Cruise industry suspends operations amid coronavirus outbreak

In an extraordinary move, all major cruise lines announced Friday they would cease U.S. sailings for at least the next 30 days in an effort to stop the spread of coronavirus. The suspension began at midnight Friday.

President Donald J. Trump’s late-day tweet announcing cruise executives had agreed to a suspension starting at midnight confirmed a trend that had been building throughout the day, as one cruise company after another announced it would halt voyages.

The industry called it an “unprecedented situation.”

“CLIA cruise line members are voluntarily and temporarily suspending operations from the U.S. as we work to address this public health crisis,” said Kelly Craighead, president and CEO of CLIA, the industry’s trade organization, via a statement. “This has been a challenging time, but we hope that this decision will enable us to focus on the future and a return to normal as soon as possible.”

The cruise lines suspended include Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Costa, Cunard and Seabourn, all owned by Carnival Corp; Disney Cruise Line; Norwegian, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas, all owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings; Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Azamara and Silversea, owned by Royal Caribbean Ltd., and MSC. Some 75 vessels will be affected. Together, the lines add $9 billion to the Florida economy, mostly in South Florida.

Refund policies vary by line.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez said Friday that PortMiami would waive berthing fees for home-ported vessels for at least the next 30 days. “Our cruise partners have our full support,” he said via a statement.

They joined a handful of mostly foreign-based lines — including Viking and Fred. Olsen — that previously announced they will temporarily suspend operations.

Friday — and yes, it was Friday the 13th — capped an already excruciating week for companies tied to the Cruise Line Capital of the World as they sorted through the fallout from at least seven COVID-19 deaths among passengers and crew onboard.

March 7, cruise executives met with Vice President Mike Pence. Sunday, the Caribbean Princess was under a “no sail” order near Port Everglades before finally being cleared to dock that evening after two crew members suspected of having the disease tested negative. Meanwhile, sister ship Grand Princess remained sequestered off the California coast after 19 of 3,500 aboard tested positive for the disease.

Those passengers finally disembarked Monday in Oakland, California, and were transferred to military bases for quarantine.

Tuesday, cruise executives presented a plan to Washington; discussions have continued during the week, said Adam Goldstein, CLIA chairman.

By midweek, cruise lines were seeking additional cash as their stock values plummeted, losing as much as 50 percent, a little less for Carnival.

By Thursday, several lines had begun canceling sailings. Sir Richard Branson’s new cruise line, Virgin Voyages, announced it would delay its highly anticipated launch, originally planned for later this month, to August.

Friday, additional lines announced they would temporarily cease sailing. Midway through Friday, the Canadian government announced cruises carrying at least 500 passengers would be temporarily banned from its ports.

Late Friday, the temporary suspension was set. “There’s been communal recognition this week that the public health requirements are so significant that to get public health back on the right trajectory, we need to take significant steps,” said Goldstein. “You see people in industries everywhere adapting. We volunteered to be part of that. Obviously it’s very difficult for businesses that are designed to operate every day, but it’s the best thing we can do under the current circumstances.”

Also Friday, Seatrade, the industry’s largest annual gathering, announced it would postpone its Miami Beach conference planned for late April, landing yet another blow to Miami’s already-reeling tourism economy.

In a statement, show organizers Seatrade Cruise Global wrote “Up until recently, the majority of industry feedback indicated that we should try to continue with the event as scheduled if possible. “ But because of global travel bans and recently announced restrictions against large gatherings in Miami-Dade, organizers had no option but to reschedule, the statement said.

The 2019 Seatrade show was the largest in history, drawing more than 13,000 attendees and 750 exhibitors, including cruise lines, technical systems suppliers and dozens of destination representatives from Sri Lanka, Dubai, Amsterdam, Bahrain and around the globe. The event is owned by London-based Informa Markets, which also owns the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

The show brings $4.1 million to Miami-Dade, said Rolando Aedo, chief operating officer at the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Early in the week, tourism officials and hoteliers were already expecting a decrease of 10-12% in bookings, he said. Since Wednesday, when the national emergency became more pronounced, the business outlook has deteriorated further.

“It’s unprecedented,” he said. “It’s 9/11 wrapped in Zika wrapped in 2008.”

Although Seatrade organizers did not name a new date, Aedo said it is expected to reschedule for later this year, allowing hotels to regain that revenue quickly.

Tourism officials are already creating a comeback plan. “For better and worse, we have been through all of these. ... [It is] this community’s No. 1 industry,” he said.

The county-owned port is bracing for what could be its sharpest revenue decline in history over the next several weeks. Director Juan Kuryla said the port division hopes to make up for lost dollars by cutting back on overtime, advertising, marketing, and hiring freezes. “We’re not anticipating any layoffs right now,” he said.

The port has more than a year’s worth of operating expenses in reserves, spokeswoman Andria Muniz-Amador said. Aside from short-term gaps between loans, the port has never tapped those reserves to cover expenses, she said.

Coronavirus has brought a historic shutdown to the world’s busiest cruise port, far longer than anything seen from a hurricane or even the tourism slowdown after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

“For a storm, the port shuts down for two or three days,” Kuryla said. “This is really unprecedented.”

PortMiami expects its final ships for weeks to dock between Saturday and Tuesday. Once the Oceania Sirena docks Tuesday, the port expects its cruise docks to shut down for 30 days.

Until then, Gimenez, who as mayor oversees the port, agreed to waive berthing fees that will allow ships to remain idle at the docks for free. Kuryla said there’s no real cost in the waiver for Miami-Dade, but that he expects the free dock space to be well received by the industry.

“I’m hoping four or five ships come alongside,” Kuryla said.

Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.