Negativity

On 2/27/2010 5:36 AM, Borked Psuedo Mailed wrote:
Ray Goldenberg wrote:
On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:58:29 -0500, Charles
wrote:

Looking recently at prices for a possible cruise in mid March there
seemed to be a bunch of bargains.

Hi Charles,


The vast majority are paying much
more for their cabins. This has almost always been the case.




Yeah Charles. Ray is telling you that you're full of ****.

Never mind this in todays mail.

It's just "a few cabins".

Ever wonder what Ray smokes out there in LaLa land?


Ray Pinocchio Goldenberg sincerely believes that last week's floating of
a ship that was ordered five years ago by a niche cruise line is
convincing evidence that he doesn't have to close his shop in the near
future. Of course he's wrong. This is what the WSJ wrote about
Carnival's recent press release:

"Although the move gave a lift to Carnival and rival Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd. shares on Wednesday, some analysts wondered if the
announcement of the price increases was more of a marketing push than a
bullish statement about customer demand. Carnival, some industry
watchers said, may be trying to encourage consumers to book their
vacations further in advance. Cruise lines have struggled to predict
demand as consumers have cut back on extras, such as vacations. Although
the cruise industry generally fills its ships, cruise operators have
been forced to slash fares to attract frugal consumers amid the downturn.

"We'll see if these price increases are supported by demand when the
prices move up," said Matthew Jacob, analyst at Majestic Research. Mr.
Jacob said if Carnival, the world's largest cruise ship operator, sees
demand high today it would likely be better served raising prices
immediately.

Some analysts said that in light of the weaker-than-expected read on
consumer confidence that was released on Tuesday, the company could be
overestimating demand for its vacations. In December, Carnival cautioned
its profit could shrink again in 2010 as it struggled to regain pricing
power in the recession. It then said pricing for cruises still hadn't
recovered as much as it would like but said it has been able to move up
pricing in selective areas of the business.

Carnival Corp.—which operates 12 brands including Princess Cruises,
Holland America Line and Cunard Line cruises—has cited soft prices as it
has seen profit decline. In December, Carnival said its fiscal
fourth-quarter earnings dropped 48% amid falling yields and declining
revenue. The current quarter ends Sunday."

But Ray claims: "The vast majority are paying much more for their
cabins. This has almost always been the case." He's an idiot or a liar.
Or maybe both.

On 2/27/10 12:47 PM, Stu wrote:


I read that as well, did you see the link to Princess cruises at 75%
off.... what does that say to Rays claims?

Most likely what it says is that there will continue to be last minute
deals to fill the ships given the current economic mess, but if you
can't take the chance of waiting, you might pay a bit more to book ahead
of time. But if you can wait, the deals will still be there.

Having said that, late cruise deals often are negated by last minute
airfares. So it's nice to be able to book earlier at lower rates.

--Tom