[ 07-06-2009: Message edited by: Pascal ]

http://dailycruisenews.com/artman/publish/article_9035.shtml

Remember that Carnival used to be TUI's first choice for the TUI Cruises joint venture. It failed because of German and Austrian antitrust authorities were likely not to pass it.

What sounds downright ridiculous to me is the suspected counter bid by Star Cruises.

Best,

Hopefully with a new administration in place, they will see beyond the greed of corporate America and realize that such an acquisition would be nothing but detrimental to the industry. The only people that would really benefit are the high stakes stock holders, and haven't we seen enough of that over the past several years?

It amazes me that Carnival's business strategy of just buying up as much of the competition as they can has gotten as far as it has.

Ernie

[ 07-06-2009: Message edited by: eroller ]

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Originally posted by PamM:
. Gossip perhaps?

Pam

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Lets hope so Pam. They have used the "vacation company" strategy successfully in the past.

I was very much opposed to either RCCL or Carnival acquiring P&O/Princess and I'm certainly opposed to this.

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Originally posted by Atlcruiser:
I can see it now. It would give Mickey another reason to use the Vista and Dream class design.

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Grand Class too! Such originality. Just another reason why we don't need any additional brands under the Carnival umbrella.

What this rumour shows is how much the gap in financial strength between these two corporations has opened up as a consequence of the financial crisis. RCI, with its higher debt burden, has significantly less balance sheet strength and therefore less wriggle room. Carnival has a much stronger balance sheet and now believes itself (probably correctly) to be virtually unassailable as the premier cruise company of the world.

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Originally posted by reeves35:
RCI, with its higher debt burden, has significantly less balance sheet strength and therefore less wriggle room. Carnival has a much stronger balance sheet and now believes itself (probably correctly) to be virtually unassailable as the premier cruise company of the world.

Brad

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I was advised that the RCCL debt load structure is a 'poison pill' to deter any takeover, be it Carnival, AIG, kingdom of Dubai etc.

This could only happen if RCI are in or going to be in devastating financial problems (possible but not probable) in which case the competition authorities would look at the scenario in a very different light.

However I agree this would not be good for Carnival.

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Originally posted by joe at travelpage:
Anyone heard anything about Carnival Corp making a bid for Royal Caribbean for $35 per share (current RCL price is around $13 per share)?

Joe at TravelPage.com

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I think RCCL will sell RCI ships to a new investor eventually. That would lower their debt load and they can continue sailing with the bi'guns.

A take over requires a company to accept the debt load as well. It ain't happening.

Perhaps if RCCL had remianed just that and not worried about trying to compete globally they would have actually been a lot stronger and a lot more profitable.

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Originally posted by PamM:
The article linked to above has now been removed

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Originally posted by Frosty 4:
RCL's problems stem from all these new builds they have going on.

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Carnival Corp. actually has a lot more newbuilds on order for their various brands.

Cruise lines have to think long term. A new ship is a 30-40 year investment in the future of the company. A couple years from now Royal Caribbean/Celebrity will probably be quite happy they built these ships when they did.

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Originally posted by Frosty 4:
RCL's problems stem from all these new builds they have going on. 1B for an Oasis class vessel and how about the Solstice class???
With the economy down and not recovering as fast as expected with the "Change" govt. RCLs revenues will be down. Although this is a good time to get a deal on a cruise if you shop around wisely.
IMHO We are getting all sorts of flyers from various lines on 2 for 1 fares etc.
Frosty 4

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I agree RCI's problems do stem from the expensive newbuilds. 3 billion for Oasis & Allure. 750 million or more for each Solstice class which means about 3.7 billion dollars, which all together toatals 6.7 billion in ships alone! Not counting oil, not counting payroll and other operating costs. Now is not the time to be ordering all these expensive ships especially when you are stretched for money.

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Originally posted by Cam J:

Now is not the time to be ordering all these expensive ships especially when you are stretched for money.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Cam J:

I agree RCI's problems do stem from the expensive newbuilds. 3 billion for Oasis & Allure. 750 million or more for each Solstice class which means about 3.7 billion dollars, which all together toatals 6.7 billion in ships alone! Not counting oil, not counting payroll and other operating costs. Now is not the time to be ordering all these expensive ships especially when you are stretched for money.

Over and Out,
Cam J

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... I see you forgot 'not to mention the huge profits that these ships will bring if they are as successful as anticipated' and maybe you overlooked the fact that they are not being ordered 'now' but several years ago when no one had any idea about the current economic meltdown?