Captain_Morgan
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Posts posted by Captain_Morgan
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Not disputing the reliability of the information as the source has proven to be reliable. That said, I think its a reach for the FCO to use the recent call of SeaDream to Portsmouth as being the benchmark for UK cruising as let's face it this is like comparing a single passenger in a taxi to a train car jammed end to end.....SeaDream embarked 19 passengers.....19!!! Not 1000+ but less than 20!!!
Lets all just put things into perspective here, which is what I think the FCO need to do as well because its like the old adage of comparing apples and oranges....they might be fruit, and they might be round, but they're dynamically different and until case numbers go down across the UK i think rushing to get the industry started based in part on the fact a handful of well-healed passengers can escape is beyond negligent and careless.
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11 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:
Any info on whether they intend to try and put something to replace those itineries? Azura was due to reposition to Valetta, any whispers re will she be taking pax from Southampton to Valetta?
I think its safe to assume that any future itineraries for the ships in general will be ex-Southampton but whether they're going to stick to the original plan for a Spring/Summer itinerary 'as currently advertised' is going to be like guessing the correct lottery numbers.
In one sense you know something is going to happen but you really have no clue whether you're going to 'win' or be kept waiting...
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1 hour ago, davecttr said:
This is the critical question for many of us. There may be two possible reasons for P&O not telling us, either they don't actually know or the procedures needing to be invoked would put us off cruising even more than many of us are already. Look at what happened at Malta, one person tested positive and nobody got off the ship.
Possible example - a cruise to the Canaries, a couple of people test positive. The port authorities say no disembarking, just sail back to Southampton, fun cruise eh!
I agree, but this is based on an example of cruises going anywhere outside of the UK, which at this point I think is less likely than cruises to nowhere on short, 3-5 day trips to test the procedures.
I can't help but wonder how the ships are going to cope at their current positions anchored off the south coast over the winter months....talk about 'cold layup'.....brrrrrr!!!
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As has been mentioned (by @molecrochip I believe) the issue and focus at this point should be less about whether or not COVID shows up onboard as its seemingly inevitable, and more about how the issue/outbreak is dealt with.
As has been seen with Noro, there is no way to 100% prevent it from appearing onboard although something as simple as washing your hands would typically prevent most cases which is apparently too difficult for so many.
We had friends on the Xmas cruise onboard Oceana last year when they had an outbreak of Noro and from what they were told from reliable sources, it is believed that 'patient zero' came onboard with Noro, lied on the declaration stating they felt fine and waited until after Xmas day to declare symptoms. So they were roaming the ship, spreading the Noro-joy for several days before deciding to report because they didn't want to be isolated over Xmas and in doing so managed to elevate the ship into an outbreak which essentially ruined the holidays for everyone.
Now just imagine what will happen if the same patient comes onboard with COVID, lies on their declaration, passes the temperature check and is subjected to a less than reliable instant test at the time of check-in. Clearly this is an extreme situation, but its safe to say someone could be feeling unwell but not being completely symptomatic on the day and still pass the checks in place only to become a 'super spreader' so the question comes back to, "how will the cruise line handle this?"
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Fair enough....but speaking of CMV i see as well another of theirs, Columbus was sold for $7 million to a Turkish buyer at auction but its unclear whether he's going to operate it or scrap it once the prices go back up.
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4 hours ago, molecrochip said:
One of the P&O Aus ships, Aria, originally destined to go to CMV has been sold, I believe to the same company who acquired Oceana.
Yes, SeaJets has purchased it (formally HAL Ryndam and P&O Aus Pacific Aria)
Wonder if they got pipped to the post by Mystic Cruises who bought the former Statendam / Pacific Eden / Vasco de Gama from CMV as they're both formally 'S Class' ships
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5 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:
Yes they had a hole punch on Viking Ocean. However every time my card was punched, it would not work to open my room. We tried it 3 times and gave up.
This is because the door locks onboard are RFID as opposed to magnetic strip like other lines and as a result when you punch a hole in the card (if not done correctly) you break the RFID circuit inside the card resulting in it not being able to communicate with the lock, thus not opening the door. You would think that the staff would know this after being in operation for a few years but apparently not if they tried your card 3 times with no success and no doubt countless others with the same result...
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Just saw a short video from Neil Palomba (Carnival Cruise Line COO) outlining the current protocols in place onboard Costa ships saying this is what is the apparent model for other brands moving forward.
I can't link the video here unfortunately, but suffice it to say the points of interest include 100% testing of all guests/crew, face masks and physical distancing, reduced capacity, enhanced medical facilities, cleaning and disinfection, and only company sponsored shore excursions (or experiences in the case of P&O).
Likely no surprise to anyone who has been following the procedures put in place by MSC and I'm also sure many have already made up their minds in this current climate of 'new cruising' or whatever positive spin they're all likely to try and put in place but thought it of interest based on what's been written in the previously mentioned posts.
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3 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:
That does not say much for the quality of the Guardians investigative journalism.
Google translate should assist unless you're fluent in German
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From what I've read, there were 150 tests taken yielding 12 positive cases
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2 minutes ago, Presto2 said:
Were they sister ships to Oceana? Shame, nice ships
Yes, the first 2 in the series....Sun, Sea, Dawn, Ocean was the original order where the first 3 stayed with Princess and Ocean was transferred to P&O a couple years after entering service.
Sea had a brief stint with P&O as Adonia before going back to Princess in 2005 and Dawn was transferred to P&O Australia to become Pacific Explorer a few years ago
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3 hours ago, grapau27 said:
News today in Ameritrade.
Carnival have sent termination notices to thousands of Officers and crew.
Unfortunate for those on the receiving end of their 'notice' but with a reduction of 4 x ships at the moment from their fleet it goes without saying there is a surplus of crew with nowhere to place them. Add to the fact that I'm sure there were likely some 'retirements' in there among those referenced....but as has been mentioned this is likely the first of many ripples to come.
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14 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:
This pandemic seems to be enabling the smaller cruise lines to update their fleets at rock bottom prices, still sell their older ships for a reasonable scrap value, and then be ready to compete more effectively once things get back to normal. I just hope that the bosses at Carnival know what they are doing, because I am not certain that RCI and NCL are offloading anywhere near as many ships.
In fairness I think this pandemic has just forced the issue of becoming more efficient for the likes of Carnival whereas RCI seems to have been pumping out brand new, state of the art ships year over year for the last few builds. Sure the grotesque size of their ships is not for everyone, but their business model is clearly one which supports the concept of 'bigger is better' and when you compare stock prices between the 'big three' it seems RCI is doing much better than the other two which have looked nearly identical over the past 90 days.
Has NCLH even offloaded any of their old tonnage? I know they, like Carnival Cruises have managed to prosper on the short 3-4 day cruises with their older ships so they might see those markets as viable enough to continue using their aging tonnage.
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9 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:
Not just rock bottom but I understand Carnival offered them an interst free mortgage/loan to take them.
Suppose you could call that a 'gentlemen's agreement' where both sides benefit in their own way without 'losing' as I can't see Fred being cashed up under the current climate and offloading of old tonnage gives Carnival Corp. some much needed breathing room. Question now is what happens to the ships sent to CMV...
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10 hours ago, wowzz said:
I bet Fred only paid slight over the scrap value for the two H&A ships, as no one else would have wanted them. Fred will get the money back as the fares charged for future cruises will be 50% higher than H&A could ever achieve.
Fred has been threatening to build new ships for many years now despite only ever buying second-hand tonnage so I suppose one could argue this opportunity fell into their/his lap and was too good to pass up especially as you say the price would no doubt have been rock bottom.
As for what's next for the Corporation it does seem strange that AIDA is the only brand to date which hasn't cut loose at least one of their least efficient ships as I'm sure they've got at least one or two that have seen better days.
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Or P&O Australia shift their last remaining Sun Class ship and continue to focus on the big ship market as they appear to be doing with the acquisition of Golden and Star Princess
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19 hours ago, molecrochip said:
I suggested these two, Oceana’s sister would be off a couple of the months ago. No one on the Princess board would believe me!
I'm surprised its taken them this long to move on those old tugs...as if Oceana was the 'youngest' of the bunch and she was in rough shape it goes without saying both Sun and Sea were worse off. I recall sailing on Sea back in 2005 and it was tired back then so I can only imagine its not stood the test of time. So there's one of the original 'Sun Class' left which is the former Dawn Princess currently sailing for P&O Australia as the Pacific Explorer
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As referenced earlier, Princess selling off 2 ships for now
https://crew-center.com/princess-cruises-sells-two-cruise-ships
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Hopefully this will ease the minds of some worried that P&O is planning on continuing their downsizing...
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Viking is very good value for money when you consider the newness of the ships, the ratio of space per person, and the quality/accessibility of good food without the added fees as compared to the larger brands.
Seabourn is definitely a higher standard and can be considered ‘luxury’ based on the high level of service, availability of high quality food & beverage, and the higher-end attention to detail.Viking ships are ‘newer’ but they’re all virtually identical apart from a few changes with the latest launches, although there’s mixed opinions on the necessity or purpose of taking up onboard real estate for a small planetarium, which IMO is more gimmick than usefulness when you consider that it’s the only ‘extra’ feature on any of their ships. I’ve also noticed a significant drop in service quality onboard the ‘older’ ships which I’ve deduced is due in large part to the fact that Viking seems to move the experienced managers and crew to each new ship leaving less experienced people behind.
Seabourn is much smaller and albeit they’ve changed since being taken over by HAL, and although they don’t have the same adult only policy as Viking I don’t recall seeing any children or teens onboard due mostly to the lack of facilities and of course the price of the fare.
Also, when Viking launched their ocean ships they managed to woo many senior Seabourn hotel staff across which is why you might notice many similarities in concepts such as Vikings attempt at a ‘welcome back’ which is more akin to something you would see on Carnival than Seabourn with the awful music and crew being herded out to the quayside to clap like trained seals but that’s likely due more to the fact it seems to last much longer due to the number of people being exposed to it as compared to the relatively smaller group on Seabourn. -
1 hour ago, molecrochip said:
QM2 was due a dry dock from 6-23 November. Her Southampton bookings include a new 11 November booking so plans have changed. I expect that it will still happen if the ship yard is open but appears to have shifted by 5 days.
A three week dry dock is a long time for the work that needs to be done under the waterline. So I expect that significant cosmetic changes were planned. I suspect some of those have been cancelled in favour of a more cash-conservative refurbishment.
I do not have a date for Azura however she now cannot carry passengers until her dry dock is undertaken as she is over the time since her last dry dock. The longer that this pause goes on, the more likely that all the ships will need a (albeit brief) dry dock.
I would think that all ships will require some form of 're-fit' whether it be dry or wet dock in order to put in place COVID friendly measures, whatever they may be (i.e. screens, directional aides, etc)
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40 minutes ago, molecrochip said:
Do bear in mind that its likely to take through to April to phase all the ships back into service. Not all crew will be needed at once.
Correct me if i'm wrong but weren't both Azura and QM2 due to go into dry dock / refit this year? Can't imagine they would want to do that without more than the current bare minimum manning?!?
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18 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:
Carnival shares are up 8.35% today, so maybe there is some positive news floating about.
After it came roaring out of the gate it seems to have sputtered now only up about 4% and trending downward...guess everyone was in sell off mode when they saw the gains this morning
Azura Latest News
in P&O Cruises ( UK )
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Not to play devil's advocate, but I can't help but wonder how much the current and planned pause in operations will effect the scope of this dry dock? I can't see there being a massive investment in soft features (i.e. furniture, carpets) as well as hard features (i.e. paint, mechanical) given the level of financial impact involved.
I guess I'm just used to having expectations lowered in this current climate...