Tag Archives: global cruise industry

Covid cases on ships show how complex the restart can be

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MS Paul Gauguin Cruise Ship - YouTube

The global cruise industry took one step forward and two steps back this weekend in its quest to resume sailings after the pandemic grounded fleets worldwide.

One ship, UnCruise Adventures’ Wilderness Adventurer, on Saturday, became the first cruise line to resume overnight cruising in the U.S. since cruise lines halted operations in March. The vessel departed Juneau with 37 passengers and 30 crew for a seven-day cruise on the line’s Glacier Bay Adventure itinerary.

UnCruise celebrated the milestone on social media. “Normally there are 1.1 million cruise ship visitors to Juneau. Today the first 36 depart,” UnCruise said in a Facebook post. In an accompanying video of CEO Dan Blanchard with the ship at the dock, he said, “For all of Juneau, all of Alaska, we celebrate with you.”

But from two other ships, separated by 11 time zones, the news was not good. In Tahiti, a passenger on Paul Gauguin’s first cruise for international visitors tested positive for Covid-19. In Norway, Hurtigruten said that 36 of the 158 crew on the Roald Amundsen had tested positive.

The Paul Gaugin returned to Papeete, Tahiti, and passengers and crew were quarantined onboard. Hurtigruten temporarily suspended all expedition sailings on three of its ships in response to the Covid-19 outbreak on the Roald Amundsen.

So while one cruise line and one state celebrated what they hope to be the beginning of the end of the drought on overnight cruising, the outbreaks are a reminder that the industry faces many hurdles and roadblocks to a widespread resumption of operations.

“We have not been good enough, and we have made mistakes,” Daniel Skjeldam, CEO of Hurtigruten, said in a statement widely quoted in the European press about the outbreak, adding that “a preliminary evaluation shows a breakdown in several of our internal procedures.”

For Dan Blanchard, speaking from Juneau Saturday, the news from Norway was sobering, but he was still certain of his line’s ability to safely carry out the five additional sailings it has on the calendar.

At Least 40 Test Positive from MS Roald Amundsen COVID-19 Outbreak

“Even though the [Roald Amundsen] is a small ship, it’s monumentally bigger than our boats, in both capacity and crew,” he said. He also believes the precautions UnCruise is taking go beyond what other lines have in place. “Not only do we require testing from the state of Alaska, but we’ve had crew for over a month quarantined on the boat getting it ready.”

“If we protect the crew we protect the guests and vice versa,” he said.

What really sets UnCruise apart, he said, is the nature of its itineraries, which the line calls “adventure cruises.”

Blanchard said that the ship isn’t doing any port calls, and passengers are off the vessel for most of the day on excursions. “That’s unique to us as a company, and it just works out that it’s the right thing for today.”

UnCruise vessels, he said, are “more of a floating basecamp. Even with Hurtigruten, they are visiting small towns. It’s hard to compare apples to apples.”

But he acknowledged that nothing is risk-free.

“We realize there is definitely risk involved, and so do our passengers travelling with us,” he said. “But everyone also realizes with 37 guests and 28 crew spaced out and crew not even in crew quarters  they are staying in guest quarters — and being off the boat improves the odds greatly and maybe the new norms in what has to happen until we get a vaccine.”

Cruise ship orders placed to 2027 valued at $51bn

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Image result for symphony of the seas
Symphony of the Seas being fitted out.

The global cruise industry has 74 new cruise ships on order between now and 2027, totally $51 billion dollars.

Seventy-one of the new ships will be built by European shipyards, although some orders are starting to go to new yards in Asia.

Of the ships on order, 23 are under 100,000 tonnes for the “expedition and luxury” segment; 45 are for ships of between 100,000 and 200,000 tonnes for “contemporary cruising, and six are for ships over 200,000 tonnes or “mega-ships”, according to MSC chairman and chief executive Pierfrancesco Vago.

Presenting on the first day of the Seatrade Cruise Convention in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, Vago, whose own company has 11 (please check number) ships on order, said:

“We’ve never seen the order books look so healthy. This is a true commitment of long-term investment in the sector. Every brand has a ship on order. Some more than others but still, everyone is building and innovating.”

Seatrade delegates heard how the global cruise industry would welcome more than 25.3 million passengers in 2017, all demanding greater personalisation from their cruise.

Clia president Cindy D’Aoust told the audience the demand for cruising had jumped 62% in the last 10 years and said it would add another 200,000 passengers to the sector over the next 10.

She also pointed out the sector supported over a million jobs and contributes $117 billion to the economy.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line chairman and chief executive Richard Fain said this figure would persuade the US administration to “encourage not discourage” the sector.

“The Government is more unpredictable today, but people see the benefit that the cruise industry contributes to the economy, and so while no-one can predict the future, I am confident are aren’t going to be as affected as some.”

Vago pointed out that the Whitehouse and Trump administration was not the only authority to impact the sector.

“It’s not just Washington. Brussels is actually  more of a driver for our industry, certainly in regulatory terms.”

When cruise lines went global

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By Tom Stieghorst
*InsightIt is easy to forget that the cruise industry was not always the global, or even national business that it is today.

In the early period of modern cruising, the airlines were still regulated and selling cruises was mostly a drive-port business. I was reminded of that in talking with Carnival Corp. COO Alan Buckelew, who began his career in the 1970s at Sitmar.

Buckelew’s latest assignment takes him to China, where he will function as Carnival’s point person in that key emerging market. Buckelew said China in many ways reminds him of the cruise market in North America back in its infancy.

In the mid-1970s, Buckelew recalls, each part of the U.S. had its own cruise players.*TomStieghorst

“There were a couple of brands in Miami, one or two in New York, one in L.A., and they pretty much kept to their own neighborhoods — the Miami guys in the Caribbean, New York in the Caribbean as well, the L.A. guys in Alaska and Mexico.”

With the deregulation of airlines in 1979, flying became more affordable.

“As cruise lines began to create an air package program and began flying, more ships came into the business, and it became more of a national business rather than a regional business,” he said. “And now it’s a global business.”

As it played out, the regional cruise lines consolidated in Miami. Princess Cruises, which merged with Sitmar, and Holland America Line became part of Carnival Corp. As did Cunard Line. Another big player in the New York market, Celebrity Cruises, became part of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Now the competitive arena has shifted to China, where, Buckelew says, “we’re back in the 1970s.”

“It’s still pretty regional, not that many guests flying to the ships,” he said. Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin all draw passengers from their own geographic areas.

One big difference, however, is the scale. China’s population is four times that of the U.S. There are 24 million people in greater Shanghai alone. “When I go back home to L.A. or Miami, they seem like little villages in contrast to Shanghai,” Buckelew said.