All Aboard?
It's good to be home. Last week, we took advantage of our children's spring break, and fact that our eldest is off to college in the fall to take a Heller family "last hurrah" vacation, aboard a Royal Caribbean RCL cruise ship. Other than the flood we discovered in the kids' room at 3:30 one morning, it was a great week.
It's hard not to be at least somewhat enamored with the cruise industry when you are aboard one of those great ships, and witness the amount of spending that is taking place. From the gift shops to the lounges to the excursions, game rooms and casinos, our ship, Explorer of the Seas, appeared to be a cash-making machine -- and that's not even including the price of the cruise itself, which represents the bulk of RCL's revenue (73.3% in 2011). Extrapolate that to the company's 39 ships, and it comes to more than $7.5 billion in revenue for 2011. The company bottom-lined $607 million of that, for a net margin of 8.1%. But that's way down from 2005 (14.6%) and 2006 (12.1%), and is less impressive when you consider that the company, which is incorporated in Liberia, does not pay income taxes....394 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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