twangster

In many ways Hockey would have made more sense. Hockey has a stronger following in Northern states and in Canada, which is a huge market for warm caribbean vacations in the dead of winter when nearly everyone dreams of escaping the bleak, depressing, cold and dreadful winter. That's also when hockey is in season. Perfect timing. The only thing I can think of, is that MLS is struggling. Inter CF Miami was 25th in the league for attendance (before Messi) with around 17k fans per match. I'm guessing a team sponsorship wasn't that expensive. In the overall scheme of pro sports in the US, Inter CF Miami isn't even on a radar screen. High school friday night football can draw that number of fans in some areas. It probably didn't cost Royal all that much. That and someone in RCI corporate, maybe Bayley himself, is a fan so it was his idea and being the president of the company he could just decide to do it on a whim.

The thing is soccer isn't that big here. At the risk of offending soccer fans which isn't my intention, soccer has a relatively small following here. AFAIK they only way to watch MLS is with an Apple TV subscription, it's not on TV here in general except for a couple of games. In 2022 the average attendance was 21,033 per match, down from 2021. Number of Americans who follow sports: US football 74.5%, basketball 56.6%, baseball 50.5%, boxing 23.4%, Hockey 22.1%, soccer 21.6%, Golf 19.7%, WWE wrestling 16.7%. Soccer just isn't that popular here, much like Hockey isn't popular despite Hockey having a massive following in Canada. Like soccer, Hockey fans have to pay for a streaming service to follow the league. So why did Royal pick the fifth most popular sport where only die hard fans willing to pay for a streaming subscription have a chance to see any Royal marketing? How many MLS games do UK residents watch? Does MLS have a huge international following? Was the international market Royal's target with this move? I don't think so. It's a very targeted marketing campaign mostly to a local Miami audience.

Maybe a trip to an urgent care? So many things out there beyond CV but most are soon dealt with assuming a normal immune system. If it's something contagious then you shouldn't go. Good on you for buying insurance. This is why you bought it, understand it's coverage and use it if appropriate. Beyond that I wish DH a speedy recovery and hoping it's just something that isn't contagious like something DH ate.

The problem with record bookings is that most of them are into the the future. Deposit money is nice but the meaningful revenue isn't realized until the cruise sails. All those record booking trends will be meaningless if there is a real financial crisis in 2024 and guests walk away from their deposits. That scenario would screw the cruise lines pretty badly. Some analysts suggest it could take in excess of 10 years of record bookings to clear the debt accumulated during the forced shutdown. The cutbacks and belt tightening are going to be around for a few years. I think Fain new this to be true and didn't want to live it so he went out on a high.

I've asked a number of bar staff about gratuity with the new CAS voucher system. I've consistently heard that when Royal implemented the 4/5/6 vouchers they included gratuity. Previously the 3 CAS vouchers for the limited selection menu prior to the shutdown did not include anything for the bar staff, it was expected as part of their duty. Old CAS vouchers = nothing for bar staff unless cash tip offered by guest. New CAS vouchers = gratuity works the same as drink package where bar staff earn something with each card swipe. More swipes, more earned. However understand that not 100% of the 18% gratuity for beverages is awarded to the crew member doing the card swiping. This is the case with pay as you go drinks or beverage packages. They get a portion of the 18% with some money going to other purposes at the company's discretion.

It was first enacted during the initial restart when Pinnacle members were barred from the suite lounge and Coastal Kitchen. It was a temporary measure to compensate for losing CK access. Like many things Royal in practice it varied in implementation by ship. Some ships that don't have a CK offered it during the restart. Other's didn't. Once CK access was restored as the restart progressed it began to disappear from the welcome letter. Yet in the time honored tradition of Royal Caribbean International consistency, not all ships removed the $25 voucher in the same manner. I was eating at Johnny Rockets on Adventure. I had some OBC to use up so I splurged on that occasion. When it came time to settle the bill the server asked if I wanted to use my Pinnacle voucher. "Sure, why not?". Adventure doesn't have a CK yet this ship covered my JR lunch with the voucher I wasn't expecting and didn't ask for. 🤷‍♂️

Fire the CEO? RCCL Stock: 162.57% increase over the last year. The fact that the company still exists was in no small part due to the efforts of then CFO Jason Liberty throughout the pandemic.

Plus it doesn't help the cause that an elevated number of UK cruisers remove the daily service fees a.k.a gratuity. I don't mean to open that can of worms but at the end of the day it is part of the equation for the company and their bottom line when crewing ships for each market.

Re-coding the backend to reflect the date change is asking a lot from an IT shop that struggles with basic IT. Considering how much they outsource they probably have this change on a long list or scrum board, waiting for attention.

Going back a decade they once said Voyager class will never leave the Caribbean. Freedom class is nothing more than a stretched Voyager Class, Voyager Ultra class. Since they have had them down under, across the pond, Asia and Alaska. You biggest challenge is that Royal always somewhere else that can generate more revenue for a ship. It's not that they can't make some money there, rather they make more money elsewhere. They are not trying to dominate that market, other lines beat them to that and it would be a tall order to overcome that at this point.

So basically once CocoCay got a pier, SOU lost a ship. Coincidence?

Quantum used to be in China. The cashiers box in the high rollers casino, a.k.a DL is still there. Signage still bilingual. Even the pool deck restaurant was not fully westernized, just a different offering. That's easy enough to change. If any ship can be repurposed for China, Quantum can be done over a weekend if not quicker.

For two years we have been warned of the imploding economy in the US except it didn't happen. Not yet at least. Perhaps the cruise market won't implode in China just as it hasn't (yet) in the US.

Apparently they are taking something from Flight on Symphony where the plane flies out over the audience and extending that concept to their Oz production. Dorothy is going to fly over the audience followed closely by the wicked witch chasing her, also flying out over the audience.

showmethemoney@rccl.com

Save the date... Oct. 25, 2023. Nick Weir will supposedly reveal all the Icon entertainment on this date.

At this point I don't think his work requires spending a full 8 hours banging keys on a keyboard. I suspect his work involves directing others and keeping on top of things but not necessarily being at the keyboard full time for the entire work day.

Ships have Starlink now but not for long enough that anyone can really answer this question. Starlink is changing every month. More of the v2-mini satellites go up every month, coverage in middle of oceans gets better and better, gradually. So many dynamics in play for a very young satellite service that is barely 25% complete, if that. By 2024? It could be great or it could suck.

Book a Sky Class or Star Class suite, then yes, sort of.

When I was on Ovation out of Sydney in 2020 I made friends with the suite concierge. She was having a heck of a time with sky class suite guests that thought they booked star. Imagine the let down when there was no genie, no UDP, no DX, no gratuity. Apparently they had re-categorized some suites and guests didn't know or made assumptions.

When Cuba became unavailable Royal had to redeploy Empress and Majesty on short notice. Most people didn't stay on the ship for the changed itineraries. It became a great opportunity for folks who wanted to climb the CAS ladder quicker. Many dates had no single supplements for solo and rates were cheap to fill the ship on a few months notice, just like Rhapsody. Keep an eye on Rhapsody. There may be opportunity there.

Unfortunately they did step 1 but forget step 2.

Glad I did the canal in May. I've been wondering if the canal would raise rates because of the drought. They are projected to lose $200M at the moment. It was just a matter of time before they had to prioritize and motivate cruise lines to find another place to sail.

How long before they redeploy the ship? I can't see a lot of folks staying on or new guests booking a cruise that starts in Panama. Not Royal Caribbean type guests.

Glad I used Air2Sea.