“With an industry hemorrhaging money, it would be unlikely many cruise lines will be able to sit still for another 8-9 months without building up huge debts.”
BUT... by all means, cruise lines should alienate the very people that are able to pull them out of their downward spiral...their customers.
The 3 largest Cruise lines, CARNIVAL- ROYAL, AND NORWEGIAN got caught in a situation common in baseball, taking a long lead off first base, and getting picked off.
When Covid first hit,was in hindsight the time to reorganize, cut back on personnel, and ships, and prepare for a diminished future in cruising, thus preserving the Billions made, and borrowed.
But it looked like Cruises were goin to restart soon and you would fall behind the other LINES who stuck it out.
They stuck it out because of the hopes of : a next month restart-in a few months we will restart- all kinds of people wanting to go on cruises now, etc.
All wishful thinking, as they never expected a year long shutdown where they spent their Billions and , the borrowed money they were given under the premise of an any month now a restart will happen.
This basic cruise line shutdown is now approaching a year and if the CDC and other health organizations get involved it will stumble along in 2021 and should cause some reorganizations,( bankruptcies) as has happened to some of the other Cruise lines.
Don't forget creditors are involved in this also, and the loaners don't want to loose their money , and IMHO the possibility of a vaccine being required to cruise will not help, only slow down the recovery of loaned money. And there is no guarantee it will all be paid back with interest in full.
So , besides having the Press, left wing politicians, the CDC, and other countries health Orgs.. to deal with, the Cruise Lines may start having a Creditor problem, with more delays in the offing if vaccines are required to go on a cruise.- Tom