Baron Barracuda

Last month we took advantage of a price drop by cancelling and rebooking our November Grand Polynesia sailing. At the same time we booked Antarctica. Despite quite a bit of back and forth Viking wouldn't allow us to transfer Tripmate to either new booking, simply cancelled it. Ended up purchasing coverage from another carrier.

Higher level cabins do get to book shore excursions and make specialty dining reservations first (after all they are paying the highest fares). Suites make up 10% of cabins and they can book excursions 87 days before sailing. Penthouse Verandahs are 25% of cabins and they can book 77 days out. Deluxe Verandahs are 65% and they can book 65 days out. Remaining 10% are Verandah cabins with lowest priority. Everyone is guaranteed an included tour in each port but higher level cabins pick time slots first. Paid excursions can fill up early.

We began sailing with X 30 years ago. Loved it until recently with all the cutbacks. Looked for an alternative and took a Viking Ocean and a Viking River. Won't be coming back to X anytime soon. Have a 35 night Viking Polynesia sailing coming up and just booked Antarctica. Very laid back atmosphere. Smaller ships with friendly, outgoing passengers many of whom socialize at daily afternoon tea. Customer base a tad older than X but we didn't see any wheelchairs or walkers. We're in our 60's and felt right at home. Beer & wine only included at meal times but bev pkg is a very reasonable $25/day. Really enjoy the free specialty restaurants and cooked to order specialties at the buffet. Smallest cabins are 270sf. Pricing is typically a bit above an X verandah but equal or less than a SS. Posted rates appear high but just watch for sales. For our upcoming 32 night Hawaii / Polynesia there are still many cabins available around $250/night. Stated fp date is too far in advance but we've always been able to negotiate for 6 months out.

Don't forget the crepes!

Though we prefer VO we booked a segment of Royal's world cruise aboard the Serenade next July. Extremely port intensive hitting 13 in 15 days. Includes all of the Baltic but no Norway.

EPS? They haven't posted a quarterly profit since 2019. Might actually see a small one next week though. Just don't get caught up in the hype over stronger bookings and "adjusted" earnings that exclude unpleasant items like interest expense.

Just looked at the Atlas policy I purchased through Insuremytrip to replace Tripmate and verified the policy doesn't even contain the name of the ship or sailing specifics, just the dates we'll be away from home and countries we'll be visiting. So if a new Viking promo emerges and we cancel / rebook the same sailing don't believe we even need to inform insurer of the change.

Recently cancelled and rebooked to take advantage of price drop. We were only in the $100 cancellation penalty stage and ended up saving $ thousands . However Viking would not allow us to transfer our Tripmate to either re-booked cruise or another one we had just booked. Simply cancelled it. Went through several layers of management to no avail. Ended up purchasing new policy through Insuremytrip. No cancel for any reason but much stronger coverages. Will avoid Tripmate in future.

We're booked on a 15 night segment of the world cruise next July. Given that by the time we board they will have already been at sea 7 months wonder if they will have succumbed to formal night exhaustion. No formal nights would be fine with us, simplifies the packing.

In 2019 RCL enjoyed their best ever financial performance and Fain was promising double digit earnings growth for well into the future. They had just turned $11B in revenue into a $1.9B profit or $8.95 per share. Debt was a manageable $11B (annual interest expense $400MM) vs $12.2B in stockholders equity (209MM shares outstanding). For their past performance and future expectations the market rewarded RCL with a 12/31/19 stock price of $133. Thanks to covid RCL hasn't turned a quarterly profit since. In the first quarter of 2023 (all quarterly numbers multiplied by 4 to compare vs full year 2019) despite an annualized revenue of $12B they turned in an annualized net loss of $220MM. Interest expense is running at an annualized $1.4B. The debt burden will grow several $B higher later this year after taking delivery of Icon of the Seas, Celebrity Ascent and Silver Nova. Stockholders equity is down to $3B (255MM shares outstanding). It will take many years to get earnings and the balance sheet back to 2019 levels so why is this stock trading at $100? 2q earnings had better be spectacular.

Just off the phone with them. They had phone problems all morning but seem to be ok now.

We have a Viking rep who is very knowledgeable and helpful so we book direct with her. Later after arranging our air we transfer the booking to our favorite ta who gives us a "loyalty credit". Both agents earn a commission and we get cash back so everyone wins, except Viking. However they're the ones who set the rules so they must be ok with the arrangement.

Remember having to skip Coco Cay in February years ago due to high winds and rough seas. Fortunately they now have the dock.

It was also nice having the ice bucket refilled twice a day. Even when they cleaned 2x dw would leave a note asking for extra towels. On days we had a surplus she hid them in the closet in case we later run out.

Definitely recommend traditional dining. That way you'll have the same two assigned tables that will be guaranteed ready at your appointed time. I've been in large groups with mtd where we often had to wait for two suitable tables to be cleared and set for us. Even if they assign you the same two mtd tables each night chances are you'll have different groups eating ahead of you not finishing their dinners at the same time.

Spent the afternoon back and forth on the phone with my TA. We ended up doing cancel / rebook and paying the $200 cancellation fee. Had to immediately pay in full so now VO has my money twice pending refund. TA tried to get TripMate policy rolled over to new sailing but Viking wouldn't budge. I emailed TripMate directly to see if they can help (they only accept modification requests via email). Did not purchase Tripmate today. If they don't roll over original policy I'll purchase new one at Insuremytrip. In the end I saved $6k ($4k if I have to buy new insurance).

2q ends today so trading all week has been impacted by window dressing. Every fund wants to show they hold the big winners for the quarter. Cruise lines love to brag about record bookings many of which are booked with $25 deposits and later cancelled. With all the new builds added recently it would be shocking if reservations weren't increasing. ICON alone will add 5600 births (and $2B in additional debt).

To me 2q is the put up or shut up quarter. All ships back at sea sailing full. Need to see them in the black and solidly cash flow positive. Prior quarters positive cash flow was all due to higher customer deposits. That won't continue.

Still scratching my head, seeking to understand the huge recent runup in cruise stocks. None has posted a single profitable quarter in three years. CCL posted a 2q loss this week on 99% occupancy and the stock initially tanked after they forecasted higher than expected expenses. In 1q '23 RCG posted a loss despite 102% occupancy. Very interested to hear what RCG has to say on August 2nd when they report 2q results. Let's see if those strong bookings they've been raving about find their way to the bottom line.

Please explain your point on TripMate. Viking did allow us a 25% rate reduction from a new promo last year on Grand European Tour three months before sailing. Even threw in beverage package. Others in our roll call obtained reductions as well. If this was only a couple of hundred $ I wouldn't ask, but the difference is substantial. Have no problem canceling, paying the $100 and re-booking. Lots of cabins available. Emailed TA. She's not in until Thursday so will let you know how we make out.

Why in the world would X have all the Beyond sailings call at Grand Cayman, the one major port in the Caribbean where everyone has to be tendered ashore? Lots of other ports they could have substituted. Thanks to AI can see those Reflection 3 & 4 sailings turning into rowdy booze cruises. Surprised that they are moving away from Nassau given the large beach club they're building on Paradise Island.

Clay, Yes Hawaii and Polynesia. We're in a PV2 that was $17,299 earlier this year. Memorial Day sale dropped the price to $14,299 which is where we booked. Under the new promo it's now $11,299. Tom T

Applied and rejected. Policy had no out of country coverage.

SUM23 drops the price of my PV2 on November Hawaii sailing by $3kpp. Shouldn't be surprised as my TA's website currently shows at least 75 available cabins. Will have my TA call and request price adjustment or cancel/rebook (we're outside 120 days so penalty is only $100pp). Anyone have experience with how VO handles these situations? We had applied $400 voucher which might be at risk on cancellation but double past guest credit is a +. Will also lose SS bev pkg but $6k buys a lot of drinks. Assume Tripmate carries over.

Friends have asked us to join them on a January Viision sailing. We've never been aboard Vision but have happily sailed Grandeur a number of times. Was very disappointed to read quite a few recent negative reviews online. Some were unhappy with insufficient port time in Bermuda (which would not affect us) but there were numerous references to the ships age, condition, entertainment and food. This has left us wondering whether we'd regret this sailing and would be better off trying to talk our friends into switching to another Anthem cruise instead. Oddly, fares on Anthem with all she has to offer are somewhat cheaper than Vision.