How we can help Celebrity

[Baron Barracuda]

4 hours ago, DWhit said:

History shows that life went on and returned back to normal after the last big pandemic of the 1919 Spanish Flu. I doubt this one will be much different.

The Spanish flu actually extended from Jan 1918 to Dec 1920.  How many could take 3 years of this?

[Life Buoy]

29 minutes ago, OuiOnboard said:

Yes, we were there during this whole transition. The time has come for these  =X= supporters to step up. The future of Celebrity requires it. 

Really? Isn't it the responsibility of the company to "step up"? Why does the consumer need to "step up"? Celebrity is solely responsible for THEIR decisions. From reading threads they made the decision to build and renovate ships. They decided to make cutbacks in service and quality to increase profit margins. They decided to focus on the bottom line and lessen the focus on loyalty. The consumer will still be able to cruise even if a few lines go out of business. In fact, a reorganization might be beneficial to both the company and consumers by forcing the replacement of some executives and replace them and their philosophy with new people and new approaches.

[npcl]

5 hours ago, cynbar said:

We have had many wonderful cruises on Celebrity and are loyal to the brand --- but I don't see that we have any obligation to bail them out. It is still a business arrangement. As long as they have a product we want, we will buy it when it is up and running again. They aren't family who needs and deserves our financial support. Personally, I'm waiting to see how all of this plays out before deciding where to travel next. As a poster above said, if you can happily afford to lose money (or wait for your refund), then go for it. I rather doubt that Celebrity would be too sympathetic if I were having financial issues --- I'm pretty sure they would proceed as "business as usual."

I prefer using my money to help supporting businesses in my community, as well as donating to the local food banks which are under stress like no other time.

 

Cruise lines can always, and probably will, end up restructuring in bankruptcy.  That does not mean that they will go away, but they will look different when this is over, even with a vaccine.  Without a vaccine, everything will look different.

[Fly and Sail]

Show these shareholders we are here to book? LOL! The RCL share price more than doubled in the last two weeks. The ships are honkering down and await the end of this crisis as long as it may take.

 

If you want to "help" then maybe go through your contacts from previous cruises and ask them if there is anything you can do for them as gesture of appreciation for past service. I managed to track down two wonderful people from Indonesia that work on the Eclipse and sent them a financial "easter egg".

 

I don't need to help help a multi billion dollar company registered offshore. They can help themselves.

[clojacks]

I’ve sat back and watched 4 pages of this and feel it’s the right time to chime in. I’m like a umber of you, in that I don’t feel it is my duty to help Celebrity, Royal, NCL, Carnival, Princess, Holland, or any other vacation entity out of this tragic situation. While, their financial situation is not entirely of their own doing, as there is no one in any management position that could have foreseen what COVID-19 became. However, a number of these lines, in my opinion, abused the information that was being widely distributed as March started and continued sending ships to sea. Many, many, many ships ended up with abbreviated sailings that resulted in extremely unnecessary expenditures by the Cruiselines to return these passengers home after disasterous sailings were aborted. The costs these lines incurred after all the information was disregarded, was of their own choosing, and if that leads to a financial situation that they can not rebound from with my help, so be it. Celebrity sent the Reflection out to sea from Port Everglades HOURS before a cancellation of all cruising was to take place. Does that sound like responsible management?

[Baron Barracuda]

1 hour ago, Orator said:

I have been a loyal Celebrity cruiser since 1999. I have more than 100 cruises with Celebrity. For a few years I've said that Celbrity has changed it's focus from "loyalty" to the high margin cruiser. I have said that this is a high risk, high reward strategy and that some day they will need he past loyal cruisers to return. That day is here! It's really up to those in Miami to decide if they really want to improve their bottom line by raising prices to recoup as much as they can quickly, or by reaching out to loyal past passengers and enticing them to once again see Celebrity as a company that really appreciates them. I believe that approach will in the long run improve the bottom line more than just raising prices that are close to the truly luxury lines.

We started sailing with X back in '93 and while we've never had a bad cruise the trend in recent years has been that each sailing just seems a little less special than the one before.   Pay more, receive less.  If you're not in a suite they really don't care.

 

When sailing resumes this will change though.  For the foreseeable future management will no longer have pricing power.  Customers will be scarce, competition will be fierce and it will be a buyers market.  Agree if X is smart they should get out in front of this  today by approaching C&A members with very generous offers.

 

Side note to those looking to steer cash to poor old X - It may or may not matter to you but remember X is not an independent business.  It's just a division of RCCI and Fain has total discretion over whether your cash stays with X or is transferred to Royal or Azamara or corporate.    

[drew69]

While optimism is nice, it is time to be realistic.

 

Cruising and many other things will never come back as they were.  There will be no return to what was.

 

Cruises and amusement parks, etc. will be among the last things to come back at all as they are purely recreational and way too many critical aspects of life need to be rebuilt and come online first.

 

Air travel itself will come back very slowly, especially international, and with changes - far fewer flights, much longer turn around times to sanitize planes, etc.

 

As for cruising, no one is going to bring together all those crew members and passengers from all over the globe and put them all together on a floating petri dish again for a long time.

 

No country is going to quickly allow cruise ships to dock and disgorge thousands of people at once into their communities.

 

Many aspects of life are changed forever, it is time to come to grips with that and face the stark reality of the future

[Fly and Sail]

12 minutes ago, drew69 said:

While optimism is nice, it is time to be realistic.

 

Cruising and many other things will never come back as they were.  There will be no return to what was.

 

Cruises and amusement parks, etc. will be among the last things to come back at all as they are purely recreational and way too many critical aspects of life need to be rebuilt and come online first.

 

Air travel itself will come back very slowly, especially international, and with changes - far fewer flights, much longer turn around times to sanitize planes, etc.

 

As for cruising, no one is going to bring together all those crew members and passengers from all over the globe and put them all together on a floating petri dish again for a long time.

 

No country is going to quickly allow cruise ships to dock and disgorge thousands of people at once into their communities.

 

Many aspects of life are changed forever, it is time to come to grips with that and face the stark reality of the future

 

You think the world economy is going to permanently succumb to this COVID nonsense that will last at best 6-9 months? That's a pretty vivid imagination but will prove to be a distant dream.

[OuiOnboard]

5 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

You think the world economy is going to permanently succumb to this COVID nonsense that will last at best 6-9 months? That's a pretty vivid imagination but will prove to be a distant dream.

Maybe not permanently, but this is a global recession. The negative effects of the last recession took some time to go away. Nonsense?

[Chrisclaire]

3 hours ago, yorky said:

Yep, you try to feel positive and are accused of “ living in fairy land” and  “Many cannot understand what's going on” Sorry but yes that is downright rude. We are all allowed to think positively, that does not make us deluded fools who can’t see what’s going on around us. We love cruising, we love Celebrity and all the wonderful crew and we will be returning to what’s in our opinion the best holiday out there. If we make our cruise in February we will both sit in the martini bar with those who feel the same way and raise a glass to everyone including the doubters. 

The Martini Bar!  Oh how I wish I was sitting at that fab bar right now, with the smiley, happy bar tenders & those wonderful cocktails. 

Hopefully it won't be too long.

[spencerdrivecruiser]

5 hours ago, hcat said:

 

Take money in from more people by selling new cruises  in order to pay out the refunds and debts owed  to others.  

 

LOL, A legal Ponzi Scheme.

 

We were X Loyalists but with all the monkey business going on lately we are history.  We pay our Federal Income taxes annually and have zero compassion for Corporations incorporating oversees to avoid US INCOME Taxes.   Maybe there will will be changes to enact laws that will 

require corporations doing business in the USA to pay Income Taxes.

 

MSC is privately owned and in great financial shape and haven't read of any Covid 19 aboard any of their ships.  I have read nothing about MSC begging for handouts or loans.

 

Good Luck to Celebrity and their near sidedness and over leveraging.  Our best cruising days were on the C Class Ships and the new M Class ships.  Those days will never be bested for us. After Dan Hanerhan left X things have never been the same.  The current CEO is all about her and her phoniness. 

 

[Fly and Sail]

1 minute ago, OuiOnboard said:

Maybe not permanently, but this is a global recession. The negative effects of the last recession took some time to go away. Nonsense?

 

Correct and there will be temporary changes. Not "Many aspects of life are changed forever". If I'd get $100 everytime that was said in the past few decades then I could quit my job right now. The recession is another issue and was around the corner anyway, with or without the virus.

 

The world and the country has been through much worse in history and always bounced back stronger. All this scaremongering  isn't helping anyone and ignorant of history. Very soon all that's left of COVID are bad haircuts, memories and a gazillion of hilarious memes. The world will move on.

[Fly and Sail]

7 minutes ago, spencerdrivecruiser said:

MSC is privately owned and in great financial shape and haven't read of any Covid 19 aboard any of their ships.  I have read nothing about MSC begging for handouts or loans.

 

What do you consider "great" ? I guarantee you that none of the cruise lines are in great shape or anywhere near that but they will survive.

 

Also who is MSC supposed to hit up for cash? Definitely not the U.S. government as they have pretty much no exposure/contribution to any U.S. markets. The Swiss government? I'm sure the citizens and politicians of a landlocked country will laugh them out of the room, remember Switzerland didn't even bail out Swissair back in the day. And Italy? The country is financially and economically finished.

 

Comparing MSC to other lines such as Celebrity, RCL, NCL is like comparing Walmart to Whole Foods.

[OuiOnboard]

11 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

bad haircuts, memories and a gazillion of hilarious memes

I had hair...once.

[drew69]

10 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

Correct and there will be temporary changes. Not "Many aspects of life are changed forever". If I'd get $100 everytime that was said in the past few decades then I could quit my job right now. The recession is another issue and was around the corner anyway, with or without the virus.

 

The world and the country has been through much worse in history and always bounced back stronger. All this scaremongering  isn't helping anyone and ignorant of history. Very soon all that's left of COVID are bad haircuts, memories and a gazillion of hilarious memes. The world will move on.

 

Bounced back does not mean without major changes that are permanent.  Just as air travel had aspects that were permanently changed after 9/11, aspects of travel such as cruising will have permanent changes too.

[Bo1953]

4 minutes ago, drew69 said:

 

Bounced back does not mean without major changes that are permanent.  Just as air travel had aspects that were permanently changed after 9/11, aspects of travel such as cruising will have permanent changes too.

Well, that is a given.... considering.

 

bon voyage

[BigAl94]

33 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

You think the world economy is going to permanently succumb to this COVID nonsense that will last at best 6-9 months? That's a pretty vivid imagination but will prove to be a distant dream.

Dumbest response by far, 6-9 months wont look at it for all the reasons others have mentioned. No one has mentioned the anticipated and worse second wave of which there are initial signs in China.

[LMaxwell]

9 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

What do you consider "great" ? I guarantee you that none of the cruise lines are in great shape or anywhere near that but they will survive.

 

Also who is MSC supposed to hit up for cash? Definitely not the U.S. government as they have pretty much no exposure/contribution to any U.S. markets. The Swiss government? I'm sure the citizens and politicians of a landlocked country will laugh them out of the room, remember Switzerland didn't even bail out Swissair back in the day. And Italy? The country is financially and economically finished.

 

Comparing MSC to other lines such as Celebrity, RCL, NCL is like comparing Walmart to Whole Foods.

 

MSC is a privately held company with supposedly extremely deep pockets. Their cargo ship operations number nearly 500 ships.  If goods are moving around the globe likely MSC is involved.  That is not to trivialize their financial hit to the passenger cruise operation, but I feel like they can weather a storm the longest of any cruise line. 

[Fly and Sail]

3 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

MSC is a privately held company with supposedly extremely deep pockets. Their cargo ship operations number nearly 500 ships.  If goods are moving around the globe likely MSC is involved.  That is not to trivialize their financial hit to the passenger cruise operation, but I feel like they can weather a storm the longest of any cruise line. 

 

Sure the head company as well as the owners are swimming in money (literally) but they are a separate entity. Now if they can get a financial cure from the MSC Shipping or the owners pockets more power to them, I'm happy for any company that doesn't go out of business.

 

Just saying the overall "feel" of our MSC cruise didn't live up to the standard of Celebrity etc. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

[LMaxwell]

1 minute ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

Sure the head company as well as the owners are swimming in money (literally) but they are a separate entity. Now if they can get a financial cure from the MSC Shipping or the owners pockets more power to them, I'm happy for any company that doesn't go out of business.

 

Just saying the overall "feel" of our MSC cruise didn't live up to the standard of Celebrity etc. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

For what I've learned the cruise operations have always been a family pet project and they refuse to let it fail. My only point being, they seem to have the resources best in line to survive prolonged shutdown without onerous loan terms or risk to shareholders. 

[george35]

I for one will not book another cruise until I get my money back from the b/b cruise I booked March 2020 on the Equinox.

 

george35

[davekathy]

I hope Celebrity is helping itself by postponing the revolution. 

[mnocket]

Seems to me what we have here is an argument between those people who have an emotional attachment to Celebrity and those who don't.  Neither side is going to prevail and the argument could go on forever.

[HxFx]

1 hour ago, Chrisclaire said:

The Martini Bar!  Oh how I wish I was sitting at that fab bar right now, with the smiley, happy bar tenders & those wonderful cocktails. 

Hopefully it won't be too long.

That was our favorite place on the Summit; every night before dinner!

[ECCruise]

Just now, mnocket said:

Seems to me what we have here is an argument between those people who have an emotional attachment to Celebrity and those who don't.  Neither side is going to prevail and the argument could go on forever.

Wrong. I have a major emotional attachment to Celebrity. And lots of money sitting in their till. 30+ sailed/4booked. 

But not another dime from me. If they fail, so be it. The mistakes they made are in their wheelhouse, not mine.