Inveterate Cruiser

Tomorrow's ER will be interesting. I took my first ever Carnival cruise in August on the Vista and am Diamond on RCL. I would not invest in Carnival as an investor vs RCL - not just because Carnival has a higher debt level than RCL but also because Carnival's 'free' offerings are so much better than RCL - why would anyone want to do specialty dining when the free offerings are so good? Also, I saw very little upselling activity (specialty dining/drinks packages) on CCL vs RCL. As a customer, my family and I were very pleasantly surprised by Carnival as a result and will go back.

In June 2022, Morgan Stanley’s Jamie Rollo outlined a worse-case scenario: Carnival stock could fall to $0 in the event of a global economic downturn. “If there is a demand shock that causes trip cancellations or weak bookings … liquidity could quickly shrink,” The liquidity is in reference to Carnival's debt obligations - that Carnival has a mountain of debt that needs to be refinanced periodically. If it cannot refinance at any point of time, it will need to go into bankruptcy. CCL, RCL and NCLH all had to take on a lot of debt to survive the pandemic. All have a lot more debt on their books than pre-COVID - Carnival most, Norwegian least. I think there are better investments out there - these are better for shorter-term trades. If you are looking to buy CCL stock for shareholder OBC then sell it after you get the credit.

And can you share how you get 18% off? I can only see 7% off thru Mygiftcardsplus.com

Ok I am currently Level 3 Onyx. What level do you need to get $18 per 100$ on SB?

Was this a response direct from RCL's Club Royale or from URComped? If you go to URComped, since you are Carnival ECHO, you should be able to get a RCL Balcony / Suite offer. Try them.

I’ve only done 2 cruises on MSC vs >10 on RCL/Carnival/HAL. Both times were on YC after bidding on the MSC Upgrade program. YC is definitely good value especially if you can snag it at a a good upgrade price. I have read that it is similar to NCL’s Haven or RCL’s Suite Class but at far more affordable price.

$18 per 100 on Swagbucks? Is this offer still on?

How often do these cruise cash discounts offers happen? I would definitely have bought some if I had seen a discount offer before my Vista cruise in August……

Awesome! Hope you get lots of free cruise offers in the near future!

If you don’t get an offer from RCL, u may want to try URComped. They work with RCL and you could parlay your free Princess cruise into a discounted / free RCL cruise. And you only need to have not sailed with RCL for 12 months…….

You may want to try again re: RCL and Celebrity if you haven’t done so recently. Apparently there was a policy change in Jun 2019 and you may still get the $100 OBC now. Carnival shares are super cheap now so since you and DH sail Carnival so much you could buy 100 shares and try. 100 shares of Carnival is less than 1100 at this time and you can literally sell it again once you get / don’t get the OBC.

Are you able to get Shareholder OBC for your casino comped cruises?

I echo the above comment. I just did my first ever Carnival cruise on the Vista in August (comped balcony). I’ll admit that my family and i had my biases against Carnival going in (I’m Diamond on RCL) but all of us were very pleasantly surprised by the end of the cruise. The ships and entertainment aren’t as good as the newest RCL ships but their non-specialty dining is far better. Don’t knock

Sounds great! Surprised you and DH don’t care for Princess when it’s Carnival’s more premium line and their comps (‘free cruises’) are therefore ‘worth’ more……..plus their free cruise offer is valid for 3 bookings…… I’ve sailed MSC and their Yacht Club is definitely the way to go so not sure if you’re doing that. It’s similar to NCL’s Haven concept but more reasonable…..they also have nice ships but their other offerings (non-specialty dining/entertainment) cannot match Carnival or RCL IMO. Casino is ok but no craps……. Play through $3.6k to get 30% off coupon or $30k to get free cruise is not prohibitive……. I have a cruise in March next year on the new Seashore as a comped cruise from Ocean Casino AC….. I’ve heard great things about the food with VV so I’m gonna try them through URComped but yes, have heard that their casino is pretty small……

Am surprised you don’t have status with Carnival/Princess or NCL as well. Have you or your husband ever tried to ask those lines to match a comped cruise that you’ve gotten from RCL/Celebrity? I know URComped doesn’t work with RCL/Celebrity/NCL…..

That’s good input - many thanks! Maybe I will mix in 10% slots……although I’m not that interested in comped hotel rooms……..

I think @Fly and Saildid a good job explaining but I want to add that if you are sailing through URComped you will get comps / cruises not just on the cruise line directly but also through URComped. So there is a multiplier effect. Another point: For lines like Princess, the offer you get for a free cruise is usually for 3 cruises, not just 1. Finally - all this is contingent on having the ability to actually use these offers, so this is not for everyone.

I get your point but I cannot stomach the house edge for slots. And I can’t do what your husband does - I’m more introverted. So for Celebrity, my strategy will probably to play VP.

I will admit that I never really sat down to look at roulette properly until a couple of weeks ago. It really is a very simple and elegant game compared to craps or BJ. Virtually every single bet (bar 1) has the same house edge and this edge (5.3%), while higher than BJ or the best craps bets, is still not prohibitive. Plus you don’t have to play perfect BJ basic strategy or learn craps (which is intimidating to many) to get this house edge. Shallow learning curve and not much concentration required IMO - like slots. Baccarat is another good game if you can find it. Very low house edge and just bet BANKER all the time. Every time.

You’re absolutely right in that whether I bet $50 on red OR Black all the time or bet $25 on Red AND Black will still result in a long-term loss of 5%. The only difference is the impact to bankroll volatility - one can theoretically play a much longer time with $500 at a roulette table betting $50 a roll if you make 2x$25 covered bets than if you bet $50 on Red/Black consistently…….. hence my question…….

Thanks for posting the paytable for DDB and congrats on your great win! You wouldn’t have noted the paytable for JoB would you? DDB is bit too volatile for me…..

12500 loss from cycling through $250k is a 5% loss. Sounds like a reasonable loss to me to hit Sapphire which was more than what I was hoping to achieve (amethyst)……… But I get the point now that if I am trying to churn points specifically for Celebrity’s BCC program, I should play VP (multi-line) which is a 5% HE, same as roulette, but earns at 4x the rate of table games…….

Granted that earning points via table games like craps/BJ/roulette is slower than through slots (because those 3 table games have a much lower house edge than slots), but i should assume that roulette should accrue points quicker than craps or BJ because of its higher house edge? I used URComped’s comp calculator and their calculated ADT for roulette at $50 bets over 4 hours is much higher than either BJ or craps ($424 vs $240 for craps and $180 for BJ). Basically it equates to 1 hour of roulette = 2 hrs of craps = 2.5 hours of BJ (approximately). That sounds pretty efficient especially if one covers to decrease the bankroll volatility…….

Yeah I’m already getting a free Celebrity cruise through URComped. Just trying to figure out the most effective way to continue getting comps / cruises through URComped and also the cruise lines.

I just can’t bring myself to play slots unless it is VP…….I can’t stand the possibility of losing 15-20% of my bankroll……