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.
Salt water pools add a plus too.
I think getting rid of the Buffet would be a mistake. We’re not big on it (except maybe the first day of a cruise when it is at it’s best) but many are. They have to be careful not to go to far here. If they create an atmosphere where everyone feels they are only one sneeze away from death nobody is going to want to cruise. Most Cruisers are ready to go back with a few changes and that should be their approach. Add some precautions sure but don’t destroy the care free feel of cruising.
“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!!!”
That’s us, too. The cruise is the destination. Quite often we never leave the ship while in port, especially if we’ve been to that port before. The ship is a nice quiet place to be when almost everyone is off doing tours.
“hire Americans to crew them.”
That would equal no more cruise lines, as the profits would vanish.
Capt. Tom wrote: “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.”
There are a number of posters on cruise critic that are hoping the buffets go away. Some do see the buffets as a health hazard. Others believe that the quality of food service in the main dining room would improve if the buffets go away. Some just believe a real cruise is a set down, two hour dinner, assigned tables, etc., in the MDR.
“And you spend your money on these companies? You think it is okay?”
So you buy absolutely nothing made outside of the USA? Ever?
If you had a business based on customer service, would you REALLY want snot-nosed, entitled, whiny American young people on your staff? First, you couldn’t pay them enough. Second, they’d be pissing off most passengers over the course of a week with their attitudes.
Cruise lines pay a TON of taxes to the US.
You’re right about airline cancellations. My sister and BIL had a Norway cruise booked for early July. They were going to tour England for a week before, and had made their own air and hotel arrangements.
Princess cancelled the cruise. They hadn’t paid anything for hotels yet. Only thing left was the airfare, RT Nashville-London, which they had paid for. She was within an hour of cancelling the flight, which would have resulted in some monetary penalties, when the airline cancelled. They lost no money.
Spend an hour a day in the cruise ships salt water pool should immunize you in a sense. It will up your immune system. Salt water is bracing.
I think a lot of the issues you list have always been there to some extent. But now, through technology and instant communication, everyone is made more aware of them.
It’s like anything. Be aware. Be careful. Pay attention to your surroundings. Stay with a group off the ship. If traveling with young attractive girls, REALLY keep an eye out both on and off the ship.
Ahh, let the RCL scalawags pull the buffet. They already treat their steerage class patrons like cattle. Probably lock them in their decks next.
Carnival won’t be that stupid. They realize the hype will blow over by August. They are biding their tongue, avoiding making moronic Me Too press releases RCL chooses to virtue signal.
“Ive been on over 60 cruises and always found everything extremely clean.”
We haven’t been on that many — maybe 12. We’ve also have been happy with the cleanliness. Of course, we take our own precautions including hand sanitizers (railings, elevator buttons, door handles, etc.) and have been healthy. (But we do that, cruising or not.) Once there was norovirus on our ship, but we were OK.
We never EVER use a hot tub or a pool on a ship.
We’re looking at a December cruise. I just hope they don’t go all overboard with the stupid new WuFlu rules so that it ruins cruising forever. If they do, we’ll stop.
The salt water pools are the best. Filtered sea water passed up thru a heat exchanger with the engines and pumped continuously into the pools from the bottom. I only avoid them in port. Don’t like swimming in harbor water.
Good for her.
What is happening is the Americans who can't recover their money from the airlines, because the airlines didn't cancel the trip ,the passengers did, those people are asking the Fed Govt. to pass legislation that if those airlines get a taxpayer bailout they have to refund money back to the American people who cancelled their flights for any reason . -Tom
You really should be a travel writer for an RV publication (if you are not already). Sounds great!
Cargo cruises seem to be a unique and interesting way to cruise. Never been on one yet though.
A cornfield in Iowa on a bike trail. I was listening to Pink Floyd on my headphones when suddenly sirens went off all around me. I thought the sirens were part of the song but eventually I realized there were tornado sirens and a tornado dropped down just a few miles from me.
29 Palms California. I decided to walk towards a mountain that seemed just a few miles away. After hours of walking, I realized I was not getting much closer and I was thirsty as hell. Fortunately I made it to town and spent the whole afternoon drinking.
New Hampshire, I took a hike in the middle of winter and a snowstorm bored down on me when I was barely halfway through. I had a very close call at the end as I lost the trail and had to use my wits to find the main road. Spent the entire next day in a hot tub watching NFL football and drinking heavily.
Albertville, Alabama. Was caught in a massive thunderstorm and drove into a ditch. Got pulled out and finished my day fishing for catfish in a stocked pond.
Marco Island, Florida, decided to sleep on the beach and a random girl lied down beside me for a few hours. Before anything could happen, she got back up and went on her way to wherever it was she was going. But Marco Island has a very nice beach and I've been back there several times.
When my wife and I go on a cruise, if the buffet is good, we will eat almost every meal there.
Occasionally we will go to the main dining room for breakfast or an evening meal, or to be with some friends. -Tom
Before you get to old to enjoy the swimming, I suggest you try this one.
I wish I did when I was younger. - Tom
https://farandawayadventures.com/aranui-5/
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.