing soon, and it will only take a couple of ships with outbreaks to create havoc.  The latest news on the vaccinated population could, potentially, create issues (unless these issues have already been addressed and I have missed the relevant information) as there is no 100% guarantee that passengers will be COVID free even if they are vaccinated.  See:

 

https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/Articles/ID/2720/Cases-of-COVID-19-vaccine-breakthrough-confirmed-in-Washington-state  

 

NCLH might be taking a "wait and see" approach.  Perhaps, they want the data from these initial sailings to ensure that they have the "best practices" for when they start sailing.  

 

For me, all of the above makes Regent a cruise line that we will, if all goes well, sail on again in the future.  

 

 

[Jimmcdaniel]

T

18 minutes ago, mariners said:

Although it doesn't include the information you would like it to include, I think the Press Release is a brilliant move.  I, totally, agree with mikenbob's comment (#2).  As well, this release also keeps NCLH in the news, in a positive way, and might attract new customers who agree with their approach to equality ...

 

Before COVID threw a curve ball, I/we had spent the last couple of years researching World Cruises.  Crystal and Regent were both on the list.  Luckily, we had not yet booked anything so have not had the issues that many of the passengers have had in getting refunds from cancelled cruises in a timely fashion (mainly from Crystal).

 

So, although I/we love Crystal, there are lots of issues that need to be resolved before I/we will choose to sail on them again. 

 

I am impressed that Regent is not just "going with the flow".  My biggest concern is that multiple cruise lines will be sailing soon, and it will only take a couple of ships with outbreaks to create havoc.  The latest news on the vaccinated population could, potentially, create issues (unless these issues have already been addressed and I have missed the relevant information) as there is no 100% guarantee that passengers will be COVID free even if they are vaccinated.  See:

 

https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/Articles/ID/2720/Cases-of-COVID-19-vaccine-breakthrough-confirmed-in-Washington-state  

 

NCLH might be taking a "wait and see" approach.  Perhaps, they want the data from these initial sailings to ensure that they have the "best practices" for when they start sailing.  

 

For me, all of the above makes Regent a cruise line that we will, if all goes well, sail on again in the future.  

 

 

Thanks for sharing that Washington State health article. I hadn’t seen that. 
 

The percentages they report for vaccine breakthrough cases are way less than people who contract flu or Norovirus on a ship. It also appears one would have a much higher chance of dying from a heart attack on a ship than from breakthrough covid. I don’t think there is any reason for havoc breaking out. 

[Pcardad]

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

Those silly seven day Crystal Caribbean sailings are going to host a lot of historically loyal Regent cruisers; maybe they never return to Regent.  I still think Regent should start with Splendor (or maybe Voyager) out of Athens; get some money coming in and getting some crew employed.  Something.

I think they are going to....August....that's been my guess for months.

 

[Jimmcdaniel]

2 hours ago, mrlevin said:

Those silly seven day Crystal Caribbean sailings are going to host a lot of historically loyal Regent cruisers; maybe they never return to Regent.  I still think Regent should start with Splendor (or maybe Voyager) out of Athens; get some money coming in and getting some crew employed.  Something.

Yes, let's get Voyager going! I am counting on Abu Dhabi - Cape Town in late October.

[mariners]

Jimmcdaniel, I agree that the chance of someone who has a heart attack is much greater than someone who passes away because of COVID.  However, in my experience sailing to many areas of the world, there has never been an issue with someone being airlifted off a ship or admitted to a hospital for "regular" medical issue.  That being said, the reason that I believe that havoc might take place is because COVID is "different".  It doesn't matter what you or I believe; it only matters what actually happens and how countries/passengers/people respond.

 

I hope that you get to sail the Abu Dhabi - Cape Town cruise.  We'd love to return to Muscat although it likely has changed since we were there on Song of Flower.  The Seychelles are fabulous whether you like beaches/snorkelling/diving.  Richard's Bay was one of the highlights of our cruise.  However, the sea can be quite rough in that area and I'd recommend listening to the Captain about the sea and weather.  

 

I hope that my comments on this thread were interpreted to be supportive of Regent as that was my intention.  If not, I will have to be more verbose :).    

 

 

[SWFLAOK]

9 hours ago, mrlevin said:

Do you think it was about new itineraries?  Maybe additional cancellations?  Ship movements?

 

No!

 

Here it is in part:

 

MIAMI, April 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (“Norwegian” or “the Company”) (NYSE: NCLH), a leading global cruise company which operates the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands, today concludes its celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day. Throughout March, the Company celebrated its extraordinary women team members worldwide through a variety of initiatives including spotlight series, speed mentoring sessions and empowerment talks.

“At Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings we are proud to celebrate the incredible achievements of the countless female leaders across our Company,” said Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. “We believe in supporting and empowering women not just in March but every day of the year, and we are committed to maintaining a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace for all team members. This commitment is reflected across the organization from our Board of Directors which is comprised of one-third women to our shoreside manager and above leadership team which is approximately 50% female.”

 

This is not an April Fool's post; this is what appears to be most important to NCLH management.

 

BTW, Regent Reassurance was also extended today through bookings made by 30 April 2021 for sailing through 31 October 2021 ONLY.  I wonder how many of those will sail.

I am a career woman who worked for 30 years at IBM. I don't care at all about how NCL empowered women.

At IBM, I often saw women who were not qualified due to lack of education or experienc,  promoted to a job that they couldn't handle. I suspect that the same thing is happening at NCL based on this press release. It makes me feel like I don't want to take our next (delayed another year) cruise on Regent.

At this point, I only care about whether I will be able to take the cruise I booked in 2019. It currently won't be sailing until at least September 2022, and if they're promoting women rather than those who are most qualified, I doubt that we'll be able to sail before I'm too old to go, and I'm "only" 65.

After reading this press release, I'm going to contact our travel TA to see if we can get a refund. With Covid 19 being the biggest threat to cruising in the future, and having paid for 3 cruises that we have not been able to get refunds for, I don't really care what NCL is doing for their female employees. If they deserve their jobs, they don't need to brag about it. And it doesn't help those of us who have paid for a cruise, and hasn't taken it.

[ChucktownSteve]

Do you believe it's just another case of marketing corporate pandering (insert your cause here) to appear woke as many corporations seem to be doing in the new PC environment?

[Dwtlion]

On 4/1/2021 at 12:09 PM, mrlevin said:

Those silly seven day Crystal Caribbean sailings are going to host a lot of historically loyal Regent cruisers; maybe they never return to Regent.  I still think Regent should start with Splendor (or maybe Voyager) out of Athens; get some money coming in and getting some crew employed.  Something.

I would not give Crystal a nickel. Crystal's owner, Genting, informed the financial community this past week that their liabilities exceeded their assets by over $ 3 BILLION. Can you spell bankruptcy?