Cruise Line Shareholder Benefits

I recently noticed that one of my most popular postings on PFStock was my post about Investing in the Cruise Line Industry. Most people reading this post were searching for information about how to get the Shareholder Benefit offered to stock holders of Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL), Carnival plc (NYSE: CUK), or Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL). I mentioned that each cruise company offers a $100 onboard credit for shareholders that book a 7 day cruise and a minimum of 100 shares. However, I didn't post all of the details at that time.

As a service to my blog readers, I have decided to publish more details of the Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL) shareholder benefit programs. If you are considering going on a cruise in the near future, both RCL and CCL require that shareholders own a minimum of 100 shares of their stock. The associated stock symbols are RCL, CCL, and CUK depending on which cruise you are going on.

For Carnival Corporation (including Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Windstar, Seabourn, and Cunard Line in North America) the following benefit is offered:

Onboard credit per stateroom on sailings of 14 days or longer: US $250
Onboard credit per stateroom on sailings of 7 to 13 days: US $100
Onboard credit per stateroom on sailings of 6 days or less: US $ 50

Outside of North America, Carnival Corporation also operates P&O Cruises, Ocean Village, Swan Hellenic, Costa Cruises, Aida Cruises, and P&O Cruises Australia. Note that on these ships, the shareholder benefit will be offered in British pounds, Euros, or Australian dollars depending on the currency used onboard the particular cruise ship.

This is the direct link to the Carnival Corporation Shareholder Benefit. It gives the address and telephone numbers for each of the cruise lines that offer this benefit.

For Royal Caribbean (RCCL) and Celebrity Cruises the following benefit is offered:

$250 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 14 or more nights.
$200 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 9 to 13 nights.
$100 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 6 to 8 nights.
$50 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 5 nights or less.

The Shareholder Benefit excludes sailings on Celebrity Xpeditions.

Here is the direct link to RCCL Shareholder Benefit. This is an FAQ for their program. And this is a PDF file of the information for Royal Carribean. (I just noticed that the P.O. Box numbers differ between these two documents, so it is probably best to contact RCCL by email or phone before submitting your information to them.)

In general, you will need to mail or fax either a shareholder proxy card or a copy or your brokerage statement to the company (either RCCL or CCL). This is to prove that you own at least 100 shares of stock.

Personally, I have taken advantage of the CCL shareholder benefit twice. However, I have not (yet) used the RCL benefit. If you have general questions about the shareholder benefit, or just want to talk about cruising, I invite you to send me an Email. (Note my Email address is listed in the right side column of my blog). Also, the above links may change or go out of date. If you find that the information or links are out of date, please Email me so that I will know to update it.

The other major player in the North American cruise market is Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL). NCL and NCL America are owned by the Genting Group of Malaysia (which also owns the Asian cruise line Star Cruises). I mentioned that you cannot buy their stock directly in the United States. Unfortunately, a shareholder shipboard credit is not offered for NCL or NCL America cruises.

I have a one final thought. If you don't already own Carnival or RCCL stock, then I do not recommend buying the stock just to get the shareholder benefit. Make your investment decisions to buy CCL or RCL based on your investment needs, and not on your vacation needs.

A Note from the Author:
Thousands of people have read this post, but neither Carnival nor Royal Caribbean compensate me for directing readers to their websites. A few readers have sent me a message of thanks for pointing out a benefit that they didn't know about, but the vast majority of people pass through without saying anything. I don't want to get into the details, but unfortunately, PF Stock has fallen upon some financial difficulties. Things are simply not nearly as stable as they've been in the past.

If you have read my posts and have benefited from the information, I want to ask you to consider making a donation to help out PF Stock. I have added a PayPal link below, if you choose to make a donation. Any amount is appreciated, but of course this is strictly voluntary. Thank you for your support and happy travels.

PLEASE NOTE: There is a newer version of this post. Please see Updated Cruise Line Shareholder Benefits for the latest information.

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