Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) is scheduled to release the company's fourth quarter financial results this week on Thursday, January 27, 2011.  This provides us an opportunity to compare "mega" ships current pricing (per person, inside cabin).

In the graph below one can see the average inside cabin asking price (during August to December 2010) for various sailing departure dates.  The Allure and Oasis have mirrored each other fairly closely, topping out at just over $1,400 per person.  Other than Allure's inaugural sailings, you will pay roughly the same for either Royal Caribbean ship.

Interestingly, Norwegian's Epic has maintained higher pricing than Carnival's Dream.  The premium paid to sail Royal Caribbean mega ships diminishes during September to November 2011 (particularly compared the Epic) only to increase again in the later part of the year.  Albeit, one can currently book a cruise aboard the Allure or Oasis during January to March 2012 for about 11% less than January to March 2011.  The bottom line, Royal Caribbean managed to unleash two of cruising's greatest buzz-worthy ships when it went super-sized.  If RCL can to continue to retain higher asking prices, larger margins and economies of scale from those investments will reward investors.

Royal Caribbean's earnings call will be available on-line at the company's investor relations web site, www.rclinvestor.com.

Our proprietary database tracks daily ticket prices and passenger sailings to port destinations from nearly 8,000 annual cruises.  With an exclusive window into virtually every sailing, every day, world wide (including Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL), Royal Caribbean Cruises Lines (RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL)) our subscribers can view cruise revenue and passenger trends in near real time.

Related articles

• Royal Caribbean (RCL): Cruise for Profits (bloggingstocks.com)
• Royal Caribbean Shares Popped: What You Need to Know (fool.com)
• Royal Caribbean Reports Improved Second Quarter Earnings and 2010 Outlook (prnewswire.com)