Remarks By Arnold Donald

[mariner]

I'm hearing, from very reliable source, 25% capacity

[Mary229]

34 minutes ago, mariner said:

I'm hearing, from very reliable source, 25% capacity

Could you elaborate?  25% of what?

[taxmantoo]

30 minutes ago, mariner said:

I'm hearing, from very reliable source, 25% capacity

Not looking to start a polemic, but I do not believe there are any really reliable sources on this issue anywhere in the world right now.  Every prediction, assumption, feeling, etc has been wrong since the beginning of the pandemic.  Seems that regardless of what anyone says, we will still be in it for a while and nobody can offer anything resembling a solution except the vaccine.  Sad, but true.

[VermeulT]

15 hours ago, KirkNC said:

Yea I would expect his comments to be on the optimistic side of things.

 Of course he is. He's making public relations statements.  If he said - we'll be lucky to be operating at half capacity by the end of the year (or whatever you want to use that's less than full capacity) their stock will tumble.

Maybe it is optimistic.  Maybe it's a full blown lie.  Maybe it will workout.  It's only Jan still.  Dec is a long way away.  The status of this pandemic changes weekly.  Let's all just hope, for all our sakes, that things ARE better before the end of the year, and hopefully, we'll be able to take a nice vacation by then too.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the info

[iancal]

Mr. Donald will say whatever is good for his investors/shareholders, debt holders, etc.  Not much different than a politician.

[mcrcruiser]

7 minutes ago, iancal said:

Mr. Donald will say whatever is good for his investors/shareholders, debt holders, etc.  Not much different than a politician.

At least we know more of the facts now

[mcrcruiser]

3 hours ago, mariner said:

I'm hearing, from very reliable source, 25% capacity

imo 25% of capacity would not be profitable 

[iancal]

43 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

At least we know more of the facts now

Perhaps facts, or an interpretation of the facts, at this point in time. 

 

This covid issue has not been static.   I would certainly not assume that there will be no change in the situation-positive or negative. 

 

 Seems to me that it was not that long ago when some were anticipating cruising by June, then Sept,  then Xmas/New Years.  The cruise lines have certainly been taking advantage of this, encouraging bookings with offers on ships that they most likely knew would never leave the dock.

Edited January 27, 2021 by iancal

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Its not just the cruise lines who are having zero oncome, my TA also has had almost zero income during this pandemic. She doesn't have the ability to borrow from equity firms like CCL.

 

I just hope our 2 cruises will sail by September.

One hopes that TAs will be eligible for small business stimulus money so they can stay in business.

[terrydtx]

19 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

One hopes that TAs will be eligible for small business stimulus money so they can stay in business.

My TA applied for money from first Covid relief bills and was turned down, she is a one person shop and these canceled cruises have devastated her.

[mcrcruiser]

Very unfortunate  but many travel agents will be forced out of business because they can't make any money booking cruises or planes ,ie these days  .We have a lot of empathy for them & wish them well  in their future endeavors

 

 The reality is that TAs do not make a dime until the cruise is actually cruising 

Edited January 27, 2021 by mcrcruiser

[Mary229]

@Terrydtx There are options for agents and one is through the RCCL interest free loan program.  For single person shops they can apply for other SBA programs other than the PPP.   Have them call their regional office of SBA, they are extremely helpful.  I remember my rep calling me on a Sunday afternoon and finding the right product for my business (non-travel).

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

5 hours ago, mariner said:

I'm hearing, from very reliable source, 25% capacity

How is that going to work???

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

My TA applied for money from first Covid relief bills and was turned down, she is a one person shop and these canceled cruises have devastated her.

Sorry to hear that. It is beyond awful that Tom Brady can get $1million, but a business person struggling through no fault of their own is left out.

[What was that?]

On 1/26/2021 at 1:21 PM, cruisemom42 said:

 

It's the more accurate type of testing for COVID, usually requires a laboratory to process. 

 

But that is all mandated by CDC in their framework, it is not something the ships are doing voluntarily.

 

To be precise, it is a test for the presence of the virus - it is not a test to determine if you are ill. You may have immunity because of having had COVID before, or having gotten the vaccination, and can still test positive. The FDA says it "Diagnoses active coronavirus infection" but that doesn't mean you are sick - just that you have the virus and can potentially spread it. Right now it is unknown how much protection of  others  is provided by immunization.

[Roger88]

2 minutes ago, What was that? said:

To be precise, it is a test for the presence of the virus - it is not a test to determine if you are ill. You may have immunity because of having had COVID before, or having gotten the vaccination, and can still test positive. The FDA says it "Diagnoses active coronavirus infection" but that doesn't mean you are sick - just that you have the virus and can potentially spread it. Right now it is unknown how much protection of  others  is provided by immunization.

All those testing dont make sense. Even if we assume that a person has already got anti-bodies or he or she was recently vaccinated, where is the guarantee that he is not simply carries it with him to infect others? those who are not vaccinated yet 

[What was that?]

2 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

All those testing dont make sense. Even if we assume that a person has already got anti-bodies or he or she was recently vaccinated, where is the guarantee that he is not simply carries it with him to infect others? those who are not vaccinated yet 

That was my point - thanks for landing it. They probably don't want to say it quite yet, but it seems to me that a VAX requirement will be the  minimum  needed for resumption.

[darwinsrule]

3 hours ago, What was that? said:

That was my point - thanks for landing it. They probably don't want to say it quite yet, but it seems to me that a VAX requirement will be the  minimum  needed for resumption.

 And you can bet that the cruiselines are hoping that someone else makes that decision (CDC, Canadian Government, Island Government, Mexico, etc).  Much easier to point the finger and go "sorry, it isn't us stopping you" at the same time internally they are saying "thank god". 

 

That is especially the case since vaccine distribution will not be uniform across all countries.  Canada and the U.S. will get to the same point in terms of vaccine coverage within similar timeframes. A ship with unvaccinated passengers getting off for tours in Mexico or an island where they are still struggling is only inviting infection.  And as noted previously infection means protocols kick in.  Which is bad for business. 

[mariner]

25% of the ship's passenger capacity. It can be somewhat profitable by raising fares. The economies of scale would not lend itself to super low fares that many have become used to.

 

 

[BobbiSox]

19 hours ago, iancal said:

Perhaps facts, or an interpretation of the facts, at this point in time. 

 

This covid issue has not been static.   I would certainly not assume that there will be no change in the situation-positive or negative. 

 

 Seems to me that it was not that long ago when some were anticipating cruising by June, then Sept,  then Xmas/New Years.  The cruise lines have certainly been taking advantage of this, encouraging bookings with offers on ships that they most likely knew would never leave the dock.

I have watched the HAL cruise offerings daily and have wondered what planet they are living on. I see no mention of the possibility that because worldwide travel is on hold, nobody has a clue as to when cruises will resume, if at all. It seems they are conducting business as usual.  Are they still accepting deposits? That would be irresponsible , at the very least. Could border on dishonesty, and brings to mind the adage about counting chickens. 

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, BobbiSox said:

I have watched the HAL cruise offerings daily and have wondered what planet they are living on. I see no mention of the possibility that because worldwide travel is on hold, nobody has a clue as to when cruises will resume, if at all. It seems they are conducting business as usual.  Are they still accepting deposits? That would be irresponsible , at the very least. Could border on dishonesty, and brings to mind the adage about counting chickens. 

 

Most normal people are fully aware that worldwide travel is on hold and do not know when it will resume.  HAL like all cruise lines and most other businesses are conducting business as usual.  Do you think they should just shut down?   Yes, they are accepting deposits and full payments if you wish to make them.  Why wouldn't they?  Dishonest? No.  Those booking know exactly what they are doing and what their hopes are.  If they don't know what is going on,  then they are the ones that need to be asked 'what planet they are living on'.

[latserrof]

On 1/27/2021 at 6:45 AM, mariner said:

I'm hearing, from very reliable source, 25% capacity

I've heard from a reliable source that there are no reliable sources.

[Tampa Girl]

On 1/26/2021 at 4:32 PM, pms4104 said:

Was this not posted by a different member, word for word, more than 2 hours ago on the Princess board?

 

Ya coulda avoided the plagiarism by posting a link to that thread here on HAL.  No? 

 

I don't see this as plagiarism.  According to the poster, the comments were  clearly attributed to Arnold Donald.  The comments were simply repeating what another poster had also attributed to Arnold Donald. 

[cruisemom42]

On 1/27/2021 at 9:45 AM, mariner said:

I'm hearing, from very reliable source, 25% capacity

 

That seems low. According to a thread started on Celebrity forum this morning, Celebrity is contemplating start-up in May with initial sailings at 50-60% capacity.