Baron Barracuda

To me 2q is the put up or shut up quarter. All ships back at sea sailing full. Need to see them in the black and solidly cash flow positive. Prior quarters positive cash flow was all due to higher customer deposits. That won't continue.

Still scratching my head, seeking to understand the huge recent runup in cruise stocks. None has posted a single profitable quarter in three years. CCL posted a 2q loss this week on 99% occupancy and the stock initially tanked after they forecasted higher than expected expenses. In 1q '23 RCG posted a loss despite 102% occupancy. Very interested to hear what RCG has to say on August 2nd when they report 2q results. Let's see if those strong bookings they've been raving about find their way to the bottom line.

Please explain your point on TripMate. Viking did allow us a 25% rate reduction from a new promo last year on Grand European Tour three months before sailing. Even threw in beverage package. Others in our roll call obtained reductions as well. If this was only a couple of hundred $ I wouldn't ask, but the difference is substantial. Have no problem canceling, paying the $100 and re-booking. Lots of cabins available. Emailed TA. She's not in until Thursday so will let you know how we make out.

Why in the world would X have all the Beyond sailings call at Grand Cayman, the one major port in the Caribbean where everyone has to be tendered ashore? Lots of other ports they could have substituted. Thanks to AI can see those Reflection 3 & 4 sailings turning into rowdy booze cruises. Surprised that they are moving away from Nassau given the large beach club they're building on Paradise Island.

Clay, Yes Hawaii and Polynesia. We're in a PV2 that was $17,299 earlier this year. Memorial Day sale dropped the price to $14,299 which is where we booked. Under the new promo it's now $11,299. Tom T

Applied and rejected. Policy had no out of country coverage.

SUM23 drops the price of my PV2 on November Hawaii sailing by $3kpp. Shouldn't be surprised as my TA's website currently shows at least 75 available cabins. Will have my TA call and request price adjustment or cancel/rebook (we're outside 120 days so penalty is only $100pp). Anyone have experience with how VO handles these situations? We had applied $400 voucher which might be at risk on cancellation but double past guest credit is a +. Will also lose SS bev pkg but $6k buys a lot of drinks. Assume Tripmate carries over.

Friends have asked us to join them on a January Viision sailing. We've never been aboard Vision but have happily sailed Grandeur a number of times. Was very disappointed to read quite a few recent negative reviews online. Some were unhappy with insufficient port time in Bermuda (which would not affect us) but there were numerous references to the ships age, condition, entertainment and food. This has left us wondering whether we'd regret this sailing and would be better off trying to talk our friends into switching to another Anthem cruise instead. Oddly, fares on Anthem with all she has to offer are somewhat cheaper than Vision.

A number of years ago came down flu on Christmas day. Good news was medical gave me Tamiflu, some nebulizer sessions and other treatments which had me fully recovered in three days. Bad news was $1100 charge to my sea pass account. That was the last time we sailed without travel insurance. A few years later dw took one into Solarium on Explorer and went down hard on wet floor breaking her foot. Everyone was very concerned and medical took good care of her. A number of security folks stopped by asking to see the bottom of her sneakers which had good tread. Didn't receive a bill. When we returned home we wrote to Royal about covering her follow-up Orthopedist bills. Received a check in the mail for our out of pocket costs plus a credit for a free cruise.

Only sports betting I recall seeing on Royal was horse racing many years ago on pool deck.

Have to believe FCC's have had a sizable impact on price. When sailing resumed they provided a solid base of bookings which allowed X to jack up price on remaining cabins. Now that most FCC's have been used or expired would expect pricing to stabilize and potentially moderate.

Excuse me, but LLP has done nothing but cut for quite a few years, even before covid. Most recently she's the one who implemented the charge for room service and gutted the Ocean View dinner service. A few years ago she tried to switch the Mast Grill to extra charge. Now we have the degradation in the MDR. She significantly reduced staff, most noticeably in housekeeping where stewards went from working in teams to solo. She took production of the main theater shows in house. Most are now very similar and hard to watch. She implemented the suite program which is wonderful for the 12% of passengers who sail in suites but the rest of us must contend with less common space and are shoehorned into a smaller MDR. All in all it's been death by 1,000 cuts. I began sailing with X in '93 but now am more drawn to Viking. It's a little pricier but they have held the line on service quality.

It's hard to draw meaningful conclusions on price trends just by referring back to historical bookings on non-identical itineraries. Consider that some itineraries are inherently more expensive and seasonality affects pricing. Even for a single sailing refundable deposits are pricier than nrd and fares can gyrate wildly in the months leading up to departure. For example the inaugural Mardi Gras cruise on Equinox in 2017 was a hot ticket. We booked cc class when the itinerary was announced for $200pppd and then watched the price more than double over the next year before falling off a cliff after final payment date. There is also the very small chance that the X sale you took advantage of was truly a sale.

The last two times we paid Viking Air deviation fee (not including the one I discussed above) the air rep got us the seats we wanted at time of booking. This was many months before tickets were actually paid for.

As someone else suggested call "Insure my trip". They're travel insurance pros who work with dozens of insurers. They would know if anyone has a product that can help you out.

Not looking for an argument but take a look at post 4 and you'll see I clearly mentioned November 10 of this year and business class.

Apparently not for 11/9 - 12/12 per 3 Viking reps. Or maybe just not for Business Class. Anyway discovered Viking was not significantly cheaper than booking on my own. Viking was charging me $1700pp while last week I could have directly booked UAL Premium Economy going and Business returning for $1865. Lots of seats available so waiting to see if I can do better.

Booked the Hawaii and South Pacific 11/10/23 sailing a couple of weeks ago which included free air. Paid for air+ and upgraded to business class. Figured NY - LA, flights leave pretty much hourly so getting a convenient mid day nonstop should be a breeze. Well, Viking put us on a 6;30AM flight with a 3 hour layover in Minneapolis. Web site gave no other options to switch to. Spent an hour on the phone with air+ but they said they had nothing else, maybe check back in a month or two. Called my VO sales rep who has years of air experience. She put us on hold a dozen times while she spoke with air. Finally came back and said Viking has no contracts with United, American or Jet Blue for NY-LA nonstops so they can't accommodate us at all. She apologized and refunded our air money including the $100 air+ charge. Now sitting here with my fingers crossed checking airline prices daily.

Future pricing will be influenced by supply and demand. Over the next few years there are 28 larger new builds (2500+ passengers) scheduled for delivery plus another dozen smaller ones from premium outfits like Oceania, Virgin, Viking and Explora. That's a lot of capacity needing to be absorbed. Pre-covid there were rumblings about how overcrowded Caribbean market was becoming especially in the winter. Additional capacity coming on line may well lead to weaker pricing.

Take a look at the cash flow statement and you'll see most of that positive operating cash flow came from a huge rise in customer deposits from $4B to over $5B. With all ships back in service expect deposit balances to plateau. And occupancy for the quarter was 102%, not far below the good old days.

We're in our 60's and began sailing with X 30 years ago but now prefer Viking. VO's prices are higher than an X balcony, somewhere around that of a JS. There are lots of inclusions like free beer & wine with meals (bev pkg is $25 per day), FREE SELF SERVE LAUNDRY including soap, free shore excursions, free wifi, free specialty restaurants and IMO food quality on par with where X was 10 years ago. Love having sushi and crab legs at the buffet nightly. No kids under 16 allowed. One downside is entertainment where the theater is small featuring a small ensemble group of singers. There is also no casino.

Just booked Viking Ocean 32 night LA-Hawaii-Bora Bora-Moorea-Tahiti-Marquesas Isles-SD-LA. Originally looked at Jan '24 sailing but Memorial Day sale prompted us to switch to 11/10/23. Promo code is MDS23 and includes price break + stateroom upgrade + free air + bev pkg.

Just booked Nov. 10th sailing of Grand Hawaii and Polynesia using the Memorial Day sale. Would have preferred the Jan '24 sailing but sale made Nov. $3k pp cheaper plus received free air & SSBP. Only disappointment is despite being listed as a benefit we weren't permitted a 1 category bump. Didn't expect they would give me a PS3 for price of a PV1 but wouldn't even give me a PV2 for price of PV3. Rep said promo only included category upgrades within DV's. Anyone run into this before?

RCG has not stated that the new Paradise Island beach club will be exclusively for RCI passengers.

If they are opening doors at 4:30 then those window tables should begin to turn over around 6pm. So if you really want one just go for cocktails and stop back at 6:15.