Maverick61

Consider using Lift and Shift to move in back a year to Oct 21.  That will also delay your final payment date

OUCH - the rates they had to pay are beyond junk bond rates..  They are desperation rates.  Not a good sign financially

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) (the "Company") today announced that it has priced its private offering of $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of 10.875% Senior Secured Notes due 2023 (the "2023 Notes") and $2.32 billion aggregate principal amount of 11.500% Senior Secured Notes due 2025 (the "2023 Notes," together with the "2025 Notes", the "Notes"). The 2023 Notes will mature on June 1, 2023. The 2025 Notes will mature on June 1, 2025 and are redeemable at the company's option beginning June 1, 2022. The Notes are expected to be issued on or around May 19, 2020.

Interestingly the SEC document does not list the terms of the new notes.  Seeing what rate they are in the market at will be a good guide to their situation and how desperate they are.  Some tidbits from the SEC filing:

As of March 31, 2020, the Company had $2.4 billion in customer deposits. This includes approximately $0.8 billion of future cruise credits related to previously announced voyage cancellations through June 11, 2020. The Company also continues to take future bookings for 2020, 2021 and 2022, and receive new customer deposits and final payments on these bookings.

As of April 30, 2020, the Company had liquidity of approximately $2.3 billion all in the form of cash and cash equivalents. On May 4, 2020 the Company increased the 364-day senior secured loan agreement and drew $150 million, further enhancing the Company’s liquidity profile. The Company estimates its cash burn to be, on average, in the range of approximately $250 million to $275 million per month during a prolonged suspension of operations. 

The Company has taken significant actions to reduce operating expenses during the suspension of its global cruise operations. In particular, we:

The Company estimates that its average ongoing ship operating expenses and administrative expenses are approximately $150 million to $170 million per month during a prolonged suspension of operations. The Company may seek to further reduce this average monthly requirement under a further prolonged non-revenue scenario.

On 5/8/2020 at 8:58 AM, jknc said:

Assume Ticketmaster is refunding for broadway shows, Vegas shows, local show, college sports, NHL, NBA, MLB, PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, concerts, symphony’s, Monster Truck Rallys, Professional Rodeo, NASCAR, NHRA, etc.

 

 

 

 

 And Stubhub, another ticket seller has barely issued any refunds and changed their policy to not issue refunds to your credit card - instead providing only credit that can be use on their site in the future

On 5/8/2020 at 5:50 AM, jknc said:

Think about how much time you and your travel agent spent simply trying to get your money back. How many calls did you make?
 

Why would anyone do business with a company like that again? I certainly won’t. 
 

I’ll find more joy doing other things with my money.  

Hmmm, no calls for me for my May 10 cruise.  Only time spent was about a minute on April 15 to fill out the online form saying I want a refund and not FCC.  Refund showed up about 2 weeks later.  Painless and easy process that took virtually no time

3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

No, standard  group bookings are eligible for every part of the CWC

Great.  I was wondering how Lift and Shift may work with a cabin booked under an agency's group rate with refundable deposit .  Sounds like it will be an option available to us if we desire to use it.

Thanks for all the great info here

Smooth process for me.

Was on a May sailing on Harmony that was cancelled by Royal.  I didn't contact them until April 15 to opt for the refund instead of FCC on the cruise.  I received a partial refund on one credit card on April 28 and the rest of the refund on a different credit card on April 30.  Quick and easy and painless

44 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

 

The reason being they can afford the best lawyers who know all the loopholes in the tax code.

If it is in the tax code, it is not a loophole.  It is the law.  I am sure you take advantage of every thing available to you in the tax code that can save you on taxes.  Everyone should - that is why the provisions are in the code, to be used

Oh - and it isn't lawyers who deal with this, it is Tax Accountants / CPAs.  A corporation or individual doesn't need to hire an expensive attorney as you claim.  Many of the deductions are straightforward and put in place by Congress for a reason (for example accelerated depreciation or Section 179 deductions are specifically put in place to spur investment that benefits the economy). 

Put another way, the IRS allows tax deductions to promote certain behaviors, like saving for retirement, or to make the tax code fair to all taxpayers.  Everyone should take all the ones you are entitled to.

On 4/30/2020 at 1:51 PM, flyguyjake said:

Many of our largest corporations pay ZERO in taxes. 

 

Why haven't we passed a federal $15 min wage? 

You do realize of course that most corporations do pay taxes.  Sure, anyone can find some in a particular year that do not, but there are reasons for that.  

You also do realize a $15 minimum wage would destroy a lot of jobs.  The free market economy works in setting appropriate compensation

Emphatic NO.

They are not US Corporations and they do not pay US Taxes.

If they want a bailout, they can go get bailed out in the tax haven they are incorporated in

Sort of - but in a good way.

I had 100% refunded, exact to the penny.  But I believe a portion of it should have been in FCC  - however received all 100% back to my CC.  So not complaining at all.  

Smooth process for me.

Was on a May sailing on Harmony that was cancelled by Royal.

I cancelled the one item in the cruise planner back in March when this occurred and got my refund within a few days for it

I didn't contact them until April 15 to opt for the refund instead of FCC on the cruise.  I was really surprised to see a partial refund on one credit card on April 28 and the rest of the refund on a different credit card on April 30.  Quick and easy and painless

Just now, Milwaukee Eight said:

A troll. If you follow the many other threads you will find out what I mean. 

Thanks - I will ignore them

9 minutes ago, karena1 said:

Totally agree.  We cannot cruise but navel ships can?

You can't be serious

3 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

Check his signature😉.

OOOF.  Guess it would help if I had that feature turned on.  Thanks

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Most agents in North America can book in both US and Canadian $ as Royal treats this as one market.   I read a post here last night that someone was able to book directly with Royal and Was able to get the no deposit until May 31. 

Thanks Ken - appreciate the info.  I would consider reaching out to you but alas I am not sure how to reach you.  I guess worse case, I can try calling and see if Royal would do the no deposit til May 31.  I am basically looking for a way to protect the reissued FCC I will eventually get that expires on 10/31/20 - but given the uncertainty really don't want to shell out any more money at this time.  So the no deposit til May 31 seems like a good way to do that - reserve a space and wait and see how things progress before fully committing on May 31

On 3/26/2020 at 8:45 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

The FCC can be applied against the deposit.  If you’ve paid the deposit it can be refunded.  You can also currently book through a TA and no deposit is due until May 31 to allow time for the FCC’s to be issued and applied. 

Thanks for this info Ken.  Do you any guess of how long Royal may do pricing this way.  I have always just booked online with one of a couple online agencies - and I don't think they are the best option for me to do this through. It be much better if I had been working with someone like yourself (although I see you are in Canada so not even sure if you handle the US market) as I will have 2 FCCs, one of which I am not worried about rebooking now, but the other will be a reinstated one which will expire 10/31/20.  So being able to book something tentatively now with no deposit until May 31 would be great

5 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I just talked to two different reps and a supervisor in different departments and was told the same thing.

 

For sailings that were cancelled by Royal a FCC that was originally applied to the booking will be reinstated under its original terms with an expiry date of no sooner than Oct 31, 2020.

 

Your new FCC at 125% will be based on the cruise fare actually paid not including the original FCC.

Thank you very much for asking and posting the information !

Can someone (perhaps @Ourusualbeach who has been quite knowledgeable and helpful on this) please clarify this.  I knew what they were doing with a previous program but this one is unclear to me

I paid for this cruise partially with a Future Cruise Credit and partially with cash.  Under the optional cancel program a couple weeks ago, if you chose to cancel they would reinstate that original FCC to it original date and issue a FCC for 100% of the cash paid.

How does it work with this mandatory cancel.  The language is not really clear.  This is the closest it comes to addressing it - but are they using the term "Cruise with Confidence certificate" for any previous Future Cruise Credit?   And if so, does that mean the expiration date is effectively extended for the old FCC to 12/31/21 ?

And, if you used a Cruise with Confidence certificate on this sailing, you’ll receive a new Future Cruise Certificate for 125% of your total cruise fare value paid, including the value of your original certificate.

 Thanks

Hmmm I was hoping they would shut down for 60 days like Princess

22 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Newly updated

 

What if my client used a Future Cruise Credit to pay for their existing cruise and now wishes to cancel under the Cruise with Confidence terms?

 

The original Future Cruise Credit will be reinstated with the prior Future Cruise Credit expiration date and amount. Your client will also receive a new Future Cruise Credit based on the amount paid and following the Cruise with Confidence policy terms.

Thanks for the update.  Really happy to hear that Royal reconsidered this and did the right thing here with prior FCC.

On 3/7/2020 at 4:00 PM, Aintnofun007 said:

i bought some and plan on buying some more as it drops!

With the new travel advisory from the CDC and the State Department, not going to have to wait long for more big drops.

4 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You are not wrong.  That is exactly how it will be handled. 

Thanks.  I was afraid of that.

Well I planned on waiting anyway til close to the cruise date in May to decide.  Hopefully Royal may reconsider this aspect.  It doesn't make sense to just lose the past FCC applied .  I can certainly see not extending the date of the original FCC (October in my case) but to forfeit it entirely doesn't make much logical sense.

Glad to see Royal did this.  But this part kind of sucks

13) What if I decide to cancel for the Future Cruise Credit and I already had an FCC on my reservation?

• You're in a unique situation, since you used a credit. Your original Future Cruise Certificate will be considered redeemed and used. You'll receive a new Future Cruise Certificate based on the cruise fare in penalty in your current booking. You're forfeiting your old credit, so you may want to wait to decide.We are optimistic that things will be more stable.

I have a cruise booked for May.  Used $900 in FCC towards the $2500 payment.  So if I understand this correctly, if I cancel I am out the $900 in previous FCC and only get issued $1600.  Am I wrong?

doesn't make sense to me especially since the original FCC would not have expired til the end of October.

I hope I am misinterpreting this.  If not I hope Royal reconsiders.  Right now I am not cancelling but if things get worse I may and it seems quite unfair to lose that $900 .  At a minimum the previous $900 FCC should be reinstated with it's original expiration date (October in this case)

3 hours ago, K.T.B. said:

 

How do I know when they started contacting other countries?  It's been in the news recently.  It's when they finally allowed them to start removing passengers.  Otherwise, it was on Japan.

 

 

WRONG.   Look at the dates on these contacts with the WHO and CDC.  Way before they allowed anyone to start to remove passengers.  And likely before these communications were formally released

"We are in constant contact with the Japanese government, the International Maritime Organization, and the owner of the ship to protect the health of all passengers."

https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-ebola-and-covid-19-outbreaks

"The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has provided recommendations relating to the quarantine of passengers and crew onboard the Diamond Princess..."

https://japan2.usembassy.gov/pdfs/alert-cdc-letter-for-diamond-princess.pdf