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Does bad dining car experience mean Amtrak is dying?

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The reference to CNBC took me to a dead page, i.e. the video is not available. However, even if it were, I would be suspect.  It is a made for TV news special.  I have found that most of these productions are devoid of any serious financial analysis.   Carnival PLC is the largest cruise ship company in the world.  It operates several brands, and I am a frequent customer.  It generates a profit on its ship operations, but the returns are paltry compared to those generated by booze, shore excursions, spas, speciality restaurants, personal trainers, art auctions, etc.  In 2013 ship operations generated $405 million of net income, excluding on board and other revenues and expenses, on revenues of $11.6 billion.  Other revenues and expenses returned $3.1 billion on $3.6 billion of revenues, for an operating margin of 85.1 per cent, which makes the operating margin for ship operations - 10.29 per cent - look weak. It is unclear how much of other ship operating expenses, payroll, etc. should be allocated to other revenues and expenses.  So I took the best case scenario for other revenues and expenses and the worst case scenario for operations excluding other revenues and expenses. Clearly, other revenues and expenses generate a higher return than carrying folks around on the high seas, but to say that the carriers don't realize a profit on general operations is not supported by Carnival's financial data.   Carnivals returns for carrying people in its ships are not great. In 2013 its total return on investment was 4.13 per cent, whilst its return on equity was 5.73 per cent.   The returns include the other revenues and expenses.  If they were backed out of the numbers, the return on ship operations would be very poor, but that does not translate into not making any money on ship operations. Clearly the big profit generators are the other revenues.  For comparative purposes, over the past 12 months the Class I railroads had an average return on investment of 8.22 per cent and an average return on equity of 18.24 per cent.  Clearly, investing in companies that haul freight, as opposed to people, is a better option.
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