COVID-19 construction delays push cruise ship deliveries into 2021
The world will have to wait three more months for the first cruise ship with a roller coaster on top of it.
Carnival Cruise Line’s 5,200-passenger Mardi Gras ship, the first ship powered by liquefied natural gas scheduled to cruise from the U.S., and the first ship with a roller coaster, was expected to begin cruises from Port Canaveral in November and will now launch in February 2021, the company said this week.
The COVID-19 pandemic is slowing down construction of cruise ships as shipyards face supply-chain delays and closures. Of the 13 cruise ships from South Florida-based cruise lines expected to launch this year, four have been delivered and four are pushed to 2021. Companies are assessing timelines for five others. No U.S.-based companies are operating at this time.
“We continue to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global commerce, public health and our cruise operations.,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line in a statement. “In addition to our current pause in service, there have been many other unintended consequences, including shipyard, dry dock and ship delivery delays, and related changes to our deployment plans for our fleet.”
The Mardi Gras ship — named after the company’s original cruise ship in 1972 — was supposed to be delivered in August 2020, but in December Carnival announced delivery would be delayed until November of this year. The company did not give a reason for the delay.
The ships that have been delivered this year — 2,900-passenger Celebrity Apex and 100-passenger Silver Origin from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., 750-passenger Regent Splendor from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, and 2,770-passenger Scarlet Lady from Virgin Voyages — were not able to start passenger cruises because of the ban put in place by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in mid-March. That ban has been extended to July 24, and companies have further canceled cruises through at least mid-September.
The delivery of a cruise ship usually comes with a ceremony of handshakes and national anthems. Celebrity Cruises executives held a ceremony via video conference for the Celebrity Apex with officials from the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in France in late March. At least 217 crew members tested positive for COVID-19 on the Apex, a Miami Herald investigation found. The ship will remain in the shipyard until the company can resume operations, a spokesperson said. The ship currently has around 80 crew members on board.
Executives from Silversea, another one of Royal Caribbean Cruises’ brands, attended the first in-person delivery of a cruise ship during the pandemic for Silver Origin’s handoff on June 5 at the De Hoop shipyard in the Netherlands. The company plans to start cruises on the ship as soon as Aug. 22 in the Galapagos, Ecuador.
Citing shipyard closures, a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean Cruises said the company is still assessing when its 596-passenger Silver Moon ship can be delivered. It was originally slated for this September.
As with Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras ship, deliveries of Royal Caribbean’s 4,200-passenger Odyssey of the Seas, MSC Cruises’ 4,888-passenger Virtuosa and Ritz-Carlton’s passenger Evrima ships have all been pushed to 2021.
A spokesperson for Carnival Corporation said the company is working with shipyards on revised timelines for delivery of 3,660-passenger Enchanted Princess from Princess Cruises, 5,200-passenger Iona from P&O Cruises, and 4,232-passenger Costa Firenze from Costa Cruises — all previously scheduled to be delivered this year.
Crystal Cruises was expected to launch its new 200-passenger Endeavour ship this year, but the shipyard MV Werften in Germany closed to protect employees from COVID-19, a spokesperson for the company said. All cruises on the ship through the end of 2020 have been canceled, and the company is still determining when the ship will be delivered.
To stay afloat as cruising remains paralyzed, Royal Caribbean said earlier this year it had secured $3.3 billion in liquidity through bonds collateralized by 28 of its ships. In May, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings said $600 million in senior secured notes due in 2024 would be backed by two of its ships and two of its private islands — all debt-free, according to filings.
Cruise companies are also weighing whether to divest in ships to tighten capacity. In June, Carnival Corp. announced it will be getting rid of six of its ships this summer as part of a plan to cut costs amid record financial losses. So far the company has scrapped Costa Victoria from its Costa Cruises line and Oceana from P&O Cruises.
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 2:20 PM.
