twangster

I’ve been eyeing Azamara for some time but when ever I click on a deal it seems to rapidly escalate to $5k. One day. For now I’m sticking with Royal. Plus maybe Princess.

Broadway shows are complex. Someone owns the rights to a show and Royal (or anyone who wants to offer the show) must pay them. In many cases the contracts are complex to make sure two different production companies don’t offer the show in the same area and compete. A company who paid millions to offer a show in NYC wouldn’t want a cruise ship offering the same show based in NYC. Why pay hundreds to see it on Broadway when you can go on a cruise and see it plus get a cruise? Not all shows adapt to a ship. The sets can be complex and often a show doesn’t want their show compromised by modifying a set or eliminating set pieces to work on a ship. They can be very particular, right down to a can of soup on a cart that sits on stage for 10 minutes. Royal can’t just change the set, it all has to be approved by the folks who own the rights to that show. When they do find a show and set that can work on a ship, it can be a lot of work to figure out how to assemble massive set pieces that have to be stowed when something else is going on in the theater. Ship theaters are multi use versus a broadway theater that is dedicated to one show for months or years. Set pieces need to be secured in case the ship has motion. When Quantum left the US it took a month to break down the set and ready it for shipping. Royal has to carefully consider any potential show. Language, sexual references, etc. aren’t an issue on Broadway but for a ship it very well can be. To plan and cast a show and find the best talent around the globe to fill the cast is an incredible effort. They can only stay on a ship for 7 months due to maritime regulations so you need to cast two different groups of people. A year later and someone isn’t available or is injured or had a baby or... It’s a massive effort to cast hundreds of people across different ships on a constantly rotating basis. So it’s more complicated than most people realize.

Historically they have cruised year round to Cuba. Given the pending changes by the current administration with respect to travel to Cuba, it's likely Royal is not opening up additional cruises for booking beyond 2019 until the exact nature of the changes have been published. So far the word from the US government is vague and lacks details.

The normal pricing offered by Celebrity or Royal is the same as what's offered locally. That's why I've always bought it locally, in case weather is off. That's a great sale price.

He is an executive with the cruise line. Right up there with the CEO. Seems odd he would offer that European bookings are slow if they aren't.

So Royal's CFO lied to investors on it's earnings call with investors? That doesn't make sense.

That's great. Why are cruise bookings off in the UK?

It business. All businesses that operate globally with a presence in the UK are facing repercussions from Brexit, travel operators included. Faced with uncertainty people are holding on to their money and not booking vacations in the same manner they have previously.

I think Brexit is a factor, albeit maybe not the primary one this journalist decided to blame. It's the easy scapegoat but at the same time you can't dismiss Brexit completely either. Don't mean to insult you Brits, but it is wreaking havoc with money and many different companies that operate globally with a presence in the England. It's a mess. Uncertainty breeds instability. What else would one expect? It's not going to be a smooth ride through this for you folks. Have family there, wish you all the best.

As mentioned in the other thread bookings are off in Europe. Of course they are moving ships where they'll make money, keeping a ship in a region that isn't booking well would be foolish. They are a business. They have shareholders they are accountable to. https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/05/08/what-royal-caribbean-wants-investors-to-know.aspx Geographic hits and misses It's rare that booking patterns are strong in all regions of the world and like most years, we are seeing some variation this year. -- Liberty (on the call) The cruise line operator noted strong demand in the core Caribbean geography that accounts for about half of its global business. Volumes were surprisingly weak in Europe, meanwhile, likely due to economic uncertainty around Brexit. The company is responding by shifting some assets toward the U.S., and that move highlights a key advantage of Royal Caribbean's diversified approach to deploying its ships. "We've built a business model that can play in the rain," Liberty told me, so sluggish demand in any one area isn't likely to drag down overall results.

On my 8 night Indy holiday cruise they had 3 formal nights. Christmas was an "extra" formal night with a Holiday menu.

So in other words the website is working "normally"? :)

Is the My Calendar trick not working?

Following up with Allianz it seems they need more information but neglected to send me anything stating they needed more information. They are requesting proof of when I reached the cruise ship. For the fifth time I explained I could not reach the ship. They can't add that to information the claim. I need to wait for the request for information to be received then reply to that request with my proof of when I boarded the ship. In my appeal letter I clearly stated I did not board the ship. In my original claim I explained I missed the cruise. Apparently they are not reading my claim notes or appeal letter. They are still proceeding on the basis of trip interruption. #frustrating

There in lies the ingredients of the secret sauce. Shake up the 3/4 night short cruise market which is often used to acquire new never-cruised or a loyalist from another brand wanting to sample. Shake up the NYC area with Oasis. Shake up Galveston with the tantalizing promise of Oasis class. Give Florida the long sought after Quantum class to shake it up. What they aren't addressing are Empress and Majesty plus Vision class. Here we are in May and nothing on the books for Empress or Majesty in 2020 due to the uncertainty of Cuba. We might be seeing these ships depart from the fleet reducing Caribbean inventory and trimming the fleet back to 24, 25 when Odyssey arrive. They've hinted at the West Coast but are being very cautious there, for good reason. And what of Vision class? They are getting older and now their mandatory maintenance windows is down from 5 years to something more frequent due to their age. At some point they too have to go, or at least some of them making way for additional ships.

Yeah, I wondered about that when I read it. It occurred to me the journalist may have jumped to the conclusion or Brexit was suggested since it's a safer scapegoat.

There a whole other strategy here. Some people who cruise with friends take this to a whole new level. Put the wife solo in a JS and book the husband as a 3rd guest in a cabin with friends. Wife get triple points, husband stays in that JS with her. Husband pays 3rd guest rate, wife pays 340 reduced single supplement. Wife climbs the ladder quickly, husband gets her status changes as she levels up. This can be cheaper than a solo inside cabin for husband.

Based on entertainment tours which usually include some techies, the technical behind the scenes crew are on their own contracts independent of the cast. The cast or performers of the shows come and go as a group, the techie folks work on their own contracts distinct and separate form the cast. They work multiple venues which can play into scheduling of shows. On Symphony for example 'Flight' is very technical with a lot of rigging and back stage work. It draws from the Aqua Theater backstage crew which means the Aqua Show and Flight can not be performed on the same nights. Quantum class is somewhat different with dedicated Two70° back stage crew although a few may straddle and work both main theater and Two70° at times. They work other gigs as well. Setting up a microphone for an ad hoc event here or there, maintaining ice and setting up Studio B for other events. They can sometimes be offered additional side jobs to earn more money such as guiding guests on embarkation day, staffing the Box Office for last minute reservations, etc. These are voluntary, not required or forced side jobs. There is additional distinction of crew on board. The Marine Department includes the crew who work on roles supporting the ship itself versus the Hotel Department. The Marine Department seems to report up through the Staff Captain to the Captain while the Hotel Department roles up through the Hotel Director and Cruise Director to the Captain. Cruise Directors have quite a few people as reports, direct and through middle managers/staff/officers. There is a lot more to a CD job than just hosting events and being in front of guests and at times the process of managing humans consumes more of their time than they would like. On a recent bridge tour they had a poster on the wall for incident management that showed the reporting lines.

The Concierge Lounge pretty much follows the Diamond Happy Hour menu: Strongbow cider *should* be available. When I was on her some guests with a drink package inquired about a better liquor and the bartender made the effort to walk over to the Viking Crown Lounge bar to satisfy the request. This was going above and beyond the call of duty and warranted a cash tip. They are not require to deviate but when motivated they might. If they don't have a hard cider on hand, they might be willing to walk over and get some.

There are many international conventions and in some cases law that applies to all seafarers (ship workers) regardless of the ship - cruise, cargo, tanker, etc. Generally speaking they limit crew time on board to no more than 11 months before being entitled to repatriation but in some jurisdictions that is actually 9 months. Royal follows the 9 month rule. Some entertainment cast have 11 month contracts so during an entertainment backstage tour I asked the cast how is it they have 9 month contracts when the rule that Royal follows is 9 months? In the case of entertainment cast their contract starts with 2 months in Miami learning the shows at the massive Royal entertainment studios there before they head to the ship for 9 months. The 9 month rule applies to time on board the ship. Crew constantly rotate on and off the ship. The 9 month contract length is not co-terminus across the whole ship crew. This week 10 may join the ship and 10 leave. Next week 25 join the ship and 27 leave. The following week 19 join and 17 leave, etc. To further complicate matters some crew movements are subject to the PVSA in the US so they can't end a crew contract in one US city if that crew member joined the ship in another US city. They'll disembark them in places such as Cozumel or St. Maarten (as examples) instead. Next Cruise and some other ship jobs have been deemed by the US authorities as crew who are not essential to ship operations so they are subject to the PVSA. Life on board the ship is interesting to say the least. It's challenging for some while others embrace it and love it. Whirlwind romances spring up but are often short lived given the nature of crew constantly coming and going with no more than 9 months on board. The next contract (if one is offered) may be a different ship in a different region where a new whirlwind romance commences. To be blunt, there are a lot of hookups going on below the passenger decks that come to a crashing end when a crew member goes home. This can be an emotional roller coaster for some. Crew work long days with few days off. It's largely 7 days a week, week after week, 12 to 18 hours per day but not always in one shot. Some love and embrace this given the opportunity to "see the world" but that often comes in very short glimpses of the world in between work shifts. Shared living quarters that are quite small are a big downside of life onboard any ship. Many crew are not allowed into guest areas or have to have a valid reason to leave crew areas. It's not a cruise vacation in between work shifts.

Another interesting component is on-board spending. Current financial results versus the competition are largely being buoyed up by on-boarding revenue. From the article above: Net revenue yields were up 9.3% for the quarter, which is approximately 150 basis points higher than the midpoint of our previous guidance. The main drivers of the positive variance were continued strength in onboard revenue and better than anticipated close-in demand It's well known that some markets don't follow the US model of gratuity and in Europe it's more common for guests to remove the DSC or Daily Service Charge. That is their well within their rights to do so but it hurts the bottom line with crew contracts when Royal has to make it up. It's been suggested before that some regions are tighter with their money and that plays directly into on-board revenue variation between regions. European vacations are often planned well in advance. Close in bookings are less of a thing in Europe. Combine that with the practice of DSC removal and ships make less on-board revenue in some regions versus the US. Combine that with soft European bookings and the result is... put ships where they make more money, the US. Why not? Follow the money. Royal has already stated Odyssey is coming to the US, it's just a matter of where.

Found an interesting article ... Jason Liberty is Royal's CFO. https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/05/08/what-royal-caribbean-wants-investors-to-know.aspx Geographic hits and misses It's rare that booking patterns are strong in all regions of the world and like most years, we are seeing some variation this year. -- Liberty (on the call) The cruise line operator noted strong demand in the core Caribbean geography that accounts for about half of its global business. Volumes were surprisingly weak in Europe, meanwhile, likely due to economic uncertainty around Brexit. The company is responding by shifting some assets toward the U.S., and that move highlights a key advantage of Royal Caribbean's diversified approach to deploying its ships. "We've built a business model that can play in the rain," Liberty told me, so sluggish demand in any one area isn't likely to drag down overall results. Keep in mind we have a splurge in inventory available in Europe at the moment. On top of the regular ships, Oasis is there now in 2019, Anthem and Allure coming in 2020. It seems bookings are soft in Europe so they are responding by putting their ships where they make more money, the US. The mega ship "invasion" is being done to accommodate 5 year mandatory dry docks (and while out of service the AMPing or refresh that most of us care about) but it seems the European market can't support all that inventory. That may be an opportunity for some of us, potential lower prices to stimulate bookings but in the long term it doesn't bode well for a big ship seasonal presence in Europe.

A disadvantage of the don't pay now Air2Sea model is that you can't book actual seats, until they pay the airline, which may not be when you would like if you are particular about seats and sitting together. Once they do, seating may be less than ideal.

When I booked a Sky Suite in 2017 it claimed the butler thing but research at that time indicated to me it wasn't a thing any more. Since I didn't need assistance to unpack my bag ( a claim at the time of the butler service) I never gave it any consideration and never saw a butler once on board so my expectations were realized as far as this perk goes - zero.