buckeyefrank

I think it probably depends a lot on how fast the ship is selling and how many of that room is available. We booked the icon a few months ago for Sept 2024. Within 2 weeks of booking we had our room assignment. Very early.

Does anyone have the current cost for the butcher's cut restaurant onboard? I can't pre-purchase only the steakhouse. I can purchase a 2 meal plan that includes butcher's cut and sea pavilion... I don't see a Sea Pavilion on Seaside... I only see Ocean Cay and Pan Fusion...I would like to see the menus to know whether I want to purchase it ahead of time. Can anyone assist me? TIA.

At least you're agreeing that they are junk bonds. That's a start. They had no choice. I wouldn't call issuing junk bonds... brilliant, but that's me. And the "institutions" you mentioned may also be individuals... We will likely never know who pumped cash into the company. Could be a hedge fund, could be wealthy individuals. We keep calling them bonds, but they are really notes being sold to "accredited investors". Keep in mind that "accredited investors" also sunk money into Enron and Bernie Madoff. Just because one is "accredited" doesn't mean they're smart.

Why is it brilliant? They issued them in Bermuda, almost certainly, because of tax benefits for the investors. Not for the benefit of Carnival. The approx 10.5% interest rate they're paying is ridiculously high. Not sure how it gets better for them exactly. They are sailing now with basically full ships and fuel costs, payroll costs and food costs soaring. Those ships not sailing full are because the fares are higher than they have been in like 5 years. A lot of people are turned off since they're still expecting the pricing from the pandemic. I personally think they will eventually weather the storm, however; this is CLEARLY kicking the can down the road. They have no other choice. It's not brilliant... brilliant would be paying off existing loans / bonds with profits, not borrowing more.

While the vessels aren't technically pledged as collateral, effectively they are. If the holding company declares bankruptcy, the bond holders have priority and will be paid first. I have no idea how many other debtors are in the holding company, but the new bonds have first priority. It's semantics... If they were pledged and don't make the payment,.... forced to sell..... if they're not pledged and don't make the payment..... forced to sell. Pledged or not, if Carnival isn't able to meet their payment requirements, they will be in some deep trouble.

So $12,000 in the machines with a payback of $9600. The $2400 loss gets you free drinks on the next cruise.. sounds like a good plan to me.. smh

Most states won't let you have 2 different government ID cards.... I know in Ohio you can either have a state ID or drivers license, not both.

Ask them for a check number and issue date. You can compare that to the original you deposited to see if it's in the correct range. Should give you an indication that one was actually issued.

Sounds to me like you're spending "what little time you have left" worrying about getting sick, cleaning, sanitizing, making preparations to not get sick, etc instead of living life.

Carnival's stock price and operating results are two completely separate things. They are only related in that good operating revenues signal company strength and incite investor purchases, which thereby raise the stock price. The "FatCat's" you mention (after CCL executives) are mostly individual cruisers using stock benefits and mutual funds that are relied upon by the masses. Carnival's decision to declare bankruptcy is completely separate from their stock price. They would generally only declare bankruptcy when they become insolvent and can no longer afford to pay their operating expenses. The advantage to filing bankruptcy is that they can reorganize their debt and hopefully become profitable for long-term operations.