White House meeting with cruise executives

[firstimerhaven]

Does anyone think this meeting on Saturday is going to result in a change in policies?  I really wish NCL would let us use the money for the cruise we have booked in March for a cruise on a later date.  I understand they can't give the money back, but I'm surprised they aren't letting people postpone.  

[NoobCroozer]

Would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath. I have CFAR, which I may or may not use for an upcoming in May, but if 100% could be used at a later date, I would take it. My CFAR only guarantees 75% back.

[graphicguy]

Oh great....White House getting together with the cruise execs.  What could possibly go wrong?

[JustAPilot]

> I hear the NCL buffet pizza will be the food on offer for the attendees 🙂

[krittykat]

They are also meeting with the Airlines - not sure it is about the travelers or more about the big loss in stock prices and their finances. Cruise companies have taken over a 40% hit since January.

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by krittykat

[brookie848]

1 minute ago, krittykat said:

They are also meeting with the Airlines - not sure it is about the travelers or more about the big loss in stock prices and their finances. Cruise companies have taken over a 40% hit since January.

 

 

 

With the parties involved, it is likely about finances and stock prices. That seems to be the big concern right now.

[krittykat]

1 minute ago, brookie848 said:

 

With the parties involved, it is likely about finances and stock prices. That seems to be the big concern right now.

It might be the best time to invest in stock for both airlines and cruise ship companies.  

[Newleno]

6 minutes ago, brookie848 said:

 

With the parties involved, it is likely about finances and stock prices. That seems to be the big concern right now.

With the parties involved it is probably about the safety of people and having contingency plans, "what if".  

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, firstimerhaven said:

I really wish NCL would let us use the money for the cruise we have booked in March for a cruise on a later date.  I understand they can't give the money back, but I'm surprised they aren't letting people postpone.  

 

Viking (Ocean and River) announced yesterday a temporary exception to their normal cancellation policy, and is now allowing anyone with an existing booking, or one made before April 30, 2020, to cancel with 24 hours notice and then get a future cruise certificate for 100% of what they've paid to Viking; the certificate can be used within the next 24 months. 

 

As someone booked on a Viking river cruise in Europe departing in five weeks, this is a great weight off our shoulders.  We can wait a little while and see how things play out, and then pull the plug, or do it now.  This announcement is being met with a very positive response over in the Viking forums, as you might imagine.

 

It would be good if NCL would follow suit.  

[joeyancho]

38 minutes ago, krittykat said:

It might be the best time to invest in stock for both airlines and cruise ship companies.  

Not yet, it's going to go way lower. 

[babydaryl24]

We are waiting to see what comes of this before deciding whether to cancel or not.....

They HAVE to do something about Italy.. especially with Italy's new numbers today..

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

[Gershep]

Curious to see what comes out of this meeting.

[Vyhanek]

As long as the cruise industry allows their employees to come and go back to their home countries in Asia and third world countries, it's going to be an issue.

 

Its not the cruise itineraries.   That's the easy fix.   Its controlling the coming and goings of the crew back to their home countries for visits and returning.    The cruise lines do a great job of screening the passengers before entrance onto the ship but I'm highly doubtful they are screening their own crew.   The one's making the drinks, rolling the silverware, stacking the plates cutting the veggies.        

[puppycanducruise]

Interesting meeting.  I'm curious as to the outcome.

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

It would be good if NCL would follow suit.  

Judith:

 

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that one.

 

Viking is a privately owned company so if the owners wish to underwrite some financial loss they can do so because it only affects their own personal pockets.

 

Publicly traded companies like NCL are under enormous pressure to meet the financial expectations of large institutional investors and the other lords and denizens of Wall Street. If investors are unhappy with a management decision because they think it's going to have a negative impact on earnings, they'll be selling their shares faster than you can blink your eyes, causing a further decline in the stock price and possibly leading to the board of directors firing the CEO and other top executives. That makes the CEO think long and hard about the decisions he or she makes.

Edited March 3, 2020 by njhorseman

[KarlChilders]

30 minutes ago, Vyhanek said:

As long as the cruise industry allows their employees to come and go back to their home countries in Asia and third world countries, it's going to be an issue.

 

Its not the cruise itineraries.   That's the easy fix.   Its controlling the coming and goings of the crew back to their home countries for visits and returning.    The cruise lines do a great job of screening the passengers before entrance onto the ship but I'm highly doubtful they are screening their own crew.   The one's making the drinks, rolling the silverware, stacking the plates cutting the veggies.        

Are you kidding?  The most I have ever been screened is to fill out a form that says I haven't been sick prior to boarding.  Pretty easy to lie about that if you don't want to be kept off the ship.  I would bet it happens all the time.

[Turtles06]

10 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Judith:

 

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that one.

 

Viking is a privately owned company so if the owners wish to underwrite some financial loss they can do so because it only affects their own personal pockets.   . . . 

 

Paul, no worries, I'm not.    I do know that Viking is privately-owned, which means many things are different.  Some good, some perhaps not so good.     

 

[Fartlek]

With everyone canceling or not booking travel, this must be a very bad time to be in the travel industry.   With the current news and daily increases in affected people this is very bad news.  I expect to see a number of companies file for bankruptcy in the next little while.   

[luv2kroooz]

55 minutes ago, Vyhanek said:

As long as the cruise industry allows their employees to come and go back to their home countries in Asia and third world countries, it's going to be an issue.

What are you talking about? They are not allowing crew to freely travel back and forth to Asia....

 

Guests and crew who have traveled from, visited or transited via airports in China, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Iran or any municipality in Italy under a quarantine order by the Italian Governmen within 14 days of their voyage embarkation, regardless of nationality, will not be allowed to board any of our vessels.

[luv2kroooz]

25 minutes ago, KarlChilders said:

Are you kidding?  The most I have ever been screened is to fill out a form that says I haven't been sick prior to boarding.  Pretty easy to lie about that if you don't want to be kept off the ship.  I would bet it happens all the time.

Funny you mentioned this. I was watching a YouTube video the other evening. I think this person was sailing on a Carnival vessel. They just had to check a box stating they weren't in a prohibited area within the past 14 days. Yeah, pretty easy to get around that if that is the extent of the verification.

[PATRLR]

1 hour ago, Vyhanek said:

As long as the cruise industry allows their employees to come and go back to their home countries in Asia and third world countries, it's going to be an issue.

 

Its not the cruise itineraries.   That's the easy fix.   Its controlling the coming and goings of the crew back to their home countries for visits and returning.    The cruise lines do a great job of screening the passengers before entrance onto the ship but I'm highly doubtful they are screening their own crew.   The one's making the drinks, rolling the silverware, stacking the plates cutting the veggies.        

I thought I'd read somewhere that NCL was NOT allowing staff from China and other certain countries to join the onboard staff at this time - just as they were not allowing guests from those same countries?  

 

[Dave/Sue]

There appears to be 2 buying opportunities.  One to get a great deal on a future cruise and the other is a great deal on stock.  Remember Trading Places, buy low sell high.  When this thing ends, and it will, the stock will go back up and the cruise prices will go back up and people will return to the cruise life. True that Wall Street looks at earnings but it's not just NCL that is suffering.  All cruise line stocks are down so the CEO at NCL can blame the industry, not his or her individual decisions that are causing this. Some people are indicating decisions are being made out of corporate greed and not looking out for their passengers.  I don't know if thats true but these industries depend on people to keep them in business.  It would be insane to not make every attempt to take care of their customers somehow. This problem has done one thing and that is to open every ones eyes as to what they can and can't do to get out of a cruise contract. Going forward we will all be a little smarter on how this works.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Dave/Sue

[zqvol]

5 hours ago, firstimerhaven said:

Does anyone think this meeting on Saturday is going to result in a change in policies?  I really wish NCL would let us use the money for the cruise we have booked in March for a cruise on a later date.  I understand they can't give the money back, but I'm surprised they aren't letting people postpone.  

 

Why do you want to postpone? There is no indication that cruising is unsafe at all.

[Laszlo]

Going to be a big sale on Monday! Lol

[leeb331]

7 hours ago, firstimerhaven said:

Does anyone think this meeting on Saturday is going to result in a change in policies?  I really wish NCL would let us use the money for the cruise we have booked in March for a cruise on a later date.  I understand they can't give the money back, but I'm surprised they aren't letting people postpone.  

NCL isn't even trying to accommodate the current passengers who haven't cancelled.  Its all about the bottom line.  They should work with everyone, its good PR