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A year into the unprecedented global pause of the world’s largest cruise lines, no other segment of travel faces a more uncertain future, nor as much of a massive transformation to its business model. Beyond the ship’s decks, far-reaching implications loom for those destinations with an outsized dependence on large cruise ship tourism and its ripple effects.
Megaships remain synonymous with risk in the eye of an increasing number of consumers as the industry struggles to regain its clout. The public relations scar might run deeper than the industry likes to admit. A recent survey of 600 cruisers and non-cruisers in the UK and Australia, for example, revealed that 47 percent did not trust cruise lines to look after them if something went wrong during a voyage, while a staggering 67 percent were less willing to cruise because of the pandemic.
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Judy Blume: We’re living in Key West.
March 14 was our last day working at our bookstore, Books and Books Key West. [Blume and her husband, George Cooper, opened the store in 2016.] Our grown kids called that night to tell us they were concerned. We knew they were right. George and I have been extremely careful. We have been isolated since last March, except for some time over the summer when we got to spend time with my daughter and her teeny-weeny little bubble. But other than that, we haven’t done anything. We don’t see anyone. We don’t go anywhere except for our morning walk.