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Starting a Cruise Ship Business: Financial Model – Excel XLSX
Excel (XLSX)
VIDEO DEMO
BENEFITS OF THIS DOWNLOADABLE EXCEL DOCUMENT
- Revenue Modeling
- Pricing
- Cash Flow Analysis
SHIPPING INDUSTRY EXCEL DESCRIPTION
This model was designed for the financial planning of a cruise ship or general boat touring business. It goes out for a period of up to 10 years and includes monthly and annual pro forma summaries, IRR, DCF Analysis, option for inside/outside investors, and bottom-up assumptions specific to this industry. There is also an option for a joint venture waterfall with IRR hurdles for the LP as these businesses can end up taking billions to get off the ground and require advanced financing strategies.
At a high level, anyone can use this to plan out the initial costs and expected cash flows returned over time.
The first primary assumption section lets the user enter any acquisition or ongoing development costs in six separate schedules, each with 22 slots. Each slot has a definition for financing options and the percentage of that cost financed. It is essentially a very detailed and robust startup cost / construction cost assumption. You can enter all the costs in a single month at the beginning or account for the costs happening over time. Each of these sections also has a definition for depreciable life and depreciation expenses will popular accordingly.
The next section is for ticket revenue, on this there is an input by month for the following:
• # of Cruises/Mo.
• Avg. Cruise Length (days)
• Avg. Distance per Cruise (drive fuel costs)
• Average Tickets Sold per Cruise (drive revenue)
There are up to 10 ticket pricing options with inputs for the percentage of purchased tickets expected for each option over time as well as the average ticket price per option.
A cruise or boat touring business also has ancillary income sources such as:
• Alcohol
• Casino / Gambling
• Spa Treatments
• Art and Jewelry Auctions
• Shore Excursions
Each of the above ancillary income options has inputs for the percentage of passengers that partake in each, average spend per cruise on each, and the average cost of goods sold.
For ongoing operations, there is a detailed staffing schedule that can account for billion dollar level cruise ships or smaller ships. Simply define various staff types, salaries, start month, and adjusting in expenses over time. A separate section exists for corporate overheads and ongoing costs such as insurance, legal, accounting, and other general overheads.
Food costs are a major cost item as well. To account for this, there is a detailed schedule to list all the various food types, there costs per each excursion.
Final outputs include monthly and annual Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement as well as a detailed monthly and annual pro forma and lots of visualizations.
Instructional video included in file.
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TOPIC FAQ
What financial statements should I build for a cruise ship startup model?
A robust cruise ship model should produce monthly and annual Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement rollups, plus pro forma summaries and visualizations to track operational and financing scenarios; the discussed model outputs monthly and annual IS, BS, and CF.How do I model ticket revenue for a cruise or boat-touring business?
Model ticket revenue by forecasting cruises per month, average cruise length (days), average distance (for fuel cost), average tickets sold per cruise, and multiple fare tiers; the referenced model supports up to 10 ticket pricing options and month-by-month pricing mixes.What ancillary revenue streams matter for cruise financial models?
Common ancillary sources include alcohol, casino/gambling, spa treatments, art/jewelry auctions, and shore excursions; model each by passenger participation rates, average spend per cruise, and corresponding cost-of-goods-sold to capture gross margins for each ancillary stream.How should I capture initial construction and startup costs for a large cruise project?
Use bottom-up cost schedules that allow multiple cost lines, financing definitions, and percentage financed per item, with options to allocate costs to single or multiple months and set depreciable lives; the model includes 6 separate schedules with 22 slots each.What investor-return outputs are important when raising capital for a ship?
Investors typically expect DCF valuation, IRR calculations, and scenario-level cash flows; for JV structures, a waterfall with LP IRR hurdles and distribution logic is often required, as provided by models with IRR, DCF, and JV waterfall functionality.What should I look for when choosing a cruise-ship financial model template?
Prioritize templates that provide monthly-to-annual pro forma, DCF and IRR outputs, investor and JV waterfall options, detailed startup/construction schedules, ticket and ancillary revenue modules, and staffing and food-cost schedules—such as a model with 6 cost schedules of 22 slots each.How do I model ongoing operating costs like staffing and food for varying ship sizes?
Build a staffing schedule where you define staff types, salaries, start months, and expense escalations, plus a separate food-cost schedule listing food categories and per-excursion costs; this approach supports both smaller ships and billion-dollar cruise operations with detailed staffing inputs.Can a financial model support different investor participation types and financing mixes?
Yes—models that allow inside/outside investor options, percentage financed per cost line, and an optional JV waterfall with IRR hurdles enable scenario analysis across equity, debt, and joint-venture structures, including investor-specific IRR hurdle calculations.Source: Best Practices in Shipping Industry, Integrated Financial Model Excel: Starting a Cruise Ship Business: Financial Model Excel (XLSX) Spreadsheet, Jason Varner | SmartHelping
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor's degree in Accounting and began my career as a financial analyst at a small chain of auto repair shops. After gaining valuable experience, I launched my own practice specializing in real estate underwriting, later expanding into general business modeling.
I honed my spreadsheet modeling expertise by completing over 400 projects on Upwork with a 100% success
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