Has Anyone Else Noticed???

[firefly333]

My wife and I love RCCL (to be honest we love Carnival too) but the RCCL cruises for the week that we are cruising were 400 more for a similar cruise. It also hurts that RCCL chooses not to cruise out of Galveston in the summer months...

 

that's why Im booking Carnival :( .... not just summer, fall and into the winter. Only 4 plus months to go on Voyager.

 

Im honest to preferring RCL, but if they wouldnt cruise out of a close by port, Im not driving to Florida again just to do them in the fall, did that once and just too costly when I can do Carnival out of Galveston until they wake up.

 

I will be on Voyager a week from Sunday, then I have 4 Carnival cruises booked. RCL's loss.

[firefly333]

With RCI not having a ship leaving from Galveston in the summer and fall, a lot of people will choose Carnival because their ships are there full time. And when they choose Carnival they may not go back to a RCI ship for the 5 or 6 months they are in Galveston. We have to pay more to cruise out of Galveston than from other ports and saving what you can is important.. :)

 

...... and another one ......

 

Host Mach posted that Carnival is going to take advantage of NCL, RCL and Princess all pulling their full time ships out of Galveston in 2007 by adding a 3rd ship. ..... obviously with 3 of us posting the same thoughts, the market is there.

[LHP]

You can still get a deal on RCCL. Many have posted specific cruises that were cheaper than Carnival (according to these posters...we have only cruised Carnival...so I am taking them at their word).

 

However, in general, in the past RCCL was always higher. And rightfully so with the extra stuff they offer. We just happen not to be interested in ice rinks, flowriders and climbing walls. (although I did climb the Coconut trees at Paradise Beach in Cozumel last month at the age of 54....that was a sight)

 

We tried 3 times to book cruises in 2003 on RCCL and Carnival beat their price considerably. Back then, both gave us the Interline Discount.

 

RCCL still gives us the Interline Discount, but it is still not enough for us to change yet.

 

I look forward to sailing them all one day.....

[stitchisbad]

I just now sent off the email to my TA cancelling my 2/2010 I booked on RCCL.I am getting ready to pick up the phone to call my PVP and book a summer cruise with CCL on the Glory and will be booking another cruise on CCL for winter/spring 2010 in the future. These 2 cruises in balcony cabins will cost about the same as the 1 RCCL cruise in balcony cabin.

[gtalum]

RCCL has built those bigger and bigger monster ships and now they're going to get slaughtered for it. They'll have to slash fares or sail partially full, which in either case will really harm their bottom line. Carnival has been much more conservative in their shipbuilding, and is winning because of it.

 

RCCL was even having trouble financing the Oasis, which is due to sail in September.

[G'ma]

I'm wondering if RCI will discount fares first, or go under with the higher fares weighed around their neck. If so...any chance Carnival has the $$ to buy them out? I don't follow either lines' financials, I was just wondering about the possibility. And if that would happen, would Carnival continue to keep the prices low, or charge more bc they bumped out their closest competition? Hmmmm...

 

Lots of speculation around the RCCL board on this very subject over the past several months. Carnival had a really hard time taking over Princess and had to jump through a bunch of hoops to do it.

 

The consensus seems to be that they wouldn't be permitted to take over RCCL due to the anit-trust laws against monopolies....or like that....

 

I can't imagine Carnival would want to absorb the incredible debt of RCCL. They are pretty conservative and are in good shape by being so. I can see them maybe buying a couple of the newer ships....but not the monsters Oasis and Allure.

[dfishner]

Our next cruise will be on Carnival Imagination in July it is our first carnival cruise in over 10 years, we mainly sailed RCL and have been very happy with all our cruises. We are taking our DD and our grandkids on their first cruise.

1) kids program- Carnival lets kids into their program at 2 RCL at 3 We asked RCL that one of grand kids is going to be 3 in August could he qualify and we were told no. Nod to Carnival

2) Cabins-Larger cabins on the Imagination compared to the Majesty by 50 ft. When you are going to have 3 people in one cabin 121 ft is just to small even for two as compared to 185 ft for Imagination. Nod to Carnival

3) Price-Imagination cost less to cruise then Majesty. with RCL not letting us combine benefits anymore and with Carnival new early saver program it is a no brainer. Nod to Carnival

 

We really like RCL and have nothing bad to say about Carnival it is not our first preference but when it comes down to it. Value is an important factor when looking at the two and I find Carnival is offering more value then RCL in this instance. This cruise on RCL would of made us Diamond which is something we are trying to obtain was not enough to make us take RCL this cruise. It is not just price that made our decision as I listed above it was host of other items that made our decision to go back to Carnival. We are looking forward to our cruise on Carnival it would be like visiting an old friend we have not seen in a long time.

[gtalum]

I strongly suspect, like G'ma, that CCL would not be permitted to buy RCCL due to antitrust laws. I wouldn't be completely shocked to see CCL buy NCL though, which is much smaller and is also in big trouble.

[LEtue]

I am in agreement with most everyone here. I haven't sailed on RCI since 2005 because I can't justify the added expense.

 

While I still prefer RCI and Princess slightly over the Carnival ships I won't be booking with Royal Caribbean anytime soon....

[tbjl24]

I'm wondering if RCI will discount fares first, or go under with the higher fares weighed around their neck. If so...any chance Carnival has the $$ to buy them out? I don't follow either lines' financials, I was just wondering about the possibility. And if that would happen, would Carnival continue to keep the prices low, or charge more bc they bumped out their closest competition? Hmmmm...

 

Industry regulators, both the U.S. and European Union, will not let this happen.

 

If CCL were to buyout RCCL, they would pretty much run the ENTIRE cruise industry.

 

Monopoly, anyone?

[LemurCat]

Industry regulators, both the U.S. and European Union, will not let this happen.

 

If CCL were to buyout RCCL, they would pretty much run the ENTIRE cruise industry.

 

Monopoly, anyone?

 

Pretty much. The SEC and DOJ would never allow that to happen, as I believe they kicked up a fuss the last time Carnival acquired another line and more or less told them they couldn't get any bigger because they had too much market share.

 

CCL isn't just beating RCCL on prices either. I was just pricing some options and for what I'd pay for a 2 night weekender on NCL out of NYC, I could take 6 nighter out of Lauderdale on Carnival. Sure, I'd have to pay for airfare ... but ... 4 more nights? That's pretty much a no brainer.

[js]

I'm one of those others.

Since we had kids, we always sailed RCCL (did DCL once). My dh and I sailed NCL and CCL without our kids.

Our next cruise August 2010, we are currently booked on the Oasis. I am a family of 4 and my dd is bringing 2 friends for her 16th birthday. So I am paying for 6 ppl.

Balcony and inside. For Oasis I am paying almost $3K more than what I will be paying for CCL Dream and almost $6K more if I sail out of Bayonne again on Explorer. I know Oasis and Dream are two different ships but do I want to pay almost $3,000 more for a birthday cruise for my dd if I can use that money for the kids and excursions.

The Dream will be new and big and I don't think we will have any problems. I will miss the promanade but I'm a big girl and I can handle it.

I may make the move this weekend or Monday.

[richbum]

I am one of the Loyal Royal cruisers, (both cruises so far have been on Royal) and we are supposed to go on another one in January, but I have been doing some searching and found a carnival cruise that I actually like better than the one we have booked for almost $2000 less. The only reason why we have not switched is because it is supposed to be an anniversary cruise for one set of friends and a wedding cruise for another. I am still seriously thinking about switching, I think I would be stupid not to!

[Earthworm Jim]

If RCCL decided their current pricing plan wasn't working, is there any reason to believe they couldn't cut their prices to near Carnival levels? Aside from the new monster ships, I wouldn't think RC operating costs for each ship are significantly different than Carnival's, so I'd expect they could charge a similar cruise price if they wished to do so.

 

Their new gigantic ships, maybe not. Those may have been so costly they have to charge more to balance the books for them. But the older Royal Caribbean ships are pretty much at the same level of size and amenities as Carnival ships, so I'd think the operating costs are about the same as well. How much more can having a rock climbing wall cost them?

[Hotelfixer]

If people were mad about AIG bonus money paid out of bail out money can you imagine the screams if we have to bail out RCCL? LOL :D

[LemurCat]

If RCCL decided their current pricing plan wasn't working, is there any reason to believe they couldn't cut their prices to near Carnival levels? Aside from the new monster ships, I wouldn't think RC operating costs for each ship are significantly different than Carnival's, so I'd expect they could charge a similar cruise price if they wished to do so.

 

Their new gigantic ships, maybe not. Those may have been so costly they have to charge more to balance the books for them. But the older Royal Caribbean ships are pretty much at the same level of size and amenities as Carnival ships, so I'd think the operating costs are about the same as well. How much more can having a rock climbing wall cost them?

 

I honestly think it has more to do with their corporate culture and identity than anything else. And I'm not saying this to disparage any RC cruisers, but so much guff flies around Carnival being the Wal-Mart of cruising and calling it Carnivore Cruises, etc. that I don't think their corporate ego would allow them to cut their prices to Carnival's level as it goes against their identity and marketing plan. They say they offer a superior product (which is very much up for debate -- haven't sailed RC, so I can't say personally), so their prices are more expensive. We'll see how long it lasts ... they might be looking to pick up business from Seaborne or Seven Seas if everyone downgrades, but that marketshare is so small, I can't imagine it paying off. As the saying goes, the most expensive cabin is the one that's unoccupied.

[BonnieSte]

My husband and I have tried RCCL twice, we figured we didn't care for our first once because it was a smaller ship and maybe they had better food, entertainment etc on the bigger ships. So we tried again on the Explorer. The Prominard (Street) was really cool but we were very disappointed with the food, service and entertainment again. Oh well. We decided to stick with Carnival and Princess. We feel they have better food, better service, and better entertainment. Having lower fares is just the icing on the cake! :D We will be booking the Legend sometime this weekend and can't wait!

[gtalum]

If RCCL decided their current pricing plan wasn't working, is there any reason to believe they couldn't cut their prices to near Carnival levels? Aside from the new monster ships, I wouldn't think RC operating costs for each ship are significantly different than Carnival's, so I'd expect they could charge a similar cruise price if they wished to do so.

 

Their new gigantic ships, maybe not. Those may have been so costly they have to charge more to balance the books for them. But the older Royal Caribbean ships are pretty much at the same level of size and amenities as Carnival ships, so I'd think the operating costs are about the same as well. How much more can having a rock climbing wall cost them?

 

RCCL will have a big problem if they have to slash fares, because they are carrying a massive debt load compared to CCL. They can't just be concerned about profitability of individual cruises, they need to have a massive gross profit to cover those payments. As I noted above, they're even having trouble coming up with the financing for Oasis.

[G'ma]

I strongly suspect, like G'ma, that CCL would not be permitted to buy RCCL due to antitrust laws. I wouldn't be completely shocked to see CCL buy NCL though, which is much smaller and is also in big trouble.

 

True....except NCL has a monster ship too, over a billion $$$$...the "Epic". They do, however, hype "the youngest fleet on the planet"...

 

It will be interesting to see how all this irons out in the end, won't it?

[G'ma]

If RCCL decided their current pricing plan wasn't working, is there any reason to believe they couldn't cut their prices to near Carnival levels? Aside from the new monster ships, I wouldn't think RC operating costs for each ship are significantly different than Carnival's, so I'd expect they could charge a similar cruise price if they wished to do so.

 

Their new gigantic ships, maybe not. Those may have been so costly they have to charge more to balance the books for them. But the older Royal Caribbean ships are pretty much at the same level of size and amenities as Carnival ships, so I'd think the operating costs are about the same as well. How much more can having a rock climbing wall cost them?

 

One of the big differences is that Carnival has plenty of cash and financing for their ships......and lots of liquidity from revenue generated onboard.....and are still sailing over 100% occupied. RCCL doesn't have the cash and their financing is a little shakey.

 

I'm sure if RCCL could have foreseen the current economic situation, they'd have never contracted for the 2 mega-monsters....but, they did.

[gtalum]

True....except NCL has a monster ship too' date=' over a billion $$$$...the "Epic". They do, however, hype "the youngest fleet on the planet"...

 

It will be interesting to see how all this irons out in the end, won't it?[/quote']

 

They don't own the EPIC yet. ;)

 

CCL could swoop in to buy NCL and renege on the EPIC contract, especially if NCL files for bankruptcy first.

 

Regardless, this next year or two will be interesting in the cruise business. CCL is sitting on a massive pile of cash, and will probably be looking to buy something.

[Cruise Cat]

I've sailed both of course and like someone else mentioned, the RCCL discounts are on a few select sailings. I get coupons from them only for ships/sailings that no one else wants like ones where you have to cruise on the 35th of February on a Tuesday during the third full moon when Leo passes Capricorn. Carnival on the other hand gives you a past guest code that you can simply input in and get your discount.

[QLUVS2CRUZ]

We got a great deal on the RCI repo cruise from San Juan to Norfolk in April, so we are going RCI. I have been on three cruises, and the upcoming April cruise is fourth...I have yet to find a ship I like better than when we cruised on the CCL Valor. Everything about that cruise was great. Not that the others haven't been, but I have no idea why people think Carnival is just the "party line" and we all "live in trailer parks and shop at Wal-Mart" (which there is nothing wrong with, by the way.) I'm happy with Carnival, just as I would love the opportunity to try sailing the Cunard Line...I'll try anything once! But it's hard to justify the big price differences on CCL and RCI...for same itinerary and similar ship, price wins hands down. Food, service, etc. are about the same on each line, so those really aren't factors for me.

[gtalum]

Considering Wal-Mart's relative position in the retail world, I'm sure Carnival has no problem holding a similar position in the cruising world. :p

[G'ma]

They don't own the EPIC yet. ;)

 

CCL could swoop in to buy NCL and renege on the EPIC contract, especially if NCL files for bankruptcy first.

 

Regardless, this next year or two will be interesting in the cruise business. CCL is sitting on a massive pile of cash, and will probably be looking to buy something.

 

I don't think Carnival would be permitted to buy NCL either.....

 

They had enough trouble overcoming anti-trust regulations when they took over Princess.....

 

I'm sure Carnival would be interested in some of their ships, however...but not necessarily the Epic......it's too bizarre, frankly......with it's "revolutionary" design.. But, who knows....with their "dormitory" studio cabins..all 100 sq feet of them, they might draw a whole new bunch of cruisers who want that experience.......

 

But, somebody has to do something about that hat thingie on top (or is it eyebrows?)....Looks like if they really applied the brakes, it would flip up on the bow......HA!!