Will Carnival Follow Royal’s.Lead with Cruises Restarting Someplace Else

[topaz123]

On 3/19/2021 at 3:47 PM, ProgRockCruiser said:

That's not what was meant. Passports would be required for Canadians coming to the US (or going anywhere else).

 

The poster is talking about US citizens.  There is a significant portion of US cruisers who do not have a passport - they sail by using Drivers Licenses and Birth Certificates.  Many of those folks feel the cost of a passport, for each of their family members, is too high to be worthwhile, because they don't travel anywhere else.

True...amazing number with Drivers Licenses and B. Certificate.  I believe a US Passport costs $135 plus cost of pictures, and fees from Postal. Multiply that for a family of 4 and that's a pretty big expense.

[PhillyFan33579]

I don’t think this is imminent at this point, but if the CDC continues to require unrealistic requirements for cruise lines,  it wouldn’t surprise me if one or more major cruise lines abandons the US. 

[firefly333]

40 minutes ago, topaz123 said:

True...amazing number with Drivers Licenses and B. Certificate.  I believe a US Passport costs $135 plus cost of pictures, and fees from Postal. Multiply that for a family of 4 and that's a pretty big expense.

Adult passports last for what 7 years? More? If they cant handle $135 spread over 7 years, it's taking a big risk to cruise and get hurt in a port they cant afford if they are that poor. You can take your own picture free, my dad has done mine, last time I paid about $12.99 at CVS and you mention postage. Yes it's a lot to renew, but the risk costs even more of not having one.

 

If this is why people dont like the idea of cruising out of another port, they cant afford the risk of cruising. Save up until they can afford it. At the higher prices of cruises right now, passports are a small amount. 

 

Though I did mention the reasons stated including too broke to buy a passport. These cruises will probably cost even more than normal. Airfare from texas not cheap (someone checked and about 550 pp out of dallas right now). I can understand someone saying they dont want to pay the extra airfare but not because they cant afford passports which cost less.

 

I've always been extra good at managing money.  Better than friends. Penny wise and pound foolish.

 

Personally I'm going to wait. I got the friends of Bella the dog cruise in march 2023 which will be my splurge .. not this june out of nassau with tests and vaccination proof and flights and probably hotel. Too much for me. I wouldnt do it just to get on a ship. Real life enough. Planning another visit to florida beaches for a condo I'm buying. Probably flying. When cruising out of Galveston resumes im there.  Only easy peasy stuff. I seem to be the only one saying no it's too complicated.

[kdr69]

At this point in time i believe the Cruise lines do need to start making some noise as it is quite apparent the CDC is singling them out.  Move their Cruises out of the US and tell the CDC when you want to talk we will be ready to negotiate a return to your waters and ports.  I have to fly to take a cruise regardless so it makes no difference to me where that starting point is.  My tourism dollars get spent either way.

[kdr69]

7 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I don’t think this is imminent at this point, but if the CDC continues to require unrealistic requirements for cruise lines,  it wouldn’t surprise me if one or more major cruise lines abandons the US. 

I agree 

[crazy4themouse]

17 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I've always been extra good at managing money.  Better than friends. Penny wise and pound foolish.

 

 

I agree with you on your entire post -- Passports are not that expensive given that they last 10 years, and going anywhere internationally -- including on a cruise ship -- without one is just insanely risky to me. 

 

But I have to point out that "penny wise and pound foolish" is the opposite of being extra good with your money. 🙂

 

 

[topaz123]

17 minutes ago, kdr69 said:

At this point in time i believe the Cruise lines do need to start making some noise as it is quite apparent the CDC is singling them out.  Move their Cruises out of the US and tell the CDC when you want to talk we will be ready to negotiate a return to your waters and ports.  I have to fly to take a cruise regardless so it makes no difference to me where that starting point is.  My tourism dollars get spent either way.

Yes....Flying to another non US port would be just the cost of the  travel package. CDC has slow rolled this thing, and continues to put up burden upon burden. 

[topaz123]

I don't see the angst by the CDC in getting these ships asea. If cruisers are vaccinated, and the crew likewise, then why could we not begin cruising again...

[firefly333]

12 minutes ago, crazy4themouse said:

 

 

I agree with you on your entire post -- Passports are not that expensive given that they last 10 years, and going anywhere internationally -- including on a cruise ship -- without one is just insanely risky to me. 

 

But I have to point out that "penny wise and pound foolish" is the opposite of being extra good with your money. 🙂

 

 

Lol I save my pennies and blow them on cruises.

 

Celebrity is only selling balconys up at the special pkg price of 1999 starting prices. Includes air and testing. Only selling balconies and up but not all inclusive like their other cruises. Not sure if that 1999 is per person based on double occupancy or not.

 

Rcl goes on sale march 24th. With a $50 obc to cover the cost of testing. I'm preparing my mind for high prices. The iternaries are interesting to me, 2 days to coco cay, something else I think and cozumel. I'm cozumel d out since we do it out of Galveston but seems a odd choice out of nassau. I'm guessing they had few choices to pick cozumel out of nassau. It's totally out of the way to me.

[Honolulu Blue]

19 minutes ago, topaz123 said:

I don't see the angst by the CDC in getting these ships asea. If cruisers are vaccinated, and the crew likewise, then why could we not begin cruising again...

 

I agree that a vaccine mandate would solve a lot of problems.  But it would also create some.  I don't think the early cruisers would have a problem getting vaccinated by July 1.  But I just don't see any realistic way that any cruise line could fill more than a couple of ships with qualified crew by October 1.

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I don’t think this is imminent at this point, but if the CDC continues to require unrealistic requirements for cruise lines,  it wouldn’t surprise me if one or more major cruise lines abandons the US. 

 

1 hour ago, kdr69 said:

I agree 

Totally disagree.   I can't see Carnival, Royal or NCL flipping the bird at all of the USA embarkation ports.   Too many ships and cabins to fill.  The Oasis and Quantum Class ships of Royal as well as the Breakaway and Breakawy Plus ships of NCL would be too big for many foreign ports to embark from.  And the Excellence Class ships from Carnival need LNG to run.  

[PhillyFan33579]

23 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

 

Totally disagree.   I can't see Carnival, Royal or NCL flipping the bird at all of the USA embarkation ports.   Too many ships and cabins to fill.  The Oasis and Quantum Class ships of Royal as well as the Breakaway and Breakawy Plus ships of NCL would be too big for many foreign ports to embark from.  And the Excellence Class ships from Carnival need LNG to run.  

Like I said I don’t think it is imminent at this point, but if the CDC doesn’t allow cruising from US ports for another year, which is not far fetched the way the CDC has treated the cruise lines, and considering no cruise line is even remotely close to resuming operations from US ports, at some point I can see a cruise line moving on from the US. As someone who has travelled around the world extensively during 20 plus years in the military and over the last 15 years recreationally, I know there is a big world out there and the US is not as important as a lot of people like to think it is. 

[Earthworm Jim]

10 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

Maybe we're reaching, but is it some coincidence that they are still singled out for so long? The companies that aren't pay as much US taxes, aren't constantly displaying their woke set of virtue signaling, aren't contributing much politically? Let's be real, there's a reason companies do all of these things. To what level of accusation we want to place this, I don't know. What I will say, is the cruise lines have made few friends. Florida is one of them though because Florida relies on the tourism.

 

 

 

Singled out as compared to whom? What other industry does the CDC have control over? Is there any reason to believe if the CDC had control over other industries, they wouldn't be equally restricted because the CDC actually thinks it would be unsafe? As opposed to the cruise industry restrictions being due to a nefarious skullduggery conspiracy theory, which is simpler, more likely reason?

Edited March 22, 2021 by Earthworm Jim

[crazy4themouse]

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

Lol I save my pennies and blow them on cruises.

 

Lol!! Now that makes perfect sense. 😄😄😄

[firefly333]

2 hours ago, kdr69 said:

At this point in time i believe the Cruise lines do need to start making some noise as it is quite apparent the CDC is singling them out.  Move their Cruises out of the US and tell the CDC when you want to talk we will be ready to negotiate a return to your waters and ports.  I have to fly to take a cruise regardless so it makes no difference to me where that starting point is.  My tourism dollars get spent either way.

I dont really think the US govt cares tbh. So thinking leaving will change their indifference..idk. I doubt they care who loses jobs. We are the govt we dont care about jobs.

[BlerkOne]

Cruise ships were last year's scapegoat. This year has been busy cleaning up higher priority messes.

[Illbcruzn4life]

answers from the cdc - Carnival Cruise Lines - Cruise Critic Community

 

Interesting reading. So if it's not up to the CDC on when cruises start why wasn't this mentioned a long time ago by the govt?

 

Sounds like passing the buck to me.

[BlerkOne]

16 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

answers from the cdc - Carnival Cruise Lines - Cruise Critic Community

 

Interesting reading. So if it's not up to the CDC on when cruises start why wasn't this mentioned a long time ago by the govt?

 

Sounds like passing the buck to me.

 

fascinating!

 

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[Empehi]

I think it is pretty obvious that since the cruise industry has been grounded that they have not been responsible for any COVID spread. Even the few ships that were initially infected with COVID have had little impact on COVID spread. BUT ..... it is the airlines that the CDC and government failed to control that has been almost 100% responsible for our current situation .... and they continue to bring new strains into the country so let us stop all this nonsense about cruise lines. Theme parks are open, planes are packed, restaurants are open (though many at reduced seating), movie theaters are open in many areas etc, etc.  What really in going on?

 

I have to applauded the cruise lines executives for keeping their cool in a situation where they are really being screwed.

[firefly333]

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

 

fascinating!

 

 

Post 115 

 

 

[Midwestgal]

I think it was a genius move on the Bahamian government to allow ships to sail from the Bahamas.

Ships will return to the US by the end of 2021 I think. Maybe not in full swing but some as long as this whole vaccine does what it’s intended to do. 
 

[kdr69]

14 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

 

Totally disagree.   I can't see Carnival, Royal or NCL flipping the bird at all of the USA embarkation ports.   Too many ships and cabins to fill.  The Oasis and Quantum Class ships of Royal as well as the Breakaway and Breakawy Plus ships of NCL would be too big for many foreign ports to embark from.  And the Excellence Class ships from Carnival need LNG to run.  

Maybe not so much flipping the bird as saying look we get you dont want to make a decision so we will go startup outside the US and when you want to make some decisions let us know and we can discuss a return but we cant wait anymore.  Put the onus on the CDC to explain how it is they cannot advance their so called "Framework for sailing" .  They seem to be stuck on the crew portion of it perpetually but without a clear advancement towards sailing what does it matter whether the crew are actually able to sail?  They cant be used anyways and they arent going to pay to have a ton of crew sitting on ship waiting for a decision that may never come. 

[kdr69]

14 hours ago, Earthworm Jim said:

What other industry does the CDC have control over? Is there any reason to believe if the CDC had control over other industries, they wouldn't be equally restricted because the CDC actually thinks it would be unsafe?

It seems to me that the Center for Disease Control would have authority over any Disease/Virus related issue that could be brought into the United States or have an impact on the United States regardless of industry or location, Domestic or International.  Its their entire mandate for existence.  Its in their name "Disease Control"  not " Disease Control but only if it arrives by ship" Saying that they have no control over International Flights that could be carrying a highly contagious virus or mitigation of spread once inside the United States is hard for me to believe.  They handle these issues on a daily basis. Measles, Anthrax, Ebola, COVID, Bird Flu, etc etc and even travel abroad to assist other countries with outbreaks.  The list is long and they all dont arrive via Cruise ships. Or am i missing something?  

[firefly333]

20 minutes ago, kdr69 said:

Maybe not so much flipping the bird as saying look we get you dont want to make a decision so we will go startup outside the US and when you want to make some decisions let us know and we can discuss a return but we cant wait anymore.  Put the onus on the CDC to explain how it is they cannot advance their so called "Framework for sailing" .  They seem to be stuck on the crew portion of it perpetually but without a clear advancement towards sailing what does it matter whether the crew are actually able to sail?  They cant be used anyways and they arent going to pay to have a ton of crew sitting on ship waiting for a decision that may never come. 

I posted a link to the information the cdc now says the CSO is out of their control as to implement resuming cruising. Now the buck was passed to the transportation dept and other depts. They cant restart cruising they say, out of their hands. There is a video posted a page later which also shows they have no idea. Not their problem.

 

You have way too much faith in our govt. It's not their problem and they dont care. The chances of cruises restarting before nov 1st, just dropped to near 0 imo. ..and I'm booked sept on carnival with a nonrefundable hotel suite in Galveston and my cruise parking is paid (moved twice now and worried they wouldnt keep moving it).

[kdr69]

2 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

You have way too much faith in our govt.

🤐Uhmmm not gonna say it lol.