Baron Barracuda

In their most recent quarter RCG reported Food expense amounted to 6.5% of revenue (X is not broken out discretely in their financials). For the first 9 months of 2022 it was 7.2%, so as ships fill up the number appears to be trending down. In 2019 however Food was only 5.5% of revenue. So if over the past three years food costs have increased by 1% of revenue wouldn't a 1% increase in fares have made them whole? Given that fares have risen much more than that believe X is using "food inflation" as a smoke screen to pad the bottom line.

We've booked gty a number of times and if we weren't thrilled with our cabin assignment looked for a better situated available one in the same category and asked to be moved. Request was never denied. With their experience Pinnacles should know to do this as well.

Consider that the major cruise lines have 45 new builds scheduled for delivery over the next few years. That's more than the current combined fleets of Royal and X. Unless a large number of older ships are pulled from service and sent to the scrap yard the cruise industry will struggle to absorb the additional capacity. They can't find enough crew to staff their current ships. Service will suffer and pricing can't / won't hold up.

We usually do late traditional dining on X so occasionally stop at OVC for a pre-show snack. Never dinner. On our last VO sailing actually dined at the buffet 5 nights. Food was that good. Sushi, crab legs, peel & eat shrimp every night plus themed cook to order offerings and much of the mdr menu. Expecting similar from X, even before the recent changes, will leave you doomed to disappointment.

Might be up for last week but still below where it was a month ago. Cruise lines were among the worst performing stocks last year so I'm sure there was a lot of tax loss selling in December. IMO cutbacks aren't stock price focused, cruise lines are still in survival mode and doing whatever they can to stay cash flow positive. Unfortunately some actions seem to amount to "burning the furniture for firewood", maybe providing a small short term benefit but risking reputational damage to the X brand long term.

Believe they are not looking to maximize profits, just to turn a profit. Would have understood if they cut back buffet early on after sailing resumed when they were only sailing half full, but not now. As far as "obedient consumers", a few years ago in another LLP debacle X attempted to make the Mast Grill a pay venue featuring upscale burgers. They ran it as a trial on Equinox but after significant passenger pushback ended up cancelling the idea after only a few sailings and going back to free. This shows passengers don't blindly accept X's changes and X does apparently respond to passenger feedback. Maybe if enough complain about OVC this "improvement" can be rolled back as well.

Today I received my latest Blue Chip club offer, good for a free verandah on 70 upcoming sailings on pretty much every X ship. 20 are 10 nights or longer. Can't understand why an outfit with X's financial difficulties, that is raising prices and cutting costs like crazy is willing to give away so much of their product for free. I don't gamble much so they're not getting it back from me there. Just another item on the long list of things LLP has done that makes me scratch my head.

X does not operate in a vacuum. They compete for staff with many other cruise lines as well as land based employers. If crew don't feel well treated they finish out their contract and move on. Historically however (pre-covid) industry wide crew retention rates ran about 80%. Instead of asking crew about their compensation try asking how many contracts they've signed with X. Believe you'll find they have a very seasoned (and theoretically content) crew.

As I understand it Helms-Burton was passed in '96 but every president prior to Trump waived enforcement. Obama administration relaxed some aspects of embargo when they allowed tourism, including cruising to commence in 2016 but Trump eliminated protections in 2019 in an effort to put pressure on Venezuela. Cruise lines lost their protection and Havana Docks sued.

When asked about X my standard response is since our first sailing (Zenith '93) we've never experienced a bad X cruise however under the LLP regime each one now feels a bit less special than the one before. Just seems every time we board we discover some little nicety we enjoyed has disappeared. Taken individually none of these losses are deal breakers but collectively they cause me to no longer consider X a premium cruise line. We recently did a couple of sailings on Viking and found the food and service superior to X at a price that isn't much higher.

Need to arrive well before sailaway. Don't know what USCG deadline is for her sailing but this is from X web site: If you’re planning to arrive later, make sure you know when embarkation check-in ends, as this is usually before your ship sets sail. For coast guard purposes, the check-in time ends earlier, and if you get there after that cut-off time you won’t be able to board, even if the ship hasn’t pulled away from port yet.

Life was much simpler in the days before prepaid grats when our end of cruise envelopes reflected how happy we were with the service.

Don't understand why anyone would transfer an onboard booking (or any direct booking) to a TA without getting something in return. You have already done most of their work for them. For past 25 years have received percs on every sailing booked with TA. On Royal cruises get at least free grats and maybe a group discount, on X and others an OBC.

Haven't taken them up on offer yet but as I understand it cabin is free, no casino requirement and you only have to pay port charges. Some have upgraded to Aqua for $10/night.

Couple of thoughts: DW & I have been sailing with X for almost 30 years and have never paid over $200pp/pd for verandah or CC. That pricing is still available if you search, some even with AI. It's the suites where supply is limited and for some people no price is too high. Would never consider paying $400pd for X. For that price Viking and Oceania provide much better value. X has historically offered "low" prices when schedule is released and then raised rates once they achieve a certain level of bookings. Prices usually slip later as sailing date nears. If demand for X is so high why does Blue Chip keep offering me a free verandah even though I'm not a gambler? Latest email was good on 70 sailings next spring some 10 - 11 nights.

Seem to remember that in order to secure financial support from PANYNJ for Cape Liberty development Royal obligated themselves to carrying a minimum number of passengers from NJ for a number of years. Achieving that passenger count required basing either an Oasis or Quantum class ship in NJ. Also recall this agreement being waived during covid lockdown.

With regard to the 60% increase in RCL stock over the past few months one might just as easily compare the current $60 price to the 2021 YE price of $80 which would reveal a YTD loss of 25%.

Libor was discredited by a rate rigging scandal, has not been relied upon for several years and is scheduled to go away entirely very soon. Even prior to being discredited it only served as a benchmark for short term borrowings. Fixed rate term facilities are most often priced as a markup over matched maturity $UST.

last offer I received was good on almost 70 sailings including Edge. Some were 10 or 11 nights. Kinda makes you wonder how many paying customers are actually on board and puts an asterisk on Jason Liberty's claims of strong bookings.

Assume these offers are cruise only. If you call can you upgrade to AI cheaper than purchasing bev, grats and wifi individually on the cruise planner?

DW is looking to visit Antarctica so recently began my research and am troubled by the 100 / 500 passenger rules. Have enjoyed VO and VR sailings so want to consider Octanis but with just under 400 passengers wonder how much land time we'd get. Smaller ship would avoid this issue but 100 passenger Celebrity Xpedition in calm Galapagos waters still rocked more than I liked. Anything larger than Octanis would result in a less desirable drive-by sailing. Anyone have first hand experience?

If you cancel what happens to the $200 ?????

Assuming you booked with non-refundable deposit If price drop is greater than than your forfeited deposit it makes sense to cancel and re-book regardless of insurance issue. If not, since you have no pre-existing conditions there is no reason to cancel. You can buy good coverage today. Recommend a quick call to Tripinsurancestore or Squaremouth. Either would be happy review your options and recommend coverage.

Probably not a meaningful comparison. Last year a number of ships were not yet back in service and all were sailing with reduced loads.

Wonder how municipal budget (and local taxes) will be impacted by big drop-off in port charges.