Lee Cruiser

$449 goes a long way towards another cruise. No way we would pay that for a few hours at the beach and be glad we did.

It's just like FTTF. As long as there are people out there that are willing to pay these ridiculous amounts, then they will continue to charge them. Why should they change? There are only a limited amount of spots/ items available and as long as they keep selling out, there's no reason for Carnival to charge less. Until enough people decide they are not going to be taken advantage of, then the prices will continue to skyrocket. We made a determination that many of those extras simply aren't worth the money and that we would save that money for future cruises.

Blerk, here's an article you will like. https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/04/18/better-buy-in-2023-carnival-vs-royal-caribbean-sto/?source=eptyholnk0000202&utm_source=yahoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article

Yes, but like other ships there will normally be a wait time on most days of 10-15 minutes depending on when you go.

Yes, one email would suffice. I did it last year for our three cruises between September and April. All three were approved.

We loved Mardi Gras and have Celebration and Jubilee booked in the future. Mardi Gras is so much better than the Conquest ships in way of dining and entertainment. The center stage shows on Mardi Gras were the best we've seen in over 20 cruises.

We love Cozumel and have been there probably 15 times. We've done some excursions in the past, but now we always take a taxi to Paradise Beach. Never felt unsafe at all there. We are not huge fans of Progreso. We stay on the ship there. We've only been to Costa Maya a couple of times. If we were doing an excursion there, we would probably stick to a Carnival one.

I've been hoping they would add a third ship to New Orleans doing Saturday-Saturday cruises. The shorter itineraries there get old. I certainly believe that the N.O. market could support three ships.

Possibly. With $10 Billion of new debt across the brands, or at least not being able to pay down that much more, they could be in the $31 Billion range themselves. Even with new ships, they should be able to pay down some of that, Again, they will have four new ships in RC by 2026, and 11 across all the brands. Given that it takes a couple of years to build a ship, Carnival would have to order in the next couple of years to have ships available by 2027. It certainly sounds like they are not planning on adding any ships before then, if they do then. That will be four years or so without a new ship. This should help them pay down debt, but only time will tell which strategy works out best. Unfortunately, I don't think Carnival really has a choice. With $36 billion of debt, they have to get this down as fast as possible.

Perhaps, but even if all of it is debt, they would still have less than Carnival and have new ships producing a good revenue stream.

It's more anecdotal on my part, but I've been researching some RC cruises for late next year and early 2025. Because it's Saturday to Saturday, Icon out of Miami works better for us. However, because it's the newest ship coming, it is several hundred dollars higher than comparable cabins on their other ships like Symphony and Oasis. Carnival has certainly done this in the past as well.

RCI definitely has an advantage over Carnival when it comes to new ships coming on, with four ships (one Oasis Class and three new Icon Class ships) by 2026. The full corp is adding 11 new ships. These four new ships will give RCI an advantage over Carnival in the next few years as new ships generate excitement and allow the line to charge more. https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/04/royal-caribbean-groups-10-billion-orderbook-includes-11-ships/

I hate to say I agree with Blerk 😀, but I do. It sounds like the problem was the TA not doing them correctly. I prefer to do my booking myself. I recently had to cancel a cruise and I received an email with a link to the e-gift card withing two weeks. I have already used it for our next cruise.

Mine was an e-gift card as well, but I received a physical card for the refund. However, when I cancelled the actual cruise, I received an email with a link to an e-card.

Mine took about two weeks. I received a Fedex package with a gift card.

Carnival's debt is over $35 billion Carnival ended the first quarter with $5.4 billion in cash and $35.1 billion in debt, for net debt of $29.7 billion. At year-end 2019 (with Carnival's fiscal year ending in November), just prior to the pandemic, net debt was $11 billion. https://realmoney.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/carnival-beats-expectations-but-its-stock-still-doesn-t-merit-a-party-16119631?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

They also have more debt than the others combined

TD Ameritrade is a good way to buy any stocks. After you get your account set up it is simple to fund and use. No fees to trade.

Yes, it certainly does. Based on what they are saying, I wouldn't expect any new ships until at least 2028. It sounds clear that they are planning to use this to help pay down debt. That could help position them for the future (2028 and beyond.) However, the big problem is that the other cruise lines appear to be continuing to build new ships, which allows them to continue to create excitement and charge more. Which plan is better? Time will tell.

"Carnival Beats Expectations, but Its Stock Still Doesn't Merit a Party" https://finance.yahoo.com/m/ca763371-c081-345e-b463-87b87ddab5d6/carnival-beats-expectations-.html

Definitely shouldn't be in the market and one could argue that you may not need to be spending money on cruising either.

I wouldn't be surprised it that does happen.

Yes, the OBC is a good benefit if you buy it low, but it may pay to wait a little before buying it. I wouldn't be surprised if it drops another $1 or more per share this year. Last fall it got below $7 for a period.

As many of us thought all along, it's going to be a long rocky road for Carnival stockholders. In spite of having great bookings and revenues, as well as a less than expected loss for the last quarter, the stock still moved negative today. It is also dragging down the other cruise stocks, though these are down nearly as much as Carnival. As of 2:20 eastern, Carnival is down over 5% today compared to RCI at .12% and NCLH at 1.95%. The debt continues to be a huge problem for Carnival. Another huge factor is that Carnival expects a loss for this year of 28-44 cents per share instead of the estimated 8 cents per share due to rising operating costs. Don't look to make big money on Carnival stock anytime in the near future. Because of the much larger number of shares outstanding now compared to 2019, the stock may take decades to ever get near the 2019 price again. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/carnival-corp-posts-smaller-loss-133147129.html

It wasn't a necessity at any time. We didn't use Verifly on any of our cruises (5) since restart. We never had any issues without it.