The Board of Directors of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.(NYSE, OSE: RCL) today declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share payable on June 06, 2012, to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 22, 2012.

Royal Caribbean Cruises reported net income of $47.0 million, or $0.21 per share, on revenues of $1.8 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012, compared to net income of $78.4 million, or $0.36 per share, on revenues of $1.7 billion for the same period last year.

Q1 2012 results included a $0.01 per share mark-to-market gain on the company’s fuel option portfolio versus a $0.11 per share gain in the first quarter of 2011. Except for fuel pricing, all operational metrics for the first quarter were in line with or better than its previous guidance, the company stated.

Revenues improved to $1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2012 compared to $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2011 as a result of capacity increases and yield improvements. Net Yields increased 7.0% on a Constant-Currency basis (+6.4% As-Reported). NCC excluding fuel increased 5.7% on a Constant-Currency basis (+5.1% As-Reported). Approximately 350 basis points of the Net Yield improvement and approximately 500 basis points of the NCC increases during the quarter relate to previously announced deployment initiatives and changes to the company’s distribution system.

The company said that “as expected, booking activity has continued to gradually improve over the last several months. Since the company’s earnings announcement on February 2, 2012, the price of oil has risen which, at current levels and net of hedging, would increase bunker expenses $0.15 per share for the year.

Taking into account current fuel pricing and currency exchange rates, and the factors detailed above, the company currently estimates 2012 earnings will be in the range of $1.80 to $2.10 per share.

2012 Outlook: Royal Caribbean reported that overall, booking trends and pricing have been consistent with prior guidance. Cumulative bookings since early February have been down mid single digits, although gradual improvement continues. Bookings from the United States have been running ahead of same time last year for the past four weeks.

As expected, pricing reductions within the range of the company’s previous guidance have been implemented to address booking shortfalls on certain products through the end of the third quarter. Nevertheless, Constant-Currency booked APD’s remain ahead of the same time last year in all quarters. Overall, pricing remains in line with or higher than the same time last year for all major itinerary groups with the exception of Europe.

Bookings for the fourth quarter of 2012 and for 2013 sailings remain strong, with both load factors and pricing running ahead of same time last year. In addition, the company has seen an increase in summer demand for its Pullmantur brand’s tour product.

"Despite the extraordinary disruptions to our booking patterns this year, thus far the recovery is consistent with our forecasts," said Brian J. Rice, executive vice president and chief financial officer. Rice continued, "The Caribbean and Alaska remain healthy and as expected, a wide range of outcomes still persist regarding Europe this summer. While the marketplace is still volatile and uncertain, we are narrowing our yield and EPS ranges to reflect our best estimates at this time."

Taking into account current fuel pricing and currency exchange rates, and the factors detailed above, the company currently estimates that second quarter 2012 EPS will be within a range of ($0.05) to $0.05.

And taking into account current booking patterns, the company has narrowed its range of guidance for full year 2012 Net Yield increases to +2% to +5% on a Constant-Currency basis and +1% to +4% on an As-Reported basis. Excluding deployment initiatives and changes to the company’s distribution system, Net Yields are projected to be flat to up 3% on a Constant-Currency basis for the full year 2012.

Expenses: For the second quarter of 2012, NCC excluding fuel are expected to increase 10% to 11% on a Constant-Currency basis (+8% to +9% As-Reported). Approximately half of the NCC excluding fuel increase in the quarter relates to the previously referenced deployment initiatives and changes to the company’s distribution system. NCC excluding fuel are higher than normal in the second quarter due to marketing and related cost shifts from the first quarter and increased drydock days and related maintenance.

For the full year, NCC excluding fuel are expected to increase approximately 5% on a Constant-Currency basis (approximately +4% As-Reported). Excluding deployment initiatives and changes to the company’s distribution system, Constant-Currency NCC excluding fuel are expected to increase approximately 2% on a comparable basis to prior year. Versus February guidance, increased sales in the Pullmantur brand’s tour product are modestly increasing full year cost estimates by 50 basis points.

Allure’s sister, Oasis is currently docked in Port Everglades.

Last night news broke via CruiseLaw and the AP that a small fire in the engine room broke out on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas. The Allure, which shares the title of worlds largest cruise ship, was sailing back to Florida from St. Maarten on the last leg of a 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruise. She will arrive Sunday morning.

A Royal Caribbean spokes person stated shortly thereafter, that the fire was “small and short-lived.” The ship onboard fire suppressant kicked in extinguished the fire almost instantly.

While the fire was short lived, it did allow enough time for this black smoke to be seen coming from the ships funnels. CruiseLaw was reporting that there was some panic onboard, but that can be expected given the recent events in the cruise industry. It should be noted that people’s perception of the term panic differs greatly.

Royal Caribbean just made it official that the 1991 built, 73,941grt ship will be leaving their fleet. She will be joining the Spanish brand Pullmantur, joining her sister, the Sovereign. Transfer date will be April 1, 2013, meaning her last Royal Caribbean voyage will be on March 29, 2013.

The  2,744 pax ship will increase Pullmantur’s fleet capacity by 25%. While these ships may now be small by today’s standards, Pullmantur tends to operate older, smaller tonnage. Mostly ex-Royal Caribbean vessels.

photos via tnooz.com

Naturally, passengers flock to the closest media medium to post about it: CruiseCritic I’ve been incredibly vocal in my absolute revulsion for the site and in cases like this my views are confirmed. They just posted the article: Why Did Freedom of the Seas Sail Into a Storm Two Other Cruise Ships Avoided?

Yes CruiseCritic, RCI and their extremely experienced crew decided to forego passenger safety and sail into a storm on purpose. Obviously its sarcasm here (I don’t want RCI upset with me.)

Their argument in the article mostly focuses around the following:

“two other vessels — Disney Dream and Carnival Sensation — delayed their departures until weather conditions calmed”.

RCI fired back via their spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez:

“Freedom of the Seas was the first ship scheduled to leave Port Canaveral on Sunday — making it something of a guinea pig. ‘When Freedom of the Seas departed Port Canaveral, the port was still open and the pilots were still taking ships out’ ”

I think its also important to note that Freedom has further to go  has a significantly deeper draft [7.9m vs 8.53m]. Besides, if the port is open, its captains decision. He knows his ship better and knows what she can and cant handle.

Carnival’s take was the following:

"We felt it was best to keep the ship in port until conditions improved for the comfort of the guests and crew," explains spokeswoman Jennifer De La Cruz.

As any experienced mariner will tell you, the most dangerous place to be in, in a storm is along the pier. There is so much that can snap, break, and objects the ship can slam into. Why do you think that when a hurricane is approaching, ports close down and ships flee for open water?

Anyways, here are photos of the inside of the Freedom. You’re on a ship. IT MOVES. That’s what they do!

UPDATE: We got video. Notice how the ships railing tends not to move in relation to the horizon. Freedom is 4 wave lengths in, well, length. This helps minimize the total movement of the ship. Stabilizers help too, but I doubt they were deployed in this rough of weather.

“Anti-cruise” pundit Jim Walker over at Cruise Law has reports that yet another group has filed a suite against RCI for fraud stemming from RCI’s admission of an accounting error. While this certainly wont turn into a scandal or anything juicy, it certainly isn’t good for Royal Caribbean PR.

(Photo Credit: Flickr user GoboNdc via Creative Commons license)

From FAIRPLAY24

ROYAL Caribbean’s two largest owners – Norway’s Wilhelmsen family and America’s Pritzker family – have dissolved their shareholders agreement, the cruise giant confirmed. The Wilhelmsen family, through A Wilhelmsen AS, owns 19% of Royal Caribbean. The Pritzkers, through Cruise Associates, own 15%. For many years, the two owners agreed to vote their shares for four board nominees of the other. Royal Caribbean confirmed after market close yesterday that this arrangement has ended. Royal Caribbean’s articles of incorporation required the approval of at least one board member from each family for certain corporate actions. Now that the Wilhelmsen-Pritzker pact has been dissolved, the cruise company no longer requires such approval. The Pritzker family’s business holdings are controlled by a collection of trusts. Royal Caribbean said: “It is our understanding that with the termination of the shareholders agreement, Cruise Associates plan to distribute its Royal Caribbean shares to its partners which, in turn, may further transfer shares to their respective owners.” Royal Caribbean maintained that the situation does not imply that either family has a negative view of the industry, nor is it related to financial turmoil. “We understand that this is simply a private matter between the two parties,” it said. The question ahead is whether the demise of the shareholders agreement is a precursor to ownership divestments by either of the two owners – for example, portions of the Pritzker family. “We have no information about the ongoing intentions of the two shareholders,” Royal Caribbean said.

So what does this mean to the end cruiser? Absolutely nothing. What does this mean to the industry. Probably nothing but it is interesting this news comes a month after RCI disclosed an accounting error and executives face a claim of stock fraud. BUT in reality its probably more tied into the tanking economy and the looming thread of a second recession.

When Royal Caribbean International (NYSE:RCL) announced their 2Q 2011 Earnings they shocked everyone by admitting that their erred in their accounting. Upon hearing this, the stock plunged yesterday quite a lot. It should pick up today assuming it’s a good day for the market, but with the looming debt crisis, its gonna be a long ride uphill for the Miami based line.

Heres what they reported:

(1) Management identified an error in the previous accounting treatment of interest expense relating to its amortization of certain financing fees and has revised its past financial statements to reflect the correct accounting (the "Interest Expense Revision").

(2) Second quarter EPS was 47 cents before the Interest Expense Revision. After adjusting for the revision, the company reported earnings of 43 cents per share which is the midpoint of previous guidance range of 40 cents to 45 cents.

(3) Excluding the Interest Expense Revision, full year 2011 EPS guidance is now expected to be $3.05 to $3.15, reflecting a 10 cent reduction to prior guidance on continuing pricing softness for Eastern Mediterranean sailings, partially offset by strong cost savings. The Interest Expense Revision is forecasted to reduce 2011 EPS by 20 cents resulting in full year 2011 EPS guidance of $2.85 to $2.95.

(4) The Board of Directors reinstated the quarterly dividend at a rate of 10 cents per share.

you know, at least they admitted their error instead of burying it in other accounting figures that barely anybody understands *cough* Enron *cough*