Carnival Share Discussion Threads

[tlobs2] 04/9/2016 13:58

Given the carnage that is sadly going on at holiday destinations around the world then there is probably no safer place to be than on a cruise ship!

As a result I decided to buy into Carnival recently.

Are there any shareholder perks - like the 25% discount I get with my NEXT shares?

[pierre oreilly] 29/7/2016 12:41

Shame the qualifying number of shares was only 100!

[pierre oreilly] 19/7/2016 17:21

If I add in 150 quid shareholder perk for just one cruise, then on 100 shares, that equates to an extra £1.50 per share, making the return £2.55 or about 7 or 8%.

Of course it's not as simple as that, but if you would be going on a cruise or two or 3 anyhow with a carnival boat, then it's a genuine return (assuming you'd spend more than that anyway).

Going back to the future cruise deposit - the free extra spend associated with that doesn't applies for 'saver' fares (the cheapest i expect) (the shareholder perk does though). Looks like a 'select' price with a few extras like parking thrown in, for us next time, although they do seem to cost quite a bit more for limited benefits - one of which is free port transfers into the town centres, but we got those anyhow with a saver fare last time (didn't realise we apparently weren't entitled to them).

[wad collector] 19/7/2016 12:28

Quarterly div 35C equates to 26.6p on today's weak sterling. I f all 4 Qs match then the 105p total gives us a 3.2% yield. looks like covered about 2.5X by earnings estimates.
Provided no sinkings....

[pentangle] 12/7/2016 13:48

>grahamburn - I am not sure about the 'use it or lose it' on the future cruise deposit with P&O as we have only been with them once and were not impressed. However, on Princess, another Carnival line where we are Elite members of their Captains Circle, the small print states 'the FCD will be automatically refunded if not applied to a new booking created within two years of the date of purchase'. I believe it is the same on Holland America, another very good Carnival line. Hence certainly on those lines it is a Win/No Lose situation.

[pierre oreilly] 10/7/2016 13:00

I didn't see any sign of carafes either on the drinks menu or on people's tables, so don't know if they still sell them or not. Maybe if you ask for a carafe they may bring one, or maybe they've discontinued selling wine like that.

Good point about booking tours before the cruise to get the discount you otherwise may not if booked on board. Another reason for pre-booking is that almost all tours were sold out by the time they were described in the port 'lectures' (i.e. tour sales opportunity). That was surprising at the time due to their high cost.

[grahamburn] 09/7/2016 18:30

No idea if P & O have discontinued their carafes since we last cruised, but for everyday drinking and good value these were usually better than their house wine as such. From a (failing) memory back in July last year, these were around £7.50 for a half litre and £13 for a litre.

Re: the issue with loyalty discounts not applying until passengers have used up all their onboard credit, that's another reason for booking (and paying for) excursions online before going on the cruise IF you plan to go on any. That way you benefit from your loyalty discount. (Obviously, there isn't any point in doing that if you aren't going to use up all your onboard credit on other items such as drinks, a la carte dining, spa treatments, shopping etc etc.)

[pentangle] 09/7/2016 12:30

The future cruise deposit is, I believe, repaid if you don't use it in a couple of years so it's a win/no lose situation. I reckon the cruise companies make a large part of their profit from overpriced tours so we always make a great effort to do our own thing. The best example we had was when Princess wanted $170 to go to the Giants Causeway from Belfast but we did it through a private company for £20!

[pierre oreilly] 06/7/2016 10:16

Another good marketing point was that leaving a £100 deposit for a future cruise to be booked during the next 12 months, you get £50 of on board credit. Lovely pre-sellling which even i fell for! While £50 isn't a deal breaker, neither is the £100 deposit, and i think many will feel like me during a great experience. It's very likely we'll book another during the next 12 months, so might as well have the extra fifty quid credit.

[pierre oreilly] 06/7/2016 10:01

Not sure if anyone is interested, but my view of the cruise was excellent. Reassuring that the product being sold is really good. The £150 credit worked out very well and covered most of our spending ... we didn't do any of the very expensive tours.

The marketing for p&o is really good. Charging high prices to start with - as most paid ime - and giving lots of on-board credit to offset the high price. £600 on board credit for two weeks seemed typical for those paying top whack. Really, they are pre-selling £600 of expensive tours and expensive wine, which of course probably cost p&o less than £50 for the £600 charged.

House wine, pays d'oc, £17 to you, probably £2.50 to them. Tours £100 to you, £15 to them. And most seemed to think everything was good value!

[wad collector] 24/6/2016 16:56

Just watch the football instead , you may be in a victorious country.

[pierre oreilly] 24/6/2016 14:19

in iceland atm, found wifi on the tourbus, kind of wish I hadn't!

[wad collector] 23/6/2016 09:38

Looks like Pierre is boosting the share price . Can you use your onboard account to buy CCL shares?

[pentangle] 03/6/2016 23:32

Enjoy the cruise. We just got back from 3 weeks on the Emerald Princess around Southern Europe. A great way to relax and of course the $350 of cabin credit helped (it counted as 2 separate cruises).

[pierre oreilly] 03/6/2016 16:50

Well, it worked! Just been notified they've credited my onboard account with £150. Thanks for those who helped.

Shame the share price is down though.

[pentangle] 02/6/2016 08:21

Yes, you are eligible on discounted fares. You should make the claim including booking ref and copy of your broker statement to show you own the shares to [e-mail]

Only hiccup may be you have to claim at least two weeks before the sail date.

I have held my 100 shares for a few years and between the cabin credit on cruises and trading in and out a few times have just about covered the cost of the shares :-)

[pierre oreilly] 01/6/2016 23:29

Booked a P&O cruise today and bought the required 100 shares, so just about to see if I can get £150 credit. It's a last minute booking, discounted of course and I note the conditions are a bit vague regarding whether non-full priced cruises qualify. I expect I'll find out soon.

[losos] 11/5/2016 15:30

Pierre Oreilly - "I got norovirus on our last cruise, as did many others on a Thompson ship"

That's one of the nasty ones isn't it ? Sorry you got caught up in that, never been to Benidorm but have heard plenty about the place ha ha.

[pierre oreilly] 09/5/2016 09:34

I got norovirus on our last cruise, as did many others on a Thompson ship. We decided never to go with Thompson again after the first day even before they gave me the virus. Like a floating benidorm with school dinner food. A year ago I had no desire to go on a cruise, but we tried one with aprehension and thought it was fantastic. Got a couple more booked but not with a carnival owned line, so no perks.

[wad collector] 09/5/2016 09:11

Another Norovirus outbreak - on a Fred Olsen ship.
Won't catch me on a cruise but happy to buy the shares.

[grahamburn] 21/4/2016 18:53

And for you to jump overboard!