VibeGuy

I’m also curious. I assume he’s been at the same table with the staff-generated same time:same table reservation type, and they’ve made some minor adjustment, but I have *never* seen an onboard activity from any department other than Future Cruise generate a guest-facing email.

The onboard product has to dazzle, and I think it’s doing that, especially in the eyes of new customers to the line. I’ve spent, what, pushing six months onboard since the restart, with occupancies ranging from 28% to juuuuuust brushing 90%. Anecdotally, I think people new to Princess are really enjoying themselves onboard. The hospitality feels genuine and cutbacks that are obvious to veteran cruisers honestly don’t impact the new blood all that hard. Some things are dramatically better, even. If the lines of Carnival are smart (and I’ve never thought they were dumb) they’re looking at sat survey data through the lens of relatively new cruisers and those who have switched lines from peer competitors, and Princess is probably meeting or exceeding expectations across the board. Hang the diehards. Carnival Corp has a very very short runway to convert a portion of these new guests to diehards - that’s the work of the debt monkey on their back and the fleet renewals that get more expensive to build every day that goes by - macroeconomic pressures all. But I maintain my position that the call center being good is one of the least important factors in doing so.

Fleetwide utilization of 95% is still abysmal. They can happy-talk the performance vs 2019 all they want but they have a fundamentally different operating cost environment and an unrecognizable debt picture versus the glory days when they printed money. This summer is going to be extremely telling. Other players in travel and hospitality have some of their strongest advance indicators in history (US-Europe flight reservations are 22% ahead of average with fares *33%* ahead, Disney is well above pre-pandemic levels, etc). The only solution to the woes at Carnival Corp is more butts in beds. It’s far more critical to recoup those relatively fixed per-voyage operating expenses (fuel and crew) from incremental added passengers than find gains in onboard revenue (selling Plus to people who don’t drink and are bad at math).

The benefit information on the IR site hadn’t been updated. The Annual Report had been. https://www.carnivalcorp.com/static-files/ef80ac8c-e40e-42ad-ba8e-62a02fb13d6d - Page 5.

Imagine if there were an FAQ about the shareholder benefit . . . First, the annual report is already out. In the FAQ “Information and the benefit itself are subject to change yearly - this document was last updated March 23, 2023 with information from the 2022 annual report issued February 28, 2023, and is valid for sailings through July 31, 2024.” Regarding the renewal: 4.7 Will Carnival Corporation & plc keep the Shareholder Benefit in the future? Since the introduction of the benefit decades ago, the benefit has been renewed annually. The benefit has been renewed in each of the four Carnival annual reports issued since COVID began affecting the cruise industry (2019’s report issued after the Diamond Princess was already quarantined, 2020, 2021 and 2022, issued 02/28/2023) despite the financial position of the industry as a whole and Carnival in particular. That said, there are no guarantees and you’re under no obligation to continue to hold the stock after the benefit is discontinued. The exhaustive FAQ that one user was delightful enough to call a “major waste of space” can be found at https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2925912-princess-specific-carnival-corp-plc-shareholder-benefit-faq/ Imagine that.

What’s the benefit to Princess of improving pre-cruise customer support for people who have already booked? The line has made a decision about how to resource pre-cruise post-purchase support and it’s roughly as good as it has to be. If you don’t get your question about, say, specialty dining answered correctly and promptly pre-cruise, is that really going to change your spend? I doubt it. It will get answered onboard and they’ll book the revenue and they didn’t spend $5 more per call to get a concierge-level experience. I don’t mean to be cynical, but “barely adequate” is good enough to sell the ships to 120%. As a shareholder I’m fine with it. Every cranky person who wants an answer over the phone is likely to no longer be physically able to sail sooner than the new customers who avail themselves of self-service or social media channels for inquiries.

With Clear and Pre✅, you have as close to a guarantee as possible. For the smoothest experience, once you’re on the highway, start looking at the airport webcams. If Departures are backed up, check Arrivals. If Arrivals are backed up, too, have the driver pull into the garage and proceed to the skybridge nearest your airline. While one of you deals with the luggage, stick the parking ticket in the payment machine and it will give 15 minutes to exit free. This can dramatically speed your access to check-in/bag drop.

There ended up not being enough space for the Windex locker. An unfortunate oversight. (In reality you cannot believe how expensive and heavy clear pianos are, and they never sound as good as the identical mechanicals sound in something else. Further, they are incredibly easy to scratch - having them out where people wearing rings and watches could touch them or brush up against them in riveted jeans or with a handbag? Oh god. You’d have to continuously play Chopin continuously to get that much Polish on them. <badumtiss>

An overwhelming majority of the people on the chat have never ever been within 1000 miles of a Princess ship. They make things up to get people off the chat and off the phone with impunity. Telling people to chat Princess for guidance about the onboard experience is like asking the fattest person at Weight Watchers for advice on the best brands of skinny jeans. To the OP: yes.

And for the very frequent traveler who needs visas that take forever to get issued or who must have a valid passport with them at all times as a condition of employment, a second passport book costs exactly the same as a first one, but is only valid for four years. The passport service offices are filled with some of the nicest, most helpful people in the federal government, but the back office processes have become unwieldy and the prices have escalated much faster than inflation. This leads to a situation where you either chuck a lot of money down a hallway and there’s no guarantees as to when results will show up, or you chuck double the amount across a counter in one of a handful of metropolitan areas and have a new book in a definite time because you have urgent international travel and can’t be hanging out to dry.

The concentrate in question is not a cold brew. It’s a 20-32:1 dilution shelf-stable abomination that looks like used motor oil. No serious coffee company with pretensions of grandeur is in this space in North America - the Douwe Egberts business ended up in Folgers mitts and it’s the domain of second-tier convenience stores and mass foodservice. They do have a refrigerated concentrate that isn’t dreadful but that’s not what is plumbed onboard. Lavazza is just not in this space - this announcement is most likely only covering brewed and ready to drink products and I’d be surprised if any of the complimentary coffee in any venue has ever seen mainland Italy once this is deployed.

Vegetable beef soup?

I’ve held mine so long the stock could go negative, claimants could pierce the corporate veil and come knocking at my door, and I would grudgingly pay my proportionate share of their losses. For everybody gaming the system there are dozens of true believers and widows and orphans who bought the stock for the former dividend yield and can’t bear to realize the paper losses just yet. Also, individual shareholders make up a tiny fraction of the shareholder base - 15 out of 16 shares of Carnival are held by institutional investors or mutual funds, and they won’t be claiming the benefit.

About the infrastructure? Fact. The coffee areas are designed to rapidly dispense a mixture of hot water and concentrate. It would easily be $10k per station to rip out what’s there and replace it with the equipment used on Royal and beyond, which is a maintenance nightmare and cannot serve as many guests as quickly. Highly automated drip coffee systems combine the expense of automated espresso systems with the poor drinking experience of hastily-brewed drip and don’t generate incremental revenue like espresso bars do. I don’t see them doing it when I see thermal pots next to the disabled fancy equipment all the time on the newest ships. In the MDRs, I think the speed of service and ability to offer refills poured at table would probably point to large conventional brewers so the refit cost would be lower but you waste more coffee and quality suffers. Drip drinkers seem to have settled on the current product being drinkable vs the early hysteria around “syrup”. Lavazza does not make a concentrate suitable for the Douwe & Egbert system used on the earlier ships. In matters of taste, there can be no dispute, but I think the current offering is undrinkably bad as ristretti doppio despite nice machines that appear well maintained.

The 20-mile/cheap train trip doesn’t. The good one does. And it’s a cooperative agreement with CBP, CBSA and the railroad, not a legal requirement. I support it, but it’s for those parties’ convenience.

a few notes: RealID is not a passport or Birth Certificate substitute in this case and the Princess FAQs on the website make this painfully clear. Enhanced ID is a different thing issued by a few states on the northern border you can’t fly back from Vancouver on a BC or DL despite the US preclearance facility in the Vancouver airport. Air crossings require a passport with very, very limited exceptions that almost certainly do not apply here or you wouldn’t be asking the original question.

Ships prior to Royal will absolutely not be getting Lavazza for “drip” in the MDRs and buffets - the infrastructure is all designed for liquid concentrates that Lavazza doesn’t manufacture. The current no-name beans on Diamond and Discovery are perfectly adequate for drinks with milk and syrups and possibly ice. They make grim actual espresso. I’m thrilled for the change but would be happier if they went back to Illy.

Deposits aren’t an asset of the cruise line. Until they’re turned into an actual booking, since they can be refunded as cash at the expiration, they’re a liability (like any other loan). Carnival owes a *lot* of money and the interest rates aren’t great. This is a way to move the liabilities off the books sooner. I suspect the shelf-life of FCDs comes in about three flavors in the real world - ones that result in a new booking within 90 days, ones that result in a new booking for a sailing within a year of the cruise where it was purchased, and ones that expire. That last one is like those bananas you keep promising will be made into banana bread but end up throwing out anyway, and the costs (financial and administrative effort) associated with the latter can be reduced with shorter validity.

Whew. I was genuinely Not OK, and I have decades of professional experience as to why I don’t trust their app development partner.

And yet the very first question on the thread is thoroughly answered with references and context, inches above.

People ask the question. As I explained in the request for comment thread, the only lever Carnival has is to reduce the time period before sailings within which you have to prove ownership. I think the FAQ is painfully neutral about whether anyone should buy or hold Carnival Corporation & plc stock for any reason other than the shareholder benefit, and the shareholder benefit rules do not require you to keep the stock.

4.7 Will Carnival Corporation & plc keep the Shareholder Benefit in the future? Since the introduction of the benefit decades ago, the benefit has been renewed annually. The benefit has been renewed in each of the four Carnival annual reports issued since COVID began affecting the cruise industry (2019’s report issued after the Diamond Princess was already quarantined, 2020, 2021 and 2022, issued 02/28/2023) despite the financial position of the industry as a whole and Carnival in particular. That said, there are no guarantees and you’re under no obligation to continue to hold the stock after the benefit is discontinued.

I would specifically attend the blue/first time cruisers event because they typically give away Elite status to one attendee as a door prize. I’m not sure if it persists beyond that sailing, but it’s still 10% off shops and spa services and shore excursions and half off internet for that sailing if it’s purchased a la carte.

First walk-offs have been 7:30-7:45 lately.

Carnival Corporation & PLC Shareholder Benefit FAQ For Princess Cruisers This post addresses the most common questions about the Carnival Corporation & plc Shareholder Benefit as it specifically applies to Princess Cruises. Information and the benefit itself are subject to change yearly - this document was last updated March 23, 2023 with information from the 2022 annual report issued February 28, 2023, and is valid for sailings through July 31, 2024. The latest official information is found at https://www.carnivalcorp.com/static-files/50351a91-4dc0-4f6b-bfec-684647e6129f and official information will be reviewed and updated with the dates and information from the latest Annual Report once a year. Information not shown on the official document is based on actual passenger onboard experience with the application and validity of the credits, which are not guaranteed and subject to change at any time. This FAQ is not investment advice and should not be used as such. 1 - About The Carnival Corporation & plc Shareholder Benefit 1.1 What is the Shareholder Benefit? Passengers who own the required number of shares in Carnival Corporation & plc receive non-refundable Shareholder Benefit Onboard Credit (OBC) in varying amounts based on the length of the cruise and the operating currency aboard their voyage. 1.2 How much OBC are we talking here? Voyage Length USD AUD 14+ Days $250 A$250 7-13 Days $100 A$100 1-6 Days $50 A$50 1.3 How is voyage length determined? The duration of the cruise on a single booking number determines voyage length for Shareholder Benefit OBC purposes. This matters in Back-To-Back (B2B) cruising, where one booking number bought as a 14-Day sailing receives $250, but buying the same cruise as two 7-Day sailings with a resulting two booking numbers only gets $100+$100. As Princess often sells multiple distinct voyages bundled together as one voyage, it behooves shareholders to consider differences in Shareholder Benefit OBC during the booking process. 1.4 Are there restrictions on how the Shareholder Benefit OBC may be used onboard? Officially, yes. From the official Carnival Corporation form: “This benefit is not transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash and, cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account.” In practice, Shareholder Benefit OBC appears as Non-Refundable OBC on the Voyage Folio and is depleted by all onboard charge types including daily crew appreciation/“hotel charges” and casino player bank loads. 1.5 Can Shareholder Benefit OBC be combined with other forms of OBC? Yes. Passengers report it “stacking” with OBC offered as part of booking promotions, Future Cruise Deposit bonus OBC, referral bonuses, military/veteran benefits, goodwill OBC and the late, lamented Loyalty Commend OBC. If combined with Refundable OBC, all Non-Refundable OBC is depleted first. 1.6 Can Shareholder Benefit OBC be used prior to boarding? Yes, subject to the other limitations on using OBC prior to boarding. Presently, OBC of any kind can only be used to book shore excursions. 1.7 How does sailing B2B affect Shareholder Benefit OBC? The Shareholder Benefit OBC is applied to the Voyage Folio at the start of the first voyage associated with the booking number. For example, if two 7-Day voyages are sold as a 14-Day voyage under a single booking number, the $250 Shareholder Benefit OBC is applied to the Voyage Folio on Day 1 of the first 7-Day voyage, nothing is applied to the second 7-Day voyage, and any unused balance from the first voyage is carried over to the second voyage. If a customer books a continuous sequence of multiple voyages with multiple booking numbers, the Shareholder Benefit OBC associated with each booking number is applied to the Voyage Folio at the start of each associated voyage. Specifically because the positive or negative balances of a Voyage Folio carry forward to the next voyage in a series by default, it is possible that charges to the Voyage Folio not fully covered by Shareholder Benefit OBC from the earlier voyages can be covered by Shareholder Benefit OBC applied to later contiguous voyages. 2 - Shareholder Benefit Eligibility 2.1 How much ownership of what stock is required? 100 shares of Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) or Carnival plc (LSE:CCL) There is no difference in Shareholder Benefit between holdings in Carnival Corporation or Carnival PLC, as shares in either represent the exact same ownership interest. Share types can be combined to reach 100 shares so long as the shareholder name is the same. 2.2 Can the shares be held in a tax-advantaged account such as an IRA, Roth, 401(k), 457, RRSP, etc?: Yes, so long as you can produce acceptable evidence of ownership in your account, the specific legal form of ownership does not appear to matter. 2.3 Can shares be held jointly? Yes. Any shareholder listed on the ownership documents can submit for their booking, subject to the restrictions of one Shareholder Benefit OBC grant per shareholder-occupied cabin. 2.4 Can passengers from outside the US and UK request Shareholder Benefit OBC? Yes. Any shareholder is eligible regardless of their residency. Shares can be purchased on any exchange trading any of the eligible share types. 2.5 Can shares be held as depository receipts? Yes. ADRs in Carnival PLC (NYSE ADR:CUK) and EDRs/GDRs/CDIs in either Carnival Corporation or plc are eligible as they each represent ownership of shares in the underlying security. 2.6 Are there situations where bookings are ineligible for Shareholder Benefit OBC? 2.6.1 - Industry Discounts: Any guest sailing on an interline, industry, “friends and family”, tour conductor or similar eligibility-required discount cannot receive Shareholder Benefit OBC to that sailing. Further, employees of Carnival Corporation or plc are ineligible. 2.6.2 Casino Discounts: It depends. Princess Players Club-provided casino full comps (where the offer includes a free cabin of any sort, regardless of paying to upgrade or add Plus/Premium) are also ineligible for Shareholder Benefit OBC. Princess-offered casino discount bookings, however, are eligible. Eligibility for bookings earned through shoreside casinos may or may not be eligible, depending on the booking channel. 2.7 What about group/charter bookings? Group bookings and charters are generally eligible. 2.8 Can multiple travelers in a cabin redeem Shareholder Benefit OBC if they are each shareholders? By policy, no. From the official notice: “Only one onboard credit per shareholder-occupied stateroom.” In practice, guests occupying the same stateroom, with different last names and different addresses on the booking, report success when each submits a separate benefit request. 2.9 Does owning more shares than the minimum earn more Shareholder Benefit OBC? No. Any number of shares equal or greater than 100 receives the same Shareholder Benefit OBC 2.10 Can I reuse the same shares for multiple sailings? Yes. There are passengers who have received thousands of dollars of benefits from a single eligible shareholding. 2.11 Is there a limit on how much Shareholder Benefit OBC a single shareholder can earn? Practically, it’s impossible to earn more than $6500 per year based on 26 14-night sailings. 3 - Requesting Shareholder Benefit OBC 3.1 What is required to request Shareholder Benefit OBC? Your request must contain: • complete legal name • reservation/booking number(s) • ship name(s) • sailing date(s) • proof of ownership of Carnival Corporation or Carnival plc shares It’s advisable to also include phone and email contact information in your submission, regardless of method. 3.2 What is acceptable proof of share ownership? • photocopy of shareholder proxy card • dividend tax voucher • current brokerage or nominee statement with your current mailing address and your brokerage account number blacked out Practically, “current” seems to mean “within 90 days”, as “the most recent quarterly statement” is routinely accepted. Screenshots of online brokerage accounts are accepted so long as they’re accompanied by enough identifying information to tie the account ownership to the shares, which may require multiple screens. Shareholders should black out all information not related to the Carnival holdings such as account numbers, balances, other shareholdings, etc. 3.3 Where and how should the completed request be submitted? It depends on which unit of Princess booked the cruise. Refer to your booking confirmation for the correct legal entity. North American bookings: By mail: Customer Solutions 24303 Town Center Drive Suite 200 Santa Clarita, CA 91355 By fax: 661 753 0180 By email: sbpcl@princesscruises.com UK bookings: By fax: Princess Cruises Military & Shareholder Benefits Team 44 0 238 065 7509 By email: benefits@princesscruises.co.uk Australia/New Zealand bookings: By post: Customer Service Manager PO Box 1429 Chatswood NSW 2057 By fax: 61 2 8326 4550 By email: benefits@princesscruises.com.au For email submissions, include your booking number and date of departure in the subject line, and make any attachments PDF Your travel agent or PVP may, but is not required to, submit on your behalf. 3.4 When should I submit my Shareholder Benefit OBC request? Officially, the notice has conflicting information. At the top of the page, “Applications to receive these benefits should be made at least three weeks prior to cruise departure date.” Further down the page, “no later than 4 weeks prior to your sail date”. Practically, requests are accepted by Princess up to the last business day before the sailing date and if the credit has not been applied by boarding, Guest Services can escalate to corporate to get it applied. Bring acceptable proof of share ownership onboard if you haven’t seen the credit before departure. The regional offices differ in when they will accept a request. The official information and the US office formerly required bookings be paid in full and the request made no more than 90 days prior to sailing. This is no longer the case. Passengers report the UK office is still requiring requests be within 90 days of the sale date. 3.5 Can I combine multiple bookings in a single request, even if they aren’t B2B? Yes. 3.6 How will I know if my request was received? Post and fax submissions are not routinely acknowledged. Sometimes, email submissions are acknowledged upon receipt. 3.7 What if my request is rejected? Princess will generally reply by email if there is a problem with the submission. The most common issues are missing information in the request, or an attachment that was either not attached or won’t open. 3.8 How will I learn if my request for Shareholder Benefit OBC was successful? Usually, a revised Booking Confirmation is sent by email that includes the Shareholder Benefit OBC. This is not exactly consistent, however, and in the case of bookings via travel agents, may be sent directly to the agent who may not notice that the Shareholder Benefit OBC has been applied and thus generated an otherwise-identical Booking Confirmation, and thus doesn’t forward it to the customer. You can check via the website - log in, select the booking in question, select Payments & Credits and scroll to the bottom. The benefit will appear there when applied. (screenshot courtesy of member Ombud) 3.9 How long will it take to process my Shareholder Benefit OBC request? This varies by booking volume, request volume and available staff. Since the restart, requests have taken anywhere from hours to weeks to be worked. When there is a backlog, requests are prioritized by sailing date. As of March 2023, North American requests have been processing within a few business days, but this is, again, subject to change. 3.10 If my cruise is coming up within 3-4 weeks and I haven’t seen the credit applied, is there someone I can contact about this? Email seems to work well - even if the original submission was by fax or mail. Include the booking number and departure date in the heading of your email. If you want to reach out by phone: North American bookings: Tel 800 872 6779 ext. 30317 UK bookings: Tel 44 0 344 338 8663 Australia/New Zealand bookings: Tel 61 2 8326 4000 Passengers report that the Live Chat feature has also been able to assist with missing Shareholder Benefit OBC. 4 - Miscellaneous: 4.1 How much does it cost to buy 100 shares of Carnival Corporation or plc? Follow any of these links to see the official current share price of: Carnival Corporation: https://www.nyse.com/quote/XNYS:CCL Carnival plc US ADR: https://www.nyse.com/quote/XNYS:CUK Carnival plc UK LSE (quote is in UK p) https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/CCL/carnival-plc/company-page Multiply by 100, and add applicable brokerage fees or commission. 4.2 How do I purchase Carnival Corporation or plc shares? Ask your financial professional or use an online brokerage licensed in your country of residence. 4.3 Should I purchase shares in Carnival Corporation or Carnival PLC? There’s a substantial price difference. Ask your financial professional. Shares in either Carnival Corporation or Carnival PLC are equally valid for purposes of Shareholder Benefit OBC. Your financial professional can advise you of how the benefits and harms of owning shares in either listing apply to your personal financial situation and the regulations in your country of residence. 4.4 Are Carnival Corporation & plc shares a good investment? Ask your financial professional. Asking Cruise Critic forum posters if a cruise line stock is good is like asking a barber if you could use a haircut. Make sure your financial professional is aware of how much Shareholder Benefit OBC you expect to receive over your investment horizon. All stock investments involve the risk of loss up to and including the entire amount of your investment. 4.5 Is Shareholder Benefit OBC treated as a dividend for tax purposes? Ask your tax professional. 4.6 Will a 1099-DIV be issued for Shareholder Benefit OBC? Any 1099-DIV issued will not include Shareholder Benefit OBC amounts. 4.7 Will Carnival Corporation & plc keep the Shareholder Benefit in the future? Since the introduction of the benefit decades ago, the benefit has been renewed annually. The benefit has been renewed in each of the four Carnival annual reports issued since COVID began affecting the cruise industry (2019’s report issued after the Diamond Princess was already quarantined, 2020, 2021 and 2022, issued 02/28/2023) despite the financial position of the industry as a whole and Carnival in particular. That said, there are no guarantees and you’re under no obligation to continue to hold the stock after the benefit is discontinued. 4.8 What happens if I sell my stock between the time of submission and the time the credit is applied to my sailing? Princess has no way of determining that you have sold the stock in the intervening period. 5 - Revision History & Acknowledgements: 5.1 Revisions 5.1.1 - V1.0 - all new 5.2 Acknowledgements 5.2.1 V1.0 author VibeGuy, contributors Ombud, cr8tiv1, Thrak