Carnival to make a bid for Royal?

[PeterPan]

Yeah' date=' there is a reason why Carnival is cheaper.....several reasons actually.

 

They're making money is the main reason.

 

 

And, so is RCL. I say good for both of them in this current climate.

[Richiebaseball]

If you are referring to me, I still do not understand why you think it is wrong to alert people when there is a false rumor being spread. Imagine if myself (and a couple others who also chimed in) had kept quiet and this thread had nothing but people speculating about this "rumored" takeover of RCL by CCL.

 

A thread with a title like this one attracts a large number of hits; had I and others not informed people why this rumor is false there would have been many people reading this thread thinking that CCL was actually seriously considering taking over RCL and some people perhaps even thinking a takeover was imminent.

 

I might not always say things in the most politically correct way, but I believe that I did the right thing dispelling this false rumor even if I had to be blunt at times. The same cannot be said of the people who keep claiming it might be true (even though the only web site that had posted the article has taken the article down) and those who have been taking jabs at me for trying to pointendly dispell this false rumor.

 

I want to publicly thank you for alerting me to the fact that there was no way this could have happened. I was going to put down my life savings and buy some Royal Caribbean stock just knowing that it was going to $35 in just a few days. You single-handedly saved me. I'm dropping to my knees and thanking the good Gonzo.

[Richiebaseball]

If that's what you want' date=' I wish it for you.......:rolleyes:[/quote']

 

From your lips to Gonzo's ear.

[Aoumd]

Guess you missed the posts about the original article being pulled from the Dailycruisenews website.

 

Guess so! I thought I had gone through all the posts between last night and now on this thread but I must've missed some.

 

Sounds like a prudent thing for Dailycruisenews to do given how baseless this seems...

[Richiebaseball]

On a cruise ship' date=' there is no need for 24 restaurants. [/quote']

 

Where is this written? Because I have the "Serious Cruisers Manual, 3rd edition", and nowhere does it state the limit for restaurants.

[steveru621]

Again, I am not trying to demean anybody. I am simply trying to prevent people from looking at this thread and becoming confused. Sometimes misinformation is posted on these boards that leads to confusion (i.e. the $14.95 Chops steak being minsinterpreted as charge for all steak in the main dining room or another example would be somebody stating two bottles of wine may be brought in board because they mistake Royal's policy with Celebrities). I am not sure why people are flaming me for nipping a false rumor in the bud so that more people do not become confused, but I do not care. I will continue to speak up when I see a false rumor being spread on this board to try to minimize the impact the rumor has.

 

This is Cruise Critic not the Financial times. I don't take this rumor seriously and I haven't read anyone here that wasn't having fun with another stupid Internet story.

 

You are obviously a very intelligent person. Unless you are the CEO of CCL, you cannot state with 100% certainty that this silly rumor has no basis in truth. Any CEO worth their bonus would certainly have growth strategies on the shelf that would include buying out the competition.

 

My opinion is yours to disagree with, but don't tell me it's impossible. Have fun with it.

[Jumbiecruiser]

Currently' date=' as posted on Cruise Critic news, out of 22 dining venues, there are 12 that have a fee on Oasis....with other listed as "fee may apply".

 

On a cruise ship, there is no need for 24 restaurants. Now, at a theme park, it's a whole other thing.......

 

You can bet there are going to be LOTS of fees. Maybe not in the first season while the curious are coming aboard but eventually.[/quote']

 

Get your facts straight. There is there are plenty of no fee based dining venues aboard the Oasis. More than are currently aboard any other Royal ship.

[Jumbiecruiser]

You know after reading this thread, I now know why many people don't use travel agents as much anymore. I guess if people want good accurate information about ships then they need to come to Cruise Critic. Some sound like they worked for those study by mail card mills that Royal banned. Maybe that is why Carnival is so popular.;)

[aurelius180]

Where is this written? Because I have the "Serious Cruisers Manual, 3rd edition", and nowhere does it state the limit for restaurants.

 

 

I like your style. :)

[Aquahound]

Currently' date=' as posted on Cruise Critic news, out of 22 dining venues, there are 12 that have a fee on Oasis....with other listed as "fee may apply".

 

On a cruise ship, there is no need for 24 restaurants. Now, at a theme park, it's a whole other thing.......

 

You can bet there are going to be LOTS of fees. Maybe not in the first season while the curious are coming aboard but eventually.[/quote']

 

Well congratulations G'ma. You found another venue to let us all know how you feel about Oasis (again). :rolleyes:

[OCruisers]

Yea, you make a good point. I do enjoy Princess, but older cruisers tell me it was much better before Carnival acquired them.

 

Yes ... but not that bad really!

 

The worst was when Princess bought Sitmar and all the Sitmar ships were totally changed to Princess. Always, we'll miss Sitmar! :o

[SherriZ366]

Where is this written? Because I have the "Serious Cruisers Manual, 3rd edition", and nowhere does it state the limit for restaurants.

good reply

[Aquahound]

Where is this written? Because I have the "Serious Cruisers Manual, 3rd edition", and nowhere does it state the limit for restaurants.

 

Great response!

 

Maybe it'll be in edition 4.....author - G'ma.

[Jumbiecruiser]

Where is this written? Because I have the "Serious Cruisers Manual, 3rd edition", and nowhere does it state the limit for restaurants.

 

Nice response but then I imagine that you know a little about cruising.;)

[Richiebaseball]

Nice response but then I imagine that you know a little about cruising.;)

 

I just hope if I ever become a serious cruiser, somebody will give me a good kick in my opinion.

[GORDONCHICK]

It might be premature in your judgment....but' date=' I've had this opinion since the first announcements were made....... Nothing that has happened since has caused me to change my opinion......

 

As for "making the call".....don't confuse the word "opinion" with "certainty".[/quote']

 

I'm not the one confused - you yourself said you've had the same opinion since the announcement was made. That in itself is premature, or immature if you'd rather. When you've formed an opinion of the viability of a venture that hasn't even begun (first paid sailing), it is both. Simply making a judgement based on emotion and nothing else is silly, unless your 4 years old.

[will work to cruise]

People absolutely should be able to say what they want; I have never attempted to police that. Many topics on cruise critic are subjective in nature and one person's opinion is no more or less valid than any other persons'. However some topics do have a "right" or "wrong" answer (i.e. the price of a meal at Chops, whether or not there is still a midnight buffet etc.). The article in question indicated that Carnival Corp. was currently contemplaying bidding $35 per share to take over Royal Caribbean. This is not one of those subjective issues where it might be true or might not be true, this is a factually incorrect statement the article made. That is all I was pointing out.

 

I am not sure where you think I took something out of context - perhaps you could provide me with examples. I am the type of person who likes to be right, but has no problem admitting I am wrong if that turns out to be the case. I always try to examine issues from multiple view points and do not merely filter the available information to suit my opinion.

 

I also have never purposely tried to talk down to people (and thank you neg for advocating this). I will be the first to admit I am not always politically correct and do not sugar coat things when I disagree with someone, but my intention is never to put someone down. On this thread I did speak (well type) rather sharply on a couple of posts, but it was only because I was frustrated that some people were still giving so much credence to the article which was a blatant misinformation. I have no porblems with people discussing a "hypothetical" merger of RCL and CCL, but this thread was starting to cause the potential for people to read it and think that CCL was actually possibly going to try and take over RCL in the near future. I was simply making it clear to people reading this thread that this is not the case so that a false rumor of something that would impact all the people on these boards to a high degree would not begin to sink in and spread. That was also my point in the comments about space ship cruises - I was using some dry humor as well as trying to show how far fetched the article the OP refererenced was. :)

 

Just be yourself Gonzo. I enjoy reading your posts and your brand of humor.

[beachdogboarder]

Don't believe everything you see on the internet! :D

 

Does that include your posts?

[beachdogboarder]

I'm not the one confused - you yourself said you've had the same opinion since the announcement was made. That in itself is premature, or immature if you'd rather. When you've formed an opinion of the viability of a venture that hasn't even begun (first paid sailing), it is both. Simply making a judgement based on emotion and nothing else is silly, unless your 4 years old.

 

from the mouth of babes..............

[rogicoco]

Yea, you make a good point. I do enjoy Princess, but older cruisers tell me it was much better before Carnival acquired them.

yes, princess was amazing before carnival acquired it and so was hal and cunard. now it became a different version of carnival.

[ehfl]

Okay, and how would they get this buy anti-trust?

 

This would be trivial to get around. They simply could buy the RCI ships, rather than the company. Each ship actually has it's own, foreign company. The ships are not owned directly by the cruise line, rather the ships are owned by a foregin corporation (Panama, Bahamas, etc.). These corporations are then owned by the company. Each ship is an independent company.

[NittanyLioness]

After reading this thread, I felt compelled to offer my opinion regarding the topic. (In the interest of full disclosure, I have been "Loyal to Royal", with the exception of a Carnival cruise.)

 

That being said, it seems to me that RCI has made a commitment to its "Corporate Vision of the Future" by building two "destination-in-itself" cruise ships. Time will tell whether the strategy works.

 

RCI also owns Celebrity and Azamara Cruise Lines. Logically, one would hope that were RCI to find itself "financially struggling" (as suggested on this thread), RCI would first entertain the sale of either/both of the two aforementioned Lines, rather than give up its "Corporate Vision of the Future".

 

In short, I find the "All or Nothing" scenario mentioned on this thread to be a bit simplistic. Just food for thought...

 

Best regards and happy cruising!!!

 

NittanyLioness

[cruzendude]

Well congratulations G'ma. You found another venue to let us all know how you feel about Oasis (again). :rolleyes:

 

Serious question G'ma.....Have you EVER posted to a thread that you didn't have half the members on it hating you??? Just askin..... :p

[luckyprincess]

I want to publicly thank you for alerting me to the fact that there was no way this could have happened. I was going to put down my life savings and buy some Royal Caribbean stock just knowing that it was going to $35 in just a few days. You single-handedly saved me. I'm dropping to my knees and thanking the good Gonzo.

Lol! That was too funny!:p

[MrPete]

The rumors persist, now on TRIPSO:

 

http://www.tripso.com/today/is-carnival-about-to-take-over-the-cruise-industry/