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CRUISING, CRUISE SHIPS & THE CORONA VIRUS – Feb 16, 2021

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CRUISING, CRUISE SHIPS & THE CORONA VIRUS

WEEKLY NEWS & UPDATES

from Bill Miller

Feb 16th 2021

Above:  Bygone days – the Empress of Britain at Liverpool, 1956

Wed Feb 17th  Update from RCI:  Although the Canadian Government has been firm in its decision to ban all cruise ship travel from their shores, Royal Caribbean has now announced it will not be canceling any voyages. This includes cruises embarking/debarking from Canadian ports and those itineraries touching on Canadian ports of call.

The cruise line says it is working through potential options with the Government of Canada and the USA and the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). The announcement comes as Alaskan government officials called the travel ban ‘unacceptable’.

Cunard!  Following Dave Smith’s report from Southampton, David Hutchings reports  “QM2 sailed through The Solent yesterday afternoon (about 3-1sh) closely followed by the Queen Victoria“.

Tue Feb 16th Update from Manila!   Our insightful correspondent Charles Dragonette reports:  “The deployment of Filipino crew, which make up more than half of the world’s seafarers, has fallen dramatically due to the pandemic, according to official figures.
The setback comes in addition to recent indications that social security costs and the continued practice of excessive injury compensation claims are already pricing the country’s seafarers out of the employment market.
The figures from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) show that total deployments for 2020 fell to 217,241 compared to 518,519 in the previous year.
Around 50 local recruitment agencies are reported to have closed because of the collapse in placements.
At the peak of the pandemic in April last year, deployments fell to a low of just 597 compared to 40,595 in the same month in the previous year.
The mothballing of the cruise industry has accounted for a large chunk of the fall.

Alaska Bound!  For travelers dreaming of a trip to The Last Frontier, the rules have changed.Alaska had one of the strictest entry requirements in the U.S. during the pandemic — but that changed over the weekend when its COVID-19 state of emergency expired. Travelers to Alaska are no longer required to provide negative COVID-19 tests upon arrival, according to Governor Mike Dunleavy. He cited the arrival of coronavirus vaccines to the state as his reason for not extending the order.

Re-Start!  AIDA Cruises has announced that it will open its 2021 cruise season starting March 20 with the AIDAperla sailing around the Canary Islands.

Update on Dates!  Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has announced an extension of its previously announced suspension of global cruise voyages through May 31, 2021 for the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands.

Wed Feb 17th:   Biggest Yet!   Yes, 110 years ago, the immortal Titanic was brand new, fresh out of a Belfast shipyard and largest ocean liner, if a ship of any kind, in the world.   She was XX.  But these days over in St Nazaire, France, work continues on the next maritime marvel – Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas.   Her statistics are impressive:   1,188 ft long, 154 ft wide, 228,000 tons, 2,394 officers & crew, 2,744 suites & cabins and a maximum capacity of 6,400 passengers (combined with crew, that’s over 8,800 souls!).  But since Covid has caused all sorts of delays, the mighty Wonder will appear at least a year late, in 2022.

More News from France:   Our longtime friend Philippe Brebant reported today:   “In Le Havre we have again off season ferries laid up but no cruise ship at all.”

Thu Feb 18th  More Italian News:  Costa Cruises will be restarting service on the Costa Smeralda from March 27 and on the Costa Luminosa from May 2.

Up in those Friendly Skies!  U.S. passenger airline traffic fell 60.1% in 2020 to the lowest number since 1984 as the COVID-19 pandemic devastated demand for air travel.  Worse still,  international travel dropped by over 70%.

From the history books, it was 64 years ago, in 1957, that the number of passengers traveling by air across the Atlantic equaled the number going by sea.   A year later, in October 1958, the first jet flights began – and the battle was lost.   By summer 1959, airlines had two-thirds of all the trans-ocean traffic and then soaring to 98% within five years, by 1963.  

And Under the Sea!  A long-awaited tunnel between Scotland and Northern Ireland could get the go-ahead as early as next month.  The connection — dubbed Boris’ Burrow due to the prime minister’s enthusiastic backing — would span from Larne in Northern Ireland to Stranraer in Scotland and be roughly the same length as the Channel Tunnel.

Fri Feb 19th  Lectures at Sea!  The New York Times is ending its  practice of hosting costly educational trips to far-away lands – including themed crossings on the Queen Mary 2.,

Fri Feb 19th  Another Delay!  Viking Cruises has become the second cruise line in the last several days to extends its suspension on operations until summer 2021. This now increases growing concerns that a new round of cruise suspensions is occurring and those operations from the U.S. are no closer to restarting.

P&O Cruises has revealed the name of its second Excel class ship. The ship, which will join the P&O Cruises UK six-ship fleet in December 2022, will be named Arvia. The name means “from the seashore”.  

Sat Feb 20th Crystal Cruises became the latest cruise operator to require all passengers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Silversea Cruises has created a film for its World Cruise 2023 – highlighting the voyage in its entirety.South Side Story – all the world’s a stage is hosted by our good friend Fernando Barroso de Oliveira, Silversea’s President’s Ambassador to the Venetian Society.  The cruise will be lavish:  139 days,66ports, 34 countries,20overnight stays, 5continents.

Inland America!  Citing what it said was unprecedented demand for the 2022 season, American Queen Steamboat Company and Victory Cruise Lines, have just released 2023 itineraries.

Limbo!   While the Portugese-owned Astoria has reached its 72nd birthday this month, she is, according to latest information, caught in legal & debt issues and has not yet been auctioned off.  She had been on charter to CMV, but which collapsed last summer, and passed into the hands of her Portugese owners.   She has been lying in the London docks, but was to have gone across to Rotterdam for some repairs.   That seems not to have happened nor rumors of the ship being towed to Portugese waters.  

Cruising will return! .. but for now, best thanks to friends, readers, reporters & those faraway “maritime secret agents”

Clocr Featured on “Meet the Drapers” February 27

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media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com 

Clocr Featured on “Meet the Drapers” February 27

Father & Daughter Team Have Created Award Winning
All-In-One Legacy Planning Online Tool for Arranging Digital Assets
After a Loved One’s Death

COVID Pandemic Points to New and Evolving Need for the Service

www.clocr.com

19 February 2021– Austin, TX:  In 2015 Apoorva Chintala lost her grandfather. Suddenly her father, Sree Chintala, was thrust into the unfamiliar and painful role of executor including accessing password protected digital assets. In the midst of a crisis, her grief gave way to inspiration: an inspiration that has landed the familial team as a finalist on the esteemed “Meet the Drapers” (www.meetthedrapers.com) venture capitalist showcase February 27, 28 and March 2. The name of her inspiration is Clocr (www.clocr.com) — short for Cloud Locker — and it’s revolutionizing the planning of digital estates.

“I would have been lost if I had needed to figure all this out on my own, especially if it had been during COVID and I had no physical access to records,” said Apoorva who is now 21.  In 2020, she and her team were selected as one of the top 16 collegiate entrepreneurs of the year.  “My response of ‘I just don’t know’ gave way to ‘I’m going to invent a system to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Through the use of an intuitive user interface, the latest advancements in security technology (including Clocr’s own patent pending security platform), the start-up has created an impressive digital asset storage and distribution platform with the most secure personal storage available. 

“It’s like having a safety deposit box in the cloud,” said Sree, 51,a serial entrepreneur who is now his daughter’s business partner.  “Clocr is an all-in-one digital legacy planning service for families to safely store their digital assets and be able to share them the right way.”

The invention has already garnered attention, and awards:

  • Winner of the ‘Austin Fast Start’ pitching competition September 2020.
  • Winner of the TiE50 Award at TiEcon 2020
  • 3rd place in the highly competitive and prestigious Future Founders UPitch 2020 competition
  • 3rd place winner of Hatch Pitch 2020, the revolutionary startup competition.

Managing digital assets in life—and protecting them after death — has become increasingly complex and increasingly important in light of the COVID pandemic.  Clocr has in a short period of time made an impressive case for its “digital vault” that not only organizes the cyber footprint of the deceased, but also protects those assets from such potential issues as identity and asset theft after death.

“Being selected as a contestant on ‘Meet the Drapers’ is an incredible honor,” said Apoorva and Sree Chintala in a statement. “One of the lessons that we’re still learning from COVID is that we live in a world connected by our devices and our digital assets. How many people this past year could have been better protected during their most vulnerable time with a tool like Clocr?”

Clocr is the first all-in-one digital legacy planning and disbursement platform designed specifically for digital assets. Clocr allows users to efficiently organize their digital assets and files, name beneficiaries, and give them access to everything they need in case of an emergency or death. Customizable onboarding makes it easy to create more than 150 of the most used online accounts and creates alerts if one’s estate becomes incomplete, beneficiaries deny a bequest, or if any account is disbursed due to incapacity or death. The system can even track who has assigned an individual as their beneficiary to get a more nuanced understanding of assets.

“The primary aim of Clocr is to ease a family’s burden at their greatest time of need, when they are facing the greatest uncertainty of life: when it’s ending,” said Sree.

“We firmly believe that technology empowers society to creatively and effectively solve age old problems,” Apoorva summed up. “This is why Clocr exists, to eliminate the stress and confusion after the loss of a loved one.”

Look for Clocr on Episode 4 of “Meet The Drapers” at on Saturday, February 27, Sunday, February 28 and Tuesday March 2 on the following networks and time zones (check local listings).

  • Saturday, February 27 @ 8am EST Game Show Network
  • Saturday, February 27 @ 10pm IST & Sunday, February 28 @ 12pm IST ET Now
  • Tuesday, March 2 @ 10pm SGT TechStorm

117-year-old St. Francis Hotel hopes S.F. tourism rebounds this year: ‘I keep telling people to hang on’

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117-year-old St. Francis Hotel hopes S.F. tourism rebounds this year: ‘I keep telling people to hang on’

San Francisco Chronicle
Heather Knight, February 18, 2021

Westin St. Francis general manager Jon Kimball stands in the empty ballroom of the hotel.
Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

The tourists packing the lobby to check into one of the hotel’s 1,200 rooms have almost entirely vanished. The locals visiting for a cocktail aren’t venturing out much these days. Nobody’s uttering that famous San Francisco phrase, “Meet me at the clock!” and finding their date for the evening at the hotel’s huge timepiece.

Wandering around the eerily empty St. Francis Hotel on San Francisco’s Union Square the other day sparked memories of a joyful, thriving city, but was also somewhat depressing.

The glass elevator had the same stunning views of the city skyline, but it was a lonely ride. To see one of the city’s oldest, most glamorous hotels looking like a ghost town — particularly on the top floor’s ballroom where nobody’s danced in a long time — was a reminder of how far San Francisco must travel to return to any semblance of normal.

And San Francisco can’t get back to its old self without its hotels, restaurants, museums and other attractions. While we hear a lot of fretting about the fate of San Francisco’s tech industry, it’s the tourism industry that brings in the most money and supports the most jobs. Or it used to before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the Before Times, more than 25 million people visited San Francisco each year, spending $10 billion. They supported more than 85,000 jobs and contributed more than $750 million in taxes to the city. Since the pandemic hit, at least 30,000 employees in the tourism sector are out of work. Hotels lost 90% of their bookings. Revenue plunged.

And that’s obvious with a tour of the St. Francis, where just 60 employees work now, down from 600 before the pandemic. There’s no longer a doorman, welcoming visitors day or night. Instead, the door is locked, and visitors can enter only from a hard-to-find entrance in the back. The cable cars aren’t clanging past. No taxi line forms out front. Union Square sits mostly empty save for its pigeons.

“I thought I had seen it all in this business,” said Jon Kimball, general manager for the Westin St. Francis on Powell Street. “We’ve been through fires and floods and strikes and everything else. I’m an eternal optimist, and I keep telling people to hang on. But it’s been forever.”

He often stops to check out the lobby’s glass display case featuring memorabilia from the 1906 earthquake. The Crocker family spent $2.5 million to build the hotel two years before, part of its vision of transforming San Francisco into “The Paris of the West.” The hotel weathered the quake, but was gutted by the subsequent fires. It reopened 19 months later.

“I’ll glance at this, and I’ll think, ‘Jon, they got through the earthquake. We can get through the pandemic,’” Kimball said.

Blady Domingo uses an electrostatic sprayer to disinfect the check-in counter of the Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco, Calif. Monday, February 1, 2021. The Westin St. Francis has seen a significant dip in visitors since the start of the pandemic, but employees have continued to work hard and enforce every safety protocol to ensure guests still visiting have a safe experience.
Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

Kevin Carroll, executive director of the Hotel Council, said nearly all the city’s 215 tourist hotels are struggling. About 25 are housing homeless people in exchange for city payments. The city has purchased two, the Hotel Diva in the Tenderloin and the Granada Hotel in Lower Nob Hill, to convert into permanent supportive housing. More than 100 hotels have temporarily shut until the pandemic subsides, Carroll said.

And some, like the St. Francis, never closed their doors, in hopes of being ready to accommodate tourists as soon as they return.

Carroll said the tourism recovery will come in waves, but isn’t expected to fully recover until 2024. Conventions, he said, will be the last to come back.

“This industry is critical to the city,” Carroll said. “Our jobs can’t be exported. You can’t move a hotel to another city. When we can get back to work and get people in hotels, it’ll help everyone around us and especially the citizens of San Francisco.”

The St. Francis has sometimes seen as few as 10 rooms occupied during the pandemic, mostly by pilots and flight attendants passing through SFO and major-league baseball teams squaring off against the San Francisco Giants.

“There are sometimes more staff than guests,” Kimball said, noting that employees spend most of their time obsessively cleaning.

Nu Vong, a housekeeper for the past 32 years, waits to clean a room on the 32nd floor of the hotel overlooking San Francisco’s Union Square.
Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

On the day I visited, Nu Vong, a hotel housekeeper for 32 years, cleaned rooms. Asked what it’s been like to work inside a huge, empty hotel for nearly a year, she said, “Of course, no good. We want business to come back. A lot of my co-workers are not working.”

Tonette Yusuf staffed Caruso’s, the lobby restaurant, on her own. In her seven-hour shift, she might see just seven people. She keeps herself busy by “cleaning, organizing, sanitizing,” she said.

“I’m blessed that I’m working,” she said. “But I miss the hustle and bustle. We’re usually very, very busy. But there’s hope. The vaccine came already. All we need right now is patience. Patience is a virtue.”

And that patience is slowly paying off. The long weekend including Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day saw a pandemic record: 414 rooms filled, or about a third of the hotel. Kimball said the guests were all Bay Area residents who drove in for a change of scenery. He’s seeing bookings pick up through the spring, which he takes as a promising sign that local leisure travel is slowly returning.

Those who book rooms will pass by several historical displays about the hotel’s 117 years on their way to the front desk. Queen Elizabeth II visited. So did Shirley Temple. And every president since 1904 except for George W. Bush and Donald Trump. Asked if that’s because their politics were so misaligned with San Francisco’s, Kimball wisely declined to comment. He’s already envisioning a new display case of memorabilia for the lobby.

“I can’t help but think someday we will do a case of the hotel during the pandemic,” he said, noting masks, hand sanitizer, bleach and plastic dividers would be natural fits.

And someday, the hotel and Union Square will hopefully be as busy as ever. The cable cars will resume running. People will raise their cocktail glasses downtown to toast to life’s joys. And that hotel display box with masks and sanitizer will be just a glanced-at reminder that we prevailed.

Mental Amusements Is a Global Hit!

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media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com

Mental Amusements Is a Global Hit!

Live, Interactive, Online Show Starring Vinny DePonto
Draws International Audience

www.dezartperforms.org 

11 February 2021 – Palm Springs, CA:  From January 13 – 31, the world came to Palm Springs! As if by magic, the award-winning Dezart Performs (www.dezartperforms.org) extended its reach around the globe with its critically acclaimed virtual online interactive production of Vinny Ponto’s Mental Amusements.  Delighted audience members tuned in and took part in real time from as far away as Australia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada. In the US, cross country viewers watched from New York to Seattle, as well as many locally here in the Coachella Valley. Designed exclusively for the virtual stage as an interactive live-streamed event, Mental Amusements used a combination of psychological tricks, illusion, visual art, and immersive storytelling that astonished viewers with DePonto’s mind-boggling skills.

“The wonderfully clever and personal engagement between Front Row patrons and Vinny was the closest thing to live theatre we’ve experienced in a long time. Until we can get back to in-person performances, this fit the bill,” said Dezart Performs Founding Artistic Director Michael Shaw noting that over 500 people tuned in for the unique and first-of-its-kind effort for the award winning ensemble.  “The performer, Vinny DePonto, was in New York, the stage manager was in Atlanta, and tech support was in Palm Springs.  So popular was the production that the show was extended. While we’re hopeful and anxious to soon get back to live, in person performances, this virtual experience was truly eye-opening. We’ve seen the present, and part of it’s on our screens and directly in our homes.”


“Last night, I saw the future of theater—the immediate future, at least—and it is bright and beautiful,” said V.J. Hume of The  Coachella Valley Independent. “Just like other unforeseen advances that have resulted from this pandemic, theatrical technology has been hard at work behind the scenes. The result? We can now stay home in comfort and watch a live production from New York! The show transformed us all into wonderstruck children, as he pulled out surprise after surprise, making us laugh and clap our hands and shake our heads in amazement. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I felt like that.”


So, what’s next?

“COVID has certainly forced us to be creative and nimble,” said Shaw,  who is already looking at options for another hybrid show to entertain Dezart Perform’s loyal, and now international, fan base. “As we said at the beginning of the pandemic, we’re still here and dreaming. Now, some of our dreams are showing us the way to new audiences and new ways of presenting theatre.”

Audience Reactions to Vinny DePonto’s Mental Amusements:
“Fun, inclusive, intriguing…still cannot figure it out. HOW DOES HE DO IT!?” –Tammy H.

“We loved it! Minds truly blown!” –Rachel and Dave

“The ‘grand finale’ was amazing!” –Barbara

“Crazy Incredible! Congratulations on an outstanding show! Vinny DePonto is absolutely spec-freakin-tacular!!!!” –Chet and Pamela

“Seriously – this was one of the most enjoyable things our family has done in all of quarantine! You will be SHOCKED and AMAZED! You will not be sorry!” 

–Annie and Matt

“It was a wonderful show!  Bill and I really enjoyed it and it was well worth the cost of admission.” –Joni

“Vinny was TRULY amazing and I haven’t stopped thinking about the show!!”

–Shannon

“Mental Amusements and its star, Vinny DePonto, provided a much-needed dose of wonder and joy.” –Vivian

Dezart Performs, one of the Coachella Valley’s preeminent theatre companies, recognizes that the performing arts enrich the life and culture of a community, promote greater understanding and provoke insightful discussion. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit theatre company, its mission is to provide an artistic home for bold and cutting–edge plays, creating an atmosphere of artistic growth for actors, writers, and directors who uniquely contribute to the diverse theatrical environment in the Coachella Valley.

Valencia Street Shared Spaces Continues February 5 – June 27

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Media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com 

Valencia Street Shared Spaces Continues February 5 – June 27

Small Businesses Given Boost by Limiting Cars Weekends Beginning This Friday

“Valencia Lights Project” Raising Funds for Beautification Effort 

2 February 2021 – San Francisco, CA:  Buoyed by positive response from shop owners and residents alike the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association is leaping into an expanded version of the COVID-induced Shared Spaces Program. Beginning this Friday, February 5 and continuing through June 27, on weekends Valencia Street will become a pedestrian only area to encourage retail and outdoor socially distant dining options.  Cars will be prohibited during this period in the following blocks of Valencia: 16th to 17th; 18th to 19th; 20th to 21st during the following times: Fridays 5pm to 9pm; Saturdays 12pm – 9pm; Sundays 12pm – 4pm. Vehicular traffic on the cross streets will not be impacted. Additionally, over the next few weeks, funds are being raised for the Valencia Lights Project whereby LED ambient string lights will be installed along Valencia from 14th to 24th Streets.

“We’re so excited to do something lasting and bright for our neighborhood, our residents, and our merchants,” said Jonah Buffa, co-owner of Fellow Barber and President of the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association. “Lighting up Valencia from end to end, from 14th to 24th street, for years, maybe even decades to come, will bring a sense of community and warmth we all need this winter and beyond as we re-emerge as a City.”

To pay for the project, a GoFundMe campaign has been launched, having raised over $ 17,000 already with another $ 23,000 needed so as to install the lights by late March or early April. The campaign link is: https://www.tinyurl.com/valencialights

“I’m so excited that the community will be able to enjoy all of the glory of Valencia street shared spaces and the potential it has to save the small businesses on our precious corridor once again,” said Manny Yekutiel, owner of Mannys and Valencia Corridor Merchants Association Board Member. “We need the love now more than ever.”

“We see this as a way to bring light back to the street to clear away the darkness,” said Buffa. “This will help create jobs and support the economic recovery of this important commercial corridor in the City. “

The Valencia Corridor Merchants Association is a member-operated neighborhood association including merchants in and around the Valencia Corridor. Our mission is to cultivate and beautify the corridor for the benefit of visitors, residents and merchants. Additionally, we endeavor to combine our voices and views toward the goal of maintaining the unique identity and independent spirit of the neighborhood.