Tag Archives: pandemic

New Coral Geographer Ready for Delivery

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The new Coral Geographer is closer to delivery from VARD in Vietnam, according to Project Manager Frank Krone.

The 120-guest ship is a sister to the 2019-built Coral Adventurer and is now poised to make her debut in Cairns, Australia, on March 1. 

“COVID did still take us by surprise,” said Krone. “Apart from the fact that we could not have anyone from our office and ships visiting the shipyard due to travel restrictions, there were also concerns about getting all the components delivered on time. Modern shipbuilding requires integrating many sub-systems – engines from the US, navigation systems and electricals from Norway, windows and doors from Germany, flooring from Italy, bathroom modules from Korea, etc. Many of these locations were hard hit by COVID, disrupting the supply chain. If a single component was delayed, so would the entire ship!”

“The added complication was that for the sea trials of the ship, our crew and all the manufacturers’ experts would have to complete two weeks of quarantine or arrival, and on return back to Australia,” he continued.

“We improvised, Coral Expeditions style. I remained based permanently at the shipyard. We resorted to video inspections and approvals from the office in lieu of site visits. I worked closely with the shipyard and monitored supplier deliveries to ensure any delays were manageable. And of course, I applied all I had learnt from building Coral Adventurer and my decade with the company. Our crew patiently put up with the quarantine and testing requirements ahead of sea trials.”

Port Everglades Moving Forward

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Celebrity APEX refuelling in Port Everglades

“We are talking with the cruise lines on a consistent basis, there are weekly teleconferences. We are talking about what we are doing with our terminals and understanding what the obligations and criteria will be moving forward,” said Jonathan Daniels, who took over as the new CEO and port director at Port Everglades over the summer.

The 2020-2021 season for Port Everglades was poised to be a good one – the new Enchanted Princess was slated to call the port home, along with the Celebrity Apex and Odyssey of the Seas.

Looking at the new Celebrity Apex outside his office window, Daniels said he was working closely with the Royal Caribbean Group to understand what the terminal experience will look like.

“The difficult part will ultimately be determining where the line of demarcation is for accountability and responsibility,” Daniels said.

Guests will have staggered check-in times, basically appointments to board, and the terminals will need to be re-flowed a bit, meaning various zones for testing, isolation and more.

“Laboratories, testing, how does that translate into space in the terminal?” Daniels asked. “What happens if there is a positive case?”

Asking those questions is part of an unknown, without answers or guidance yet from the CDC.

Head Start

The port’s ferry service to the Bahamas launched for a two-week period in July, as it was not affected by the CDC’s “No Sail” order with a ship under 250 passengers aboard.

That meant Port Everglades had a trial run of sorts, installing plexiglass barriers, signage and hand sanitiser distribution stations in a terminal.

“We’ve been moving beyond that and integrating that into other terminals in anticipation of a restart of cruising,” Daniels said.

50,000

Pre COVID, a weekend in the winter could see upwards of 50,000 people move through Port Everglades on a single day with ships at all the port’s cruise berths.

With the business mounting a comeback in 2021, Daniels said the potential for growth beyond that would be in increasing the utilization of cruise terminals, especially for itineraries leaving mid-week, along with building up more summer business.

With a pivot toward closer-to-home and shorter cruises, the port is well-positioned in Florida to take advantage of that.

Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Winter 2020-2021

Carnival CEO Sells Company Stock

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Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corporation, sold 62,639 company shares on Tuesday at a price of $21.12 for proceeds of $1,322,935, according to an SEC filing. 

While the timing was less than ideal as the company remains out of service, the transaction was relatively routine.

Donald sold Carnival shares in mid-January in 2020, although at a much higher per-share price before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.