Posted on 11/02/2020 8:10:01 AM PST by Capt. Tom
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has today announced a cancellation of all of its voyages within all brands. Voyages onboard Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas have all been canceled until December 31st, 2020, at least.
The announcement comes just days after the announcement from the CDC to lift the No-Sail-Order. Although the company did not give specific details on the cancellations and the reasoning behind it, CEO Frank Del Rio had stated earlier last month that it would take up to 60 days to prepare the vessels for operations.
It could also be expected that the protocols and regulations that the CDC has demanded from the cruise lines need significant time to prepare. The CDC released a 40-page document with protocols that will need time and preparation to be executed properly.
Why does it take 60-days to prepare a ship? While a 60-days period might seem extravagant to prepare a vessel for operations, in these times, it seems to be a relatively healthy estimate. There are several factors the cruise lines will need to take into account when starting up a ship.
Many countries are returning to a lockdown to curb the infection rates. Flying crew in from other countries is becoming harder and harder to do. In many countries, national travel is difficult or even impossible. Cruise lines will need to find the human resources to put onboard. It seems unlikely all ‘regular’ crew members will be able to join the vessels.
Ships have been at anchor or cold layup for six to seven months now. While a ship at anchor means the engines have been running most of the time, and there would be a skeleton crew onboard to maintain the vessel, a ship at cold layup means there was little to no crew onboard. Getting these ships back into shape will require time and effort. It even looks like Norwegian will take some or most of its vessels into dry dock before operations start.
Once the ships are running, and the crew is onboard, there is still COVID testing and quarantine periods. These could take up to two weeks. In that time, the crew will most likely not be allowed to work onboard. That means that training the crew to deal with the COVID regulations will need to happen afterward. All in all, these measures alone will take a significant amount of time. On top of that, there are the CDC’s regulations to take into account.
What is the CDC requiring? As we said above, the first step would be to test all crew onboard. Once this has been done, and crew members are trained and ready to go, there are ‘mock voyages’ to go through.
These are voyages where the CDC will place observers onboard the vessels, and volunteers will act as guests. The goal is for the cruise lines to show the CDC that they are ready for guests and can mitigate or avoid any infection and transmission on board.
Only when the CDC is fully satisfied will a ship receive a certificate with which they may sail. As there is no precedent for the current situation and it is unclear how the CDC will react to the measures on board, the cruise lines will undoubtedly do all they can to be ready.
With these issues in mind, it is not surprising that Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has chosen to cancel all voyages and ensure they are ready when the time does come to sail. With this announcement, the company has bought itself 60 days to get ready instead of rushing into an unknown.
I’m starting to wonder if this is an 8+ billion dollar assault on DeSantis...
If Carnival caves and cancels cruises until March, it will include my Jan one...my next cruise would be on the new Mardi Gras in April...thats if the Mardi Gras has arrived from Europe by then...
I had booked on the Mardi Gras the first day of booking in January 2019 for Jan 2021 but the Mardi Gras was not going to be finished because of the Wu Hu Flu and it was due to start sailing in Feb instead...so in July my B2B cruises were cancelled...
I got great prices 2 years ago but when I rebooked for April the price was a lot higher...
PHOOIE !!!
If that cruise falls through I’ll have to wait until Oct...
I tell ya the cruise gremlins dont like me..if its not one thing its another..
The Jan one is an 8 day out of Tampa (to replace the Mardi Gras)...too long for the CDC and will Carnival be cruising out of Tampa yet in Jan...
I NEED A CRUISE !!!!
I believe CARNIVAL has given up also on any cruises this year and also the Trump Victory Cruise has been also torpedoed. -Tom
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Monday, November 2nd excerpt-
“As we work with the CDC and others toward this shared goal, Celebrity Cruises will be extending the suspension of sailings to include those departing on or before December 31, 2020, excluding our previously suspended 2020/21 Australia and Asia sailings.”
Yes I saw that...Im not surprised...the new order has so much in it it will take weeks to get the ships ready...
Now theres a 6 day on the Legend on Jan 3 and then my 8 day on the 9th...but unless Carnival shortens the cruise by a day to fit the CDC CSO of 7 or less days I wont be cruising in Jan...
And beyond the ships, the Cruise lines are required to have a place ashore to quarantine negative passengers for 14 days getting off a ship that has had a covid out break onboard. That could be thousands of people even at reduced ship capacity.
Lots of problems to be worked out. -Tom
Tampa to partial Panama Canal requires 8 days.
The Legend holds 2,100 passengers so at 50/60% it would be at least 1,000 in quarantine and then the hundreds of crew...what a mess that would be...
The new ship the Mardi Gras holds 5,300 normally...due to sail out of Port C on feb 6...
The last time I did a partial Panama it was 14 days with 5 ports and the canal...I thought 8 days was cutting it fine...but it could be shortened to 7 days by dropping a port...the ports might not be open anyway...
For years now various Carnival ships did the canal from Tampa.
Yes, I’ve been on the 14 day one. The shorter ones were all 8 day. Never saw a 7 days one, but logic suggests 7 days ‘could’ work.
Did the Miracle in Dec 2018. Tampa, Cozumel, Costa Rica, canal, Cartegna, Aruba, Curacao. Cayman, home. Got a deal won’t ever see again. Unobstructed balcony for 14 days for $449 p/p
entropy12 wrote: “I do not believe an asymptomatic infected person exudes enough virus cells to affect healthy people.”
The mask mandates are justified based upon the belief that asymptomatic people can infect others.
I agree with your assessment of Fauci. I remember when he was a prime mover in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Back then the CDC was pushing the idea that AIDS was a breakout threat to the heterosexual population. They used that to justify increased budgets just like they are using CV now. Ever since the Spanish flu of 1918, the virologists have been trying to justify huge spending increases. CV fits this objective quite well. They are trying to extend the CV threat for as long as they can to justify as much budget growth as they can. As Deepthroat said: “Follow the money.”
It takes an extra sea day to get to Aruba... were not going there...
I did the Pride in 2017 sister ship to the Legend...
Yeah, I got the word last night on the cancellation of our cruise. The good news is we get 125% of our fare paid towards the next cruise. I will be talking to Ian the Cruise Guy later today but I notice the same cruise is scheduled for February & March on the Celebrity Edge so hopefully it will be merely a delay.
“Yeah, I got the word last night on the cancellation of our cruise. The good news is we get 125% of our fare paid towards the next cruise. I will be talking to Ian the Cruise Guy later today but I notice the same cruise is scheduled for February & March on the Celebrity Edge so hopefully it will be merely a delay.”.......................................
February would be a good winter month to go.
Hope it works out well. - Tom
Well, it turns out our cruise has been extended two extra days to nine days total but it will be in January... 2022. However, I will probably take a separate cruise this summer to the Caribbean with my wife. But I WON’T be booking it until I already see cruise ships sailing.
“I’m starting to wonder if this is an 8+ billion dollar assault on DeSantis”.........................
DeSantis doesn’t have to run for Gov. for two more years.
A lot will change between now and then.
And we can start with the Presidential election today.-Tom
And here is a very recent example of a Cruise ship out of Barbados and out out of the jurisdiction of our CDC, trying to accomplish a Caribbean trip without a Covid infection. - Tom
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Caribbean Cruise Ship Headed Back to Homeport After Positive COVID Test
Ben Souza
November 11, 2020
The first cruise ship to sail to the Caribbean since March is headed back to its homeport after a passenger tested positive for COVID-19 SeaDream I departed from Barbados on Saturday to become the first cruise ship to cruise to the Caribbean in eight months. Four days into the cruise, the ship is now headed back to its homeport after the positive test.
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