Jump to content

Norwegian Cruise line cancels cruises through March


Recommended Posts

Well this is not a good sign for when one of the major 3 starts to cancel the other 2 follow shortly after. I found the following notice from my TD Ameritrade application ThinkorSwim. This is why shares cruise shares are down today.

 

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. said it is scrapping all voyages through Feb. 28 on its namesake unit and sailings on its Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises units through March 31, further prolonging its revenue drought during the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the extension of the sailing hiatus, Norwegian will have not sailed for about a year, since cruise ships faced coronavirus outbreaks earlier this year. Norwegian and other major cruise operators have lost billions of dollars this year due to the pandemic.

Norwegian on Wednesday said it is working to fulfill requirements set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To win the CDC's approval, cruise operators must conduct mock sailings and apply for a conditional permit at least 60 days before restarting passenger operations. Carnival Corp. has also extended its sailing pause across some of its cruise lines to various points of 2021 in the face of CDC requirements and the resurgence of Covid-19 cases.

Restarting sailings come at a cost. Norwegian last month earmarked $300 million in health and safety investments ahead of its sailing resumption, and its initial sailings will likely be seven days or less at reduced capacity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Dimension changed the title to Norwegian Cruise line cancels cruises through March

No surprise....I think most will do this....and based on discussions here on other threads, I think its going to be alot longer till any type of cruising resumes....I have been sticking with May/June but the more I heard and see about how they are going to try and roll out "safe" cruises, I really really am starting to have my doubts

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find it very hard to believe that I’m the only one who thinks they need a Plan B desperately.  Look to start cruises somewhere other then the states!  
Our current government showed they had some desire to help with cruises resuming.  Don’t even think of cruising in 2021 when the new government takes over in January.   
 

It’s just a dose of reality in my opinion!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, RBRSKI said:

I find it very hard to believe that I’m the only one who thinks they need a Plan B desperately.  Look to start cruises somewhere other then the states!  
Our current government showed they had some desire to help with cruises resuming.  Don’t even think of cruising in 2021 when the new government takes over in January.   
 

It’s just a dose of reality in my opinion!

You're not the only one. ?

They will have plan B, C, etc. They're just talking about all the options behind their closed doors and not telling us ? what they are looking at. RCI hasn't announced cancellations to the degree other cruise lines have...could be a very good reason behind that. ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keep in mind that a spring restart will be with one or two ships only, assuming those one or two ships are able to start early spring. 

If you have Navigator or Mariner booked you are on the bubble early spring.  Other ships, like the 24 of 26 other ships in Royal's fleet, 12 of 14 ships in the Celebrity fleet, 2 of 3 Azamara ships and 10 of 11 ships in the SilverSea fleet won't be sailing for sometime after that.  That's 48 ships doing laps in the ocean while less than a handful of ships across the brands do initial restart cruises for a few months.  

One way or another the CDC will not let ships sail while the numbers are elevated in the population.  

As far as plan B, as long as American numbers are up, no country will want thousands of Americans flocking to a ship homeported in their country.

The key to getting ships sailing is getting numbers down.  That is why Singapore is able to cruise right now.  If Singapore has another wave and numbers go up the cruises will stop.  

It's all about the numbers.  

 

36 minutes ago, Gears said:

RCI hasn't announced cancellations to the degree other cruise lines have...could be a very good reason behind that. ?

Yes.  They don't want to issue refunds.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fully expect this and possibly longer.  The only bad thing is it feels like things are being strung along too much.  If the CDC had just said, "Hey we are going to shut it down for the next 12 months," the lines would have done more of a cold storage of the ships and saved some cash and people wouldn't be sitting in limbo wondering what is going to happen.

I think most of the lines still have the same plans to cancel the majority of stuff till at least May and figured that when I booked my 5 day.  The plan currently is to roll it into a 6 day in mid May and see what happens then.  If it is canceled as well then December is probably going to end up being a 7 night, but if things work out the way I hope while on the 6 night I will probably do the 7 night in December anyway.

And I understand why the lines are not shutting things down either.  They are still getting bookings for stuff and they are then able to kick the empty can down the road a little and still have enough cash to keep the fleet going and stay in the black.  Say things are good by May, the extra 25% that people earned is a drop in the bucket when things get rolling again and they can easily offset that with small price increases and a few less sales or reduced sale amounts later on.  At this point unless the CDC comes in and shuts things down for at least 12 to 18 months there is no reason to start mothballing stuff yet due to the costs associated with doing so and then taking the ships out of that state.

It's just all a little frustrating but I am sure they are also getting some work done on things they didn't expect to do until later on down the road too.  So the ships should be in good shape and look pristine when they get back to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To quote the rep i was on the phone with when my November Symphony sailing got canceled. "You can lift and shift to a 5 night sailing in January or February, but uh, and I can't really say this to you, but I'd take the refund".  I feel like they've known this for a while, and have a realistic start date in the late spring in mind, but I don't blame them at all for acting like they expect to be sailing "soon", in order to hold on to all those interest free loans people keep giving them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To a put a positive spin on it, Royal has always proven to be optimistic. 

During hurricane season other lines cancel and Royal takes their time hoping the hurricane goes away.  The same can be said for the pandemic.  Other lines cancel but Royal keeps on hoping it goes away.  

Maybe one day this approach will prove them correct.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like NCL's identifying what ships it wants to start first too which gives me a bit of optimism.  

We have extended our voluntary temporary suspension of ALL voyages through February 2021. We previously had suspended cruises on Norwegian Star, Norwegian Spirit, and Norwegian Dawn through March 2021; and today we will be adding Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Getaway, Norwegian Jade, Norwegian Jewel, Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Sky, Norwegian Sun, and Pride of America to the list of cruises suspended through March 2021.

Just the Encore/Escape/Joy left for possible sailings in March.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Dimension said:

Well this is not a good sign for when one of the major 3 starts to cancel the other 2 follow shortly after. I found the following notice from my TD Ameritrade application ThinkorSwim. This is why shares cruise shares are down today.

THIS is wrong. NCL shares are up today since mid-morning. How it will end the day is a different story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cancelled the remainder of the Australia season though April 2021. That effectively means another 11 months of waiting seems the first Royal ship back in these waters isn't due until the start of the next season in mid October 2021. ?

I wonder what they will do with Ovation, Voyager, and Radiance for the next 5 months until it's time for them to cross the Pacific.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, RBRSKI said:

I find it very hard to believe that I’m the only one who thinks they need a Plan B desperately.  Look to start cruises somewhere other then the states!  
Our current government showed they had some desire to help with cruises resuming.  Don’t even think of cruising in 2021 when the new government takes over in January.   
 

It’s just a dose of reality in my opinion!

We get your point but who is going to be cruising from these other countries. How can international travel involving the USA even be considered when there is no clear control of COVID. Over 200k cases again today, there is no chance of cruising until these numbers drop significantly. Freedom of movement unfortunately is this viruses biggest ally.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...