Princess Chatter

That does it for us - No more Princes Plus. There getting out of hand.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/princess-cruises-enhances-value-exciting-141200608.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9ib2FyZHMuY3J1aXNlY3JpdGljLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA0WSnRRXdXo5hORXt0NbDWNwr8s5qom3DUj3u2njIfW5SGn45iVTRmXFDFoipzIIb72K4cDnnqAngHVQOBHGM3qMJkMKZgdLWGBOYU7YLSpxoF1njqVpBNTCEQD5RgtLunFQAcvkeZtjZyWmeMW82nKQ9TEyW3VyxPdQqzOtXzu

  It couldn't make me happier but they've reversed their decision to make masks mandatory indoors on all their ships.
https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/princess-cruises-confirms-participation-in-cdc-program-through-march-31.html

Now the thing is to find out where "certain venues and events" where they will be required.

I suspect places like Princess live where close contact is next to impossible to avoid. At least the bars will be free to decide if people can decide for themselves.

As much as I would like to get back cruising once again in 2021, things like this make me think long & hard about when we'll even get back to the old days. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-sneaked-past-safeguards-to-halt-singapore-cruise-to-nowhere-11607504643

It's almost hard to believe that this many crew are still stranded on RCCL ships & cannot return home.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article243398711.html

After 80 days at sea, three transfers between ships, four canceled flights and one plane malfunction, Royal Caribbean Cruises music director Bruno Cruells finally touched down in his native Argentina on June 3, accompanied by 251 compatriots. Sitting behind the taxi’s new plexiglass on the way home from the airport with his hometown whizzing by out the window, he felt relief.

“I felt like I was finally safe somehow,” said Cruells, 30, “like continuing from where I left before all of this happened.”

As more countries loosen COVID-19 travel restrictions, crew members are slowly making their way home. About 3,000 Carnival Cruise Line workers got off in Croatia earlier this month to catch rides and flights home across Europe. Smiling behind their masks, they posed for a selfie on the pier.

 After a six-month odyssey around the world, during which it was hit by coronavirus and saw the oceans dramatically empty of other vessels, the last cruise liner still carrying passengers has made its final port of call, delivering its eight guests to a world vastly changed from the one they set sail in.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/artania-cruise-ship-docks/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-04-06-20/index.html

It's going to be a while before this subsides.

As much as I would hate to see any of the cruise lines go under I think they've got a point in this article. It may be time for the cruise lines to change their ways if they want help.

Foreign-flagged cruise lines have no business asking for a U.S. bailout now.

Yesterday, Donald Trump again insisted that we "can't let the cruise lines go out of business." This has become conventional pundit wisdom after two commercial cruise ships became high-profile coronavirus hot zones. The cruise ship industry is in dire trouble, as are all travel-related industries.

That doesn't mean American taxpayers need to bail them out now. The cruise industry has done everything in its power to skirt U.S. laws, regulations, and taxes. None of the major cruise lines fly the flags of the United States—every ship is registered in another country, one with lax environmental protections, labor protections, and other rules that make it easier to squeeze out maximum profits at public expense. Now those foreign-flagged ships want United States bailouts? No. That was a choice these companies made; now they have to live with it.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/23/1930451/-Let-them-die-Foreign-flagged-cruise-lines-have-no-business-asking-for-a-U-S-bailout-now

NEW YORK - Royal Caribbean Cruises, which has seen its stock take a big drop in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, says that is has increased its revolving credit capacity by $550 million to bolster its liquidity.
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/royal-caribbean-increases-borrowing-capacity-by-550-million-to-stay-afloat

Can Princess be far behind?