Viking Cruises announced that it is suspending operations of all ocean and river cruises until May 1. Viking operates over 70 river and cruise vessels, including 16 ocean-going cruise ships. A short time later, Princess Cruises announced that it was stopping the operation of all 18 of its ships until May 11. Princess ships currently at sea will sail to their final destination or divert to an alternate port prior to March 17th.
Three Britons tested positive on a Viking vessel in Cambodia this week. Viking chairman Torstein Hagen announced the suspension of operations in a video saying, “I am sure you recognize that COVID-19 has made travel extremely complicated. An increasing number of ports — including Venice, Monte Carlo, and Bergen — have temporarily closed to cruise ships. Major attractions such as the Vatican and other museums have been closed, and some countries are imposing restrictions on public gatherings and visitors.”
Two Princess cruise ships, the Diamond Princess and the Grand Princess have been coronavirus hotspots. The Diamond Princess had 700 passengers and crew infected with coronavirus in February, while the Grand Princess had 21 passengers and crew test positive for the virus earlier this month.
Princess is a subsidiary of Carnival Corp. which owns over 100 ships across 10 brands. So far, operations across the rest of the Carnival fleet continue. Carnival shares (CCL), plunged 15% in early trading on the news. Shares were already down 57% so far this year through Wednesday’s close.
By suspending the cruises of its Princess brand vessels the Carnival Group has set a precedent for itself.
Carnival Group brands include its original company Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, Cunard, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, P&O (UK), P&O(AUS).
It is therefore easy to understand its political influence, its influence on the IMO, and on the Maritime Rules and Regulations enforcement authorities such as the MCA, and the various Coastguards quite apart from having had the experience of see it in action first hand as a cruise ship Officer
The Group should now rise to the occasion by suspending operations until the coronavirus passes, as we are being told it will. Also with the travel restrictions now in place on European Union Nations the exchanging of crews for these ships have been made extremely difficult.
Good Watch.
An update to my comment above.
The IMO has closed its London Office as a result of the corona virus. With most operations giving maximum attention and taking helpful actions it is away past time for the cruise lines to come to their senses and shut down. Talking to passengers many are deeply concerned, are declining to sail and of course this being America land of lawsuits and lawyers filing actions against these same cruise lines. Yet another cruise ship operated by Fred Olsen Cruises has five cases on board and is changing its routing. Here in Florida passenger “Greeters” at Port Everglades have tested positive and of course in these position they interacted with hundreds of persons boarding several cruise ships.
One definition of an insane person is one who repeats the same action over and over again with the hope of a different result.
Yes I AM angry with my former employers for behaving with this rank carelessness.
Good Watch.
Captain,
Your point is well taken. If it makes sense to shut down Princess for two months to ensure the health and safety of the passengers and crew, then the same rationale would apply to Carnival’s nine other cruise line brands. Likewise, the same would apply to Royal Caribbean and its six cruise line brands.