Billion Dollar Profit

[Slidell_Cruiser]

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/10/26/royal-caribbean-group-posts-1-billion-profit-company-sees-accelerating-demand
Well Mr Liberty, can we get chips back in the Park Cafe, even at one bag per person per meal..

just a question…

[The Sunset Glow]

Making record profits but killing the brand. They had a good product but the deep cuts in the food budget have made me look elsewhere for the first time in 15 years. Other than the cruise I have booked for next year (booked at a reasonable price before the huge increases), I'm done with Royal. High prices, reduced service and crap food has no value for me. The 5 free drinks per day and 2 days of internet will not keep me loyal to Royal the way it is now.

[orville99]

17 minutes ago, Slidell_Cruiser said:

Well Mr Liberty, can we get chips back in the Park Cafe, even at one bag per person per meal..

just a question…

They are available from room service - of course they will charge you ~$9.00 to have them delivered - so order a week's worth when you call😇

Edited October 26, 2023 by orville99

[yogimax]

RCCL is making a bet that it can continue to raise cruise prices by 10%, 30%, 50% and people will continue to pay.

 

Onboard Oasis now and many are fed up with with the dramatic increases.    Will the bubble burst?  Maybe not in the next month or two but RCCL better prepare itself for a severe decline in demand.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, Slidell_Cruiser said:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/10/26/royal-caribbean-group-posts-1-billion-profit-company-sees-accelerating-demand
Well Mr Liberty, can we get chips back in the Park Cafe, even at one bag per person per meal..

just a question…

The cruise line still has to recoup all of the losses from the unfair, protracted shutdown during COVID.

 

The Park Cafe will soon be a specialty dining offering, and still without chips. 

[HicksRA]

Just got back from a 16 day PC cruise on Radiance. Ate dinner in the dining room three times and gave up in disgust. The chefs are trying hard to make a good meal out of the crap they’re being given to work with but you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. 

The Windjammer had the same stuff every day - chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, mashed potatoes, three different kinds of pizza and a pan of some kind of beef mixture and a pan of mystery fish. As usual, lots of pretty but taste free desserts. 
I mostly ate a hamburger for a late lunch and no dinner. Very disappointing except I didn’t gain a pound. 

The D+ bathroom amenities that used to be L’Occitane are now L’Motelle No. 6. 

The crew are still trying but are working with less and trying to keep up. 

 

Mr Liberty has cheapened Royal to Dollar Store status. 

[Billy Baltic]

20 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The cruise line still has to recoup all of the losses from the unfair, protracted shutdown during COVID.

It has to find a balance in doing that. Rising prices and reducing service will ultimately kill off demand for the product. IMO they’ve already gone far enough down that road. They need to look at restructuring the company, fleet or finances in some other way if their current profits are not sufficient. 

[orville99]

37 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Will the bubble burst?  Maybe not in the next month or two but RCCL better prepare itself for a severe decline in demand.

From what we have seen on our recent cruises (B2Bs in July (Wonder), September (Grandeur), and October (Mariner)), IMHO the bubble has already burst. On Mariner, you could count on at least 3 different announcements from the cruise director each day hawking the spa, the shops, future cruises, excursions, or dining. Watching the passengers both on board and in port, there was a lot of wandering through the shops, but very little purchasing going on.

[A&L_Ont]

That’s why at this point we have no new cruises booked with only 2 left upcoming, in March 23 and 24.

 

We are going to an AI in December over new years.  Just booked it last week. $100 deposit, fully refundable 14 days prior to arrival.  It has water slides lazy rivers, and 12 food venues. Think of Oasis Class of the land, that’s how we explained it to our son.
 

Our room (Diamond level) has a butler who books meals etc.  It also comes with the following “exclusive” diamond perks: a private pool, seperate pool and beach bar, beach area, lounge and breakfast venue.  It is more than half of what we paid for NYE last year on Harmony, for a Star Loft Suite. The AI won’t have the good shows you can find on Oasis class, but I’ll pass for the cost savings. 
 

That exact same cabin is more this summer than it was for NYE of 2021.  It is very unlikely that we will cruise multiple times a year going forward.  It might become an every 3 year vacation, unless prices level off or drop.  
 

Below is an example of lunch perks at the Diamond pool. 
 

Edited October 26, 2023 by A&L_Ont

[Tlbecker1]

We are on our 12th day on Anthem and I have never had so many Royal dining packages offered to me.  Usually you have a few the first day, but we had 2 today on day 12.  Maybe folks aren’t booking them?

[BirdTravels]

10 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

It has to find a balance in doing that. Rising prices and reducing service will ultimately kill off demand for the product. IMO they’ve already gone far enough down that road. They need to look at restructuring the company, fleet or finances in some other way if their current profits are not sufficient. 

Have you looked around you recently? I always use my egg example where we used to be able to buy a dozen for $0.79/dozen a year ago. It skyrocketed to over $5.00/dozen, and and settled at nearly $3/dozen. Consider that the ships use 50,000-75,000 eggs a week, what are you going to cut or what price increase are you going to make to not lose your shirt... Yeah,,,, I fully realize that the cruise line buys in bulk and does not pay retail, but the point is everything cost more. 

[Billy Baltic]

2 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Have you looked around you recently? I always use my egg example where we used to be able to buy a dozen for $0.79/dozen a year ago. It skyrocketed to over $5.00/dozen, and and settled at nearly $3/dozen. Consider that the ships use 50,000-75,000 eggs a week, what are you going to cut or what price increase are you going to make to not lose your shirt... Yeah,,,, I fully realize that the cruise line buys in bulk and does not pay retail, but the point is everything cost more. 

Yes but they could have increased prices to account for inflation without cutting the service and quality.

Also, people have no choice but to buy food to feed their families. They might not like the price but it has to do done. It’s a lot easier to pass on an overpriced vacation. 

[neverbeenhere]

Want another cruise line?  Cruise Critic conveniently list at least 40 other choices. We are not gamblers, but somehow we are on the Princess Casino Deals list, just got an offer for $75 per person on a 16 day Hawaiian round trip. Along with many others... Look around.

[orville99]

31 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

We are on our 12th day on Anthem and I have never had so many Royal dining packages offered to me.  Usually you have a few the first day, but we had 2 today on day 12.  Maybe folks aren’t booking them?

Three items that caught my attention in the article that lend credence to a demand cliff: 

1) the increase in “close in” bookings (if we don’t do it now we will never be able to afford it later)

2) More people booking earlier for 2024 and 2025 (if we wait, inflation will kill the opportunity for us to cruise at all), and

3) $8.7 Billion in debt maturing over the next 4 years. (They will have to continue to squeeze blood from this stone making the cruise experience less and less appealing, which will suffocate demand from frequent cruisers.)

Edited October 26, 2023 by orville99

[twangster]

This is why they were able to get big loans to survive during the shutdown.  Cruise ships are massive money generating machines.  The folks who loaned them billions to stay afloat knew this day would come.

[Starry Eyes]

2 hours ago, Slidell_Cruiser said:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/10/26/royal-caribbean-group-posts-1-billion-profit-company-sees-accelerating-demand
Well Mr Liberty, can we get chips back in the Park Cafe, even at one bag per person per meal..

just a question…

Of all the cut backs, a bag of chips is the least of my concerns.  There are loads of chips, cheap chips and fancy chips, in grocery stores and delis near home.  If you cannot live without bags of chips, pack some.  I do not care a bit about bags of chips.  I do care about the quality of the cooked food and the service in the restaurant.

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Starry Eyes

[smokeybandit]

Billion dollar profit. Still nearly $3 billion to pay off from loans.

[Baron Barracuda]

36 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Three items that caught my attention in the article that lend credence to a demand cliff: 

1) the increase in “close in” bookings (if we don’t do it now we will never be able to afford it later)

2) More people booking earlier for 2024 and 2025 (if we wait, inflation will kill the opportunity for us to cruise at all), and

3) $8.7 Billion in debt maturing over the next 4 years. (They will have to continue to squeeze blood from this stone making the cruise experience less and less appealing, which will suffocate demand from frequent cruisers.)

Did you notice that they've paid off $3B in debt ytd reducing balance to $20B.  At that rate remainder should be manageable without further cost cuts.

[retired dude]

1 hour ago, HicksRA said:

Just got back from a 16 day PC cruise on Radiance. Ate dinner in the dining room three times and gave up in disgust. The chefs are trying hard to make a good meal out of the crap they’re being given to work with but you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. 

The Windjammer had the same stuff every day - chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, mashed potatoes, three different kinds of pizza and a pan of some kind of beef mixture and a pan of mystery fish. As usual, lots of pretty but taste free desserts. 
I mostly ate a hamburger for a late lunch and no dinner. Very disappointing except I didn’t gain a pound. 

The D+ bathroom amenities that used to be L’Occitane are now L’Motelle No. 6. 

The crew are still trying but are working with less and trying to keep up. 

 

Mr Liberty has cheapened Royal to Dollar Store status. 

so glad that we cancelled this cruise months ago...We had a sneaking suspicion that things would continue to decline in food and overall product and it sounds like we hit the nail on the head...as diamond members we are sad, but will find other vacation destinations or just go to our beach here in clearwater..life goes on.

[robmtx]

I'm just curious what people eat on a daily basis on land? The food on ships is so bad now that you cancel cruises over it? Or, maybe I should ask, what did you used to get on board, food wise? We've been on several cruises post pandemic, and yeah we've seen lots of changes, and yea the food may be different, but it's not anything that we'd personally give up on.  We've had some very good meals onboard, and some great customer service as well since they resumed sailing.

 

When we do land-based vacations, we have to randomly pick a restaurant and hope the 5 stars online are true.. and then three meals a day on land vacation is $200-$250.

 

[LittleJoefromKokomo]

6 minutes ago, robmtx said:

I'm just curious what people eat on a daily basis on land? The food on ships is so bad now that you cancel cruises over it? Or, maybe I should ask, what did you used to get on board, food wise? We've been on several cruises post pandemic, and yeah we've seen lots of changes, and yea the food may be different, but it's not anything that we'd personally give up on.  We've had some very good meals onboard, and some great customer service as well since they resumed sailing.

 

When we do land-based vacations, we have to randomly pick a restaurant and hope the 5 stars online are true.. and then three meals a day on land vacation is $200-$250.

 

I agree 100% even if the food isn't the same now as when we started cruising 2008 (miss the midnight buffet) we have always found something that we like. Both in Windjammer and MDR. Is it 5* food? No, absolutely not, but it is usually better than what we eat everyday when not cruising.

[dani negreanu]

2 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

That’s why at this point we have no new cruises booked with only 2 left upcoming, in March 23 and 24

 

Back to the future?😉

[twangster]

47 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

At that rate remainder should be manageable without further cost cuts.

 

Unfortunately that's not how a CFO turned CEO thinks.  

[orville99]

1 hour ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Did you notice that they've paid off $3B in debt ytd reducing balance to $20B.  At that rate remainder should be manageable without further cost cuts.

More than $1B of that $3 B was interest expense.

 

Net income for the quarter ending 6/30 ~458 M; net income YTD ~-($90 M).

Short term debt/current asset ratio ~3:1 LTD/Equity ~10:1.

 

They are a long way from digging out from under the rock. The issue with debt is not the ~$20B in long term debt on the balance sheet, but the $8.7 B in current debt, which is ~4X their current assets..

Edited October 26, 2023 by orville99

[Starry Eyes]

19 minutes ago, orville99 said:

More than $1B of that $3 B was interest expense.

 

Net income for the quarter ending 6/30 ~458 M; net income YTD ~-($90 M).

Short term debt/current asset ratio ~3:1 LTD/Equity ~10:1.

 

They are a long way from digging out from under the rock. The issue with debt is not the ~$20B in long term debt on the balance sheet, but the $8.7 B in current debt, which is ~4X their current assets..

Why are you using 2nd quarter numbers rather than 3rd quarter numbers?