sppunk

7 hours ago, cunnorl said:

 Havent seen any of your posts  which I enjoy very much for awhile. Hope all is Ok. 

 

They took off a few days to visit family and will reboard when the ship is on the west coast. 

I’m more curious if the Bahamas gets taken off lists due to the new travel warnings there. 

So happy for you Keith - you willed this return!

Will you by chance be blogging this trip on your site? Always enjoyed reading those posts.   

For entertainment, Diane Fast is/was the best piano bar player. She beats the socks off anyone. 

This is funny - I’ve not seen or heard a peep from Celebrity. I see HAL, RCCL, Princess, Crystal and Sewbourne stuff allllll the time though. 

Very sad news to log in and read - she so loved helping fellow cruisers and giving advice/answering questions to/from new sailers. 
 

It is against US law to which the UK is proposing, so you’re comparing apples and skyscrapers. 

23 minutes ago, Sir PMP said:

A little bit too fast of a decision by Omar.

Since America is months and months away from mass immunization, not it’s not. This isn’t unexpected whatsoever. Cruises will only have a few Caribbean islands and mayyyyybe a SE Asia country to visit in 2021, at best. Punt to 2022,

The issue cruise lines will face is where to go. Many - many - countries aren’t letting cruises in this year at all imo and 2022 is skeptical for many. 
 

It’ll be the Caribbean, and that’s about it I think, that allows cruises before 2022. The virus isn’t going away this year. 

20 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

There will be others that disagree with me--OK with me.  But, RCI's decision to buy those former Renaissance Cruise ships which were dated in decor and small in size was a poor business decision initially.  Needed "something" to compete with Seabourn of CCL, I suspect, was a "guiding thought".  

 

I have friends who sailed on one of those ships when it was a Renaissance vessel:  never again, and their reaction was based on the physical layout of the ship.  I know another couple who sailed on one when it was an Azamara vessel:  enjoyed it.  

 

Personally, I don't see this transaction to be a threat to HAL.  

The fact RCCL didn’t put money into expanding the line I tend to think they had the same issue. They bought but then didn’t know what to do. 

5 hours ago, Roz said:

What is "equity scrap"?

They buy companies and strip out anything that cost money, don’t reinvest, and let it bleed for profit.

It sorta kinda works for Staples (and Aeropostale which they have done) but an asset-heavy cruse line is a different animal. 

This is bad news for Azamara. A private equity firm's entire premise is to buy and strip down to bare minimum. This one in particular has a pretty storied history of it.

I can't see Carnival Corp spinning off Seabourn. Of all Carnival brands, Cunard and P&O are likely the most at risk of being sold off for for equity scrap. 

5 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

IO thought that Zaandam and Volendam where looking a bit drab until I scrolled back and saw QM2. Wow, she looks like a real rust bucket.  Must be the blue hulls show the oxidization, salt and rust more than the lighter coloured hulls.

Thanks for posting the link.

No joke! Thought the exact same with the QM2. The P&O ships looked a bit fresher, but could be a mixture of lighting and just how long it's been since they were touched up pre-shutdown. 

I follow a boat reviewer Aquaholic on YouTube and he is out for a ride in Tor Bay and circles around several ships - notably Westerdam, Volendam and Zaandam (QM2 and two P&O ships earlier). 

One thing's for sure - these blue-hull beauties need paint stat. The Volendam's white around the 3/4 aft name area is badly oxidized! 

YouTube link starting at the Westerdam ...

59 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Do you know the name of the establishment?

Bar Harbor Ale House.

Her husband Alfred runs a fishing charter business out of Ketchikan. 
 

Diane did the Grand World bVoyage in Amsterdam this year, fwiw.  She was only in through Sydney - lucky her! She was on the Masadam some last summer/this past fall.

Shes by far our favorite cruise entertainer we have ever come across. 

Diane and her man (at that time) was Bob. She is remarried and living in Ketchikan and does a piano bar at a brewery there. 

As others have said, sailing Rotterdam out of Rotterdam is an incredible experience.  

I don’t think any US-based ship sails until at least March 2021. My only question is if NCL survives.

Sad but not unexpected. Maasdam and Veendam were on borrowed time pre-pandemic. Amsterdam and Rotterdam are the long-haul ships and long-haul cruising is DOA for at least a year and a half, likely much longer. 
 

Be happy HAL still exists. I still believe a few lines will be consolidated before ships with US-bases companies sail again (maybe in spring 2021, it’s not happening before then).

The travel landscape will change substantially, I’m still alarmed some don’t recognize it. (Not anyone here, I mean in general)

Whichever ones goes to Geirangerfjord, go there. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been on this planet.

HAL ships do not fit Seabourn’s business profile whatsoever.  They’re too on-board revenue-driven and a capacity too large to handle Seabourn policies. Staff can go back and forth, as they’ve been doing, but those can’t be folded together.

HAL passengers on average can’t afford Seabourn as is, either. 
 

I think Princess is the odd one out UNLESS they pick up NCL ships for cheap. I dint see that happening and it’d compete too much with Carnival itself anyway. 
 

Princess is - while a good, solid line - a little rutterless. 
 

8 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

If the ship is in "hot" or "warm" layup like what was happening off Grand Stirrup Cay, Bahamas in the Atlantic and off Baja California, Mexico in the Pacific, meaning full crew, it would take a week or so. A hot/warm layup is estimated to cost $2 to $3 million per month, per vessel.

 

That game plan has changed for several cruise lines however, with non-essential crew transfers to other ships which are now enroute to Asia and Europe to repatriate crew (take them home) who hail from those continents.

 

When that is accomplished, several, if not all, of those ships will go into prolonged layup, meaning a minimum crew and limited technical operations. That cost is projected to be approx. $1 million per ship. Those ships will take "weeks" to go back into full service with a full crew, fueled up and full provisions, ready to take on pax. Then they got to get to their "home base" for their planned itineraries.

 

Your estimate is more than likely right on, Meneer uit Den Haag. Btw, Carnival has already identified ships in their fleet that will not go back into service until October and November of this year. One can conclude that similar planning will take place for the other brands of the Carnival Corp plc, incl HAL.

For the crew still on ships, are they moved to guest accommodations to help space them out? I hope that’s an option for the ones working hard without the joy of seeing guests. 

I essentially witnessed a mutiny on her, thats’s all I got.

That cruise to Bermuda was the worst vacation we’ve ever had. You won’t see me on her ever - though I question if she ever sails for HAL again now.

Cruising will definitely not be “back” fully in a year. Economic devastation reigns so people won’t have discretionary money and cruising will be far down the list next to theme parks, resorts, weekend getaways.

I seriously question if Veendam and Zaandam ever sail again with passengers. Hell, I question if the full R-class remains. 

Permits were issued months ago. 
 

It’s a scheduling conflict, 100%.