Our server mentioned

[DisneYE]

400 paying passengers are better than no paying passengers. Cruising is one of those businesses where the fixed costs are the biggest concern. Given their buying power, what does feeding a passenger cost? Maybe $100 for a 7 day cruise? Maybe $150? But the crew costs and costs of operating the ship stay the same if there are 400 or 4,000 paying guests.

I've always Wondered abt break-even point of a cruise. I'm an economist & I'm always thinking about costs, return etc.
Would love to hear someone here in the know provide some data
e:g the average pp cost on a 7-night is ~ $1,500 -> so 400 ppl is ~ $600k
The avg cruiser I figured spends $250 on drinks, spa, gifts etc on a 7-night .. that's another $100k
$150 pp is a good number for food. but if you count $100 per CM (assuming 1000 CM's) that's ~$350k for food only
So $700k - $350k in food= $350k... then take costs of fuel, salaries, port fees, etc.
At 400 ppl per 7-night, the ship is losing money. - I think the break-even point is around 800 passengers.
A full ship renders $5-6 million per 7-night sailing. At <500 passengers, I think the cruise is bleeding $ bad.

 

[Kwami]

I've always Wondered abt break-even point of a cruise. I'm an economist & I'm always thinking about costs, return etc.
Would love to hear someone here in the know give provide some data
e:g the average pp cost on a 7-night is ~ $1,500 -> so 400 ppl is ~ $600k
The avg cruiser I figured spends $250 on drinks, spa, gifts etc on a 7-night .. that's another $100k
$150 pp is a good number for food. but if you count $100 per CM (assuming 1000 CM's) that's ~$350k for food only
So $700k - $350k in food= $350k... then take costs of fuel, salaries, port fees, etc.
At 400 ppl per 7-night, the ship is losing money. - I think the break-even point is around 800 passengers.
A full ship renders $5-6 million per 7-night sailing. At <500 passengers, I think the cruise is bleeding $ bad.

Right, but how much does it cost to not sail and still keep the crew employed? Disney could risk laying off their crew, but they did that at WDW in 2020 and it's taking them forever to staff back up and reopen everything. I'm not sure if they want to do that again with the cruise line.

 

[dclpluto]

Remember DCL charges almost double the price as other cruise lines so they could still be making money with only 700 people on board.

 

[dclpluto]

400 paying passengers are better than no paying passengers. Cruising is one of those businesses where the fixed costs are the biggest concern. Given their buying power, what does feeding a passenger cost? Maybe $100 for a 7 day cruise? Maybe $150? But the crew costs and costs of operating the ship stay the same if there are 400 or 4,000 paying guests.

I haven’t heard but I would think DCL would not have the same amount of crew on board.
some departments will still have to run at full staff but some like servers and stateroom hosts no reason for DCL to have them at full staff.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I haven’t heard but I would think DCL would not have the same amount of crew on board.
some departments will still have to run at full staff but some like servers and stateroom hosts no reason for DCL to have them at full staff.

A hypothetical question - say one cruise has 1000 passengers , requiring 350 room hosts and 200 servers. Next cruise has 400 passengers, requiring only 150 room hosts and 75 servers. What does DCL do with the "extra" crew? Doesn't the crew, basically, have to stay onboard, due to COVID protocols? I doubt crew can hop off and on from cruise to cruise. And wouldn't DCL still need to pay them?

 

[dclpluto]

A hypothetical question - say one cruise has 1000 passengers , requiring 350 room hosts and 200 servers. Next cruise has 400 passengers, requiring only 150 room hosts and 75 servers. What does DCL do with the "extra" crew? Don't the crew, basically, have to stay onboard, due to COVID protocols? I doubt crew can hop off and on from cruise to cruise. And wouldn't DCL still need to pay them?

we are talking about a full crew under normal times and the crew at this time.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

we are talking about a full crew under normal times and the crew at this time.

But the question remains the same. This week DCL may sail at 50% capacity, next week, 75%, or even (one day) 100%, then back to 50% (or whatever). What happens to the "unnecessary" crew from week to week?

 

[Cheburashka]

Remember DCL charges almost double the price as other cruise lines so they could still be making money with only 700 people on board.

This. Throughout reopening I've seen the "how can they afford this" posts, & it's like people forgot how steeply DCL has inflated prices over the past several years. They were already pricey for a mass market cruise line to begin with, but prices in the past five years have gotten almost ridiculous.

So yeah, DCL sailing at 25% capacity is nothing like Royal or Carnival sailing at 25% capacity.

 

[Kwami]

But the question remains the same. This week DCL may sail at 50% capacity, next week, 75%, or even (one day) 100%, then back to 50% (or whatever). What happens to the "unnecessary" crew from week to week?

The unused crew members remain on the ship and receive regular pay. However, they don't receive all of the tips that they usually get since they aren't working in those positions. I'm not sure if it's still happening, but early on after the restart, the serving crew were alternating so that they each worked 2/3 cruises because only 2/3 of the main restaurants were open each night.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

The unused crew members remain on the ship and receive regular pay. However, they don't receive all of the tips that they usually get since they aren't working in those positions. I'm not sure if it's still happening, but early on after the restart, the serving crew were alternating so that they each worked 2/3 cruises because only 2/3 of the main restaurants were open each night.

Thank you.

 

[Nabas]

Remember DCL charges almost double the price as other cruise lines so they could still be making money with only 700 people on board.

This. Throughout reopening I've seen the "how can they afford this" posts, & it's like people forgot how steeply DCL has inflated prices over the past several years. They were already pricey for a mass market cruise line to begin with, but prices in the past five years have gotten almost ridiculous.

So yeah, DCL sailing at 25% capacity is nothing like Carnival sailing at 25% capacity.

It's my understanding that one of the reasons Disney charges so much is because it doesn't have any onboard gambling. See:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1791
Gambling is a huge source of revenue for most other cruise lines. Certainly, Disney is very expensive and charges a steep premium for the Disney name (and quality of service), but also consider how much other cruise lines take in on gambling.

 

[Cheburashka]

It's my understanding that one of the reasons Disney charges so much is because it doesn't have any onboard gambling.

Yes, the lack of gambling and the Disney brand are why DCL can charge more, but DCL has always featured those things, and 10 years ago DCL cruises cost about half of what they do now. Costs haven't doubled in 10 years- that mostly went to DCL's profit margin. Same thing that happened at the Disney parks. Prices way up, perks down. Fortunately DCL has been better than WDW about keeping the perks.

 

[n2mm]

Just wondering, when we sailed in September, only 2 restaurants were only per day, they would rotate which were closed. Plus no dinner service in cabanas. Of course cabana had a limited selection. is this the same still. We are scheduled on the Fantasy next month and wondering,

 

[bobbiwoz]

Just wondering, when we sailed in September, only 2 restaurants were only per day, they would rotate which were closed. Plus no dinner service in cabanas. Of course cabana had a limited selection. is this the same still. We are scheduled on the Fantasy next month and wondering,

I never noticed whether each restaurant was opened for dinner.

 

[TRTRguy]

It really depends on the guest load. We did a b2b and on the first segment only 2 were open each night, on the 2nd segment all 3 were open.

 

[auntlynne]

Since we have strayed a bit, my perception of that “extra money” they have been earning from us is not in a Rainy Day savings account.

Stock dividends, executive bonuses and salaries and three new billion-dollar ships in the pipeline. I don’t think Meyer Werft is waiting to get paid until they hand over the Wish.

 

[cmash95]

somewhere i read that cruiselines start makingmoney at either 25 or 30 percent capacity depending on the line.

 

[MomOTwins]

It's my understanding that one of the reasons Disney charges so much is because it doesn't have any onboard gambling. See:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1791
Gambling is a huge source of revenue for most other cruise lines. Certainly, Disney is very expensive and charges a steep premium for the Disney name (and quality of service), but also consider how much other cruise lines take in on gambling.

Although let’s be real, bingo is definitely gambling! I do like that it is not as in your face as other cruise lines (I hated on princess walking through the casino full of cigarette smoke because it was the only way to get to dinner). But I have definitely spent quite a bit gambling at bingo on DCL!

 

[CastawayCayLover]

Since we have strayed a bit, my perception of that “extra money” they have been earning from us is not in a Rainy Day savings account.

Stock dividends, executive bonuses and salaries and three new billion-dollar ships in the pipeline. I don’t think Meyer Werft is waiting to get paid until they hand over the Wish.

DIS hasn't paid a dividend in 2 years

 

[auntlynne]

DIS hasn't paid a dividend in 2 years

Wow. I guess they are using lost earnings from parks and cruise line as an excuse. I thought Disney+ was making them a lot of money. Obviously, I’m not keeping up with this - and don’t own stock.

Thanks for the update.