Posted on 05/16/2020 11:59:17 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
Cruise lines are burning anywhere from $100 million to $1 billion a month as they wait on cruises to resume. Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings have all raised money to stay afloat during this unprecedented shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s been over two months since the last cruise ship departed from Miami on a revenue sailing. When Navigator of the Seas left Miami for a three night cruise to the Bahamas on March 13, the pause in cruises was originally scheduled to last for 30 days.
Although cruise lines have given tentative start dates, no one knows for sure when cruises will start back up as the dates keep getting pushed back. It’s important to note that these start up dates are not set in stone and will likely continue to change. How much cash and liquidity do each of the major cruise lines have and how long can they go without cruises starting back up?
None of the cruise lines are in danger of filing for bankruptcy anytime soon. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is now in the best shape of the major three cruise lines after raising over $2 billion last week. Norwegian is currently burning $70-$110 million each month. The company now has enough cash to last until late 2021, even after refunding $67 million to passengers each month from canceled cruises.
Royal Caribbean has roughly one year worth of liquidity. The world’s second largest cruise company is currently burning a little over $300 million a month and they have just under $3.5 billion in capital. Royal Caribbean Cruises sent out a press release earlier this week stating that they are offering 28 of their cruise ships as collateral to secure additional liquidity to make it through this tough time.
Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest travel leisure company with nine cruise lines and over 100 cruise ships, was burning roughly $1 billion a month. In a recent call, Carnival stated that they have enough cash to last through the end of 2020 without cruises resuming. However, the company took additional action this week announcing a combination of layoffs, furloughs, reduced work weeks and salary reductions across Carnival Corporation, including senior management. These moves will contribute hundreds of millions of dollars in cash conservation on an annualized basis.
As you can see, none of the major cruise lines are in danger of filing for bankruptcy anytime in the near future. If one did have to file in 2021, they will likely file for Chapter 11, allowing them to stay in business and reorganize. The cruise industry is a significant contributor to the U.S. and global tourism sectors, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), with economic impact in the U.S. exceeding well over $50 billion in total contributions.
On a global scale, the economic output due to the cruise industry continues to produce new jobs and income, generating a total global output of over $150 billion and supporting over 1.2 million total jobs.
Carnival Corporation’s cruise lines: Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Cunard, Seabourn, Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises, & P&O Australia.
Royal Caribbean’s cruise lines: Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara, and Silversea Cruises. The company is also a 50% owner of TUI Cruises and a 49% shareholder in Pullmantur Cruises.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ cruise lines: Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
That is an excellent description of traveling through North America by RV and I thank you for your time.
My wife and I have considered it and decided that we will rent rather than buy. I’ve driven heavy Army vehicles so “getting qualified” won’t be a problem; I’ve seen some really old fogies behind the wheel of RV’s we have passed (I’m one, too) so it can’t be rocket science.
I know the food on board will be great and no ripoffs on alcohol. ;^)
My Army buddy is hitting the road with his RV & family next month so I look forward to pics. Lots to see on youtube, too.
Done with foreign travel, like done, done, done! Decades ago Lady Bird Johnson told us to “see America first”. Good advice since the rest of the world wants to move here anyway, we must already be in the right location.
I first heard at least sixty years ago, my Mother laughing at the old chestnut, "I'm no bigot, I hate everybody equally."
As my wife pointed out just now, the Long Cruise Lines have been having problems long before this so called crisis. Food poisoning, mysterious murders, suicides, seasickness, tourists left in ports of call, and not being reimbursed for services not provided. The list goes way back and on-and-on.
But going back to what my Mom used to laughed about, my Dear Sweet Wife and I don't like people enough to be isolated with them on a ship on the high seas.
John Donne said, "No Man is an Island", but there is a codicil, unless like me, he chooses to be.
Dude. Impressive, need a long lost son?
One thing you mentioned in that list is "tourists left in ports of call'.
I haven't seen as much of that in the last 20 years or so, but saw it just about on every cruise we took in the early years.
People would be on their time zone and not on the ships time.
The cruise ships did not babysit the passengers so they would put a sign at the gangway saying "This ship leaves for Puerto Vallarta at 10 PM.
If you were not on "ships time" you may very well miss the ship. -Tom
I think if you book your air fare through the cruise line in a package deal, you get it refunded if the cruise is cancelled.
“My wife and I have considered it and decided that we will rent rather than buy.”
Renting is a good option to try the RV life. We looked at renting and decided to by a three year old lightly used RV from a couple who decided they didn’t like It. We figured (correctly) with the former owners taking the big initial depreciate, we could probably sell it in a year for most of what we had in it. It turns out we liked both the trailer and the RV lifestyle. We’ve been meticulous about maintaining the trailer (you can do most of the work yourself), so she’s still rolling nine years later with many thousands of memorable miles. The best thing about the RV life is the great people you meet all over the country.
Good luck to you. I hope you enjoy the adventure.
Not everybody books their air fares through the cruise lines, so they have to worry about getting a refund if they cancel the air fare. -Tom
I agree with you!
If the ship isn’t flagged to America, there should be no bailouts!!!
Sounds like you had great cruising experience,
but wondered about your ‘petri dish’ comment.
Ive been on over 60 cruises and always found everything extremely clean.
Norwegian does have an American built, American staffed, and American flagged cruise ship - the Pride of America. It sails around Hawaii.
It’s also 3 times as expensive as a comparable cruise elsewhere.
Also, while cruise companies don’t generally pay most US taxes, they do pay significant port fees to the localities where they dock, which are important to the localities.
Have a wonderful, safe time and please report back with what adjustments and changes you had to encounter.
Too many people in too close proximity, IMHO
No thanks, just give me Star Trek transporters to eliminate the use of airlines, a holodeck and virtual reality to replace vacations, or...Total Rekall...
That maybe a problem for some but we don’t fly!!
We are well aware of that ...it’s been cancelled twice!!!
I wish!!LOL
Galveston!!!
I don’t know the details but to be honest we wouldn’t care if they didn’t go to any port....we just like the ship!!!
Today,May,19,2020, I was reading Royal Caribbean is seriously thinking of getting rid of the buffet and implementing a few more restrictions, in other areas like boarding and swimming pools..
I believe the buffet is very popular and it's demise and the other implementations will make it less of a carefree cruise and more like paying to visit a hospital ship in 2020. - Tom
One plus for cruises is that the salt air is anti-fungal. With salt air breezes and the ship in motion, this scatters every virus in the air, rendering them ineffective. The salt air and ambient salt water droplets in the air, at least outside on the decks, will also work against virus.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.