iancal

Calgary, Canada to: Buenos Aires, Santiago, Sydney/Perth (OZ), Istanbul

Good for you!. Far better than being stuck in a rut of the same old same old.

We are in our 70's. It is all down to ship, itinerary, date, and price for us. Do we care if the logo on the funnel is HAL, Celebrity, Princess, RCI...whatever? No. Besides, we like to enjoy the differences between cruise lines and brands. Breaks the boredom.

The thing is average age on all cruise lines is somewhat variable by date of itinerary. There will be an average younger demographic on a Caribbean Christmas cruise than there will be for a late January cruise. Same for Med cruises in summer vs. spring or fall on ANY cruise ship. We do not care about averages. We only think about the demographics on the ship and at the time we are sailing. Same for length of cruise. A 7 day will get a far younger demographic than a 21 day cruse. Not because of the cruise line but rather the length of cruise. I believe that a successful mass market line has to be flexible, to bob and weave as it were, to take advantage of the calendar defined disparate on board revenue opportunities that exist at various dates for multiple demographic groups. Same for entertainment offerings.

With our previous Marriott Amex card a cash advance was considered a cash advance and there was a service charge for it. But considerably less that we would have paid using our bank card for an ATM withdrawal. The credit balance eliminated any interest charge associated with the cash advance. We did this on every winter snowbird trip for a number of years. Prior to leaving for Portugal in May we established a $3K credit on our HT card. Not because of cash advances but rather I was aware that some charges would be occurring. No issue but the debits quickly overtook the credit~ Contrast that with an overpayment on an Aspire MC card. They sent us a $90. check to refund the credit even though this is our primary card. Not sure if this is routine or it could have been some quarter or year end practice of Capital One. Next time we are overseas we plan to try out the HT cash withdrawal scenerio and see what happens.

I suspect that many airlines, in anticipation of disappearing covid restrictions, went ahead and implemented (and subsequently sold seats) significantly increased flight schedules before they had a clear understanding of their potential post covid staffing constraints. Same for the airports and the various airport security agencies. It has come back to haunt them. Catch up will take some time. The flip side of the coin....the rental car agencies did the exact opposite.

We had a TA who strongly recommended that we not book a last minute cruise on Veendam a number of years ago. Serious AC, plumbing, and staffing issues. She was not recommending against HAL, only against a specific ship in the fleet. We followed her advice after sorting through a number of CC reviews. Same for Zaandam. As she said at the time...why do you think that Zaandam last minute Alaska prices are always the lowest ($299)of all lines on the Alaska run? And in the middle of summer. Had similar advice from her on a Princess ship and on several Carnival ships and routes based upon her client and colleague feedback. We did 2 Carnival cruises. Both were excellent and compared well with other cruises we have purchased. But...we were very selective on ship, itinerary, and date. Our TA at the time really helped with our selection based on her client feedback. This is why we tend to look at the ship first rather than the cruise line. The logo on the funnel can imply anything from excellent to extremely mediocre depending on ship, ship management, and staff, etc.

We used cash advances on the now cancelled Marriott Amex no FX charge card for several years. We would avoid interest charges by having a credit on the account at least equal to our withdrawal amount. We never incurred a dime of interest. A typical CIBC foreign ATM withdrawal for us would cost $12-14 in fees and added FX charges. The same amount, done through a cash advance would be less than $7. We started doing this when we were on a seven month extended international land trip. Have not done a HT cash advance in a similar way but plan to on our winter trip: ; 1.50% (Minimum fee of $5.50 and Maximum fee of $15.00) if the ATM is located outside Canada and the United States. This is in addition to any other charges that may be levied by the owner/operator of the ATM.

Yes. Common in SE Asia. Also had it happen once in Australia.

Istanbul.

So many variations of outsourcing and service level agreements. I was involved in the business for a number of years.

No surprise. Long time CIBC customer. One thing CIBC excels at is service charges...hidden and otherwise. Not the least bit surprised at your comments. On longer trips we have actually used cash advances on our credit card for ATM withdraws. We establish a credit balance so there are no interest charges. Works for trips to Thailand or parts of Europe where our ATM withdrawals are often the equiv. of $600. to facilitate cash payment of accommodation expenses. Other times it is better to simply pay a vendor surcharge of 3 percent on our HT card for credit card purchases.

Are they simply hosting and operating or do they actually do the build/design application work?

Perhaps one or the other, or both, will be sold to an investment firm. Or Costa, or……?.. I suspect that there is more of a chance of a sale/divestiture of one of the many Carnival brands than there is of an amalgamation. They could be ripe given that they all appear to be stand alone enterprises complete with their own IT systems. Come to think of it.,,who on earth would want HAL’s IT group? Other than an IT outsourcing firm. Maybe HAL is ‘safe’ after all.

At the end of the day I believe that debt and debt servicing will be the bogeyman and the stimulus for change. No idea what that change will entail.

We do not have a luggage issue. We did have a 7 hour flight delay from Faro at the end of June that fell well within the EU261/2014 regulations So, we have put in a claim for 600 euro each. No response so far. We are not flying anywhere until at least mid Sept. If we were, it would be cabin baggage only. At the end of the day I believe that it is very much down to luck. Best advice I would give folks on a TA flight is to book a flight that arrives early in the morning. Not mid morning/lunchtime like many others from NA it seems. And don't get too attached to the items in that case you might have checked!

We did four incoming flights last month. Various airlines. Two of them international airports. The one thing that remains in our mind is passing through the baggage areas and seeing what appeared to be acres of bags all pushed together. Complemented by huge line ups at all the various airline baggage service desks. We have read that Schiphol, all London airports, and Paris are a huge mess. We are looking at a routing to Greece so we are watching the reports in the European media. We do not check bags but neither do we want to wait in line for hours and miss connection after connection.

Six months out is long term for us. Most cruses are 45 days or less. International land trips often 3 months, sometimes much less. Just returned from five weeks in Portugal. Made the decision on March 21 (day we were ticketed) and went on May 24. Our first winter snowbird trip to Thailand was booked eight days before we flew. Just enough time to drive to the consulate in another city and get the required visa for a 60 day stay. But...we are retired and can simply lock and leave whenever we wish.

Operational efficiencies. IMHO, will not significantly solve their current challenges. Their problem is a huge fixed expense ratio, debt charges, fuel costs, uncertain demand, and revenue. If there is no improvement over the next two quarters I suspect that we will start to see some significant announcements from Carnival Corp and from the the other two...RCI and NCL groups.

Keep in mind that once someone accepts a FCC in lieu of a refund, etc the credit card transaction is deemed to have been satisfied. Any credit card protection that might have been in force has been eliminated.

Is there a Canadian bank/trust card that does not charge the 2.5-3 (and sometimes more) percent FX fee for foreign ATM withdrawals? Or a preloaded FX cash card that does not charge the 2.5-3 point FX fee when loading it up?

This is not an AC issue. Nor is it a Canadian issue or a US issue. The major carriers in Canada, US, and Europe are cancelling flights. Best chance is international flights since the carriers are loathe to cancel them. It is an international issue. It started weeks earlier in Europe. We heard about it constantly in the last week of May while we were in Europe. The carriers are cancelling flights. A number of European airports are giving carriers a percentage of flight to cancel as well as time adjustments for flights. In some instances it is down to staff covid infections. In others staffing cutbacks. In others delays in order to have new hires security cleared. All a result of covid. Staffing cutbacks, rehire issues. Not to mention a surge in demand (and prices). We would certainly not feel safe arriving a day prior to our cruise. It would seem that two days is more prudent given the situation.

Our pre covid cruise line preferences may not hold post covid and beyond. I do not see a universal doom and gloom outcome but there will definitely be changes across the board with the cruise holding companies and the individual brands themselves.

Only two of us oldsters. We go with carry on only. We would not even consider most of the items mentioned. We have managed to get through 20 plus cruises and 45 years of international travel without most of them so far!

CCL's numbers and ratios are not good. The big questions. Will business improve. Will cash flow improve to the point where additional borrowing or share issues are not required? The answer to these is anyone's guess.