Discussion of Impacts to River Cruising on the Industry Due to Recent Weather Events

[Gadget Hackwrench]

I am not going to issue political statements in this forum, but there is evidence in many news stories showing that many rivers in Europe and the United States are at lower levels than acceptable for trade and tourism. Many ship companies such as Viking rely heavily on river cruising for survival. There have been canceled river cruises and others have had to bus people between certain ports due to lower than acceptable water levels. While I have no reason to believe this will significantly impact ocean bound cruises ability to sail, I do wonder if Royal Caribbean will experience a growing trend of people switching from canceled river cruises to ocean bound vessels. I wonder if out community believes this will lead to the construction of more ocean ships or other impacts on the industry if weather patterns continue for the foreseeable future? Will cruise ship occupancy rates climb significantly and what will the impacts be on frequent cruisers? What are your thoughts?

[ChessE4]

6 hours ago, Gadget Hackwrench said:

 Will cruise ship occupancy rates climb significantly and what will the impacts be on frequent cruisers? What are your thoughts?

While there might be some river cruisers who switch to ocean cruising, I think the two experiences are significantly different.  My neighbor loves river cruising in Europe.  To me, it is like a glorified bus trip through Europe.  I will go there when I want that intensive educational experience.   But if I want dancing and going to shows, I'll pick ocean cruising.  I was actually wondering just the opposite -- would ocean cruisers tired of testing decide to try river cruising?   Best guess is that it will be a wash.