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UK government seen to allow cruises to resume from late January – report

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 13 November 2020 13 November 2020

The UK government is reportedly working on a package of measures that would include the restart of cruising from the country in late January, Travel Weekly reports on its website.

The measures would include the reduction of quarantine period for arrivals from countries where this is necessary from 14 to seven days. A new testing regime that would be introduced to take effect on 2 December, when the present month-long lockdown in England is expected to end, would also be part of the measures.

“It will initially be trialled for passengers on flights returning from a small number of destinations before being rapidly expanded if it proves successful. Ministers are also expected to agree a package for a restart of the UK cruise industry from late January providing lines can demonstrate they have stringent testing and infection control measures in place,” Travel Weekly reported.

“Foreign cruises may resume in the following months if cruise operators agree to take full responsibility for repatriating any passengers or crew stranded due to the virus,” the report added.

The UK source market has generated about two million passengers annually in the past few years, but all operations came to a standstill in July, when the Foreign & Commonwealth Office – as the country’s foreign ministry is called – introduced a guidance against cruises.

Since then, P&O Cruises has taken delivery of Iona and Saga Cruises of Spirit of Adventure, neither of which has carried a single fare paying passenger as a result of the situation. Fred Olsen Cruise Lines’ two second hand acquisitions from Holland America Line are also waiting to boar their firstpassengersunder the new ownership of the vessels.

The crisis also led to the collapse of Cruise & Maritime Voyages, a destination focused budget operator of chartered in second hand vessels.

Windstar cancels all cruises until late March

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 13 November 2020 13 November 2020

Windstar Cruises, the US based boutique cruise vessel operator, said it would cancel all cruises until late March 2021 and then gradually bring its six vessels into operation, so that all of them should sail by early July.

“Due to rising Covid-19 outbreaks around the world, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our cruise departures further out. We are eager to return to sailing when we believe that the environment will support it,” the company said in a statement.

“We previously canceled all remaining cruises in 2020 and are now canceling cruises for January and February 2021 for all of our yachts, and into March and April 2021 depending on the itinerary,” continued.

The company now expects its vessels to resume sailing on these dates:

Wind Spirit – March 25, 2021 – Tahiti

Star Breeze – March 27, 2021 – Caribbean

Star Legend – April 7, 2021 – Mediterranean

Wind Star – April 13, 2021 – Mediterranean

Wind Surf – April 24, 2021 – Mediterranean

Star Pride – July 6, 2021 – Northern Europe

Windstar said it is reviewing and updating its health and safety practices including enhanced sanitation protocols, health screenings, adding more medical staff on board, flexible dining, and crew training during the extended suspension of operations.

Fincantieri’s net debt doubles on business cycle, rescheduling of deliveries

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 13 November 2020 13 November 2020

Fincantieri, the listed Italian company that is the world’s largest cruise ship builder, said its net debt doubled and operating profit shrank significantly in the first nine months of the year.

Net debt amounted to €1.43 billion at the end of September, about twice the level of €736 million on 31 December 2019. Revenues decreased to €3.54 billion in the first nine months of this year from €4.22 billion in the same period a year earlier, while EBITDA contracted to €200 million from €306 million.

The company said the increase in debt was consistent with the working capital cycle typical of the cruise shipbuilding business, intensified by the rescheduling of two deliveries in quarter four, and by the partial cash-in of expected trade receivables.

“The deferrals granted to the clients fall within the Group’s strategy to preserve the sizable backlog, as well as to further strengthen the relationship with ship owners, now committed to improve the efficiency of their fleets also through new ships, fully compliant with the demanding environmental, health and safety standards in force,” it said in a statement.

The increase in funding requirements was only partially offset by the lower production volumes led by the Italian operations downtime.

Covid-19 related expenses of €149 millio, are accounted as extraordinary expenses and are mainly attributable to a lower operating leverage led by the downturn of production volumes during operations downtime and gradual ramp up, as well as to expenses for ensuring staff health and safety

On 30 September, the group had an order backlog, including soft backlog such as options, of €36.8 billion, which is almost 6.3 times its 2019 revenues. New orders amounted to €1.9 billion.

Fincantieri said that in the medium-long run, it will be involved in developing the considerable workload acquired while converting the remarkable soft backlog into confirmed orders. “Backlog preservation, pursued through a consolidated relationship with its clients, and the Group’s ability to meet the challenges of global markets through its diversification strategy, both suggest that the Group will resume the growth, profitability and margins embedded in the current backlog,” it concluded.

Update - Passenger on SeaDream 1 reportedly tests positive for Covid-19

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 12 November 2020 12 November 2020

A further four passengers on SeaDream 1 have been diagnosed with Covid-19, Gene Sloan reports on Thepointsguy.com website.

"The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the Caribbean cruise ship in the midst of a COVID outbreak has jumped to five. In addition, there is preliminary evidence that there may be a sixth case on board," he said in his report.

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A passenger on SeaDream 1 that belongs to SeaDream Yacht Club has received a preliminary positive test result for Covid-19, CNN reports, citing Gene Sloan, a senior reporter for cruise and travel at The Points Guy, who was aboard the ship.

SeaDream 1 is the first cruise vessel to resume sailing in the Caribbean since the start of the pandemic.

“CNN Travel reached out to SeaDream on Wednesday afternoon for confirmation. The company said it would provide a statement but had not issued it to CNN as of 6:30 p.m. ET,” the broadcaster said

The ship was anchored off Union Island in the Grenadines at the time of the announcement of the test result and was immediately headed back to Barbados, the report said.

SeaDream Yacht Club operates two boutique ships that both have accommodation for 112 passengers.

Viking Cruises group to receive $500 million equity investment

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 11 November 2020 11 November 2020

Viking Cruises, the privately owned ocean and river cruise operator, said it will receive an equity investment totaling at about $500 million from TPG Capital and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), the cruise company said in a statement.

Both companies are already minority shareholders in Viking Holdings Ltd, the parent company of Viking Cruises, which will also receive the fresh funding..

“We are very appreciative that our shareholders from the prestigious institutions of TPG and CPP Investments are aligned with our vision for Viking’s future, which is bright. Over 40 years in the cruise industry have taught me that challenging times – such as these – are often also times of great innovation and opportunity. This infusion of equity capital will prepare us for future opportunities to continue developing our business,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking.

“While the pandemic has posed many challenges, we have strong conviction that Viking’s unique global offering in the cruise industry will continue to be sought out by many guests well into the future. CPP Investments, alongside TPG, is looking forward to supporting Viking and its management team as they return to delivering high-quality, comfortable journeys around the world and build long-term value in the business in the time to come,” said Bill MacKenzie, Managing Director and Head of Active Fundamental Equities, CPP Investments.