When the Major Cruise Lines Plan to Restart Service

Posted on 11 May, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

The major cruise lines are planning to start operations again this summer.

Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival Cruise Line, in an update, said it intends to start cruising again with some ships in North America starting on August 1, while other itineraries and ships are projected to start service again later this year. Carnival plans to have eight ships in service from Miami, Port Canaveral and Galveston on short cruises.

Royal Caribbean International

Royal Caribbean announced it had extended its suspension of sailing for its global fleet through June 11, 2020.

The company said it plans to return to service on June 12, 2020, with some previously announced exceptions.

The most crew is also being sent home.

MSC Cruises

MSC Cruises announced a further extension of the halting of all its new cruise departures fleetwide through to July 10.

MSC Cruises USA is offering guests affected by this measure a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) where they have the opportunity to transfer the full amount paid for their cancelled cruise plus an additional 25 per cent credit to a future cruise of their choice, on any ship and any itinerary, departing on or before December 31, 2021.

Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Line announced in late April an extension of its pause of service through the end of June. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings recently raised enough capital to keep it going in a zero-revenue situation through early 2021.

Costa Cruises

Costa ships are out of service through early July at this point.

Princess Cruises

Princess Cruises, in a recent update, cancelled the remainder of its summer season.

AIDA Cruises

All AIDA sailings through June 30 are currently cancelled.

Celebrity Cruises

Royal Caribbean, which owns Celebrity, announced it had extended its suspension of sailing for its global fleet through June 11, 2020.

Holland America Line

Holland America Line has extended its pause of global cruise operations and cancel all Alaska, Europe and Canada/New England cruises for 2020, according to a press release.

In addition, Amsterdam will not operate the 79-day Grand Africa Voyage from Boston, Massachusetts, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that was scheduled to depart on Oct. 3, 2020.

TUI Cruises

German brand TUI Cruises has hit pause through June 11, in line with Royal Caribbean, which is a partner in TUI Cruises in a joint venture arrangement.

Marella Cruises

Should it be safe to set sail, Marella Cruises will commence its summer 2020 program in July 2020, with three of its five ships sailing. More details here.

Bahamas Paradise

Sailings will resume onboard Grand Celebration on June 13 and onboard Grand Classica on July 10, according to a press release.

Hurtigruten

Hurtigruten is planning for a gradual restart of operations on the Norwegian coast. The first planned departure will be Finnmarken from Bergen on June 16.

Variety Steps Up to Get MSC Crew Home to Cuba

Posted on 13 April, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

Cuba Crew from MSC Aboard the Variety Panorama

Variety Cruises has stepped up, using its 50-guest Variety Panorama to help repatriate 19 Cuban crew members from the MSC Preziosa, according to a statement.

Variety said it responded to call for assistance and made a 14-day diversion to bring the crew members home.

Having completed a winter season of cruising off the coast of Costa Rica and Panama, the Panorama was empty other than for the crew and en route to Europe for the summer.

Having stopped to bunker fuel in Barbados prior to crossing the Atlantic, she berthed near the MSC Preziosa. A request followed from the Cuban government, and the Panorama’s Captain, Vasilis Mazarakis, agreed to repatriate the Cuban crew members to Havana.

The voyage took seven days, with the ship then cruising back to Barbados for another week to refuel prior to her crossing.

Health declarations were provided by the Captain of MSC Preziosa and the Barbadian medical authorities, and the new addition of guests was thermo-scanned prior to boarding and on every subsequent day of the journey.

Upon disembarking his charges on April 4 in Havana, Captain Mazarakis said: “During these difficult times we are facing, it is important to help each other. Knowing that we were helping fellow seafarers by getting them back to their families makes us all proud. We wish and hope that all stranded crew and passengers alike manage to get home to their loved ones and that the world will return to normal soon.’’.

MSC Reports Results for 2019

Posted on 22 March, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Cruises has reported a net income of 405 million euros on revenues of 3.2 billion euros for 2019, compared to net income of 348 million euros on revenues of 2.7 billion euros for 2018.

MSC also reported more than 2.7 million passengers, which it said was an increase of 16.2 per cent from the previous year. Occupancy was 112.3 per cent, up from 111.6 per cent in 2018. Cruise capacity was said to be up 14.4 per cent year-over-year.

Fuel expenses increased 24.1 per cent to 244 million euros from 196 million euros the year before, mainly driven by the additional capacity and price increases, according to MSC.

Interest expenses decreased to 121 million euros from 127 million euros.

Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, MSC said it has suspended all cruise departures for 45 days, until April 30.

Meanwhile, the company said it has put into place measures to preserve its cash position and referred to credit facilities and other sources of liquidity it may activate if needed, amounting to some 900 million euros, in addition to its current cash position of 183 million euros.

In addition, with ships in lay-up, operating costs are being reduced.

Furthermore, MSC stated it is collaborating with key providers and stakeholders to improve its working capital position and is pursuing additional actions by postponing capital expenditures for business initiatives planned in the coming 18 months.

MSC said that because of the circumstances it cannot provide guidance on its financial performance for the year 2020.