Princess suspends cruise ship operations for 60 days

[RICCruisers]

My suggestion on the Princess offer is to take the money and run.  I am not an attorney nor an expert on financial matters.  My question would be if cruise companies get into dire financial straits, would they declare some type of bankruptcy - Chapter 7, 11, 13 or some other number.  Then after reorganizing as a different entity they are back in business and do not have to honor any previous commitments made by the predecessor company i.e. not honoring the FCC that was given?

 

Any expert in this area of business, please respond.

[neilrr]

1 minute ago, smogfarmgirl said:

We are waiting too, scheduled to leave the day after you.  The sooner they announce the plan, the better...we will still need a vacation, and all available funds are tied into this.  We'd still like to vacation here in SoFlo, put some money into our service industry.  Maybe if we locals with potentially cancelled cruises can still do a little something here it will help out.

smogfarmgirl - I agree -- we paid ages ago for this cruise... Hate to miss my Premium Drink Package and my Mud Slides...LOL🍸😊 We have another cruise on Reflection scheduled for July.... We will see what happens now and hope for the best... Good luck!!!

[SusieV]

1 hour ago, Argo. said:

We are on Silhouette in Aruba today.  We just asked our travel agent to cancel our next two sailings.  We’re looking forward to driving home rather than staying on board.

 

Are there problems onboard that would make you want to leave??

[neilrr]

3 minutes ago, RICCruisers said:

My suggestion on the Princess offer is to take the money and run.  I am not an attorney nor an expert on financial matters.  My question would be if cruise companies get into dire financial straits, would they declare some type of bankruptcy - Chapter 7, 11, 13 or some other number.  Then after reorganizing as a different entity they are back in business and do not have to honor any previous commitments made by the predecessor company i.e. not honoring the FCC that was given?

 

Any expert in this area of business, please respond.

RICCruisers - I don't think the cruise lines would want to lose all goodwill by screwing their customers out of a FCC or previous bookings that were paid for. Who would book with them again, if they did that?  I know I wouldn't and I have been on over 40 cruises...  

[24acorns]

I am not an accountant by any means, but setting Ships to sea at 50% or perhaps less capacity is not a sustainable model. Especially as the ports you visit are shrinking by the day!!!!

Last weeks Cruise with Confidence bought some time to minimise the lay off time, well thats my thinking. 

I voiced this at the weekend at the time someone "really" .

[smogfarmgirl]

4 minutes ago, neilrr said:

smogfarmgirl - I agree -- we paid ages ago for this cruise... Hate to miss my Premium Drink Package and my Mud Slides...LOL🍸😊 We have another cruise on Reflection scheduled for July.... We will see what happens now and hope for the best... Good luck!!!

We haven't had a vacation in 5 years, and this was our FIRST cruise ever! We were sooooo looking forward to it! We are still considering going if Celebrity doesn't cancel, but the possibility of being quarantined if anyone turns up sick at all on the ship for 14 days would be a financial hit we can't take.  We work from home, so if they would just let us off to self-isolate (kinda like the flight at PBIA this morning) then no worries, we'd go in a heartbeat!

[cruiserchuck]

4 minutes ago, neilrr said:

RICCruisers - I don't think the cruise lines would want to lose all goodwill by screwing their customers out of a FCC or previous bookings that were paid for. Who would book with them again, if they did that?  I know I wouldn't and I have been on over 40 cruises...  

 

The airlines have generally allowed customers to keep their frequent flyer miles after filing bankruptcy.  I would hope that cruise companies would do the same thing with respect to FCC.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2011/12/02/after-american-airlines-bankruptcy-your-frequent-flyer-miles-may-be-worth-less/#52eed9804995

[blubionda]

With the most common embarkation days being Saturday/Sunday, I just hope Celebrity (and others) make a call and announcement ASAP before we all get on our plane to board our cruise leaving this weekend! 

[neilrr]

4 minutes ago, smogfarmgirl said:

We haven't had a vacation in 5 years, and this was our FIRST cruise ever! We were sooooo looking forward to it! We are still considering going if Celebrity doesn't cancel, but the possibility of being quarantined if anyone turns up sick at all on the ship for 14 days would be a financial hit we can't take.  We work from home, so if they would just let us off to self-isolate (kinda like the flight at PBIA this morning) then no worries, we'd go in a heartbeat!

We are also still scheduled to go for Spring Break.... We really don't want to be quarantined either... We have an inside cabin for this cruise..🙃 As we have been to the Caribbean many times -- we always say they just change the signs, as we approach the island so a balcony is not necessary...😁 I will have to think that over in the future...

[blubionda]

2 minutes ago, neilrr said:

We are also still scheduled to go for Spring Break.... We really don't want to be quarantined either... We have an inside cabin for this cruise..🙃 As we have been to the Caribbean many times -- we always say they just change the signs, as we approach the island so a balcony is not necessary...😁 I will have to think that over in the future...

IF you go/IF you can go, I'd bet you could upgrade now for cheap!

[Bo1953]

16 minutes ago, smogfarmgirl said:

We haven't had a vacation in 5 years, and this was our FIRST cruise ever! We were sooooo looking forward to it! We are still considering going if Celebrity doesn't cancel, but the possibility of being quarantined if anyone turns up sick at all on the ship for 14 days would be a financial hit we can't take.  We work from home, so if they would just let us off to self-isolate (kinda like the flight at PBIA this morning) then no worries, we'd go in a heartbeat!

Bringing laptops would not work, I understand it would not be fully replaceable in terms of files and etc... but will keep some semblance of normalcy...

 

bon voyage (hopefully)

[ChiSloop]

9 minutes ago, blubionda said:

With the most common embarkation days being Saturday/Sunday, I just hope Celebrity (and others) make a call and announcement ASAP before we all get on our plane to board our cruise leaving this weekend! 

I agree blubionda.  We are supposed to leave ORD tomorrow afternoon for our Eclipse sailing on Sunday. 

[az_tchr]

24 minutes ago, RICCruisers said:

My suggestion on the Princess offer is to take the money and run.  I am not an attorney nor an expert on financial matters.  My question would be if cruise companies get into dire financial straits, would they declare some type of bankruptcy - Chapter 7, 11, 13 or some other number.  Then after reorganizing as a different entity they are back in business and do not have to honor any previous commitments made by the predecessor company i.e. not honoring the FCC that was given?

 

Any expert in this area of business, please respond.

Since Princess is not a US Corporation the rules are likely to be completely different. A BK, while unlikely, would not be quick. Too many parties from many countries.

On a pragmatic basis is they went BK and didn't honor those credits the path forward would be very very difficult.

The above is not legal advice. 

[Harrylinden]

Personally I think ALL cruiselines should follow suit! It only a matter of time before all cruiselines contract CV! CV dosen't discriminate against only one cruiseline! JMO
Better safe than sorry! This too shall pass.

[LMaxwell]

19 minutes ago, smogfarmgirl said:

We haven't had a vacation in 5 years, and this was our FIRST cruise ever! 

 

What do you gain going now that you lose by postponing a little bit?  

 

The officials are trying to slow down the spread to minimize the hit to the healthcare system.  I love cruises but it's just not worth the risk.  I wouldn't be surprised if they cancel before Saturday but if they don't...you're setting yourself up for at least a very "off" first cruise experience.  

[smogfarmgirl]

5 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Bringing laptops would not work, I understand it would not be fully replaceable in terms of files and etc... but will keep some semblance of normalcy...

 

bon voyage (hopefully)

No...it would help a little, but hubby sells on eBay, and I run an online men's clothing store, so no shipping out for either of us while quarantined.  I could do some coordinating with some of my brands who would drop ship for me, but overall the stress level for trying to do that would be insanity.

[blubionda]

1 minute ago, ChiSloop said:

I agree blubionda.  We are supposed to leave ORD tomorrow afternoon for our Eclipse sailing on Sunday. 

 

Ditto on ORD for us - but we are Sat flight for Sunday Silhouette . . . . cruising with family flying in from North Carolina and we were all looking forward to our vacation, spending time with each other and enjoying our connecting hump cabins booked 18 months ago . . . (I am not implying that is more important than the illness/people staying well of course, just can't help but be disappointed is all). 

[smogfarmgirl]

4 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

What do you gain going now that you lose by postponing a little bit?  

 

The only gain is the great deal we booked...looking for a similar cabin with perks for any future sailings is heading towards double what we paid, and we're at the upper end of what we could spend for this vacation as-is. We have an A1 Aquaclass with ppd gratuity, $300 credit we used on excursions, and classic drink package. Last I looked the same money puts us in an oceanview and we can pay for the drinks package and gratuities.  I only booked on Celebrity for this cruise because it was such a good deal, with FCC, unless they start bringing back good deals, we won't be able to afford anything like I booked.

[Bo1953]

14 minutes ago, smogfarmgirl said:

No...it would help a little, but hubby sells on eBay, and I run an online men's clothing store, so no shipping out for either of us while quarantined.  I could do some coordinating with some of my brands who would drop ship for me, but overall the stress level for trying to do that would be insanity.

LOL, I understand very well...

 

bon voyage

[RICCruisers]

29 minutes ago, neilrr said:

RICCruisers - I don't think the cruise lines would want to lose all goodwill by screwing their customers out of a FCC or previous bookings that were paid for. Who would book with them again, if they did that?  I know I wouldn't and I have been on over 40 cruises...  

I agree that not honoring the FCC that was offered would not be the best long term solution.  The issue becomes how can the cruise company continue to stay in business.  They are already facing significant cash flow issues as evidenced by their increased borrowing of money.  They all have some type of covenants on how much debt they can take on before the banks are forced to take action to protect their assets.  Filing for reorganization may be a last resort, but it may be forced on them.

 

As I said in my post, I am not an expert in financial matters, but I do understand that companies, both lenders and borrowers, have certain fiduciary responsibilities to protect their assets.

[ipeeinthepool]

I'm assuming that if a cruise line went out of business my deposits for future cruises would be protected by the credit card companies.

[Cruising89143]

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22586-virgin-postpones-debut-season.html

[neilrr]

1 hour ago, blubionda said:

IF you go/IF you can go, I'd bet you could upgrade now for cheap!

bubionda - We probably could... But who knows if they will even be sailing by 3/22/20... We are in a wait and see pattern at the moment.. We would hate to give the cruise line more money at this point... I see cruisingator2 above just put out the article on Virgin Cruises holding up on their roll out too..

[cluso]

2 hours ago, 24acorns said:

I am not an accountant by any means, but setting Ships to sea at 50% or perhaps less capacity is not a sustainable model. Especially as the ports you visit are shrinking by the day!!!!

 

 

People seem to have forgotten about global warming.  A lot of half empty ships milling around at sea would not be a good thing.  Too many people are putting themselves and their vacations first, and not looking at the big picture.

[kenevenpar]

1 hour ago, Harrylinden said:

Personally I think ALL cruiselines should follow suit! It only a matter of time before all cruiselines contract CV! CV dosen't discriminate against only one cruiseline! JMO
Better safe than sorry! This too shall pass.

Cruise lines cannot contract CV, poeple (maybe some animals) do.