Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

NCL: for sale?

electricron

By electricron,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

Recommended Posts

Imagineer

Imagineer

Posted
Posted

...we just got back from a week on the Wind to Alaska and, after reading this thread, have to say that we found the service to be faultless and a wonderful experience. This is our first cruise, but I come from a background in the high end hospitality industry so I feel I know good service when I see it, and that is what we received. The Wind may be considered one of NCL's older and smaller ships, but to us she was the perfect size and configuration for an Alaskan cruise. Her deck layout makes it incredibly easy to view all the glaciers and other great scenery this cruise has to offer...

...as for mega ships vs going with something smaller, my opinion is that the Wind and others of her size are as large as I would want to go on. As it was disembarkation took our express group 1 1/2 hours, not NCL's fault, but Canada customs; imagine how long it took to get off the Serenade of the Seas which was unloading on the other side of the pier. Our next cruise is on Oceania's insignia, a ship slightly shorter in length, but with half the passenger load and a crew of over 400 the crew to passenger ratio is only 1.6. If NCL does go along with the current fad of "bigger is better", we will seek out lines that still have smaller ships. HAL still has many smaller ships that seem to be quite popular, Oceania sells out all of their cruises, Princess picked up the sister ships of the Oceania fleet and they all sell out as well; so I personally feel there are a lot of cruisers who prefer the smaller ship option, that's the only way I want to go, no mega ships in my future considerations...

 

cheers,

 

the Imagineers

NCL cruise on the Wind - Aug 27/06, it was great, I'll miss the Wind.

upcoming Oceania cruise on the Insignia - Apr 28/07

Link to comment
Share on other sites
calmac

calmac

Posted
Posted
Posted on Cruise Server

 

NCL have refused to comment on speculation that MSC have made a bid to purchase them.

 

Don't know the situation in the US but here in the UK there are rules around what a company can and can't say (often being "no comment") if someone has made a bid for them so perhaps NCL's refusal to comment is related to restrictions on what can be said?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
intrepid_guy

intrepid_guy

Posted
Posted

I thought this thread was about a possible merger of MSC and NCL, not about liking or hating Freestyle or whether you like NCL or not. Why does every thread turn into this? May I suggest, if you hate NCL or hate Freestyle, start a new thread or post on one of the hundreds of other ones. Leave this thread for talk of the merger/aquisition. I hate thinking there is an update to this story and instead finding people arguing about Freestyle... AGAIN.

 

Since I have found no news on the subject, has anyone else?

 

~Intrepid

Link to comment
Share on other sites
intrepid_guy

intrepid_guy

Posted
Posted

I thought this thread was about a possible merger of MSC and NCL, not about liking or hating Freestyle or whether you like NCL or not. Why does every thread turn into this? May I suggest, if you hate NCL or hate Freestyle, start a new thread or post on one of the hundreds of other ones. Leave this thread for talk of the merger/aquisition. I hate thinking there is an update to this story and instead finding people arguing about Freestyle... AGAIN.

 

Since I have found no news on the subject, has anyone else?

 

~Intrepid

Link to comment
Share on other sites
shoreguy

shoreguy

Posted
Posted
Agree with intredguy and others, let's keeep it only to a discussion about rumor of merger or takeover.

 

So do I but with no information this thread would be on page 3 by now. The question of Freestyle is related. In any merger would it remain and if it did or didn't how would you feel about the merger. Same relevance on the size of ships.

 

At least on this thread there is a logical link to the current discussion and the initial post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Globaliser

Globaliser

Posted
Posted
The last financial numbers I saw in the paper NCL lost over $52 million, while Carnival made $275 million and RCI made $180 million. Someone mentioned NCL lost only $3 million. Im not sure where they got their numbers.
Raw numbers quoted like that can get misleading, or they may just be too different to compare with each other. Are we talking about Q2 or H1? US GAAP or non-US GAAP? Operating? Net? Consolidated? Before or after tax? Etc.

 

And then you have to adjust for size, otherwise the headline number is definitely misleading.

 

FWIW I had a look at NCL's page for the half year results, which shows that Q2 operating profit was $19.6 million and H1 operating profit was $22.5 million. Both numbers are up from the previous year, although operating margin is down for H1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BruceMuzz

BruceMuzz

Posted
Posted

During the past year, the Senior Management at NCL did a very curious thing. They lowered their onboard food cost budgets to unbelievably low numbers.

Previously they were spending about $9.75 per passenger per day for food. That put them in the same category as Royal Caribbean and Princess. Suddenly they slashed that number to around $8.25. That puts them below Carnival - and in a nearly impossible position. Most of us in the industry agree that it is impossible to provide any quality of food at that rate. Recent comments about declining food quality on NCL, seen here and elsewhere, cause me to believe that the cruising public has taken notice as well.

But the mystery for us has been, "Why would they do such a thing?"

 

If they are considering a sale or merger, slashing food cost budgets would cause a rather sudden and dramatic spike in profitibility. That's just what a company needs to look better than ever when preparing for sale or merger negotiations.

 

HHMMMMMM..........................

Link to comment
Share on other sites
shoreguy

shoreguy

Posted
Posted
But the mystery for us has been, "Why would they do such a thing?"

 

If they are considering a sale or merger, slashing food cost budgets would cause a rather sudden and dramatic spike in profitibility. That's just what a company needs to look better than ever when preparing for sale or merger negotiations.

 

HHMMMMMM..........................

 

HHMMMMMMMM......And lets see they lost $35 M last quarter not sure you numbers or logic hold water.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Globaliser

Globaliser

Posted
Posted
If they are considering a sale or merger, slashing food cost budgets would cause a rather sudden and dramatic spike in profitibility. That's just what a company needs to look better than ever when preparing for sale or merger negotiations.
And the "sudden and dramatic spike in profitability" is, er, where exactly? :confused:
Link to comment
Share on other sites
BruceMuzz

BruceMuzz

Posted
Posted

We all know that numbers and budget results can be manipulated to show just about anything you want someone to see.

Did NCL lose money on higher fuel costs, new ship investments, unprofitable Hawaii operations??? It's very hard for us outside the company to really know the truth.

Did they really lose money at all, or did they report their numbers in such a way that makes it appear that they lost money? Who knows. Maybe they are looking for tax breaks. The Genting Group that owns NCL has so much money that they have no worries. They have plenty of wiggle room to play with the numbers for a very long time.

 

But when you take a basic cost on a very high volume part of your operation (food) and reduce it significantly, those observing / monitoring your operation will be very impressed. Your company suddenly is more appealing for a sale or merger. This gives you additional leverage in negotiating the deal.

 

Is this what they are doing? Who knows. But it would explain an otherwise confusing busiiness strategy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mmceachn

mmceachn

Posted
Posted

Whatever happens, I hope that NCL acquires a ship small enough to continue docking in St. Georges for the Boston to Bermuda run. I do love the east end of the island.

 

I will be sad when the Majesty retires..sigh.. I guess that we will just have to see how the cards play out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nitra

Nitra

Posted
Posted

My hubby works on one of the ships in Hawaii. He just called me and said they were just advised that NCL has been bought out by Costa cruises and the ships in Hawaii will be going to international flagged ships sometime in the next several months, no timeline advised yet.

 

Not sure the full impact of all this yet since they just heard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nitra

Nitra

Posted
Posted

Im showing that has not been updated since Aug 15. They just told the crew so maybe they have not announced it yet. He did mention the 35 million in losses.

 

I told him it might be like when RCCL bought Celebrity or when Carnival bought other lines, they have the new company own and run them but things dont change a lot other than operational changes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bubiesmom

bubiesmom

Posted
Posted
My hubby works on one of the ships in Hawaii. He just called me and said they were just advised that NCL has been bought out by Costa cruises and the ships in Hawaii will be going to international flagged ships sometime in the next several months, no timeline advised yet.

 

Not sure the full impact of all this yet since they just heard.

 

Hey shoreguy, have you heard anything about this???? Maybe things will get really good by January!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail Beyond the Ordinary with Oceania Cruises
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: The Widest View in the Whole Wide World
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...