It’s always nice to see a person’s faith rewarded. To see a calculated risk rewarded. To see somebody who believes so strongly in something that they benefit from their belief.
So congratulations, Johnny Welsh, whoever you are.
This week, Johnny is on a three-day cruise off Australia, aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas with more than 2,000 of his newest and closest friends. It’s called The King Tribute Cruise, 
featuring 14 Elvis acts (they’re called tributes, not impersonators), and Johnny mortgaged his house to book the entire ship, in the hope that he could entice enough passengers.
We had to do the math.
The ship holds 2,435 passengers. Cost of leasing the ship is $340,000 a day…at that point, it doesn’t matter if that’s American, Canadian, Australian, Hong Kong or Monopoly dollars).
So Johnny was on the hook for $1.02 million. He had to sell every ticket at $419 each to break even. Let’s assume he charged $500 for a three-day cruise. At that rate, he’d have to sell 2,040 tickets to break even. At that rate, his profit would be $197,500…if he sold every ticket.
And he did.
DAILY DEAL:
Celebrity Century
18 nights
January 30, 2012
Auckland, NZ to Perth, Australia
Inside $1,128
www.celebritycruises.com
Photo credit: Paul Smith / Martin Fox