It’s kickoff season for the biggest year yet for American Cruise Lines, with more ships in more states than ever before. American Serenade, the line’s sixth riverboat, and the first two Coastal Catamarans will join the fleet. On the West Coast, American Jazz will be the first riverboat in 80 years to sail San Francisco Bay and into California Wine Country; on the East Coast, American Star will sail an eight-day Great Rivers of Florida itinerary roundtrip from Jacksonville.

The picture isn’t bright for travel advisors selling small luxury cruises on brands such as Regent, Seabourn, Crystal, Silversea, Viking Ocean, Oceania, Ponant, and Windstar. Most haven’t seen a decent payday in the past two years. Many have gone into debt trying to keep the doors open by spending countless unpaid hours processing cancellations, rebooking, and trying to attract new clients when they have little to sell.

The cruise industry sages predicted that Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and Canada would open to cruise ships carrying fewer than 1300 guests long before now. Then, along came omicron and problems with the domestic airlines. Recent reports of hundreds of infected crew members from the resort ships in the Caribbean being warehoused on other cruise vessels refute the cruise lines’ contention that cruising is now safe. Read the rest of this entry »