More ships to leave Carnival Fleet.

[terrierjohn]

34 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Yes, I did sort of contradict myself!

I suppose that what I should have said is that there must be a limit as to how many buyers there can be, for the older ships.

 

This pandemic seems to be enabling the smaller cruise lines to update their fleets at rock bottom prices, still sell their older ships for a reasonable scrap value, and then be ready to compete more effectively once things get back to normal.  I just hope that the bosses at Carnival know what they are doing, because I am not certain that RCI and NCL are offloading anywhere near as many ships.

[wowzz]

12 minutes ago, lindylooellalouise said:

Hi Sharon  Thanks for the advice tried to book online yesterday but prices more expensive than the brochure we received on Saturday morning so we phoned only to find out they are closed till Monday so hopefully we will be able to book then, we have had some really bad experiences with TA so very reluctant to book any cruises through them in the future.

We booked online on Thursday. Quickest £6000 I've ever spent! Easy to use booking system with real time cabin availability. 

The prices were exactly the same as in the brochure, but, as is always the case, were for the lowest grade cabin in each category. However, it was easy to see the exact location of every cabin as you moved through the various pricing categories.   

[lindylooellalouise]

Hi the brochure price is 4,081 pounds per person and online it’s 5.023 pounds per person so that’s a huge difference. April 24th 22 nights on SOA and that’s for the cheapest cabin.

[Adawn47]

11 hours ago, wowzz said:

Anyone care to speculate as to who will want to buy a 20 year old uneconomic cruise ship, requiring expensive frequent dry docking?

Kalos??? 

Avril

[majortom10]

11 hours ago, wowzz said:

In the current environment,  I'm not sure that there will be any buyers around. 

Anyone care to speculate as to who will want to buy a 20 year old uneconomic cruise ship, requiring expensive frequent dry docking?

I bet Fred only paid slight over the scrap value for the two H&A ships,  as no one else would have wanted them. Fred will get the money back as the fares charged for future cruises will be 50% higher than H&A could ever achieve.

Look on the list of 17 ships already disposed of by Carnival and they all have not been sold for scrap many have been sold for continuing use i.e. Oceana by Greek company and companies in Japan have purchased others. I dont necessarily think that ships have to be 20yr old uneconomic ships as they say everything is always for sale at the right price so newer ships could be sold to another company who do not want or cannot afford the purchase of a new ship and wait 2 yrs for build. Nobody knows what ships are sold for so that is just guesswork and could be wide of the mark but as long as Carnival think the price is right that any ship could be available for sale.

[Captain_Morgan]

14 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

This pandemic seems to be enabling the smaller cruise lines to update their fleets at rock bottom prices, still sell their older ships for a reasonable scrap value, and then be ready to compete more effectively once things get back to normal.  I just hope that the bosses at Carnival know what they are doing, because I am not certain that RCI and NCL are offloading anywhere near as many ships.

 

In fairness I think this pandemic has just forced the issue of becoming more efficient for the likes of Carnival whereas RCI seems to have been pumping out brand new, state of the art ships year over year for the last few builds.  Sure the grotesque size of their ships is not for everyone, but their business model is clearly one which supports the concept of 'bigger is better' and when you compare stock prices between the 'big three' it seems RCI is doing much better than the other two which have looked nearly identical over the past 90 days.

Has NCLH even offloaded any of their old tonnage?  I know they, like Carnival Cruises have managed to prosper on the short 3-4 day cruises with their older ships so they might see those markets as viable enough to continue using their aging tonnage.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, lindylooellalouise said:

Hi the brochure price is 4,081 pounds per person and online it’s 5.023 pounds per person so that’s a huge difference. April 24th 22 nights on SOA and that’s for the cheapest cabin.

Yes, I see that myself. You're right, it's an enormous increase. It will be interesting to know what Saga say when you talk to them. 

[molecrochip]

2 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

Not just rock bottom but I understand Carnival offered them an interst free mortgage/loan to take them.

So Carnival sell them on a lease arrangement. You lease for ten years at X per year (equal to value of ship/10) and then at year 10 you get to buy ship for £1.

 

If anything happens such as insolvency then ship returns to Carnival.

 

The CMV entity which contracts for the ships leases/purchases did not go into admin. So all contracts remain as was.

[tring]

42 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

So Carnival sell them on a lease arrangement. You lease for ten years at X per year (equal to value of ship/10) and then at year 10 you get to buy ship for £1.

 

If anything happens such as insolvency then ship returns to Carnival.

 

The CMV entity which contracts for the ships leases/purchases did not go into admin. So all contracts remain as was.

 

The deal with Fred was mentioned on a Bonheur statement (or whatever the legal term is) about the acquisition.  It was along the lines of nothing to pay for the first three years, then two equal payments for the next two years, after which I assume Fred will own the ships.  Or that is how I understood it.  Fred Junior had been talking about new builds a few years ago, but the crunch was that he did not have the support of the Bonheur board and they are the parent company, so new builds went off the radar.  Bonheur is a massive company, so will have bargained hard over the purchase, as would Carnival of course.

 

Bonheur statement:-  https://news.cision.com/bonheur-asa/r/acquisition-of-cruise-vessels-and-fleet-optimization,c3154971

 

I see Fred has pulled Havana as a port for one of the new ships on a around S. America cruise.  I was wondering if that was because Carnival still had ownership, or part ownership, of the ship, From what you say, I assume it could be the case. 

Edited September 20, 2020 by tring

[Glenndale]

2 hours ago, lindylooellalouise said:

Hi the brochure price is 4,081 pounds per person and online it’s 5.023 pounds per person so that’s a huge difference. April 24th 22 nights on SOA and that’s for the cheapest cabin.

That's how Saga sell their cabins, with the discount reducing after a certain number in that grade are sold.

If the cruise isn't selling well they might offer guarantee cabins closer to sailing.

The cruise you were hoping to book is obviously very popular.

We are going to pre-register for 2023 soon, £90pp and we will have first choice of the cabins when they come on sale. The £90 is fully refundable if you change your mind. The £90 is for one cruise so if you thought you might want to book 2 cruises in 2023 you would have to buy 2 pre-cruise certificates each.

[lindylooellalouise]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Yes, I see that myself. You're right, it's an enormous increase. It will be interesting to know what Saga say when you talk to them. 

Yes me too, will keep you posted

[wowzz]

35 minutes ago, Glenndale said:

That's how Saga sell their cabins, with the discount reducing after a certain number in that grade are sold.

If the cruise isn't selling well they might offer guarantee cabins closer to sailing.

The cruise you were hoping to book is obviously very popular.

We are going to pre-register for 2023 soon, £90pp and we will have first choice of the cabins when they come on sale. The £90 is fully refundable if you change your mind. The £90 is for one cruise so if you thought you might want to book 2 cruises in 2023 you would have to buy 2 pre-cruise certificates each.

All the same, a 25% increase less than a week after the release date is pretty steep.

[Glenndale]

53 minutes ago, wowzz said:

All the same, a 25% increase less than a week after the release date is pretty steep.

Yes it is, but being picky, it's actually a decrease in discount 🙂

The cruises have actually been on sale since the end of August, we were by no means first in the queue and we purchased ours on the 4th September.

Their more interesting itineraries will be snapped up quickly.

Lots of Canaries cruise still at the original discount.

[wowzz]

10 minutes ago, Glenndale said:

Yes it is, but being picky, it's actually a decrease in discount 🙂

The cruises have actually been on sale since the end of August, we were by no means first in the queue and we purchased ours on the 4th September.

Their more interesting itineraries will be snapped up quickly.

Lots of Canaries cruise still at the original discount.

Fair points.

We were lucky, I suppose, in booking our September 2022 cruise with the original discount still in  place. 

[Glenndale]

11 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Fair points.

We were lucky, I suppose, in booking our September 2022 cruise with the original discount still in  place. 

One thing that might help Lindy..... if she knows anyone who has cruised previously with Saga they can introduce her as a newby and they will both get a 10% discount through Saga Possibilities.

When my s-i-l joined us in September we introduced her and we all got an extra 10% discount 😁

Edited September 20, 2020 by Glenndale

[Host Sharon]

19 hours ago, Glenndale said:

That's how Saga sell their cabins, with the discount reducing after a certain number in that grade are sold.

If the cruise isn't selling well they might offer guarantee cabins closer to sailing.

The cruise you were hoping to book is obviously very popular.

We are going to pre-register for 2023 soon, £90pp and we will have first choice of the cabins when they come on sale. The £90 is fully refundable if you change your mind. The £90 is for one cruise so if you thought you might want to book 2 cruises in 2023 you would have to buy 2 pre-cruise certificates each.

I only had one £90 pre-registration but booked two of the new cruises a couple of weeks ago - unless it was because my friend and cabin mate had one as well?

[Glenndale]

2 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

I only had one £90 pre-registration but booked two of the new cruises a couple of weeks ago - unless it was because my riedn and cabin mate had one as well?

That was my understanding of how the system worked but I could well be wrong 🙂

Happy to be corrected.

[Host Sharon]

3 minutes ago, Glenndale said:

That was my understanding of how the system worked but I could well be wrong 🙂

Happy to be corrected.

 

No, I'm not correcting you. It may well be because we both had one so - one each in effect. The pre-registration is a well-kept "secret" anyway. It's not widely advertised and I only found out about it chatting to previous Saga cruisers.

 

[lindylooellalouise]

20 hours ago, wowzz said:

Yes, I see that myself. You're right, it's an enormous increase. It will be interesting to know what Saga say when you talk to them. 

22 hours ago, lindylooellalouise said:

Hi the brochure price is 4,081 pounds per person and online it’s 5.023 pounds per person so that’s a huge difference. April 24th 22 nights on SOA and that’s for the cheapest cabin.

Hi just got of the phone to Saga and really disappointed the discount no longer applies so that is  the price I will have to pay, can’t believe that getting the brochure on Saturday morning to decide to book Saturday afternoon but couldn’t because they were closed and the website only showed increased fare, I don’t know anyone who has previously cruise with Saga so can’t get a recommendation, looks like I will have to wait for Cunard. Not impressed with the customer service from Saga. Thanks everyone for the advice and comments. 

[ann141]

When I was considering a Saga cruise a month or so ago I noticed that if you subscribed to the Saga magazine you could get 5% off a cruise if you booked before the end of the year.The offer may no longer apply but may be worth checking?

[grapau27]

News today in Ameritrade.

Carnival have sent termination notices to thousands of Officers and crew.

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

News today in Ameritrade.

Carnival have sent termination notices to thousands of Officers and crew.

That will be Carnival USA I'm assuming. Either way that's not good news.

Avril 

[grapau27]

12 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

That will be Carnival USA I'm assuming. Either way that's not good news.

Avril 

Yes Carnival USA,sad news.

[davemorton]

12 hours ago, lindylooellalouise said:

 

Could you not just get someone on a Saga forum to introduce you, presuming you dont 'really' need to know them. 

[wowzz]

14 minutes ago, davemorton said:

Could you not just get someone on a Saga forum to introduce you, presuming you dont 'really' need to know them. 

It's a good idea, but unfortunately I don't believe there is any way to make contact with other CC posters, unlike other SM sites.