Baron Barracuda

Pre-pandemic, food costs for RCL as a whole ran 5% - 7% of revenue (X is not broken out). Trend has been rising slightly but may be due to expansion of higher cost specialty and suite restaurants. Under the direction of chef Michel Roux (3 Michelin stars) dining in the mdr was an absolute delight. Unfortunately he left in 2007 and imo things have never been the same. Menus today are good, just not the refined dining experience Roux offered. Dishes today are simpler and likely designed to be prepared and served quickly. As far as deserts, the baked Alaska parade was corny, but guests loved it. Same with crepes suzettes and cherries jubilee prepared tableside by hw's. The buffet offered a wider variety of dishes making it less repetitious. Evening offerings were different from what was served at lunch. Buffet also featured full sized shrimp at lunch and sushi in the evening. The Mast grill offered a variety of barbecued items.

Our first ever cruise was on Zenith back in '93. Pure elegance. Our table was directly adjacent to the captain's (amazed at the huge lobsters and steaks his guests received). Michel Roux mdr menu was heavenly. No need for specialty restaurants.

Consider that 12/19 pre-pandemic the market valued RCL at $40B ($12B debt + 209mm shares @ $136). Today's value is $36B ($24B debt + 255mm shares @ $47). After being shut down for almost two years having enterprise value of business down only 10% isn't bad. A $15 increase in stock price to $62 would get them back to the 12/19 level. Stock was in $60's four months ago so if reports of strong bookings translate into positive cash flow and earnings could soon get it there again.

DW received the offer (but not me). We haven't sailed with X since '17. Amazed the free verandah offer is available on roughly 70 sailings, from 4 - 11 days. Must be lots of empty cabins.

With the amount of alcohol consumed on board I imagine a fair number of chips and vouchers slip to the floor or are left unclaimed on slot machines.

You can argue about what legally constitutes a crime all you want but aboard ship Royal has wide latitude in determining violation of the guest code of conduct. I'm certain removing items from another guest's bag would not be tolerated.

So they're issuing $1.25B five year 11 5/8% notes to refund near term debt including the remainder of the 2 7/8% and 4 1/4% converts due next year. They'll argue eliminating converts is anti-dilutive but that high coupon will likely increase annual interest expense almost $100MM.

Niece and friends just off the NCL Joy. Very hard to make dinner reservations despite mdr being only 1/2 full. 2 1/2 hours for dinner. Brother had similar situation last month on Freedom. Obviously severely short staffed. NCL only projecting 80% loads next qtr held down by staffing. All cruise lines in same situation to varying degrees. Needs to be resolved before they can start making money.

Our TA is pretty good however we still book direct with Viking allowing us to deal directly with Viking Air. Then, after all our flights are set we transfer booking to TA.

The $1B in new notes maturing in 2025 carry 6% rate and are convertible around $50. The bonds they are buying back, the 2 7/8% and 4 1/4% notes of '23 are convertible at $80 and $72 respectively. Lot to pay for two extra years of liquidity.

Keep an eye out for sales. We did Viking in a PV3 for $200/day. Absolutely loved it.

That's standard LLP baloney. They need anyone who's willing to book a cabin. A 70 year old still has many years of sailing left in them and more free time to do so than folks still working.

Took quick look but didn't see conversion price on 2 7/8% and 4 1/4% bonds of '23 they plan to repurchase but at time they were issued in June '20 stock traded around $60. Can only assume new converts will carry higher interest rate and lower conversion price. They claim issuance is non-dilutive but each $1 of new bond will likely be convertible into more RCL shares than $1 of old bond.

In 30 years sailing with X have NEVER noticed a large group of children on a sailing. Took my children on an X cruise back in the 90's when they were pre-teens and they enjoyed it. Then took them on Royal. That was it. For the next 10 years they only wanted Royal. How can you blame them? X allows kids but Royal encourages them with water slides, zip lines, surfing, bumper cars, skydiving, etc. IMO one way to increase the average age onboard is bring back the longer 12-14+ night sailings that are less attractive to families.

They should review the coverages on their travel insurance, auto insurance, homeowners insurance and credit card.

Got the basic offer and was surprised. Not much of a gambler and while Elite haven't sailed with X in 4 years. Sadly for us on the east coast airfare offsets the cruise savings. Appears better to book all-inclusive and drive to Bayonne.

Q: What do Bank of America, Susquehanna, CFRA, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank all have in common? A: After reviewing 2q financials and listening to conference call all cut their price target on RCL today. B of A is the lowest at $35.

Jason Liberty apparently commented RCL has no current plans to issue equity. That's the good news. Read through the earnings announcement which shows continued slow, gradual improvement. Little hope for rapid return to profitability but no new red flags either. Would have hoped for greater enthusiasm for 4q '22 when loads are expected to top 100%. One item that struck me was the expense ratios at the end of the financials. They report total Gross Costs per APCD at just over $200. Gross costs include just about everything except interest expense. Adding that $300mm brings total costs up to $230 per APCD implying that if every ship was sailing at 100% occupancy they need to earn $230/pp/day to break even. While suites run a lot higher they only make up around 15% of cabins. Yesterday while perusing October '22 - April '23 sailings for a number of ships I was struck by how most were offering balconies for only around $77/night. Even next summer balconies on Caribbean itineraries are only running $150 - $170 pp/day. Onboard sales will help but they'll need stronger pricing to generate any meaningful earnings.

OP didn't say what airports they'll be flying in/out of. Some are handling the situation better than others. Just returned from river cruise Amsterdam - Budapest where five of our checked bags continued to tour Europe even after we returned home. Returning home a tight connection in Munich caused four bags to get left behind while the fifth somehow missed our outgoing flight from EWR and then unsuccessfully spent two weeks chasing us down the Rhine. The good news is that all were delivered to our homes within four days of returning home. Be sure to review the delayed and lost luggage provisions in your travel insurance and credit card. The member of our party whose bag got stuck in NJ used her $1k delayed luggage benefit throughout the trip to purchase a new wardrobe. Had the bag been permanently lost she would have been entitled to up to another $3k.

RCL will report earnings in just two weeks on August 3rd. Suggest anyone tempted to invest hold off until then to hear what Jason Liberty has to say. Three months ago Liberty was upbeat on the outlook for '22 and '23, expecting to turn cash flow positive soon and maybe turn a profit in q4. Interested to hear if he has tempered his enthusiasm. As far as potential stock issuance, going into q2 common equity for RCL was down to $4B after losing $1B+ in each of the prior two quarters. Another big loss would almost certainly force them to issue a large amount of stock, likely at prices lower than today.

Not sure who's balance sheet the "Bull" was looking at (or maybe what he was imbibing) but how can he say Royal has been aggressively paying down debt and debt is currently only 1x equity? As of 3/31 ltd / equity was 7.26. Equally scary, he says the biggest reason to be bullish is Royals efforts to use technology to boost revenue. Their IT dept and web site have been ridiculed endlessly on these boards.

DW managed to talk herself onto several sold out tours. Buses usually have extra seats and they're happy to take your money.

Endeavor is a 200 passenger glorified yacht. Can't expect it to have any impact on RCL's financials. If CDC news means no more testing that will help however the airline mess makes people less willing to travel. European airports are an absolute disaster. Got back from Munich Saturday and still waiting for Lufthansa to locate our four bags.

While Celebrity are the ones that messed up I believe you have a major gripe with your ta. He/she was responsible for ensuring everything was booked properly and should have reviewed your final cruise documents prior to sending them to you. Also, from my experience, whenever you book through a ta or transfer a direct booking to one all communication with the cruise line has to pass through them. The cruise lines will not deal with you directly. When you learned of your airline trouble your first phone call should have been to the ta and it was their job to resolve the issue with X.

Assume OP didn't book through a TA. If he/she had that would be the person spending hours on hold with X.