TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Carnival cruise line to sail in June

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/...lbuju7S0wVoWsZdmpbMj7FPF14qG1dicsyWeWDzA
Showing St Maarten in itinerary.

They can sail, but the real questions are who's going to sign-up and what ports-of-call will let them disembark. It will be interesting to see if Carnival Corporation receives any bailout money for the pandemic at hand. This corporation includes sister cruise lines Cunard, Costa, AIDA, Princess and Holland America, I believe. But, overall it is considered a British/U.S. based corporation. From a personal standpoint, no one should be allowed to board a cruise ship unless they can show proof of being tested for COVID-19.

Who in their right mind would even think of going on one of these giant bio hazards? They are bad enough during better times- now you are just asking for a disaster. It will be interesting to see how the travel industry bounces back from this crisis. This goes much deeper than just a financial problem!

https://thepointsguy.com/news/cruise-lines-could-store-ships-months-coronavirus/

Some boats are being put in “cold layup” preservation status, minimally manned, and will take weeks to reactivate.

Not a Caribbean cruise but a friend just had a Princess cruise to Alaska in August cancelled.

Should we start asking covid-19 papers please?

What about airplanes. passengers are in closer contact on them.

Wendell

Yes, they and HA are shutting Down most Alaska cruises and the their ashore lodges.
Bad deal for Alaska cruise related jobs and money wise.
On the other hand they have very few infections in Anchorage and way less in Fairbanks.
I suspect the general populace would like to keep it that Way.

Agree. Heard about a saliva test being developed but takes 24-48 hours for results. Need a 1 hour or less test.

The Abbot nasal swab test already has results in 5 mins.

I’ll take it nasal and all

None of them are registered in the US. They avoid paying taxes that way. Therefore, in my opinion, they should get no bailout from the US government,

Looks like Carnival is not planing on asking for a bailout. They got a line of credit for billions and sold 8% of their stock to Saudi Arabia.

Wendell

They are incorporated overseas, but have significant USA impact with HQ’s in USA, 1000’s of employees within USA subject to lay-off/let go, and they do pay taxes on their US operations.

So, the answer to help or not, might be more complex.

I agree, efforts to dodge tax might lead the taxpayers to want to dodge bailout of company.

Payroll protection program loans for USA workers?

Who knows? Cruise lines are prominent because the ships and grand Nd beautiful, but 1000s of other businesses less glamorous equally effected by downturn in business.

The best Business bailout is a return to Actual business.

As most cruise lines use USA subcontractors. The subcontractors probably will be applying for the PPP. I really can't see paying workers to just stand around to do nothing. I first thought the PPP program wasn't a good idea. Because as an employer for 46 years I thought the employees should just go on unemployment. As they can draw here in Illinois for 26 weeks instead of getting a 10 week assist and applications can be quickly processed.. And as an employer I have and am paying a percentage of the employees gross pay amount toward a state run employment insurance program for this and a percentage to the Feds. (940 form) (rate varies per my businesses experience factor for previous years draw). But one thing I heard on the news which I was already curious about. The communication from the Feds and States would be an issue. Which is no surprise for me here in Illinois. So probably the PPP program is better.

Anyhow , the cruise lines have a lot of borrowing power and the USA workers have the PPP to help. And if a ship sets empty for a month or 2 , it probably won't even need disinfected since the surface life of this virus will be much shorter. Really won't know this till more info comes out about the virus. The first cruise voyages will be pretty safe, it is later when you get humans embarking and disembarking again when problems might arise.

Wendell