September 21, 2020
Cruise Execs Hint at Phased Restart
Throughout the conference call, executives repeatedly stressed that a phased approach to the resumption of cruise would be the way forward. "We foresee a phased, sequential startup of operations," said CLIA's Goldstein. "We are confident we can operate ships safely and deliver fantastic vacations."Several executives hinted that the ramp-up time needed to restart ships would be in the range of 30 days from being given the green light. "We have to fly crew back in, they have to go through rigorous testing, it takes about 30 days," said Carnival's Donald."30 days sounds great," chimed in MSC's Vago.While nothing has been formally announced, a 30-day restart window could potentially allow cruise lines to resume limited sailings by November 1, provided the CDC agreed with that timeline. The thirty-days marker was, at one point, mentioned so frequently that it appeared as if planning were already in the works for such an event."I look forward to welcoming you all aboard our early cruise," said Royal Caribbean's Fain. "I'll be there to welcome you, and hope you'll join us." That echoed comments made by Norwegian's Frank Del Rio, who stated broadly that some of the first voyages Norwegian embarks on may be test runs with company employees only."It does take time to stand up a ship," said Del Rio about the restart process. "We need to get the crew back, we need to train the crew, and that's why we're talking about a phased approach. "We're talking about getting only our employees onboard, maybe only a day or two at sea, and gradually work ourselves up to the point where we can resume more normal operations over time."A Healthy Restart Critical to Cruising's Success
Each of the executives present on the call stated that demand was there to restart cruise within the Americas, but each emphasized the need to do so in a safe and measured way. "What I can tell you is there's general momentum building broadly for an appropriate, healthy restart of cruising," said Donald. "As Frank Del Rio pointed out, none of us want to start before we're ready and what Royal Caribbean has put forward, what MSC's panel has suggested in Europe…suggests that we should be in a position as things continue to mitigate that support in the U.S.""Today's announcement, and all the thinking and learning that went into today's announcement, put us in a better position to have an engaged dialogue with all of our regulators," said Brian Salerno, SVP maritime policy with CLIA. " We'd like to salvage some of the 2020 season."Donald pointed out that many of these new health and safety policies are easy to adopt. Others, like testing, are more difficult: "Physical distancing and mask wearing is pretty easy to do. Some of the more difficult things are…testing of every guest."CLIA CEO Adam Goldstein pointed out the cruise industry is the only travel-related sector that has fully committed to testing all passengers and crew for COVID-19 as a condition of sailing.Next Steps
With the industry's health and safety protocols submitted to the CDC, the onus is now on that organization to issue directives to the cruise industry that would allow them to resume sailings from and to U.S. ports of call. With the CDC's current No-Sail Order stretching to the end of this month, and CLIA's own ordinance lasting through October 31, no cruises will likely happen before then. Many lines have also cancelled well into 2021.There is, however, the hope that some sailings for November and December could be salvaged.(10:55 a.m. EDT) -- Health and safety protocols developed by Costa Cruises seem to have contained a COVID-19 outbreak on a recent charter cruise, but the line has canceled a subsequent sailing on the ship, out of an abundance of caution.
The incident took place on Costa Diadema, the second ship to re-enter service on the Italian line in the COVID-19 era. The ship, which can handle 4,947 passengers during a normal sailing, had been chartered by a much smaller French tour operator for several consecutive cruises.
The first sailing, with more than 600 charter passengers onboard, left September 28 from Genoa. The 14-day itinerary visited other Italian ports and Greece before returning to
(Updated 12:32 p.m. EDT) -- With ocean and river cruise lines temporarily suspending service around the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping track of the seemingly minute-by-minute changes to the cruise industry can be challenging.
Most cruise lines voluntarily paused sailings for the meantime after being faced with port closures; a lack of suitable infrastructure, including flights; and increased travel restrictions that change on a country-by-country basis. CLIA,the Cruise Lines International Association that represents most cruise lines, issued a further volunatary suspension in operations through October 31.
Adding to voluntary suspens
(Updated 12:09 p.m. EDT) -- Cruise lines have temporarily suspended operations worldwide and altered future sailings in globally as the novel coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) continues to spread.
In January, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, following an emergency committee meeting in Geneva. On March 11, WHO declared the outbreak a worldwide pandemic.
In additon, a number of ports throughout the world and the Caribbean are barring ships from docking.
The U.S. State Department has issued a Global Level 4 "do not travel" health advisory for travel abroad. The U.K.'s Foreign & Common
(12:20 p.m. EDT) -- Disney Cruise Line has announced its forthcoming Disney Wish will make its maiden voyage in Summer 2022, after being delayed slightly by the coronavirus pandemic.
The 144,000-gt ship was originally scheduled to debut in early 2022 but will be delayed until summer due to pandemic-related delays at the Meyer-Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. Disney Wish will represent an all-new class of ship for Disney and will be slightly larger than the line's two most recent vessels, Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy.
Disney Wish will be one of the first vessels to be powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), a cleaner-burning fuel than tradition
(Updated 12:08 p.m. EDT) -- Faced with declining revenues and a lack of passengers during the global COVID-10 pandemic, some cruise lines are taking an unpopular but necessary step: Selling off older vessels for scrap.
Most modern cruise ships have service lives of 40 years or more. While it is not uncommon to see cruise ships built in the 1970's and 1980's go to the breakers, older vessels are usually transferred first to another, smaller cruise operator -- a market that is often referred to as "secondhand tonnage."
It's more unusual is to see relatively young vessels head to the breakers. Yet that is precisely what is beginning to happen, due to the coronavirus pandemic. On June 25,
(11 a.m. EDT) -- The newest ship from Celebrity Cruises, Celebrity Apex, joined sister vessel Celebrity Edge and a handful of other cruise ships in the fleet offshore in the Bahamas – with the line marking the event with virtual fanfare.
That's par the course for Apex, which was intended to debut with passengers in late March. COVID-19 derailed those plans, of course, forcing the ship to have a virtual handover.
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As we all have to do right now, the line made the arrival of Ape