‘We’ll be back soon’ says cruise operators

Major cruise operators believe in another six months they could be back on the seas with cruise passengers after COVID-19’s decimation of the industry.

In fact, Rick Sasso, chairman and chief executive officer of MSC Cruises says forward bookings for next year are looking strong and his company’s confidence is reflected in MSC’s planned acquisition of new mega ships now on order despite the industry’s collapse over the past five months.

Sasso made the comments Wednesday as he joined Marie McKenzie, Carnival Corporation’s Vice-President for Global Ports and Caribbean Government Relations, along with Russell Benford Vice President, Government Relations, Americas for Royal Caribbean Cruises, for a Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) virtual session on the return of cruising to the Caribbean following the outbreak of the highly infectious disease.

Despite Sasso’s optimism he conceded the pandemic had been the industry’s worst nightmare.

“I label this a medical catastrophe, a logistical nightmare and a financial Armageddon . . . and that’s not just the cruise sector, that’s every sector.

“But we won’t start cruising until we know it’s healthy, until we know we have covered all the bases . . . with all the regulators whether it is the [Centres for Disease Control & Prevention or the European Union, we are all working with them independently and as a group,” he pointed out.

The cruise industry heavyweight told participants: “We need to come out of it . . . we are a private company and we have suffered but we will get past this. We have sustainability because of our strength around the world and we must find a new path to get back to profitability.”

He added: “I think [the profitability] will come. I think it will be slower than we anticipated based on the learning curve. Every government, every institution, all the scientists, we are all still learning how to master this and the industry is doing the same.”

Commenting on the impact of the COVID-19 on the Carnival Corporation which operates several brands, McKenzie said the situation was difficult for the publicly-traded company.

“It has been a pretty challenging time for us. We have come to a complete pause. We are earning no revenue at this time. We have focused on getting our 80 000 crew home. . . .We have taken a severe hit.”

Asked how much longer could the cruise companies survive without taking to the seas, Sasso said his company had other business interests to rely on including a major container business and a reorganised MSC could go another three to six months without cruising.

However, he emphasized that cruise companies “have to make adjustments” but, the development of an effective and widely available COVID-19 vaccine would resolve many issues.

McKenzie said as part of Carnival Corporation’s response to the pandemic’s impact on the industry, the planned retirement of two vessels this year had been increased to 13 ships.

She explained that given the associated maintenance costs of older ships, the company was relooking its business strategy. She explained that nine new ships were to be added to the fleet this year, but that has been scaled back to just two this year and three next year.