Kilroyshere

The FL National Guard is giving away roof tarps at multiple locations in Collier, Lee, Charlotte and Sarasota Counties. At those same sites, food, water, ice and other necessities are being given away. Wishing you well.

Good question we want to know the answer to as we too are sailing on a Celebrity Xmas & NYE cruise. This is the first time we're trying X and a Retreat class suite. The reserved Luminae dining venue is listed on our cruise app as not available the last 2 days of our holiday cruise. If that's so, what and why am are we paying a premium for this reserved class of service? We're not used to paying upcharges for specialty dining venues being regular Seabourn and Regent cruisers. I too saw the $123 upcharge for Xmas and New Year without any menu shown and we're not enthused about this. There's an Old salesman's saying: 'Ya can't sell secrets." Celebrity seems to have different marketing ideas. I can't imagine a holiday schedule cruise ship will not have holiday Xmas and NYE menus only in the upcharge venues. MDR, Luminae, and Blue ought put on something special too... ...or have we over-estimated our X expectations???

The Big 3 cruise lines (CCL, RCCL & NCLH) are not Crystals. That's an interesting question. These are publicly traded companies. Their share value involves risk, doing deep due diligence, reading between the lines of public statements, having lotsa gray hair (experience) and elements of luck. I’m a contrarian. I see great value buying a winter coat in the summer that’s deeply discounted, cheap and on sale when nobody wants em. The future and viability of the cruise lines is the discussion here. More Covid variants, macro world events, rising crude prices, politics, Black Swan and natural disasters, inflation, monetary/fiscal policy, regulations…all are unpredictable wild cards which could further impact the cruise industry to both up and downside. Back to present day; The Big 3 Cruise Lines are Super Heavy Weights in the leisure industry worldwide. They've deep pockets, access to massive capital and, private equity firms are on the sidelines licking their chops to get pieces of the Cruising Crown Jewels on the cheap if that becomes an option as it has in the past with smaller operators. All 3 cruise companies have built/bought brands that target comparable and parallel segments of each other’s cruise markets from Super Premium e.g.; Seabourn (CCL), Regent (NCLH) & Silversea (RCCL), to the most Budget minded cruisers. All have customer loyalty which these Cruise Critic Boards exemplify. I don’t believe a financial discussion of the Big 3 viability involves talk about this newer ship v. older, nor a new special feature on this ship v. that older ship…that’s a Coke v. Pepsi discussion IMO. I think the Big 3 survive with customer service, pricing, features, quality all changing due to Covid and now inflation...and not for the better IMO from this cruiser's point of view. Cruising as we knew it pre-Covid will not be back. All just my opinion here and worth every cent ya paid for it.

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." - Mike Tyson Many gas station and other stand by generators were damaged due to rising water or were hit by 100 mph flying debris and didn't work. One major Grocery store chain location in my neighborhood had generator failure. They lost all fresh produce, fruit, meats and all frozen stores. Gas replenishment supplies were hampered by demand exceeding supply...that's another issue for a political forum. There were long lines to get gas where it was available and they had generators. The lines are subsiding and more stations are open now. Many gas station employees were unable to get to work or had personal needs to attend to as result of the hurricane that prohibited them from assisting the station operations. With no electricity in 90% of Naples for several days, EV (Electric Vehicles) had only what juice and range that was charged in them before the hurricane. Laws do not and will not make these natural disasters any more tolerable than this last one was.

CCL, RCL and NCLH viability is completely removed from buying/selling options on these equities. I believe the 3 major cruise lines will weather this storm and prosper. CCL diluted their stock and has a large cash war chest. Nobody can predict ship fuel costs with Russia/Putin, the midterm outcome, macro and unpredictable Black Swan events all pushing fuel prices up and down. Inflation is going to remain...just too many dollars being put into the system with the current Fiscal and Monetary policies in place. Food costs are up and going to stay up or rise further as fuel is such a large component of producing and shipping it. Labor costs are up and that's sticky inflation that's difficult to reduce. The public is hungry for vacations and normalcy. Cruising is one area that will have increased demand if the virus variants don't keep coming with restrictions and more fears. That's a factor nobody can predict. Long term, I'm a Buy on cruise lines. Near term speculating on options, there are far better equities opportunities IMO ripe for sharp moves.

In Naples, FL here. We survived Irma in 2017 and now Ian. Electricity, cellular and internet are coming back on line. Flooding here was closer to the coast. Physical damage was much worse north of Naples in areas like Bonita, Sanibel, Matlacha, Pine Island and Ft. Myers Beach. Was in Miami Friday. Alligator Alley (75) was normal driving to Miami. Heavier traffic than usual returning to Naples with so many trucks e.g.; electric utility, fuel, Home Depot/Lowes loaded with generators and supplies. Miami showed no effects from the storm. Gas, food, traffic normal. Gas stations closed due to no electricity are opening. Grocery stores where emptied and are refilling shelves now. Ntl Guard hands out water at many spots for those needing it. We've had cooler nights in the low 70's making it more comfortable for those without electricity/air conditioning. Very unfortunate for those who lost homes and property. Those who stayed in evacuation areas took very risky chances when there were opportunities to leave and safe shelters were open to keep them safe. Some of those who risked staying, payed dearly. Am very impressed with the FL State Government pre-positioning of assets, 7,000 National Guard, cooperation with relief orgs (e.g.; Red Cross), rescue, food and keeping law and order.

Buy on rumors, sell on news. The 3 major cruise line conglomerates (CCL, RCL, NCLH) now have all their ships back in service. Carnival reported its 2Q earnings. The market didn't like the numbers. Traders missed that aside from rising costs (inflation and fuel) and a loss that was expected, CCL largely delivered good news. CCL revenue increased by nearly 80% in 3Q of 2022 compared to 2Q 2022, reflecting improvement. Onboard and other revenue for 3Q of 2022 increased significantly compared to a strong 2019. Total customer deposits were $4.8 billion as of August 31, 2022, approaching the $4.9 billion as of August 31, 2019, which was a record third quarter. CCL sold $1.15 billion in new stock during the quarter. The company has over $7.4 billion in liquidity. I'd not sell short any of the 3 major cruise lines. Assuming there's no virus resurgence variant that closes down travel and, inflation slows that have hammered everyone's fuel prices, food, fertilizer, transportation, etc, this downturn is a major share buying opportunity as well as M&A cash rich equity firms looking to snap up Crown Jewel Cruise Line assets on sale and cheap IMO!

Good question about insurance. It's now the Cruise Lines each individual policy and choice regarding testing. It's no longer CDC nor government mandated policy to test/deny boarding. The insurance is unclear and seemingly may not cover the cruise if a positive test comes up and the cruise is cancelled due to a Cruise Line choice of Covid policy. I am seeking a Celebrity posted policy regarding testing/refunds/credits for a December cruise that Celebrity will soon demand payment in full for and thus my question here?

One might assume that, but it may not be true. Celebrity specifically has a posted refund/credit policy if one tests positive 2 days prior to sailing with the posted caveat that this policy covers cruises through November, 2022. I find nothing regarding what Celebrity's policy is the next month later in December?

We are booked for a December, 2022 10-day Celebrity cruise in their "Retreat" class. Our deposit has been in. Hard final payment money is due in September. Current Celebrity posted policy regarding testing positive 2 days prior to sailing qualifies for refund or credit. It is stated that this is Celebrity's policy for cruises through November 2022. Spent hours on the phone to clarify what the policy will be after November. Got nothing but was told new policy will be posted first week of August. First week of August they changed Covid testing regarding cruises of 5 or 6 days. Covid testing remains for longer cruises with nothing about what any refund or credit policy is after November. With hard $ due in a month, can someone point to what the policy is for cruises after November?