Can you believe it’s been one year since cruises started being cancelled?
Are cruise lines going to start going out of business, what’s next?
Stay tuned for those answers and more!
Ahoy there cruisers.
Welcome to this weeks show with us Cruise with Ben & David
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Let’s quickly take a look at what happened last year.
It all began last year on January 25th.
The cruise industry saw the start of the damaging effects of this horrific pandemic.
Sadly one year later things have gotten even worse.
Cruise lines started cancelling their sailings due to the outbreak of the coronavirus in
Wuhan and around China.
So that was a year ago today!
One of the first ships to stop sailing was the Royal Caribbean Spectrum of the Seas from
China.
So that means Spectrum of the Seas hasn't even had
one year of passenger service.
Because she was brand new.
It's so unfortunate.
In February restrictions were put in place to stop
people from certain countries such as china,
Hong Kong and others from travelling on cruise ships.
We cruised on Quantum of the Seas last February just as this was all developing, the only
differences we noticed was a temperature check at
the port and airport.
And it was significantly quieter because of the restrictions for them countries.
Shortly after our cruise from Singapore in February
countries stated to close down.
Starting in Asia, seeing itinerary changes but cruise still kept going.
Then in mid-February , there was that horrible large outbreak
on Princess Cruises Diamond Princess in Japan.
It was such an awful situation and nobody know what to do at the time with the
virus or the ship.
Then there was another outbreak on Ruby Princess.
So that brought cruise well into the spotlight of the media.
This led to Princess Cruises cancelling all operations for at least 60 days, they were
the first cruise line to stop sailing back in March
2020.
We have to say Princess have been fantastic throughout the whole pandemic.
They have been the most realistic with their dates.
They are always ahead, so if you want to see what happening look at Princess Cruises.
Because they seem to know what they are doing.
At the time, this was a shock for us.
We have never ever heard of a blanket ban on cruising.
It had never happened.
It has never happened where they just turned around and said
we are going to stop sailing.
It was crazy!
Other cruises started following suit
and Canada became the first country to put a stop to cruising in its waters.
Just a few days later.
Canada has now been cruise-less for almost a
whole year.
And then what happened was cruise ships got stuck at sea
Because cruise ports around the caribbean and around the world
were refusing to accept them.
They were full of passengers with nowhere to go.
They had to speak to the governments of the US and other
governments around the world
to organise an end to all of it and it took weeks to happen.
Some of these ships were at sea for weeks with nowhere to go.
In early March we cruised in Dubai on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas
but this trip was cut short when there was a scare onboard.
This turned out to be a false alarm but other countries would not accept our ship so it
was cancelled after two days.
Then on March 14, just a few days after our cruise in Dubai,
The the Centers for Disease Control or the CDC in the USA.
Issued the first of it No Sail Order's
and suspension of further embarkation for cruise ships.
As you know this was pushed back and back throughout the months.
But in a glimmer of light, several cruise lines returned to cruising in Europe in July
2020
including MSC Cruises , Tui Cruises and Costa Cruises.
They have been doing a fantastic job of proving that
cruise can still go ahead.
With brand new cruise protocols.
So these cruise lines are cruising around Europe
right now still in 2021.
Proving that cruises can still go ahead with these strict protocols.
And then just a few months ago in Singapore Royal Caribbean resumed cruises on the Quantum
of the Seas
and so did Dream Cruises World Dream cruise ship
also resume sailing from Singapore.
These voyages from Europe and Singapore ~ are for just people from the region they are
sailing in.
So to sail in Europe you need to live in EU and be part of the
Schengen zone
and for Singapore, you need to be a Singapore resident.
Meaning, like us, the vast majority of the world could
still not cruise.
This is a whole one year later Ben.
Now, doesn't this feel like it was yesterday.
But, it has been the longest year ever!
It really has.
We were also very lucky to sail on SeaDream yacht club seadream 1 yacht in October.
Even though the multiple protocols in place.
We had to have two tests before boarding and then a test onboard.
So few passengers as well but it still managed to get onboard in Barbados.
Showing that whatever the protocols were it will still find a way on board!
It’s a sneaky and dangerous virus as it remains hidden in many people,
completely unaffecting them but when it does infect someone
with pre-existing conditions or older people
it can be deadly.
It managed to sneak it’s way past two tests!
Just as our SeaDream cruise was coming to an end in October,
the CDC in the USA wiped out the no sail order
and introduced a new conditional sail order.
This meant that cruise lines have to prove themselves and
thar their protocols and policies work.
This will be done by carrying out test cruises with volunteers.
Testing all different aspects of cruising.
Such as emergency drills and emergency procedures.
Boarding and disembarkation.
And once the CDC is happy that the cruise line has done enough
they will be given a certificate to sail again.
But there are lots of hoops to jump through first.
No line has carried out test cruises yet.
So far, Royal Caribbean are the only company actively
looking for volunteers.
The higher up you are on their loyalty scheme the more chance you will have to get picked.
So even though the No Sail Order was lifted.
We didn't have a rush of cruise lines then Sailing from the USA.
It really was a very, very, VERY small step to a return to cruising.
Sadly, during the pandemic we have lost of several cruise brands including Pullmantur
Cruises,
Cruise & Maritime Voyages, Jalesh Cruises, FTI and Blount small ship adventures.
And a record high of 13 ships was scrapped in India and Turkey in 2020.
And we are sure there is more to come this year.
So what is the situation now?
Well one year later things are looking pretty bleak.
Apart from two ships in Singapore and a few in Europe the whole industry is at a standstill.
The positive news is that the vaccine is now being rolled out with three vaccines approved
for use in the UK and USA.
15 million people are due to be vaccinated in the UK
before the middle of February
and a massive 1.5 million vaccinations in the USA every single day.
It’s only a matter of time before cruising resumes.
Cruise lines have spent the time wisely coming up with new protocols to keep passengers and
crew safe.
Most have retrofitted new airflow and ventilation technology on their ships
to make them super, super safe.
You can find out more about that in the video that we did.
We will put a link in the corner of the screen now.
We are still waiting to see what the new administration in the USA will do.
Will the CDC change back to a no sail order?
We just don’t know yet.
In a shock announcement.
Just a few days ago Royal Caribbean announced that they are selling the Azamara cruise brand.
Actually they have sold it I should say.
And every week we hear of more cruises being scrapped.
Some ships as young as 24 years old.
That is very young for a ship because they usually last
upto 40 years!
Will cruise lines survive?
Well, this depends on how long the situation goes
on for.
But we can tell you some things we do know.
The industry has been in free fall since the pandemic hit last year.
The bad publicity from the media has left the public believing that cruise ships
are deadly incubators of disease.
Well guys, you know and we know that isn’t true
They are doing there best to blame cruise and turn people off.
We know that cruise ships are the safest and cleanest
forms of travel.
With the new protocols, it will guaranteed be the safest place.
On top of this, 64,000 American jobs have been lost
due to the close down of the cruise industry.
It will take years, if not decades for the whole industry to recover from this mess.
But cruise lines do not have an endless pit of money, the whole industry is throwing away
billions of dollars a month maintaining empty fleets of ships with skeleton crews.
The ships need to be kept running with crew on board, otherwise, the systems and the ships
themselves will deteriorate quickly, especially in a saltwater environment.
Things like toilets in all guest bathrooms have to be flushed regularly to keep the plumbing
working and prevent rusty pipes!
Cruise lines have sold ships, cut back capital expenses, furloughed and cut back on employees,
raised additional capital and pushed back the payment of debt that they have.
For example, Royal Caribbean has raised billions of additional liquidity.
They estimate their cash burn to be in the range of $250 million to $290 million per
month
during the prolonged suspension of operations.
How crazy is that?
During this time they have been able to improve the
company's liquidity profile
by approximately $12 billion for 2020 and 2021 combined.
Just to give you a good idea how much money they are burning
with there $12 billion that they have.
The company burns roughly $1 billion every quarter or $4 billion per year.
So you can see they are quite safe.
Norwegian cruise said it was burning through about $160 million a month.
And Carnival Corporation is spreading a staggering $650 million per month on keeping there empty
ships running.
Oh thats crazy.
The big three cruise companies Carnival cruise group including Princess, Holland America,
P&O and Carnival cruise lines, as well as Norwegian Cruise
Lines and Royal Caribbean are safe at the moment.
There is no need to panic.
They all currently have enough cash on hand to survive well over a year without a single
dollar of revenue.
So don’t let this put you off booking a cruise.
They are all very, very safe and in a comfortable position.
Considering the conditions.
The number one question we keep getting asked, and the question we keep asking.
When will cruise return?
Personally, and this is just a guess, we expect to see cruising come back to the USA and Europe
in mid-2021, so around June/July at the earliest.
But this comes with a big astrix.
This can change because the situation is ever changing.
And it will come back slowly,
so do not expect a full start with all of your favorite cruise ships
and cruise lines at the same time.
You will see reduced capacities and fewer ships with fewer destinations at
first.
And unfortunately with a whole load of protocols like temperature checks, tests, wearing masks
and social distancing.
And we know that this will put of loads of people.
Lots of people telling us they will not cruise whilst there is social distancing going on.
Or whilst you have to wear a mask.
And that's fair enough.
But you have to remember.
This is going to change quickly as it becomes safer
and more people are vaccinated.
So we can build up that whole herd immunity.
The demand is there, people can't wait to cruise again!
We are confident it will be back and better than ever.
It's just going to take a while guys.
Bear with cruise it will be back and all of this
soon will be a distant memory.
So that it for this episode, we really hope you enjoyed it.
Please leave a comment below.
We love to hear from you.
What do you think of this whole situation.
Can you believe that it has been over a year?
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blow.
Cruise Captain of the week is Nicole.
Ahoy Nicole!
That it till next time, Happy Cruising!