Posted on 06/29/2021 10:14:21 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
A dream is a wish your heart makes, and Tuesday afternoon should've been when Disney's (NYSE: DIS) dream -- more specifically the Disney Dream cruise ship -- resumed passenger sailings for the first time in nearly 16 months. The entertainment giant with a fleet of four cruise ships was supposed to embark on a two-night test sailing for the Disney Dream out of Port Canaveral on Tuesday, but it had to postpone the voyage earlier this week after "inconsistent" COVID-19 test results.
This is the latest setback for the cruising industry. Royal Caribbean's (NYSE: RCL) Odyssey of the Seas was set to resume sailings this weekend, only to have to cancel the first four weeks of watery getaways after a handful of crew members tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
It's not all bad news, though. Some ships are starting to generate revenue again. However, the peak summer travel season that once seemed so promising for Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE: NCLH) is starting to fall apart.
Summer is technically just getting started, but restarting a travel industry that has been largely up on blocks since March of last year is apparently easier booked than sailed. There have been isolated positive tests on the limited number of active sailings. They've been costly to deal with -- a pair of young passengers testing positive on a Royal Caribbean sailing had to be flown back home with their families on a private plane -- but thankfully, not disruptive to the rest of the passengers or the cruise-ship's operations...snip
Even if cruise ships were operating with their full fleets -- and they won't be for some time -- you still have fewer potential passengers with easy access to going on a cruise vacation without having to jump through hoops.
(Excerpt) Read more at nasdaq.com ...
from the article—”Most segments of the travel and tourism sector are well into the turnaround process. Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, and to a lesser extent Disney are just trying to get started. The summer that seemed so promising earlier this year is coming undone.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, time makes all things clear, and the economics of the Cruise Industry is what I am interested in, besides just going cruising. -Tom
I am a little bit interested in looking at this sector for a recovery, which I would reckon might take roughly six months. Part of that has to do with the popularity of cruising in the Bahamas and the Caribbean during winter months for East coasters. I know that RCL dropped about five and a half dollars yesterday or the day before. Now I also think that the cruise lines are going to have to Discount heavily to re motivate people to cruise, and that should impair their profitability for a while. Nevertheless, on a slightly longer-term basis, I think the sector will recover. I also think that the airlines have completely and totally priced in a full-on recovery. And it is time to scoot out of those.
No mention of the CDC’s boot on cruise operator’s throats.
Thanks to RCL for allowing the CDC to put its nose in the tent.
It’s taken a federal lawsuit to put the agency back in their box.
I think FL, TX, AK and the other cruise lines should sue RCL for damages they brought upon the industry by voluntarily complying with the unauthorized mandates of a non-regulatory advisory agency.
It is not just RCL, the Cruise Line Industry Assn. (CLIA)didn't help out either.
If the CDC said you have to do this and that, the Cruise Lines responded by saying we will do this and that and more. They shot themselves in the foot an put themselves Billions of dollars in debt, with no income for over a year.-Tom
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.