$236 Million Cruise Ship Deal Criticized-Carnival under fire

[Fritz265]

As I stated in an earlier thread, this was a sweetheart deal for Carnival. Your taxes are paying over $1300/week per evacuee IF the ships were actually full so in reality, we're paying several thousand per week/per person to "rent" Carnival ships. What an outrageous waste...:mad:

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092701960.html

[rcicruiser]

I agree and a lot of people in the travel industry think it was a joke. Carnival is making money on the deal. They did not protect the rates of the people who wanted to change ships so they had to rebook at a higher price. They are saving on paying employees because they send some peole from those ships home. Also on there redeployed ships they where not proctecting the rates for those either.

 

Royal Caribbean just redeplyed the Granduer and they are protecting the rates. People complain about Royal Caribbean but at least they are doing right by their passengers.

 

Carnival knew that they would be making money on this deal, that is why it was done in one day. The taxpayers are getting taken again.

[cruz1234]

Not only is Carnival making a lot of $$, they'll end up w/ 3 newly refurbished ships, and it has come at the taxpayers expense! This is enough for me to say NO THANKS Carnival!

[AdamOfCanaveral]

I'm feeling sorry for the crew on those ships. I'm sure the evacuees are not going to tip like regular cruise passengers do.

[cruzincurt]

They just want their fair share, why should all of the billions just go to Halliburton?

[Fritz265]

They just want their fair share, why should all of the billions just go to Halliburton?

 

It's not all going to Halliburton. A lot of it will go to build shiny new houses for people who have never even owned a cardboard box previously.

[Nessa1dc]

It's not all going to Halliburton. A lot of it will go to build shiny new houses for people who have never even owned a cardboard box previously.

 

We actually don't know what the people owned prior to the Hurricane. I do believe the deal made with Carnival was ridiculous, but that was FEMA.

 

Let us be careful about making assumptions about the victims.

[Jazzfman]

The ships are being used to house relief workers....the victims wanted no part of the water after what they went through....

[mbisson]

The govt might pay using $1500 hammers and $2500 toilet seats.

[TrinaLC]

The only legitimate criticism imo of Carnival is that they did not protect the fares of their displace pax - shame on them for that.

 

But I fail to see how they can be criticized for the overall deal - they negotiated at arms' length with FEMA in a normal business transaction. business.

 

None of us know their cost structure, so who knows whether they will make or lose money.

 

But even if they do make money, I still say bravo for responding so fast to an urgent government request. (And who could have predicted that displaced NO'ers wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity to stay on a ship!)

[FitzLA]

The ships WERE originally meant to evacuees, but not enough evacuees wanted to stay on the ships, so they are being used for relief workers. I still like Carnival, but I like Royal Caribbean more. What a bogus deal though.

[BigDoug]

Carnival claims that they will only break even on the deal. Remember all the main revenue centers are shut down. No bars or casino operating to make big $$ for the cruise line. If you read further into the story it explains about the details of the bid requirements. Only the Carnival ships and a ferry met the FEMA requirements. It is a shame that Carnival didn't allow the displaced cruisers to rebook at the same rates but Carnival did give a $100 pp credit for rebooking. Also, it was unfair to quote a $599 per week price. I'm sure that was for the lowest priced inside cabin double occupancy. We all know the ocean view cabins are more and a cruise of 30 days or more would cost more than $100/night pp. This was just some the Washington Post's typical slanted reporting (IMHO).

[Sea Bound]

The rate does not seem unreasonable based on the amount of lost revenue they are experiencing. Lets face it, they would have made much more per week with spend happy vacationers. It does not appear they are gouging the taxpayers but just trying to recoup their costs. FEMA should understand a cruise ship is not the cheapest way to go.

[wwinfl91]

Here's link to the Carnival board and what they are saying over there. Personally as I posted over there I think Carnival got a sweet heart deal. They must have donated a lot of money to George W.'s campaign. Here's the link.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=236329

 

Have a great next cruise.

[bamadawg]

My Travel Agent is in Mobile, AL, where the Holiday ported. Carnival was a great boost to Mobile's economy ($12 million a year in tourist dollars). They built a beautiful cruise port (financed by the teachers retirement system) and were so welcoming to Carnival and the cruisers. Now my TA says she hasn't booked a cabin in over three weeks. Her days are spent canceling peoples' vacations. That's no way to make a living! Mobile was hit by Katrina, admittedly not as hard as MS and LA, but they got hit again by losing Carnival for so long.

Those who are calling RCCL to check on the status of your sailing, please beg RCCL to port a ship in Mobile. I guarantee you'll love their Southern Hospitality if you sail from there, and you'll be helping Mobile's storm victims too (Ivan in 2004 and Katrina in 2005). Thanks!

[Cruising89143]

Carnival claims that they will only break even on the deal. Remember all the main revenue centers are shut down. No bars or casino operating to make big $$ for the cruise line. If you read further into the story it explains about the details of the bid requirements. Only the Carnival ships and a ferry met the FEMA requirements. It is a shame that Carnival didn't allow the displaced cruisers to rebook at the same rates but Carnival did give a $100 pp credit for rebooking. Also, it was unfair to quote a $599 per week price. I'm sure that was for the lowest priced inside cabin double occupancy. We all know the ocean view cabins are more and a cruise of 30 days or more would cost more than $100/night pp. This was just some the Washington Post's typical slanted reporting (IMHO).

 

Wasn't just the Washington Post that printed this story.

 

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=globalNews&storyID=2005-09-28T035017Z_01_DIT785875_RTRUKOC_0_US-HURRICANES-CONTRACTS.xml

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/28/MNGF8EUVAT1.DTL

 

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-09-15-cruise-ship_x.htm

 

Bob Dickinson and Carnival do not lose money on anything. Carnival is going to make money on this deal you can bet that. Plus they will get three ships refurbished by the tax payers.

[1corona4u]

It was also just on the NBC nightly news tonight, in which, Brian Williams reported that there ARE evacuees staying aboard. The ships are not full either, so you can double the number, about $2500 per week, per person, to stay on the ships.

 

I'd say they made a good deal of money, but Carnival said that's what they would have made if they would have been on a 7 day cruise. Not sure if this was the same info as in the links above, but either way, us tax payers got reamed.

[cruz1234]

My Travel Agent is in Mobile, AL, where the Holiday ported. Carnival was a great boost to Mobile's economy ($12 million a year in tourist dollars). They built a beautiful cruise port (financed by the teachers retirement system) and were so welcoming to Carnival and the cruisers. Now my TA says she hasn't booked a cabin in over three weeks. Her days are spent canceling peoples' vacations. That's no way to make a living! Mobile was hit by Katrina, admittedly not as hard as MS and LA, but they got hit again by losing Carnival for so long.

Those who are calling RCCL to check on the status of your sailing, please beg RCCL to port a ship in Mobile. I guarantee you'll love their Southern Hospitality if you sail from there, and you'll be helping Mobile's storm victims too (Ivan in 2004 and Katrina in 2005). Thanks!

 

Would love to see RCI come into the Mobile area, while Carnival is out leasing it's ship to the Gov't. Maybe they'd stay there when they realized it's a good place to sail out of ! Wish they had put the Grandeur there instead of Tampa. I don't know the logisitics of flights into/out of Mobile, maybe that is not as easy as some of the other ports. that is the closest port to us, but I have not sailed from there as I have no desire to sail with Carnival, so let's get RCI there :)

[jaxon41]

Another Brown boondoggle, and Carnival doesn't pay taxes, either. I would like to see the specs -- at those prices why would there not be more bidders? Business is business -- if you can rape the client, that's what's done these days, and why should Halliburton (B&R) be the only one getting away with charging taxpayers 100 to wash a bag of laundry or supply a case of soda? (My bro-in-law is a defense contract auditor and he said -- yah, it's true) It is wrong of Carnival, however, not to allow folks to book another cruise at the same price, but then it's not the same ship, and we've heard those arguments before here, justifying the rip-offs that RCL pulled on the Canada/Bermuda fiasco.

[Mlkkc]

Don't hate the player,Hate the game

[Ericknow32]

I don't blame Carnival for this one. I would like to, but who among us would let go of a sweet deal like this. Carnival did what they thought would be best for their company. Carnival was going to make tons of money and come out of it looking like the good-guy. Well, not anymore. I find it very entertaining that this blew up in Carnivals face. Not only have they lost the good-guy title, but I would bet they are worse off now then when they took the deal.

 

 

AND PEOPLE WANTED RCCL TO GIVE UP SOME OF THEIR SHIPS. PPPHHHHH :D

[mikenellenh]

I'm feeling sorry for the crew on those ships. I'm sure the evacuees are not going to tip like regular cruise passengers do.

 

That statement is laughable. How much money in tips do you think that the evacuees who have lost everything can afford.

 

This story tells me that I will never sail Carnival or its sister ships......

[stlrboo]

This story tells me that I will never sail Carnival or its sister ships......

OOPS! I thought I was on the Carnival board... must have been mistaken! :rolleyes: Vicious!!

Wasn't it FEMA who asked Carnival to submit a bid?? I don't believe Carnival asked for the job.. If the gov't wants to throw $$$ away, why not let Carnival have some of it? If RCI had done this, would everyone feel the same way about sailing on RCI? I think not...

[Chucksta63]

OOPS! I thought I was on the Carnival board... must have been mistaken! :rolleyes: Vicious!!

Wasn't it FEMA who asked Carnival to submit a bid?? I don't believe Carnival asked for the job.. If the gov't wants to throw $$$ away, why not let Carnival have some of it? If RCI had done this, would everyone feel the same way about sailing on RCI? I think not...

Nicely said!! Why was RCI not picked? Was there bid too high or did they just not care about the people to even bid? Thank You Carnival for at least tring to help! I think this falls back on to mr. Brown of FEMA. He was making the choices, I am sure Carnival would have rather kept on sailing just like RCI...

 

 

They just want their fair share, why should all of the billions just go to Halliburton?

Well Said!!

[Cruising89143]

Nicely said!! Why was RCI not picked? Was there bid too high or did they just not care about the people to even bid? Thank You Carnival for at least tring to help! I think this falls back on to mr. Brown of FEMA. He was making the choices, I am sure Carnival would have rather kept on sailing just like RCI...

 

 

Well Said!!

 

It had nothing to do with RCI not caring. FEMA went to Carnival and asked them to put together a price for leasing their ships. As I said above, Bob Dickinson is no dummy and will not lose money on a venture like this. Especially since he gets his three ships totally refurbished at the taxpayers expense. Yes, our government screwed this one up big time but you can bet Carnival saw them coming a mile away.

 

Also, Carnival had a choice in this. They could have said no if they wanted to keep sailing with their passengers. I know that Carnival only had a few days to put this figure together but they need to be willing to go back and take a look at it once again to see if it really is costing them that much to take those three ships out of service.