CCL vs RCL vs NCL
Overview
Big 3: Carnival, Royal Carribean, Norwegian (excluding expedition ships)
Group | Brand | Category | # Ships | Smallest | Largest | Future Largest |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Carnival | Carnival | Contemporary | 27 | 70,367 | 133,868 | 183,900 |
Carnival | Costa | Contemporary | 14 | 56,769 | 185,010 | |
Carnival | P&O | Contemporary | 6 | 76,152 | 143,730 | 183,900 |
Carnival | P&O Australia | Contemporary | 3 | 55,451 | 77,499 | 108,977 |
Carnival | Carnival China | Contemporary | 1 | 85,619 | ||
Carnival | Princess | Premium | 19 | 30,277 | 145,281 | 175,000 |
Carnival | Holland America | Premium | 14 | 55,575 | 99,863 | |
Carnival | AIDA | Premium | 14 | 38,531 | 183,858 | |
Carnival | Cunard | Premium | 3 | 90,049 | 149,215 | |
Carnival | Seabourn | Luxury | 5 | 32,346 | 41,865 | |
Royal Caribbean | Royal Caribbean | Contemporary | 26 | 48,563 | 228,081 | 230,000 |
Royal Caribbean | Celebrity | Premium | 10 | 91,000 | 130,818 | |
Royal Caribbean | Silversea | Luxury | 6 | 16,900 | 40,700 | |
Norwegian | Norwegian | Contemporary | 17 | 75,904 | 169,145 | |
Norwegian | Oceania | Premium/Luxury | 6 | 30,277 | 66,084 | 67,000 |
Norwegian | Regent Seven Seas | Luxury | 5 | 28,550 | 55,254 |
Carnival
Contemporary:
- Carnival Cruise Line
- Costa Cruises
- P&O Cruises
- P&O Cruises Australia
Premium & Luxury:
- AIDA Cruises: caters primarily to the German-speaking market; designed to attract younger and more active vacationers.
- Cunard Line: only 3 ships, including the world only ocean liner Queen Mary 2.
- Holland America Line:
- Princess Cruises
- Seabourn Cruise Line: all oceanview suites; small ships, 200-400 guests
Shareholder benefits: shareholders holding >100 shares can get onboard credit depending on the brand and length of the trip. Details: https://www.carnivalcorp.com/shareholder-information/shareholder-benefit
Carnival Cruise Line
Excellence class will be dual fueled by LNG and traditional fuel oil. Ships are under different operators: Carnival, AIDA, Costa, P&O.
Holland America
Founded in Rotterdam, originally operating primarily between the Netherlands and North America, that's why it is named "Holland America". Now headquartered in Seattle
- All ships named with suffix "-dam":
- after city names: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Volendam, Zaandam, Veendam, Maasdam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Nieuw Statendam
- after directions in Dutch: Noordam(Noord=North), Zuiderdam(Zuid=South), Oosterdam(Oost=East) and Westerdam(West=West)
- others: Eurodam (Europe), Koningsdam (Koning=King), Ryndam(Ryn=Rijn=Rhine, the river)
- All ships less than 100,000 GT(the largest Pinnacle class gets 99,863 GT)
- Private Caribbean island: Half Moon Cay.
- Serving Alaska the longest among the major cruise lines.
Royal Caribbean
Royal Caribbean has the world's largest cruise ship: Symphony of the Seas(228,081 GT, comparing to the largest container ships 232,618 GT, operated by MSC)
Brands:
- Contemporary: Royal Caribbean Cruises
- Premium: Celebrity Cruises
- Luxury: Silversea Cruises: Royal Caribbean acquired 2/3 of Silversea to enter the luxury market; then acquired the rest 1/3 during COVID-19 in 2020.
Other investments:
- TUI Cruises (50%): the German brand (TUI Cruises is the joint venture under TUI Group; Marella Cruises, formally Thomson Cruises is a British cruise line brand also under TUI Group; TUI Group is the world's largest leisure, travel and tourism company)
Shareholder Benefits:
- at least 100 RCL shares at the time of sailing
- Onboard credit on Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises or Azamara (excludes any charter or Galapagos sailings, and no Silversea?)
- https://www.rclinvestor.com/faqs/shareholder-benefit/
Icon Class is LNG powered, 200,000 GT
Norwegian
Contemporary
- Norwegian Cruise Line
Luxury
- Oceania Cruises
- Regent Seven Seas Cruises: medium-sized vessels
Shareholder benefits: http://www.nclhltdinvestor.com/ (there's a Shareholder Benefit link on the bottom, static pdf file may change from time to time)
Norwegian has solo staterooms.
2020 Q1 Earnings
CCL's Q1 ends on Feb 29 while the other 2 end on Mar 31, and COVID-19 hits the industry worse in March, so CCL's earning may look better, but be aware.
Interestingly for many key metrics, RCL almost always sits in between CCL and NCL, no surprise.
(in millions) | CCL | RCL | NCL |
---|---|---|---|
Revenue - Ticket | 3,234 | 1,377 | 841 |
Revenue - Onboard/other | 1,556 | 656 | 406 |
Net Income (Loss) | (781) | (1,437) | (1,881) |
Total Assets | 46,943 | 33,445 | 16,463 |
Shareholders' Equity | 24,290 | 10,232 | 4,375 |
The next few quarters may be bad for all 3 groups. But for the long term I'm still feeling positive. At least this is a proven business, unlike many of the unicorn tech startups that keep burning money without a guarantee of turning profit at all.
Reference
- CCL: ends Feb 29, https://www.carnivalcorp.com/static-files/1aa63f22-c821-4e1f-b48b-98aab1d754ad
- RCL: ends Mar 31, https://www.rclinvestor.com/press-releases/release/?id=1475
- NCL: ends Mar 31, http://www.nclhltdinvestor.com/news-releases/news-release-details/norwegian-cruise-line-holdings-reports-first-quarter-2020