Sailings now cancelled through April 30

[HBE4]

13 hours ago, airbusdrvr said:

This was told to me by a 16 year full time travel agent that specializes in cruises whom I trust. Carnival publicly stated they were disposing of 18 ships last September and RCCL has publicly stated they would be disposing some smaller ships. So please inform me and the rest of us what is "pretty much false" in what I was told. 

 

I'm going to mostly agree with the others. If your agent said that there will be a pent-up demand & high prices for the first 12-18 months of cruising, that would be more believable.  I read somewhere (last summer) that 45% of RCL cruisers opted for refund meaning that 55% have FCC or Lifted and Shifted.   IF there is an extended period of ships sailing at 50% capacity than there will be very little excess capacity to sell in the immediate future.  Key word is IF. 

 

But nobody knows how the travel industry will be impacted for the next 4-5 years.  Plenty of speculations and WAG's for sure, some more realistic than others.  I have read some reports here on CC about some shocking high prices for 2022. Not sure of that is a trend or just exceptions. I have not checked cruise prices as I'm in the group of 1/2 of people that will not cruise until normal (or near normal) has returned.

 

Since you trust him, I'm guessing he is not pulling the old "act now while supplies last" routine. It is possible that your agent has seen the same high prices plus plenty of inquires from new/casual cruisers and therefore is trying to take an educated guess?

 

 

[grandgeezer]

That pent up demand is probably fueled by what cruising was like before the shutdown. When/if they start back up cruising will change dramatically, and in my humble opinion, will never get back to the old normal. The medical changes and massive debt accumulated during the shutdown will all but guarantee that. To reduce the debt, the main two ways to do that is raise prices and cut cost through elimination of some item and cheapen some other ones, pick your poison. Also, the financial burden placed on many families might eliminate new cruisers or have current ones cut back their spend or number of trips. Add the number of people who have soured on the product and the pool has shrunk dramatically and the good old days are gone. 

[German Mermaid]

A crew member who had been working at Starbucks just got his new contract starting on June, 5th in the port of Miami. He shows his contract on Youtube

[Iamcruzin]

1 hour ago, German Mermaid said:

A crew member who had been working at Starbucks just got his new contract starting on June, 5th in the port of Miami. He shows his contract on Youtube

We have seen and heard of others getting contracts. Nothing has materialized from those reports. They could be just replacing crew members who are still on board maintaining the ship. I'm sure those contracts have come to an end.

[bucfan2]

Regardless of what side of the fence an individual is on (mandatory vaccine, anti-vaxxer, just cruise, wait till...., etc), until the fear factor/stay-scared factor is brought back down to reasonable levels, cruising is going nowhere.

 

Doesn't appear cruise lines are very high on the 'bailout priority list'.  It will be interesting to see who survives if/when cruising does resume. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by bucfan2

[A&L_Ont]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

We have seen and heard of others getting contracts.

There was someone on the RC boards saying their bar tender friend was returning last December, if I remember correctly. That didn’t happen.