With the exception of the storms moving through the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico there wasn’t a lot of news this week.
Charleston has approved a plan to build a new terminal.
As quick as news started to break that Cruise West was in trouble – it was all over. This past week Cruise West shut down operations.
We also talked about the feedback we’re hearing from Norwegian Epic and the conundrum the ship has caused passengers, and we talk a little about food.
Just a short show for you this week – although there were a few big stories for us to talk about…
- Princess will bring back family Alaska cruisetours in 2011
- Dominica scratched Carnival Victory sailings
- An Orlando mother is arrested by mistake as she disembarks a ship in Ft Lauderdale.
- Joe Farcus will not have a big role in the design of Carnival Breeze
- And we’re on Death Watch…
Things continue to look grim at Cruise West… The Seattle Times is reporting that 65 employees got pink slips from the line this week. The first 24 cleaned out their desks on Wednesday and another 41 lost their jobs today.
Plus, while the press release from the line seems to indicate differently, the termination of Spirit of Oceanus’ world cruise is the end of an itinerary that was supposed to continue until February, 2011.
There’s been a lot of talk over the last few days about the future of Cruise West. One of the first signs of trouble was word that the line had secured a $1.5m bridge loan which was intended to allow the line to continue operating as attempted to raise additional capitol. Employees were told at the time that the line was about 30 days away from making a deal with a Seattle based equity firm.
The line’s president and CEO Dietmar Wertanzl resigned a week ago.
This past Tuesday, Dick West the line’s chairman and md stated that: “We have NOT sold the company, and our cruises from Seattle and Portland are departing as planned,” however on caller’s to the line’s reservations number received the following message: “We are in the process of restructuring the company with new ownership.” In addition, the line is not accepting any new bookings.
The line’s entire website has been replaced with the following statement:
“Cruise West, a global leader in small-ship explorations, today announced that they continue to work towards a restructuring of the company and its operations. The first move in this restructuring is the termination of the Spirit of Oceanus’ Voyage of the Great Explorers. Additional assets may be sold and other steps are being pursued towards a restructure. As part of this process, Cruise West has suspended accepting any new bookings.
The Spirit of Oceanus voyage ended at its scheduled port of disembarkation so as to minimize any negative impact to our guests. Cruise West plans to continue to operate its US flag ships and itineraries through October, 2010; Spirit of Endeavour will sail from Seattle on the British Columbia Cruise and the Spirit of ’98 from Portland, OR along the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Cruise West will also complete cruises or land tours already underway in Alaska.
For those booked Spirit of Oceanus guests who may be affected by this news and who have not yet travelled, we recommend that you take the following steps:
If third-party travel insurance was obtained, a claim should be placed immediately with the insurer.
If payment was made by credit card, a claim should be placed immediately with the card issuer.
If the payment was made by cash or check, and you have no travel insurance, please send an email to info@cruisewest.com.”
So you know those times when you have these great plans ready to put right into action – only nothing goes like you expected and instead your plans completely fall apart?
Well, that was what happened with the last few weeks… We had a grand plan to record shows and check out some new ships – and everything fell apart. But we’re back with a new show now and aren’t expecting any interruptions for a while… So there’s that…
What we talked about this week:
Cruise West introduced a “free-flowing” itinerary, while Celebrity continues embracing technology. Crystal is revising it’s 2011 West Coast plans. Royal Caribbean is testing a “new” extended stay program in Fort Lauderdale – but is it really all that new?
Shopping on Queen Elizabeth will be decidedly British, and work continues on Seabourn Quest. Princess looks after their Australian passengers on Dawn Princess, and once again we bring you a story of passengers behaving badly…
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