LocoLoco1

For 4-5star on our 15/day in March 2022 it was a coupon for Wine or Beer at the Casino’s Bar for 2/hrs.

$2/Billion at 10% with 12 vessels pledged as collateral. That generically values each vessel at $160/million. What would a bank syndicate DO with 12 used ships if things go South? Lease-back? Sell outright??

Extreme Duress. That’s the situation. Furthermore, what is an older vessel such as HAL’s VOLENDAM actually $worth$ right now Oct, 2022 ? I am printing BoardingPasses for a V’dam TransAtlantic today. I will report back on the size of the Cashews and overall onboard experience sometime in Nov.

Who would actually WANT CCL’s mid-size ships?? Newer Mega-ships are the $money-making$ trend. Boutique Luxury liners also make a profit. Methinks bloated numbers of plain-jane vessels out there now that they can’t fill without cheap fares is brutal for the whole industry’s future. Nobody wants to say ‘Uncle’ and downsize first. What a mess..

Landslide forces HAL to leave without dozens of passengers. 500 of us were once left in Sweden account similar situation.

Debt service will KEEP the Carnival suits in handcuffs for a very very VERY long time. ‘Morning Call’ guest from JP Morgan said recently, “Stick with Co’s with lotsa cash on the books going into 2023, to do otherwise seems foolish.’

I agree with your thoughts. Methinks CCL as a Corp. is now in bare survival mode. Touting a cruise as a $649/pp cruise then getting it to $1649 with upcharges will be the future. Go cheapo or Go luxury?? Seems HAL has went cheapo They’re in a tough spot with their current business model

Ballroom dancing. Dance hosts. Poolside bands. Trapshooting off the Aft deck. Lobster meals in MDR. Methinks if you missed it.. you missed it permanently. Guessing everything will be ala carte from now on including chocolate on the pillow and evening turndown towel animals unless you book on a swanky cruiseline. Lets see if I’m wrong…

Thank-you. Interesting. I have a TransAtlantic booked for my wife and friend that’s Sailing in 3/wks. I don’t think I will tell her any of this.

Always appreciate your intelligent remarks. QUESTION: So.. if CCL can pay it’s bills, then the ‘FatCat’ investors/funds that $own$ most of CCL’s stock will glumly let the market determine it’s dismal value nearly forever and tell the Board to sail on??. If so, then where’s any Corporate advantage to filing a bankruptcy petition?? What would push CCL over that edge??

Someone elsewhere posted VOLENDAM is spiffy and fully crewed.

Seems like neither Norwegian, RoyalC or CCL wanna be the first to cry uncle. Basic Fares are stupidly low.

Fuel price increases of course affect the pricing at all cruiselines or Airlines. It’s real and it’s indeed in the corporate books; we peons WILL get nicked but in unseen ways. It’s always been a laugher to see what one ends up paying at the end of an ‘Advertised $Fare$ cruise’ of say, $2,000/bucks. Add-on charges will be an even bigger deal, and in the future maybe everything will be ala carte more than what it already is. So here’s guessing various Revenue Enhancement tactics once you’re aboard will be the name of the game to make cruising profitable for them. Fuel?? Guessing again, but there is probably only minimally more a cruiseline can do to cut fuel expenses once underway. The corporate Fuel bill is now at the mercy of the World markets at large, as idling vs shutting down strategies can only nibble at the edges. The elephant in the room for cruiselines nowadays, however, is debt service. 3/wks til our cruise, and I don’t do peanuts so I may have to pack my own Jumbo Cashews if cost-cutting gets deeper.

Hedging Fuel: Wealthy consumers of Fuel can do well by ‘forward pricing’ of such an expense. Broke companies, on the other hand, sometimes don’t have the luxury of buying such contracts. Certain cruiseships recently were impounded for inability to pay for fuel. Guessing wrong on fuel futures can boomerang on the user. It would be PURE SPECULATION as to what CCL’s fuel desk has done.

‘The Big Stuff’ cutbacks at Corporate probably won’t show up onboard. From huge Cashews to cocktailpeanuts pale in comparison to Fuel/Interest expenses or getting rid of money-loser vessels and boosting fares for Cabins etc. ‘But THEN what?’ I ask myself, as little cuts onboard eventually turn people off. Tis Crazy to see CCL stock at 1992 levels, less than $7/sh.

Carnival’s CEO laid it out in blunt terms recently: ‘I have very high expectations of our ships generating more revenue, from both large and small areas.’ Read to mean: ‘We’re gonna charge for any/all extras’. On a HAL 3/wk in March,2022 we found housekeeping remained top-notch & Lido food was good as ever. Less staff, no free hors d’ovres, no PoolsideActivities, no Librarian, minimal musicians or lectures, no PianoBar no Capt. dinner with 4-5stars or Chocolate Extravaganza, no Caviar samples on GalaNights etc. No Crew stageshow night. HAL KidZone was locked up. So, expect to pay more for optional Dining/Spa/Liquor extras and entertain yourself methinks. Can’t speak to DieselFuel rationing and such that may shorten Port stops. Having a TransAtlantic soon, so we too await signs of any more cutbacks

$6/share and change. 30/yr. low. Wondering what would Dandy Don Meridith be saying…

If one was handed their latest numbers to look over and knew NOTHING else, the cold hard numbers would concern anybody. Wall Street made CCL a $7/sh. stock today for a rational reason.

All is rank speculation: I worked for a Fortune500 firm that brutally carved itself up. 1/2 the company and debt went one way and the remaining 1/2 thrived albeit much smaller. If cruisings 2 polar opposites, small luxury vessels and mass market Mega ships, become the future $Moneymakers$ then that leaves HAL stuck in the middle with neither complimentary caviar nor waterslides.

Reading Carnival CEO’s recent comments spoke volumes: ‘I have very high expectations that Revenue Enhancements will come from all areas. Some big, some small..’ I read that to mean, ‘Charge for the peanuts, pillow chocolates and hors d’oeuvres..’ Too bad.

I agree. Outside events beyond Cruiseline’s control will ACTUALLY dictate what their future guests can expect onboard. It can’t be otherwise. That’s the hospitality business, folks.

It appears ‘The Big 3’ are pricing Cabins at rock bottom. When Wall Street is unkind; with CCL stock at a 30/yr low of $7, (never mind Fuel and whispers of Recession being very real).. it’s merely prudent us cruisers keep an eye on such things. Silly not to. With a fully insured TransAtlantic coming up, I want to be ready for whatever; so I am helping as best I can. Nobody is forced to read these posts…

We kibitzers here have informed opinions of what we EXPERIENCE onboard and what we $pay$ for that. The boardrooms and bankers see numbers..mostly in RedInk. I for one sense a Corporate business model gone adrift. I’d GLADLY pay more for Cashews vs Peanuts, Pool attendants for water volleyball, and Pool aerobics. Frequent Lecturers by local experts, Capt’s dinners for loyal guests, crew stageshow nights. Musicians strumming and playing here and there. But A recent 3/wk had none of that. That being said, cut-throat competition industry-wide seems to have served up an uninspired experience. Thank goodness my career was in an industry flush with cash. Life was grand…

I will still cruise. My 40’s adult children and their friends? ‘Probably not’. The misery of Airplanes, Internet service, not being ‘Green’, no smoke and whatnot makes it not their Cup o Tea they say. Luxury cruising for retirees will have ‘A durable competitive advantage’, for years/decades to come, I think. The generic cruiseline experience? If they’re not $Moneymakers$, maybe not.

Huge, huge debt. THAT, in nutshell, is the problem. Competitive pricing to ‘fill beds’, Fuel, food, labor woes, etc pale by comparison to that big elephant in the room, debt service. The CATs, WalMart, Ford, Apple, JP Morgans el al usually survive business cycles, but methinks right here,right now, CCL is in a very bad spot. Nov.Trans-Atlantic may be an eyeopener as to what they can deliver to us guests.