Baron Barracuda

Haven't read through the prospectuses but it's likely debt covenants prevent RCL from paying a dividend until capital ratios get back to a certain level. Business may be performing fine, but balance sheet is still highly leveraged.

If ill mightn't travel insurance cover lost excursion?

Left Kauai at 4pm yesterday scheduled for 6 sea days prior to arrival at Bora Bora. Just before noon captain notified us that due to a sick passenger we are returning to Hawaii (Hilo?). Nevertheless he hopes to reach Bora Bora on time. Ship tracker currently shows we still have a fair amount of back-tracking to do.

Currently on the Star. Met a guy at embarkation who was extremely angry that he flew in a day early using Viking Air and they wouldn't provide him with transfer. Planned to go to guest services to seek reimbursement for his Uber fare. Gave him my sympathy and wished him luck but said that's just the way the system works. Ran into him yesterday at tea and he was beaming. Said after several visits guest services gave in and awarded him $45 obc.

Currently aboard the Star which left from LA last week. Port of LA web site showed us leaving from berth 93 while final Viking docs said berth 46. Several in our roll call contacted Viking who assured them it was 46. As we drove to port there was the Star tied up at 93. A number of folks initially went to 46 and had to double back.

Seems pretty clear to me. CCL has both cruise and non-cruise business. The cruise business pays no US taxes while the Alaskan tour business does. Results for tour business segment isn't broken out in their financials. Also, as the chief explained the $70 million in taxes is global, not just US. How much is US? Don't know, they don't break out taxes by country. If you need to know call Jim Heaney, their CFO and see if he'll tell you.

Thanks chief, but Outdoorphoto obviously believes a 3rd party web site has it all right and Carnival's SEC filings and shareholder reports are all wrong.

Read the link but prefer to believe what CCL says in their SEC filings over third party reformatted data. Just read the extensive tax discussion in the 10k. Also, there are numerous news articles from the covid shutdown period on how the cruise lines were excluded from the various relief packages because they are foreign companies that pay little to no US taxes. VP Mike Pence was involved in these cruise line discussions.

That $70 million (2.3% of earnings) is global, not just US. Small amount of US taxes is related to their Alaskan hotel and tour operations. Cruise earnings aren't subject to US tax. It's spelled out in their 10k.

We book direct through our great Viking rep, make our air reservations through Air+ (if applicable) and then transfer the completed booking to our great TA. TA sends us a "loyalty credit" check post cruise. For our upcoming 32 night sailing we're getting $1,750. Viking rep gets her commission and is happy, TA gets commission for doing next to nothing and is happy and I am happy with my check. Only one possibly unhappy is Viking for paying out double commission, but they made the rules.

Not cruise lines. Never have, even pre-covid. Domiciled in tax havens offshore

Not having to pay income taxes certainly helps.

Which VO ships currently have Starlink installed?

Three months ago we were able to cancel and immediately re-book same sailing / same cabin. Paid the $100pp penalty and replaced forfeited Tripmate policy with outside coverage.

Learned that lesson when we cancelled and re-booked Polynesia. Fortunately for us savings was compelling even after booking new non-Viking insurance

Interest expense has nothing to do with the $3B debt reduction. The $8.7B figure is debt due over the next three years, much of which will likely be re-negotiated and extended. Their actual debt maturity for 4q '23 is $0.7B and full year '24 is $2.4B. Remember that you repay debt from cash flow, not earnings. RCL's earnings are net of $1.4B of annual depreciation, a non-cash expense.

They paid down $3B in nine months this year, leaving $20B. Pre-covid ltd was $9B. If business holds up wouldn't be surprised with dividend in '25.

Did you notice that they've paid off $3B in debt ytd reducing balance to $20B. At that rate remainder should be manageable without further cost cuts.

Revenue comparisons vs 2019 are no longer as meaningful as all ships are back at sea and fleet additions have increased number of available berths by double digits. More significant is how they've been able to pay down $3B in debt ytd much of it carrying 11.5% rate.

On the other hand some prices do go down. Last June we considered the 33 day Grand Hawaii and Polynesia sailing for this Nov 10th. Price for a PV2 was $18K. Then they rolled out a sale at $14.2K and we happily booked. In August the SUM23 promo dropped the price to $11.2 so we cancelled and rebooked, paying the $100 penalty. Price is now $10.2k + free air. I can see at least 40 cabins still available with v2 going for $4,499. Not bad for 33 days.

Have sailed out of Cape Liberty many times during all seasons. First day can at times be choppy but Oasis class handles it much better than Quantum class. Once you round Cape Hatteras and pass from the Atlantic into the Gulfstream it's always been smooth sailing.

Thanks Peregrina651, Johndfk and Heidi13. I thought customs would be in SD. I remember years ago on Caribbean cruises we cleared customs several times in San Juan prior to returning to Miami. No luggage involved, everyone just paraded through mdr passports in hand. Peregrina, I hear your arguments against arriving too early but after flying in from east coast dw will likely be up pacing at 4am. Will try to stall hotel departure but no promises.

We're sailing on the Star in three weeks from B93 which appears to have an actual terminal building. Flying in the night before and staying near LAX. Our plan was to arrive at pier just before 11am but if dw thinks she can board at 10am she'll push to get there early. Bad idea? Bonus question - as we return from Polynesia do we go through customs at SD our first US port or LA at end of cruise?

Is it coincidental that 28 million Americans had to resume making student loan payments this month? Those payments which have been suspended since covid are reportedly putting a major crimp in many peoples discretionary cash flow. Wouldn't be surprised if new reservations are falling and existing ones are being cancelled at FP date. This would especially impact their targeted younger demographic.

While I fully expect RCL to post great 3q earnings I don't expect the stock to bounce much. Most of the good news was already built into the price during the earlier run-up. Market remains concerned about high fuel costs and rising interest rates. Price drop in cruise stocks parallels pretty much mirrors action in other energy dependent / highly leveraged businesses like airlines. A risk item no one is talking about however is how younger people (Royal's target demographic) will modify their spending in response to the resumption of student loan payments.