Fourth Excel Ship Ordered for a 2027 Delivery

[BlerkOne]

20 minutes ago, dolphinsfan246 said:

I read that Excel ships can’t go to New Orleans, something to do with the depth of the river. 

I don't think I'm buying that. 

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, notscb said:

 

RCL is doing this very same thing at Miami- it'd be smart for Carnival to do it as well. Miami is clearly a cash cow for the cruise industry, and its on trend to put the best, flashiest and newest ships there for everyone to see and enjoy. I'd be surprised if Carnival didn't end up with two or more Excel ships there.

Perfect reason for Carnival NOT to do it

 

[jimbo5544]

32 minutes ago, dolphinsfan246 said:

Carnival once debuted the brand new Fantasy on 3&4 day cruises from Miami. And it was a smashing success. Not saying history repeats itself but history does repeat itself. 

How many decades ago was that

 

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, jedi bobs said:

My thought would be Excel 4 to Port Canavral, Mardi Gras to NOLA, Valor or Liberty to Norfolk, Sunshine to Mobile, and Spirit over to Tampa.

 

Panorama, and Frenze are staying on the West coast becuse if they broght them East they would have to go down and around South America.

 

Spirit to Tampa did not take a lot of thought….I would sail a ship around the horn

[Stick93]

35 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Perfect reason for Carnival NOT to do it

 

 

2 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

It would be smarter not to follow Royal. Carnival isn't going to put a new ship on short cruises for now. They would put one in Fort Lauderdale before they put two in Miami.

Royal is killing it with coco cay - milking money out of every pocket people have. Carnival could use a money maker in conjunction with their new Freeport port…. but your both prob right with carnival making all the smart moves and their debt going nowhere why copy a plan that is working. 

Edited March 7 by Stick93

[BlerkOne]

46 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

 

Royal is killing it with coco cay - milking money out of every pocket people have. Carnival could use a money maker in conjunction with their new Freeport port…. but your both prob right with carnival making all the smart moves and their debt going nowhere why copy a plan that is working. 

Maybe Carnival cruisers are smarter than Royal cruisers?

 

Carnival is doing a fine job of managing their debt, thank you. And had almost 2.5 billion cash on hand Nov 30. Royal? Less than 500 million at the end of last year.

[tidecat]

7 hours ago, dolphinsfan246 said:

I read that Excel ships can’t go to New Orleans, something to do with the depth of the river. 

Maximum draft on the Excel class is 28 feet. The draft on the Conquest class is 27 feet. The limit for the lower Mississippi is 50 feet.

 

I couldn't find anything definitive, but beam doesn't appear to be an issue. Even near Port Eads the river is over 500 feet wide, and it typically is wider upstream.

 

The biggest problem New Orleans has is that it's not in Texas or Florida. Moving up to the Excel class would nearly double Carnival's capacity on either 7-day or 4/5-day cruises out of New Orleans. If New Orleans were that underserved, we'd probably already see something done about it.

[Stick93]

10 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Maybe Carnival cruisers are smarter than Royal cruisers?

 

Carnival is doing a fine job of managing their debt, thank you. And had almost 2.5 billion cash on hand Nov 30. Royal? Less than 500 million at the end of last year.

Of course - I noticed royals stock is 5 times its lowest and they have 4 more ships on order.  Carnival stock which I own is still close to the bottom where I picked it up at in 2020 …and  have one more ship in order. 
 

Seems very clear that carnival is pilling up the cash in the back room and is waiting for a rainy day to show royal who’s their daddy! 

[jimbo5544]

12 hours ago, Stick93 said:

 

Royal is killing it with coco cay - milking money out of every pocket people have. Carnival could use a money maker in conjunction with their new Freeport port…. but your both prob right with carnival making all the smart moves and their debt going nowhere why copy a plan that is working. 

Yeah, every decision I make is terrible.  But I get confused, is this thread on cococay?  Is this thread on RCCL?  

[BlerkOne]

31 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

Of course - I noticed royals stock is 5 times its lowest and they have 4 more ships on order.  Carnival stock which I own is still close to the bottom where I picked it up at in 2020 …and  have one more ship in order. 
 

Seems very clear that carnival is pilling up the cash in the back room and is waiting for a rainy day to show royal who’s their daddy! 

Stock price is meaningless, but go ahead and dump your life savings into Royal since you are so confident.

 

Royal doesn't have the cash to pay for any ships so their debt is going up. If they can get financing.

[Stick93]

1 minute ago, jimbo5544 said:

Yeah, every decision I make is terrible.  But I get confused, is this thread on cococay?  Is this thread on RCCL?  

I know you comment on a lot of things, so you don’t always realize where the conversations started - but this discussion was taken about  having an excel ship doing short itineraries.  A comment was made that if Royal  was doing it, Carnival should not.  
 

 

[Stick93]

Just now, BlerkOne said:

Stock price is meaningless, but go ahead and dump your life savings into Royal since you are so confident.

 

Royal doesn't have the cash to pay for any ships so their debt is going up. If they can get financing.

I’m not an economist, but I still see their ships being built, and I still see them being delivered.Usually when stock prices go up, it means that people have confidence in the company. 

[jimbo5544]

2 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

I know you comment on a lot of things, so you don’t always realize where the conversations started - but this discussion was taken about  having an excel ship doing short itineraries.  A comment was made that if Royal  was doing it, Carnival should not.  
 

 

We agree

[Stick93]

12 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

We agree

I think they should and would be very lucrative for them. The fact that carnival is building celebration island (whatever they are calling it) means they are aware of the “cash cows”  a port that can spin dollars daily truly is. 

[BlerkOne]

29 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

 A comment was made that if Royal  was doing it, Carnival should not.  
 

Still true. All the more reason for Carnival to go smaller. Royal's solution to fewer ports is shorter itineraries. But Carnival's smaller ships can get to more ports.

[BlerkOne]

12 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

I think they should and would be very lucrative for them. The fact that carnival is building celebration island (whatever they are calling it) means they are aware of the “cash cows”  a port that can spin dollars daily truly is. 

The Bahamas is watching and will be raising prices even more.

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, Stick93 said:

I think they should and would be very lucrative for them. The fact that carnival is building celebration island (whatever they are calling it) means they are aware of the “cash cows”  a port that can spin dollars daily truly is. 

To be honest, have not looked at depth at Celebration port.  I would be shocked if it opened on schedule, just the Caribbean way.  I am sure it will be profitable, but prob not on our list of must go to’s, but sure we will visit (by default).  I am not a fan of cococay at all, but rhat is just me.  Meg ships are kind of floating amusement parks now, will be more so if they get bigger.  Imagine if you will the third iteration of icon class with a full amusement park (for pay)…not my idea of a cruise.  Make it a 4 or 5 day, I can pretty much guarantee I would not go on for free….but that is just me.

[BlerkOne]

3 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

To be honest, have not looked at depth at Celebration port.  I would be shocked if it opened on schedule, just the Caribbean way.  I am sure it will be profitable, but prob not on our list of must go to’s, but sure we will visit (by default).  I am not a fan of cococay at all, but rhat is just me.  Meg ships are kind of floating amusement parks now, will be more so if they get bigger.  Imagine if you will the third iteration of icon class with a full amusement park (for pay)…not my idea of a cruise.  Make it a 4 or 5 day, I can pretty much guarantee I would not go on for free….but that is just me.

I think they might open on schedule - there was already a delay by Hurricane Dorian that wrecked the island.

 

I don't get the appeal of taking a floating shopping mall/amusement park to an island amusement park/shopping center, but apparently some do. I travel to learn and experience what other cultures have to offer.

[BlerkOne]

11 hours ago, tidecat said:

The biggest problem New Orleans has is that it's not in Texas or Florida. Moving up to the Excel class would nearly double Carnival's capacity on either 7-day or 4/5-day cruises out of New Orleans. If New Orleans were that underserved, we'd probably already see something done about it.

Cruising out of New Orleans is growing, but that might be too much of a jump. Carnival certainly should put a Dream class back in New Orleans at a minimum, but more likely a Vista class.

[Jamman54]

19 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

How many decades ago was that

 

1990 to be exact, and I HATED that they did that! 😑 

[jimbo5544]

16 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

1990 to be exact, and I HATED that they did that! 😑 

Bingo!

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

I think they might open on schedule - there was already a delay by Hurricane Dorian that wrecked the island.

 

I don't get the appeal of taking a floating shopping mall/amusement park to an island amusement park/shopping center, but apparently some do. I travel to learn and experience what other cultures have to offer.

Not my idea of fun, that is for sure.

[JMKreno]

Added argument for an excel class ship in LA, Royal is expanding in LA by adding the Quantum of the Seas. https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2024/03/royal-caribbean-quantums-los-angeles-program-includes-44-departures/

 

I imagine the Panorama will move EAST and be replaced with the Excel class to compete with the Quantum and Firenze to compete with the Navigator. 

 

 

I really doubt this will happen but one can hope. I mean, it would honestly make sense on the West Coast - that is the port that they use to get that large west coast market exposed to cruising Carnival and an Excel Class would be a hell of an introduction!

Edited March 8 by JMKreno

[Stick93]

7 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

The Bahamas is watching and will be raising prices even more.

But every cruise line heavily visits Bahamas ports. Nassau, the private islands. The costs are passed to the passengers who travel. The taxes and port fees are something people understand less than where their tips go to. This comment means nothing.  

[Stick93]

5 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

To be honest, have not looked at depth at Celebration port.  I would be shocked if it opened on schedule, just the Caribbean way.  I am sure it will be profitable, but prob not on our list of must go to’s, but sure we will visit (by default).  I am not a fan of cococay at all, but rhat is just me.  Meg ships are kind of floating amusement parks now, will be more so if they get bigger.  Imagine if you will the third iteration of icon class with a full amusement park (for pay)…not my idea of a cruise.  Make it a 4 or 5 day, I can pretty much guarantee I would not go on for free….but that is just me.

No cruise line besides Norwegian has made a smaller ship recently - every cruise line is adding revenue enhancing entertainment. A water park on sea is prob more profitable than a roller coaster that takes 2 people one time. It’s all about more $$$$. Personally I give the companies credit for getting the money out of people’s wallets so easily.  Specialty dining, entertainment, roller coasters, thrill rides and anything else like adult only areas. The sky is the limit to what people will spend and are spending. Carnival needs more gimmicks-