poz222

29 minutes ago, uksaint said:

There has to be more for the Havana folks. I'd say 50% refund of cruise fare plus $200 OBC minimum.

 

I'm sure Carnival will come up with something as it is unrealistic of them to think anyone will be OK with going to a substantially cheaper cabin on an inferior ship and just accept $50 more OBC than everyone else is getting.

Sadly, it seems that is what they think people will accept. For Havana folks it would be a NO WAY as well as insulting. We are a balcony cabin and weighing our options. If we cancel we just get refund and lose the OBC as well as any casino or other offers we had, no FCC like the last folks... I am kinda bitter they are offering so little for a messed up Christmas, but the family is in tears and afraid we will not find another vacation for Christmas. So the choice is, accept an older inferior ship that does not have the activities or dining we wanted r cancel and pay substantially more for a lesser cabin, or cancel cruising for Christmas and find another trip last minute? Long restless night for sure.

Nope 

How does everyone know that they haven’t already filed paperwork to get the ball rolling? It’s not like they have to “announce to the public” their intent to re-enter. 
 

my best educated guess is they will start with employee only cruises maybe in December so there is nobody complaining about not getting to experience this or that and it does not put general public at risk. They can use the test cruises as training. This would also ensure that most everyone on those sailings had medical coverage... since it’s CCL health insurance. Just spitballing here...
 

But if these go ok, it might be free-be cruises (gamblers watch for offers)!! Then to general public best guess... January. And volunteers 
 

but I would think it would be 1 or 2 ships only to be evaluated at first, they then can roll out everything on additional ships utilizing what they learn from these test cruises. 1 from Miami (my $ is on the Horizon being first out the gate) then a Canaveral ship ( Prob Breeze). It will be interesting what they do with other ports (I imagine California ports will be slower to allow but who knows???
 

but I definitely think they have started with filing paperwork already... it just not public

Ruling reduced to 30 days... Dec 1 startup still a possibility 

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article246620348.html

Boat originating in Bahamas... most likely Haitian. Happens often on Palm Beach Coast 

What difference does it make inside or outside US waters... because of CDC restrictions on crew movements on and off the ships they could not get technicians on/off ships inspectors would not go on because of quarantine requirements even while in port and many of the tests/work has to be down outside of port for discharge issues. 

Drydocks, No. They have been generally in cash preserving mode and getting technicians on/off the ships would be probably be near to impossible. Most/all have been anchored outside US waters only coming in to a port every so often for provisions and mandatory minimum staff changes. Several dry docks are scheduled before the ships startup. 

Take it out at the casino

Speculation based on port operations I honestly doubt any November sailings just based on ability to get all proper certifications, inspection and crew with all the restrictions and limitations internationally. Sad because we had a Thanksgiving Cruise planned. Possibly a few sometime in December if for no other reason than to be able to say they were up and running in 2020. I suppose only time will tell.

Well since the President and VP are now in quarantine because Hope Hicks tested positive (on the AF1 flight from a rally), I highly doubt ant meeting will transpire. 

1 hour ago, Georgie562 said:

I suspected that the Panorama, the newest ship in the fleet will be heading to Florida for a while and with 2 Florida homeports not cancelled I won't be surprised if she makes an appearance in the East Coast.

 

Being the ship is too tall to pass the Panama Canal and has to go around South America, I think it will be staying put in Panama waiting for California to go online. 

Port employees at port of Miami terminal D were having a rally to Save our Salaries. It was aimed at the upcoming CDC decision.

11 minutes ago, GranysT said:

My November 12 cruise on Paradise was cancelled. They said due to it going into dry dock.  They couldn't have sent it to dry dock sometime since last Mar, til now?  This affected 3 maybe 4 ships. Sorry, I can't remember which other ships were also cancelled.  I am disappointed, But,

 

 

Well, not really. Other locations where they do drydocks (Bahamas, Cadiz etc) also we’re shut down for Covid... not like they could “pop in for a touch up” whenever they wanted. Plus how would they get all the workers/contractors there? They could not even get crew members off the ship to fly home. They stopped the Radiance retrofit dead in its tracks in Cadiz when this hit if you recall!  

My bet would bet would be on a “soft” restart with a limited number of ships sometime Nov/Dec depending on Covid situation and restrictions. This would give a chance to test protocols how to operate with new constraints as well to be able to stagger re-staffing and get all the ship upgrades and certificates/inspections up to date. 

I emailed mine last week and 2 were posted within 3 days and the other 2 denied as the current shareholders benefit is only for cruises before July 31 2021 as it so far has not been reauthorized

3 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

Good to hear that a random assignment worked out so well. I shy away from that kind of thing because it seem most places assign the agent who is least busy which means they are either new or lousy. Just dealt with a terrible TA last year and the problem is that you need to go through a certain amount of “agony” to discover how bad they are. Then it is sometimes too late for that trip. We can’t cruise often enough to afford bad experiences.

 I know... I was a bit skeptical but at that point I was exhausted from being on hold with them to try to figure out what I needed to do with all the cancellations etc. and was just happy to get to actually TALK to a human!!!  I have been impressed with all he has been able to take care of for us. I even recommended him to my other cruise friends (one gets all the casino offers) and he sends her messages now to let her know when the new casino offers are loaded in the system in case she wants to book one, so she is thrilled! 
 

Strictly speaking you don’t NEED one and can easily do everything yourself... but now I’m like WHY would I? Now I send a message what to keep an eye out for and he follows up. It’s not like the service costs extra so I figure why not? 

I never in 60+ cruises used a PVP... everything was fine. However, back in March during the first round of cancellations a PVP was randomly assigned to me. I was getting nowhere on hold and frustrated with finding out my options. WOW, it was the best thing. He explained all the options for what ended up being 4 cancelled cruises including one with airfare. He moved them to other sailings (and even had to move one of the rebooked) and got me great prices (calls me when the price dropped ) and extended my final payments while we waited for yea/nay on the sailing... what a great resource. I have given his name and info to a dozen of my cruise buddies, they love him too. Depending on who you get YMMV but I think my random assignment was a huge score! 

Moved on to what? There is not a lot of options that pay nearly the same in their home countries and the tourism industry globally is decimated... and with a staggered start up to begin with they will be staffing half or less of the ships... they will not have an issue getting back crew. They will send a few ships that are in other parts, pick up crew for various countries and do the same crew transfers a sea like they did for repatriation. There are plenty that are waiting patiently to return to work! 

The Ecstasy and Fascination being deployed to India and not having been upgraded I would put my money on saying bye bye to those two. 

Spirit and a Panorama are in a Manila. There are a few ships going from South Africa going to India (Ecstacy, Fascination ) I think the Valor and a Magic are off coast in England. If the crews have been offloaded to the transfer ships and they just have basic Manning there would only be less than 150-200 onboard so offloaded/supplies would be less often.

Previously, I’ve only done online bookings, last month when 3 cruises cancelled, a PVP called me out of the blue. (I had resisted calling as the wait times were crazy). I have to say WOW, the guy is good. Got everything transferred, no extra $down when one cancelled a second time, answers any questions right away... Score! 

That is generally the plan. First to repatriate those onboard (which is easier said than done as many of the countries are not wanting to take their citizens back off the ships). Manila harbor looks like a cruise ship parking lot with 20 something ships waiting out quarantines and waiting for test results to come back before they will allow their citizens to return. Ultimately when they have a firm idea of restarting they can take on new crew/consolidate with existing and head back. 

2 hours ago, lostsoulcruiser said:

The article I read was 820 people in Florida and 500 in California and Washington (Seattle).  I think the 1300 number was an overall number.  Sad but if your business is essentially shut down you cannot afford the people.

 

820 were laid off with an additional 580 on furlough through November (no pay but keep medical coverage) Between Miami and Miramar. Seattle and California between Holland America and Princess had 2000 Either laid off or furloughed. The president of HAL and Seabourne have been let go. 
 

as for it being “top trimming” from everyone I talk with there were some but also a lot of mid and lower. Especially those involved with the hotel and guest operations.... And lots of PVPs so you might give a “hey you still there” check if you have one. 
 

It was somewhat expected by most that this would happen, 6 months with no revenue it would be impossible to continue to pay everyone, even those who’s jobs were basically cut to 0.  But always a shock if you are the one actually cut. NCL and RCCL had similar cutting last month so many were bracing for it but your never TRULY prepared. 
 

It’s rough waters for a lot of people who depend on the cruising industry. We can only hope for a safe restarting someday soon. 

Numbers definitely WOW... 45% of Miami based jobs cut/furloughed  (1300 People) 2000 cut in California/Seattle with Holland America and Princess. Those who kept their jobs had salary cut between 20-50%.  It was a somber day down here for sure 😞 

I know someone on the Fascination that says they are going to transfer ships cause it is going to India too. They will go on the Magic as it is headed to bring crew back to Europe. Panorama is on the way to Asia.