Future of San Diego Cruise Industry

[Bubblesitter]

I was actually considering taking a cruise on one of those mega ships. I put it on permanent hold after hearing news about the Carnival Triumph.

Not good press when you combine norovirus, seasickness, hot stale fetid air, broken toilets with sewage slothing around, and people waiting in long lines for onion, catsup sandwiches. The only ones happy are the companies supplyiing seasick bags to the cruise line, I hear they are getting double (as in #2) duty.

As least the Bartender Isaac is giving out free alcohol to dull the senses.

This brings up topic…..Are San Diego downtown waterfront resoures best used as big terminals for cruise ships? The San Diego cruise industry is already anemic and probably willl further shrink.

How about turning those piers into somethig else. I have seen some cool repurposed piers around the worlld.

1. Navy Pier in Chicago……premier tourist destination, everthing from movie theatres, resaturats, ferris wheel, ice skating, big ballroom for concerts, etc.
2. High end mixed use condos and retail/restaurants.. Would be great views from pier.
3. Park, outdoor concert venue
4. other suggestions?

I personally like option 1, huge tourist draw that would help offset downside of fewer cruise ship passengers

Or will the cruise industry rebound robustly in couple years?

[EconProf]

If you were considering taking a cruise, now would be a good time.
They will probably go on sale because of the bad publicity and Americans’ tendency to overreact to bad news that is dramatic.
What are the odds of it happening to you? Since the last such event–also on Carnival–thousands of ships have had their uneventful, presumably happy cruises. Probably all cruise lines have tightened up on their safety standards, fearing the expensive bad publicity of such an event, making them even safer now.
So ignor the dramatic headlines, weigh the real probablilities, and take your reduced-price cruise!

[Bubblesitter]

EconProf,
I wonder how many of those Truimph passengers will be using their “free” voucher for a future cruise.

I agree that the Cruise Industry will probably take a relatively short term hit. However, the Carnival brand has taken a serious hit this week. Carnival is also the company the owned the Costa Concordia that sunk off Italy a year ago., The more upscale Cruise lines may gain some market share on Carnival, which is cheap McCruise provider.

Fires on these cruise ships seem to cripple them every so often. One was towed to San Diego back in 2010. Sorta wonder if some of these ship designs are flawed, allowing for a single point of failure for entire electrical generation system. The backup generators on the Triumph were essentiallly useless.
.
These passengers have little legal recourse even if they did get hurt. All these cruise lines are flagged in Bahamas or other locale with loose regulatory and tax burden. If you have some incident occur in international waters your legal remedies are even further diminished.

EconProf, I’ll let you enjoy your next mega cruise, I think that i will be a landlubber for next few vacations until I’m lured back on after watching reruns of The Love Boat.

Bubblesitter

[ocrenter]

[quote=EconProf]If you were considering taking a cruise, now would be a good time.
They will probably go on sale because of the bad publicity and Americans’ tendency to overreact to bad news that is dramatic.
What are the odds of it happening to you? Since the last such event–also on Carnival–thousands of ships have had their uneventful, presumably happy cruises. Probably all cruise lines have tightened up on their safety standards, fearing the expensive bad publicity of such an event, making them even safer now.
So ignor the dramatic headlines, weigh the real probablilities, and take your reduced-price cruise![/quote]

Agree c econProf, now is the time to get a good deal. This is when the crew from captain down to the mechanics down to the kitchen staff are all at renewed heighten alert and at the best time for deals.

It’s just like the RE bubble, best time to buy was after the bubble burst.

[Author]

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