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I am pleased to see that you have joined me in being an equal-opportunity anti-merger person.
Because I didn't like your blind faith in RCCL. They are at least as bad as Carnival.
Happy Cruising,Cruiseny
Certainly I don't think the travelling public can be winners in any of these merger situations...
Carnival have done some very good things for the travelling public in the past. Cunard might not be around today if it weren't for Carnival, and Holland America would never have had the capital to expand to their current state. The quality over at Costa supposedly is increasing hugely, so that at least the monopoly in the European market is a rather more pleasant one.
However they are big enough for the time being. And RCCL have too many problems of their own to worry about without having to take on P&O.
Regardless, merger or no merger, it is already obvious that there are two, and only two major players in the market: Carnival and RCCL.
Mickey Arison has said that if P&O Princess are merged with RCCL, they will become "mired in mediocrity."
The problem is, they already are. Their product is looking less attractive by the minute. Their ships are the blandest in the world, and their latest ones look no different from those they've been building for years. They already are mediocre.
And Star Cruises are a complete and utter mess with no image, no product, no direction, no goals, no idea of where they're going, what they're doing, or anything else. They are in last place and I see no reason that they shouldn't continue slipping away until they are good only for laughs.
Taking over NCL probably wasn't as brilliant a move as everyone thought it was. Star Cruises were a great company when they stuck with Asia. But Star and NCL were tremendously incompatible, and NCL is being ruined. They may not have been great when taken over, but Star knew nothing about NCL, nothing about the American market, nothing at all. They seem like a bunch of confused amateurs. If the Three Stooges ran a cruise line, Star would be it.
So I don't think it is preventable that one way or another, merger or no merger, we are looking toward an industry dominate by Carnival and RCCL. This nonsense between them will conntinue, and when the merger farce is over something else will come up. It's called "competition" and that is what they are doing.
Since I bought my POC stock at IPO..... I am quite happy!! But, of course, I will be watching the stock price like a hawk.. no need to give too much away when the stock tumbles!!
quote:Originally posted by ocngypz:The way this is all being played out on "The Street"..... Princess is now the Crown Jewel to be "Won".Since I bought my POC stock at IPO..... I am quite happy!! But, of course, I will be watching the stock price like a hawk.. no need to give too much away when the stock tumbles!!
Aah... And if the FTC gives go-ahead, who do you vote for? Carnival or RCCL?
I haven't the faintest idea who I would... Really I think from a passenger's perspective either way it can't be for the good. But then again the worst that can happen is that Princess will fade away into mediocrity... And as I've said they're most of the way there already.
On the other hand if I were a stockholder it would have to be a financially motivated decision...
I don't know the stats, if I owned POC stock I would obviously.
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