Pima1988

Simple. Matt sent you.

@jticarruthers, yes, but most cruisers are not Diamond + and that is what RCL is banking on right now at that price. Plus, other things when it comes to the price. IE. My hubby and I are not Diamond and will not be for a while even though we sail every 9 months (7 night + cruise balcony). I think I am more of a consumer they are banking on at that price than you....no offense. I am loyal, I am purchasing the middle of the road cabin. I get every a.m. an iced coffee with an extra shot of espresso from the starbucks (cafe latitudes) on our way to the MDR for breakfast. Don't know the actual cost, but lets say 6 - 7 bucks Breakfast we always ask for the squeezed OJ. Can't stand the fake stuff. Guessing $3. I am officially at $10 and I have yet to eat breakfast. Husband hits the Gym after breakfast. I go to the Solarium. He hits the freestyle machine to fill his cup with a Powerade, I grab a bottle of H2O. It is now 9:00 a.m. and we are at $13. 11 a.m. rolls around and we hit the bar for a cocktail...He is a Lava Flow fan. Me I will stick with margarita on the rocks. BAM we are at $26. Always ask for a bottle of H2O, BAM 29. I never order another cocktail until I finish the bottle of water 1st. Lunch @ 12:30. Be it in the MDR or WJ we get a soda. Now I am at 32...again I don't know how much a soda goes for, guessing it is $3 a pop. Back to the solarium @ 1:30 after lunch and grab my 2nd cocktail for the day. I am now at 45. Mind you only 2 alcoholic bevs all day long. Still following my rule, I also get another bottle of water. I am at 48 and it is 1:30 3:30 I call it a day at the pool to hang on the balcony. Hit cafe latitudes and get myself a frappucino. I am at $55. Hubby refills his cup with Cherry Coke Zero. He is at 51. We always do a pre-dinner cocktail. At 68 now Dinner glass of wine, followed with a cappuccino and amaretto shot. At @ 95. (total alcohol bev = 5) Off to show and get a bottle of water. I am at 98. Show over and I get 1 more bottle of water. 101. Granted that is a sea day. Yet, you can see how someone like me can easily be a losing money maker for RCL. Additionally, I think I ran low on the numbers. My SoS cruise is also hitting both Labadee and Coco Cay, that means I am using the package 2 of my port days. I have 2 sail days. I am only at a non RCL port 2x on my 8 day cruise. Those port days also are unique. I will stop at OSJ from noon to 10 pm. We will be eating breakfast, lunch and dinner on the ship. We will get off the ship after lunch, back on for dinner, off SoS after dinner, back on for the late show...IOWS will use our alcohol pkg that day too. St. Thomas is a short day in port, depart at 4. That means again, we will be back on the ship by 2:30 or so. Using the package again, because as we walk off the ship we will walk off with a couple of bottles of water. Get back on, change and hit the Solarium bar/pool for sail away. I get that 84 for my cruise is OMG compared to when we paid 57 prior. I am not saying I will buckle and pay for it, but I do get the rise in cost. I also believe it will come down since they need to make cruising affordable again, and $1600 for a 7 night cruise on top of the dining package, excursions like the Coco Cay Beach club pass, plus the cabin will price them out of the market.

Yes, but for 2021 cruises running at $90/day that may actually be a cheaper route. Buy the Bourbon, Gin, Vodka and Scotch with the sodas they give in the package. Carry on your 2 bottles of wine and a case of H20. Open up your own speak easy in your cabin, selling to your neighbors at 10 bucks a pop for mixed drinks, 5 for wine, 2 for H20! Voila you made money and now you can pay for that DBP at $90 bucks. JK! LOL?

+1 @monctonguy The glut truly started the 1st week of March, way b4 the US went into the stay at home/save lives. @twangster here is an article that shows why the prices went down as fast as they did. Now, granted, the world staying at home to save lives is impacting the price, which in turn is why the Saudi govt wants the US to reduce their output. https://time.com/5806218/russia-saudi-arabia-oil/ However, here is the double edge sword for the administration. Cut output and that means cutting jobs in the US, plus rising gasoline costs. Don't cut it, and that means a glut and make it not as profitable for a company, equating into layoffs in the future. An oil rig or fracking is not cheap to operate. by buying What person on this forum ever thought before this, that for big returns on investment would have been with the Hoberg Paper Company (they own Charmin toilet paper)?

@monctonguy The thing is this is a cruise forum, but trust me, the entire hospitality industry will be hit just as hard, or harder, in my post I am talking about the airline industry since it is a close example of the cruise industry. Read me out. My husband is a retired AF flier, many of our close friends are pilots for airlines (Commercial, FedEx, UPS) My DS is a pilot. Airlines prior to this were recruiting so many pilots that USAF was giving a 25K yr bonus on top of their 10K flight pay to keep pilots and were still losing them at a 75% rate at the officers 10 yr point. These USAF pilots were actually taking a pay cut to fly for the airlines bc in the long run (5+ yrs) they would be making a lot more than that 35K they were being offered. My best friend's husband is a commercial pilot. His flight hours have been cut from 125 hrs to 70 a month. His airline pays them per flight/leg. That company is doing this just so they don't have to furlough anybody. AA today announced they are starting furloughs. Lufthansa has announced PERMANENT cuts. The thing to me is that I can see the cruise industry coming out of this faster than the airline/hotel industry. I can get to Baltimore, Cape Liberty, FLL without staying in a hotel, or taking a flight. I understand that is not true for everyone, but let's be real. If you live in Venice and want to go to Corfu, but not get in a flying tin can with 150 people, than a cruise is a great option. If you live in Texas and want to go to a beach destination, such as, Cozumel, than a balcony on a ship sounds better than a hotel. Same could be said for if you live in the UK. I would much rather jump on a ship that I drove to than get in an airplane. PS. I fly a lot. My husband and I just joked last night that a yr ago, we were in Madrid at this time. Came back flew to Alabama and TX in June. Flew to TX in July. Just saying no way no how will I fly b4 August at the earliest, get on a cruise ship in July, yep! Look at how clean they keep an airport the next time you are there. Have you ever seen someone wiping down the chairs by the gate after a flight leaves? Look at a cruise ship. Hands down cruise ships are cleaner, but than again it might be bc they constantly live under the fear of the Norovirus.

@scrumps The thing is fuel is a necessity for that industry regardless of when they will sail with passengers again. They purchased the land on Bahamas b4 the crap hit the fan. Nobody on this board knows what they are using that loan for... is it to buy fuel to stave off future gas prices? The gas glut has little to do with CoVid 19. It has a lot to do with Saudi Arabia and Russia fighting, so much so that both govts are now pressuring the US to agree to lower their oil output. They are actually lucky as a company. Their employees are contracted. Contract is up, than it is up and not being renewed. As @twangster stated that equal less operating costs. They are cutting costs, and bills still need to be paid, but do you really believe that the Bahamian govt is going to start foreclosure on the land tract they just purchased? Do you really think banks are in the business of owning a ship the size of Oasis? The banks know the likelihood of selling it to NCL or CCL is nil, those companies are all in the same boat financially! However, by purchasing fuel at more than they need at this low price means they can actually re-sell it if they need to do so to make the payment. If it goes up, than they have more capital. Fuel is not perishable. It actually is an asset for the company ledger, just like one of their ships. Actually a better asset.

@bobroo Actually for my Master degree thesis that was part of the thesis. It was a study not on the cruise industry, but the airline industry. I did this in 99. It was a thesis about how SWA differed from the traditional airlines like United, AA and Delta. The three key components of differentiation at that time were: SWA purchased fuel at least 6 months out; operated 1 specific airframe and flew in/out of unique airports. In the end my thesis stated that SWA would become the model of the future for the airline industry. Interesting that you can see the same for cruise lines, especially RCL Traditional airlines at that time were buying 6 months out also for their projected needs, however SWA purchased more than they needed if the price was low, so if the price went up they had a cushion from fuel costs and could pass that savings along to their passengers. Whereas, the big guys now had to purchase at the higher cost, in turn, the passenger cost flying with them went up. Passengers decided to go to SWA' Now if RCL does buy fuel on the cheap right now, even though they spent more capital, they will be able in 9 months from now to keep sailing with lower costs compared to, let's say NCL or CCL. If they are smart and pass the costs along to the cruisers, than they get a bigger hold on the market in the future. SWA only operates 1 airframe. There are multiple reasons for this. Just like the bridge crew and maintenance officers on a ship, having only 1 airframe meant they lowered operating costs, especially from a training aspect. Same airframe = same parts. Same airframe = employees, be it mechanics or pilots could work on every plane. A 737 is different than a 767. A pilot or a mechanic can not just jump from 1 to another without additional training/certification. Look at RCL right now, they are getting rid of their smaller older ships, albeit they are very profitable, they are taking the sale of those ships and investing in larger ones. You could take the Captain of Celebrity Edge and throw her on as the Captain of Harmony with ease. Same with the engineers. That equates to lower operational costs due to training. Same is true for parts and upgrading systems. Little known fact about airlines, the gates at the airport are "leased". The reason SWA flies into Love Field and not DFW is because all of the gates were leased. Love Field is close to DFW. BWI is their hub in the DC area. The lease cost is lower. Just a thought, but this also may be why the company is spending capital to build all of their new private islands. The cost maybe high, but in the end, they are saving costs from a port tax/fee. Plus, nobody else can sail there. Both NCL and DCL prior to this announced they were going to expand their private islands. Why? Because of the success of Coco Cay. They are now playing catch up. RCL now is dropping $$$$ in Bahama to create their own version of a beach excursion, instead of having to pay for an Atlantis excursion. The only question that lingers for me in that situation, is tax implications for them. Do they now get a tax break, aka lower port fees for the passengers bc the company now physically owns land in Bahama? Regardless, to me it is a smart decision fiscally, bc Bahama is no longer a go to location, and many cruisers tend to now not get off the ship. Having their "private beach" on Bahama may mean this is the 1st sign of a new design for cruising. Hop on hop off. IE build a hotel there. Fly into Bahama hang there for 3 days at their hotel/beach, get on Navigator for a 3 night cruise and come back to Bahama. Makes even more sense since Bahama has agreed to upgrade their port. See above...NCL and DCL are again behind the 8 ball. Their $$$ is tied up in competing against Perfect Day. Part of me thinks they are taking a page out of DCL's playbook. IE many passengers do a 3 night at Disney World and a 4 night cruise as a 7 night bundled package. Now let's be real, RCL will always have the smaller ships in their inventory. Baltimore is a money maker for them, but due to the bridges, they can never have an Anthem sail out of there. Plus, there will always be passengers that do not want that "big ship" feel. Now after this novella, here is my question.... will RCL in the next few yrs become a pioneer again regarding ship size? I mean, do they start building a new Lady G or Enchantment so they can sail out of smaller ports like New Orleans, Charleston, or Baltimore. If they do CCL is in trouble. Look at Baltimore it is only RCL and CCL. If they build a brand new ship with the bells and whistles, but small feeling Carnival Pride does not stand a chance. Once again, CCL is caught behind the 8 ball. Tie it all back up and if RCL used this credit line to purchase fuel at a larger amount than they need, than that money later on will go back into their future. The lower fuel costs can go back into building their new private islands = lower port fees = lower sailing costs = the ability to build new ships. Thanks for reading this, and yes, that was the defense of my thesis for why SWA was a better investment than the big boys.

+1 @twangster I would add maybe that is a reason they took a larger credit line....to purchase fuel futures. It may sound illogical, but it could make or break them when the industry is back in operation. The lower fuel costs will give some breathing room.

I agree with you, but I am still in the camp that this is just their out of the gate numbers to test waters. The OPs cruise is May 2021. 400 days a way. or IOWS 13 months. I can understand buying the bev package if it was the OMG $18 oops sale. However, even if it was at $65. I probably would not pull the trigger. I have OBC and a credit card with 0% int., yet why would I use that this far out. My expectation is that it will probably drop to 70 or so, which would be on par with a 10% inc. We always buy the package, and never bring on board our allowable wine. If it stays at that price I would bring on wine. I would look into how much they are selling a bottle of alcohol to be delivered to your room, and call it a day with just the classic soda package plus the coffee card. The only way I would still be swayed is our cruise stops at both Labadee and Coco Cay. I have seen many companies that go under just because they think by rising prices they will make up their losses. In this industry, it will also come down to see if Carnival, NCL and Princess follow suit. They may all join the bandwagon, or they may stay put and gain past Loyal to Royal clients due to this faulty business model. The only thing I will be pulling the trigger way early is still not showing up. Coco Beach Club pass. I doubt that will show up for 3 more months. I too have a sailing 403 days away. Here is one thought of why they have it so high as of right now. The 125% FCC. Maybe they are hoping those receiving the credit will pull the trigger thinking that, heck it is 25% free money. However, what I have read the sailings are costing more, so I am not sure that works. My cruise is up 1K for my cabin.

To me the real question is....what will the individual drink price be set at? If they raise it to 15 or 16 per drink, than for my sailing it would be 5 drinks. Of course if you look at my sailing the refreshment is running @34. So it is only 50 more for the deluxe. If they rise it to 15, than for us it would be just over 3 which is not difficult to do. There is no way I am doing anything less than the refreshment. OBTW here is the interesting facts. The soda package and the coffee punch card really did not go up in price. The soda is running at 13.50 and the coffee card is at 31. That is about a buck more than I usually see for the coffee and $3 more for the classic soda or about 20% higher compared to my previous sailings. The refreshment is running about $15 more than I have seen it in the past, or about 40% more. The deluxe is running about 45% higher.

@JLMoran their cruise is not for over a yr from now, compared to yours that is for 4 months. If you look at @Bean79 theirs has remained at 69 for their cruise in 5 months, thus, they are holding stable for RCL for at least the next 6 months. My spring cruise for this year was cancelled. Our spring cruise for next yr. is running the deluxe pkg at $84. There is no way I am biting off on that price. I will if I have to, but if that price remains I will wait until 60-90 days out.

I would than look at how long you would be in KW if that is your number 1 port and what day of the week.. For ex. Does the Rhapsody dock at 9 and stay until 6 on a Tuesday, whereas, the Brilliance docks at 8 and leaves at 4 on a Sunday. You could find that you have less "true" time in KW. We liked KW. Did not do the famous pic in KW (southernmost point) bc the line was a block long. Just did the see it, been there and keep walking. We did eat at Blue Heaven in KW. Def. go. https://blueheavenkw.com/ You have to try their Pie. Look at the background, you can see a hand. Yep, it is that tall.

Just my 2 cents and with 2 bucks more you could get a mall coffee at Starbucks (if they are open) I understand that you are gifting this cruise for your children, but how old are they? Is Rhapsody going to be "TOO BORING" once the sunsets or on a sea day? My assumption is you are driving or flying into Tampa since your moniker states you are from CT. Are you going to add on to the trip for a few days, or are you just flying in and out for the cruise? IE we sailed on Enchantment. It was a port intensive cruise that included KW. Basically flew in and out. Would never sail on her again out of Miami. However, when she repositions to Baltimore we would reconsider sailing on her. No air fare issue bc we live in No Va. Plus, we love Baltimore Inner Harbor and would stretch it out for a 4 night/5 day cruise into a 7 day by staying the night before and after there. These things would be part of my decision. FWIW we travel with friends and family on cruises often. The rule of thought has always been, we meet for dinner and do excursions together, otherwise on sea days you are on your own until dinner. See above regarding would it be too boring on sea days?

Just me, but I would do Brilliance over Rhapsody due to the size of the ship. However, the negative I find with the Brilliance is I don't like 4 night/5 day sailings, they're just too short.

No stimulus for us either, but had we been eligible to receive one it would have been used on the cruise.

We prefer decks that are a little but lower, usually 3 decks above the promenade/esplanade. We like those floors because we find we take the stairs more than when we are higher up since we are right in the middle floor wise. Same is true for room location, If we can choose we are going mid, learned that lesson on Anthem. We had a cabin that was so far fwd, and high up that we could literally wave hello to the bridge from our balcony and they would see us. There was only 1 cabin closer. You learn real quick how those hallways can go on for forever or at least that how it felt

@Aneedels which ship are you sailing on?

My hubby and I were discussing this last night, well the whole travel/tourism industry taking a hit and unemployment/furloughing. He thought Aug. would be the earliest date due to ports. I said, I think it will be earlier, at least 1 port came to mind regarding how hard they have been hit financially. Bahama. Remember they only got slammed with a devastating hurricane 6 months ago. This is now a double whammy for their economy. My bet was that they will be the very 1st to open. In that case you could see RCL maybe relocating many ship itineraries. IE Lady G can sail south out of Baltimore,.. Adventure out of Cape Liberty could go to Boston, and Portland ME. Anthem can go to Bahamas and Coco Cay. I do wonder one thing. How much more balcony cabins will go for in the future due to the visuals on the news of the Princess cruises? So many people use to say, save your $$$ since you are hardly ever in the cabin and I am sure many on the Princess took that advice only to find their worst nightmare come true of being locked in a cabin with no daylight. We always book a balcony, and I can guarantee you that we will never go lower than a balcony because of those visuals!

I am someone that wants to see the glass half full. Personally, if I lived near a port and could sail with last minute notice, I would kind of be excited. I am pretty sure that they would be offering some great deals to fill up the ships for the 1st few weeks that they go back out because of all of the cancellations and like ChessE4 mentioned, airlines may not be back up in the US. ~ Look at China, it is now the 2nd day in row that they have finally announced no new virus patients. In essence, that would be 4 months from the 1st reporting patient. For us, if people follow guidelines and do the right thing, plus warmer weather, maybe we could be 3 months. That places us at mid June for no new reporting. Now here are the problems I see: Do they do a slow roll out? IE Harmony goes back on line, but smaller ships like Enchantment do not, hoping that they can force passengers onto one ship over another (cabin occupancy). U.S. may open up, but that does not mean Canada will open at the same time. I.E. Anthem, Adventure, Oasis, Grandeur do the NE/Canada flip to Bermuda/Bahamas during the summer. If one of these ports cannot reopen than they will be facing docking issues. Look at Cape Liberty. Anthem docks one day, Adventure another. Hotels. Just like ChessE4 mentioned regarding airlines, the same is true for hotels. Many passengers that cruise come into that area a day prior to the cruise. They may now be stuck with being able to fly in, but not finding a room at any inn since hotels may roll out slower than airlines. or vise a versa. JMPO, but I see them rolling them all out at once regardless of capacity. They will want to make a powerful statement. Plus,, I would think ships are like cars. My hubby is retired military. Everytime he was deployed for 6+ mos. he reminded me that I needed to drive his car every 2 weeks just to keep the engine going, or tires moving.

My bet will be June 15th, maybe June1st. If we follow China's dates. It was 4 months until they finally did not register 1 new case. It really is going to depend on how Americans behave in the next few weeks. If people stay at home and follow social distancing than it could be earlier. If people keep acting like this is not "real" than it would be longer. I think your 1st idea of how soon they will be back will come from Vegas. Not talking betting, but when they start opening their hotels again. Remember there is for many cruisers a 2nd factor....flying to the port. The airline industry is cancelling many flights.

I am fortunate that my company (a national retailer) closed all of their 600+ stores for the next 2 weeks. I am not sick, but I have chosen to quasi self quarantine. IOWS, I will still go to the store when I run out of milk, but otherwise I am staying at home. We live in No VA. I actually laughed/shook my head when I did my 1st milk run. There is a nail salon next to the grocery store and a hair salon on the other side of the store. I am watching women walk in and out. Seriously, what don't you understand about social distancing? On top of that any woman with nails knows that long nails can be a petri dish to carry those germs....YEP bc I work for a retailer the minute this virus became an issue in the US I cut down my nails to protect myself and my customers. I am also semi-ticked at a few of my friends that own small businesses. 1 is in NJ and 1 is in Florida. 1 owns a yoga business and she is saying if you are tired of being locked in your home, come on down. The other owns a craft attached to a café (every women knows what I mean...you and your friends paint something while your drink wine or coffee) She posts everyday about how they are still open, and holding classes, serving coffee etc. I get they are small businesses and need to pay rent, but what I don't get is that they are going to stretch how long this thing will last if they just shut their doors like my retailer did. As of yesterday, my boss called me to say, he was not sure how long we will be closed. Our company will re-evaluate on Mar 28th. Rumor is if we have to remain close after the 28th, than I will go unpaid. Those people, such as the person getting their nails done, or my friends with small businesses, may indeed impact my own pay because of remaining open. They actually are also impacting the travel industry. I feel for the crew. Think about it. Many of the staff are supporting families back home. No grats., and they are losing a huge pay check. Several of my friends are airline pilots. They are now worried about being furloughed just like after 9/11. Small businesses are risky, and contribute a huge amount of money to our economy, and they use this as a defense of why they are staying open, but they also are not realizing how they are impacting the economy negatively in the long run by staying open. Done venting.

We tipped out our attendant when we did the Chill cabana last July. She had 4 cabanas. Our attendant was phenomenal. One time I asked for a drink, and off the cuff said I am running to the bathroom. My thought was only just leave it in the cabana. I walked out of the bathroom and there she was standing with the drink on the tray. OMG. Every time we left the cabana we came back to see the towels re-folded. She even went as far as going to the towel station and replace our wet ones while we were in the water. I can't recall the amount we tipped her out. I will also say that it wasn't only our attendant that went the extra mile, it was all of them. I can't tell you how many times I saw attendants at the edge of the water screaming the passengers name with a drink in their hand to deliver to them. They physically hunted down the passengers.

Formal nights are called dress your best. It really is up to you. I have noticed over the course of my cruises that the 2nd formal night (lobster tails in the MDR) people dress up more, including myself. I also have seen many couples that use the 2nd formal night as the night to celebrate an anniversary or a wedding, hence another reason why it may appear more formal. We dress up and make it our special date night. We always get a balcony. Hubby gets ready 1st. He than takes his Bourbon and diet coke, and watches the sunset on the balcony. I close the curtains, and get ready. MY TIME to MYSELF. At the time we have agreed upon he knocks on the balcony door just like if he was picking me up for a date some 37 yrs ago. We than head for cocktails prior to dinner. OBTW, we never do pics. We have no desire to stand in line. We take selfies, we ask the waiter to take pics, etc. Fwiw, we also immediately after dinner go back to our room and change before going to the shows.

@Ampurp85 I agree those look to be arancini appetizer. I am not a fan of them either, always tasting very bland to me.

We immediately go and sign up for our reservations as soon as we board. We decide which restaurant, which day and what time we want prior to sailing. We have never not received the time we wanted. IE We do research of past cruise compasses to find out which night is going to be formal (typically on a 7 night cruise we see it as night 2 and 6) so for us, we don't book specialty on those nights. FWIW we always select traditional late seating in the MDR. When we do specialty we usually select 6:30.