Here are the instructions: Who are you? You are the Chief of Operations of Royale Cruises. What are you supposed to do? Provide a recommendation, via email, to Mr. Philp Bartholew, CEO of Royale Cruises, on which location to select. Note: 1. You are NOT required to take into consideration the time value of money and discounted cash flows in your appraisal. 2. Ignore development costs for recreational activities and docking facilities. Please note the following as you Grading Rubric = 180 (20*9) complete your response: A suitable subject line An appropriate bottomline 2 A list of supporting qualitative data in parallel form 5 1. Determine the bottomline message 2. Provide a suitable subject line 3. Ensure that your content is concise 4. Employ a suitable visual representation to display quantitative information 5. Employ parallel form An appropriate visual representation of comparative quantitative data A call to action 1 Introduction to data 2 Suitable wrap-up statement 1 Overall organization, form, and grammar 3 TOTAL POINTS 20 What's the current situation? The cruise industry is highly profitable and the fastest growing sector of the travel, tourism and leisure industry. The rapid growth in the industry has brought with it an increase in competitors who are all fighting for market share. Epic Cruises, a well-regarded cruise line, has recently been losing market share to new market entrants. The company has to explore new and innovative ways to recapture lost market share. A new trend that has been gaining traction over the past few years is the expansion of existing ports of call and the development of new ones. This has helped cruise liners gain competitive advantage because it gives passengers new destinations to explore and allows the cruise liner to create supplementary revenue streams. The CEO of Epic Cruises, Marco Belusconi, has asked his Chief of Operations (COO), to conduct an investigation into developing a new port in the Caribbean, and to present a recommendation to him. After much careful consideration, the COO has identified two island locations as potential contenders for the new port. The first contender, Grand Turk, is located in the Turks and Caicos. The second contender is Amber Cove on the North coast of the Dominican Republic. The COO favors developing an eco-friendly port in one of these two locations. The new port will accommodate three 4,000-passenger vessels and include 50 acres of beachfront for passengers to relax on and engage in recreational activities such as scuba diving and parasailing. Shore facilities will include a 194,000 square feet outdoor center that will include retail, food, beverage, and entertainment space. Architecture and design firm, Kinsgley & Wentworth Inc., will be retained to design the center, and have already agreed to a flat fee of $3.1 million if the project gets the green light. Following is the initial sketch of the proposed floorplan of the outdoor center (not drawn to scale): Apparel Store (12,000 sq. ft.) Tiki Lounge (20,000 sq. ft.) Craft Market (52,000 sq. ft.) Souvenir Store (12,000 sq. ft.) Restaurant and Bar (32,000 sq. ft) ili Karaoke Lounge (20,000 sq.ft.) Transportation Center (38,000 sq. ft.) RESTROOM (8,000 sq.ft.) A recent study conducted by the International Chamber of Commerce assessed the feasibility of establishing businesses in the Caribbean. The study found that the Turks and Caicos has a larger skilled workforce and lower wage rate than the Dominican Republic. However, the Turks and Caicos, in addition to having a poorly-developed transport infrastructure, contends with high levels of political uncertainty and instability, and greater vulnerability to natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis The study noted further that the Dominican Republic has stringent currency controls and a volatile official currency (the Dominican Peso). By contrast, there are extremely lenient currency controls in the Turks and Caicos. In addition, the Turks and Caicos uses the U.S. Dollar, which removes the risk of currency exchange fluctuations. Finally, payroll taxes are marginally higher in the Dominican Republic when compared to Turks and Caicos. Construction costs in the Dominican Republic currently run at approximately $198 per square foot, including all fixtures and fittings. In Turks and Caicos, construction costs, including all fixtures and fittings, are approximately $6 more per square foot. However, the government of Turks and Caicos is willing to discount the cost difference of $6 by 50%, bringing the new cost differential to only $3 more per square foot. They are also offering a subsidy of $2.9 million to offset construction costs. The government of Dominican Republic has offered to cover Kinsgley & Wentworth Inc's architecture and design fees. Who are you? You are the Chief of Operations of Epic Cruises. Here are the instructions: Who are you? You are the Chief of Operations of Royale Cruises. What are you supposed to do? Provide a recommendation, via email, to Mr. Philp Bartholew, CEO of Royale Cruises, on which location to select. Note: 1. You are NOT required to take into consideration the time value of money and discounted cash flows in your appraisal. 2. Ignore development costs for recreational activities and docking facilities. Please note the following as you Grading Rubric = 180 (20*9) complete your response: A suitable subject line An appropriate bottomline 2 A list of supporting qualitative data in parallel form 5 1. Determine the bottomline message 2. Provide a suitable subject line 3. Ensure that your content is concise 4. Employ a suitable visual representation to display quantitative information 5. Employ parallel form An appropriate visual representation of comparative quantitative data A call to action 1 Introduction to data 2 Suitable wrap-up statement 1 Overall organization, form, and grammar 3 TOTAL POINTS 20 What's the current situation? The cruise industry is highly profitable and the fastest growing sector of the travel, tourism and leisure industry. The rapid growth in the industry has brought with it an increase in competitors who are all fighting for market share. Epic Cruises, a well-regarded cruise line, has recently been losing market share to new market entrants. The company has to explore new and innovative ways to recapture lost market share. A new trend that has been gaining traction over the past few years is the expansion of existing ports of call and the development of new ones. This has helped cruise liners gain competitive advantage because it gives passengers new destinations to explore and allows the cruise liner to create supplementary revenue streams. The CEO of Epic Cruises, Marco Belusconi, has asked his Chief of Operations (COO), to conduct an investigation into developing a new port in the Caribbean, and to present a recommendation to him. After much careful consideration, the COO has identified two island locations as potential contenders for the new port. The first contender, Grand Turk, is located in the Turks and Caicos. The second contender is Amber Cove on the North coast of the Dominican Republic. The COO favors developing an eco-friendly port in one of these two locations. The new port will accommodate three 4,000-passenger vessels and include 50 acres of beachfront for passengers to relax on and engage in recreational activities such as scuba diving and parasailing. Shore facilities will include a 194,000 square feet outdoor center that will include retail, food, beverage, and entertainment space. Architecture and design firm, Kinsgley & Wentworth Inc., will be retained to design the center, and have already agreed to a flat fee of $3.1 million if the project gets the green light. Following is the initial sketch of the proposed floorplan of the outdoor center (not drawn to scale): Apparel Store (12,000 sq. ft.) Tiki Lounge (20,000 sq. ft.) Craft Market (52,000 sq. ft.) Souvenir Store (12,000 sq. ft.) Restaurant and Bar (32,000 sq. ft) ili Karaoke Lounge (20,000 sq.ft.) Transportation Center (38,000 sq. ft.) RESTROOM (8,000 sq.ft.) A recent study conducted by the International Chamber of Commerce assessed the feasibility of establishing businesses in the Caribbean. The study found that the Turks and Caicos has a larger skilled workforce and lower wage rate than the Dominican Republic. However, the Turks and Caicos, in addition to having a poorly-developed transport infrastructure, contends with high levels of political uncertainty and instability, and greater vulnerability to natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis The study noted further that the Dominican Republic has stringent currency controls and a volatile official currency (the Dominican Peso). By contrast, there are extremely lenient currency controls in the Turks and Caicos. In addition, the Turks and Caicos uses the U.S. Dollar, which removes the risk of currency exchange fluctuations. Finally, payroll taxes are marginally higher in the Dominican Republic when compared to Turks and Caicos. Construction costs in the Dominican Republic currently run at approximately $198 per square foot, including all fixtures and fittings. In Turks and Caicos, construction costs, including all fixtures and fittings, are approximately $6 more per square foot. However, the government of Turks and Caicos is willing to discount the cost difference of $6 by 50%, bringing the new cost differential to only $3 more per square foot. They are also offering a subsidy of $2.9 million to offset construction costs. The government of Dominican Republic has offered to cover Kinsgley & Wentworth Inc's architecture and design fees. Who are you? You are the Chief of Operations of Epic Cruises