Carnival Cruise Line has canceled the remainder of its ship sailings to Alaska this summer and Norwegian Cruise Lines announced on Tuesday that its future is in substantial doubt due to crushing debt.
Carnival announced it would phase in other North American cruises beginning Aug. 1, but those are for trips from Miami, Port Canaveral, and Galveston.
“In connection with this plan, our pause in operations will be extended in all other North American and Australian markets through August 31,” the company said.
Carnival is the world’s largest travel leisure company, with a combined fleet of over 100 vessels across 10 cruise line brands, including Holland America and Princess. This week, 18 of the Carnival ships will rendezvous in the Bahamas to enact plans of repatriating more than 10,000 crew members back to their homelands in Asia, Africa, Europe, India and Latin America. Nine ships will be used to ferry the workers home. Details at the company’s news blog.
Norwegian Cruise Lines warned investors that the COVID-19 pandemic has “raised substantial doubt” about the company’s ability to continue operations.
Norwegian said in its Security and Exchange Commission filing that there’s no guarantee that cruise enthusiasts would return any time soon.
“The suspension of cruise voyages and decline in advanced bookings, as well as debt maturities and other obligations over the next year, and the fact that management’s plan to obtain additional financing has not yet been completed, have raised substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, as the Company does not have sufficient liquidity to meet its obligations over the next twelve months, assuming no additional financing or other proactive measures,” the company wrote.
Norwegian offered seven- and 15-day cruises to Alaska from Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. before the pandemic hit in January.
Norway is in good financial condition, perhaps that nation could bail them out. And this should be a relief to some of those small southeastern communities that were complying a few years ago about the the huge influx of tourists when the ships were in port. It was said by some locals that’s as if the tourists were “taking over the town”.
The question for passengers isn’t “when do we get on?” It’s, “how do we get off?” The images of thousands of passengers stuck on cruise ships in early 2020 will stay on folk’s minds for the next several years. The cruise industry, and especially here for Alaska’s sub-economy, is sunk. There are no lifeboats for this shipwreck. At least not for three to five years.
In 1957, when Elvis was king and Ike was President, a new flu called “Asian flu” struck America. Contagion similar to Spanish flu in 1918. It went on for a couple years and killed 116,000 Americans, mostly elderly. The only “news” pushed on Americans was that it was a ‘medical’ problem. No lockdowns, no authoritarian leftists pushing the ‘crisis’. The population was a little over half what it is now in America. America and our economy survived, handily. About 10 years later, that flu had mutated and re-invaded America. This time it was “Hong Kong” flu. Similar characteristics to “Asian flu”. Again, America was not shut down. The populace was made aware and Americans relied on their own good sense and practicality. People died, mostly elderly. Again, without the CDC and “experts” proclaiming doom and gloom, America survived. That was accepted as a somewhat natural cycle. All people die from one cause or another. The current hype and fear mongering is affecting the entire world now. Wuhan v appears no more serious than those prior ‘ignored’ pandemics. Time for America to get off the train of fear and intimidation and get back on the American road to prosperity, freedom and those “rights” that seem to be disappearing.
The international cruise lines and other companies folding spell nothing but negative impact on America as the shutdown damaging our country and the world, continues to be trumpeted and enforced by, mainly, leftists and “never Trumpers”. Reality seems to be in the back seat for priority of action to save America. I don’t think the real threat is Wuhan v.
Who are you kidding? Yourself?
America and the world practiced social distancing and hand washing both during all pandemics.
Also some jurisdictions closed schools.
Such means are the primary methods of controlling contagion where there is no vaccine and they were practiced during the Asian flu.
There may not have been government orders but then as now, leaders dismissed the risk and were found to be very wrong about the reality.
The first wave of the Asian flu killed mostly children.
The second wave killed mostly the elderly and pregnant women.
The Dow lost 15%.
The Asian flu was slowed dramatically because of a rapid development of a vaccine and antibiotics treating secondary infections.
The Hong Kong flu was not similar to the Asian flu, it was far less deadly, firstly because again, a vaccine was developed early, and because of lingering immunity from the Asian flu and again antibiotics for secondary infections.
Again, the government didn’t order it but many scientists and health care people did get the word out on best practices.
Social distancing and hand washing together with some school closures helped slow the spread of contagion.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/in-1957-a-new-flu-appeared-in-asia-the-world-watched-and-waited-for-it-to-spread/2020/03/17/9f5205b4-685f-11ea-b313-df458622c2cc_story.html
“Then, like now, some leaders in the United States dismissed warnings of a pandemic. According to a 2019 article in the University of Chicago Magazine, both the U.S. Public Health Service and the military’s Influenza Commission called Hilleman “crazy.” Undeterred, Hilleman developed a vaccine and worked directly with six U.S. manufacturers to mass produce it, bypassing entirely the U.S. vaccine regulatory agency.”
https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/coronavirus/2020/04/what-the-forgotten-asian-flu-and-hong-kong-flu-tell-us-about-covid-19
Mortality rates for Corvid-19 are much higher than the two flu outbreaks you list.
Seasonal flu case mortality rates are about 0.1%
0.67% for the Asian flu
0.5% for the Hong Kong flu
Corvid-19 case fatality rates range from 2% to as high as 7%.
The real threat is to ignore reality and try to create your own, …like Tucker Carlson is fond of doing.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/05/05/politifact-tucker-carlson-says-the-coronavirus-isnt-as-deadly-as-we-thought-experts-disagree/
Funny…. in the past 60+ years I never heard of hand washing and social distancing for flu as being pushed by the government…. until now. As for “social distancing” a lecture series in association with Tulane noted that Philidelphia which is being used as a negative tale for distancing really didn’t fare worse than those cities that did. Again, when adjusted for population.
The flu was never the scourge of the population, not in the same category as polio. We didn’t kill the country for any infection … until now.
Nonsense, Robert.
Only if Philadelphia having twice the death rate means ‘really didn’t fare worse’.
https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-how-st-louis-vs-philadelphia-treated-1918-flu-pandemic-2020-4
Bill,
You do a commendable job of disseminating information, and then you throw it all away at the end when your political bias gets in the way.
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All of the other death rates from the illnesses you cite are based upon estimates of how many have contracted the illness, but with covid you are citing ONLY confirmed cases vs deaths. Covid does not have a 2%-7% death rate period, full stop, end of story. It does have a confirmed case death rate of 2%-7%, but it DOES NOT have a 2%-7% death rate,you are not counting asymptomatic people that we know are out there in GREAT number.
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The sooner you realize that citing faulty numbers hurts your cause the sooner your message gets out to those who know your faulty numbers are clearly and obviously wrong.
As I said, the real threat is you and others ignoring reality and trying to create your own.
I’ll go with the science, you can take all the comfort you need inTucker Carlson having your back, Steve0
Bill,
I’m not ignoring any reality, not by any means…unlike you who is ignoring math. If your “science” doesn’t understand, recognize, or acknowledge simple math then it isn’t actually science at all.
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What does Tucker Carlson have to do with anything? I don’t watch his program and have no idea why you are even talking about him.
Ben,
Well said!
The big question is why are we being pushed down this road?
Are mandatory vaccines the ultimate goal of the power elite?
The state health czars are taking this opportunity to mandate all types of things…no dental work without a test and now some states are mandating that family must get flu vaccines to visit grandma at the nursing home.
Never mind that the flu vaccine would not fight Coronavirus.
Never mind that most people who get the flu vaccine still get sick with the annual flu.
This whole misinformation campaign by MSM & CDC stinks.
The CDC and WHO have scared Governors into handing over power to doctors instead of Legislators.
Mandates are treated like laws without legislative approval?
Maybe you should send a copy of your comment to Dr. Zink and see what she has to say?
The only thing I get from your rant is that most things coming out of the orient is very bad. Think about it…..Hong Kong, Asia, Monkey, Bird, Honey Badger etc. Kind of the armpit of Humanity over there.
Good. Probably saved lives.
In March 2020 leaked emails showed that Norwegian Cruise Line staff were instructed to lie to potential customers about the risks of the coronavirus in order to encourage customers to book cruises
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/coronavirus-norwegian-cruise-line-leaked-emails-show-booking-strategy-11590056
Companies running on debt to fund operations and high executive and shareholder board salaries can not build up buffers against hard times. They all think they are too big to fail and the government will bail them out.
The we want our fair share crowd is about to get theirs in the form of taxes and a wreaked economy. Welcome to Alaska where the left ruined a great state.
You been watching too many Alaska shows.
Unless you have lived here for a very long time you have no basis on what Alaska was before the liberal policies gained a foothold. For one thing, we did not spend like fools beyond our means. You may watch reality tv but I watch the real life.
I have lived in the Bush, real Alaska, for 13 years. I pretty much see what is going on. Yes, we need and will get a balanced budget some day. It has been a while since we were great though.
Never mind that the Republicans have been in charge for the last several decades, according to Mark here, the left worked their magical powers and forced the Republicans to bend to their will.
Republicians dressed in libs clothing. This political mess in Juneau is not caused by true republicans that use to run this state. If you knew anything about history you would know that decades ago the republicans ran this state just fine. The minute we had money growing on trees the libs moved in and now look where we are at. You tell me where I am wrong because taxes are coming and the state is broke and still spending like the feds but without the printing press.
You’re not up to the task of revising history, Mark
Decades ago Alaska was solid blue.
It was only after the arrival of the boomers and statehood that Alaska went red.
Try reading a little history before you try to just make it all up to suit your misconceptions of it.
Well big boy I was here then and it was not red. You need a history lesson.
I’m with Mark on this. Sorry.
Who in their right mind would go on a cruise nowadays, who in their right mind would go on a cruise even before this madness?
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If these huge cruise liners can’t afford to make it a single season then their business model is fundamentally flawed. It turns out that borrowing money ad nauseam isn’t as sound a business plan as some have thought.
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Most of the money these ships bring into the state is promptly sent out of state, sure there will be impacts felt in a few tourist trap towns but there will be many positives by not having these floating towns stopping in a few port of calls every few days.
What? I didn’t know we had another economist from the same school Sandy Ocasio graduated from!
Ocasio graduated cum laude from Boston University with a BA in international studies and economics.
What’s your resume say?
Because of Alaska’s reputation before statehood of having many Democratic Party supporters, one of the largest concerns at statehood was the fear that Alaskans would elect democratic members to Congress.
“When the United States Congress, in 1957 and 1958, debated the wisdom of admitting it as the 49th state, much of the political debate centered on whether Alaska would become a Democratic or Republican-leaning state.
With the discovery of petroleum in Alaska, the liberal political majority in Alaska quickly came to an end.
The first presidential election after statehood was an even split between the two parties.
In the second presidential election after statehood, Alaska voted Democratic by a wide margin, 65.9% Democratic Party to 34.1 Republican Party votes. Johnson in a landslide.
For a good look at how the Democratic Party dominated for many years in Alaska, see the link below.
In the link below pay particular attention to the years from 1933 to about 1966.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_Alaska
As pre-statehood residents are known to say, we were find before the boomers came and we’ll be fine when they finally leave.
All I want is for the Governor to lift this 2 week quarantine so I can come home from Arizona. I am 66 and old enough to take care of myself and make my own decisions. I really do not need the “help” the government seems to want to force on me. I learned how to wipe my own rear end early in life and don’t want any help thank you!
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