as400guy

I drink a few glasses of wine and bottles of beer every day.  My wife does not drink alcohol.

Has anyone had luck with a Plus or Premier package DISCOUNT for the one of us that does not drink?

Sadly we canceled our March, 2022 Elbe River cruise this week.  It had been rescheduled  after our March, 2020 was canceled.

We have had this cruise on our "Bucket List" for many years.  We're hoping 2023 will find us healthy and able to do it then.

Thank you all for your observations.  It helped to have some boots on the ground to inform our decision.

On 8/31/2021 at 2:37 PM, JF - retired RRT said:

Finally started answering with, "Honolulu Police Dept., how may I help you?"...CLICK

I keep the local FBI office phone number on a Post-it on my monitor.  When I get the calls from "Microsoft" or "Apple" I ask them to please call me back at my office number and give them the FBI number.  For some reason I never get called back.

On 4/23/2021 at 10:15 AM, Steelers36 said:

Actually, I have another idea for you. 

 

The advantage of the FCD is the OBC you get back when using it as a deposit on a booking.  The OBC amount varies, depending on length of cruise and cabin category.

 

Princess also sells Gift Cards.  Recently, when special days come up, such as Valentines, they offer bonus amounts and have been pretty generous during the Covid pauses.  I can guarantee you they will soon have a nice offer on for Mother's Day.  You might get as much as 10% ($100 on $1000). 

 

Some folks can also obtain gift cards via other providers that also run bonus promotions.

 

This plan might require more cash outlay, but the Gift Card balances can be used to pay your cruise off and the Gift Bonus can help make up for lost OBC.

 

Another advantage of the FCD is it is good for deposit in full on a cruise.  With Princess' latest deposit inflation, that could save you some  money if you ever lose the deposit due to future circumstances. 

Also concerning gift cards and bonuses.   If you follow SEC filings, you might conclude that Carnival Corporation is in miserable financial condition.  It appears the only reason they have not been forced into bankruptcy is the lenders' waiving of loan covenants.  They have no more  assets to encumber to facilitate new borrowing.  So... if bankruptcy is forced or declared any outstanding gift cards will be at end of the collection line.  You will be at the end of the line of non-secured creditors and the odds are good you will never see that cash again.

No email here, but as I was booking a 4/4/2022 Hawaii cruise yesterday and noticed my wife and I both had a "9990 - $250 Casino Freeplay" offer, sail by 12/15/2021.

Has anyone had any luck having an offer's sail by date extended (to April 4, 2022 in this case?)

On 9/15/2020 at 3:38 PM, voljeep said:

 

 

On 9/15/2020 at 3:38 PM, voljeep said:

 

On 9/15/2020 at 3:38 PM, voljeep said:

just in time for the new Princess gift card offer !! 🍷 🥃 🍸

 

National Family Day is September 26. Celebrate by giving the gift of adventures ahead. This exclusive offer gives you a $50 bonus gift card to use through the end of next year — lots of time to plan a dream family vacation together! Princess gift cards can be used toward a cruise packed with family-friendly entertainment and activities, Discovery^™️ shore excursions, onboard gifts and more. It's the perfect way to create lasting memories with the ones you love

Please be very cautious about retaining or buying gift cards.  If you spend an hour or so reviewing Princess' SEC filings you might come to the same conclusion I have.

The cash from Gift cards like prepayments and deposits on cruises go directly to the cash account at Carnival.  The cash is used for general corporate purposes, not your cruise.  An accounting entry is made that is reduced as your specific sailing progresses.  If it happens, your sailing will likely be paid for by deposits and payments on someone else's cruise.

Here's where this gets dicey.  Carnival Corporation has so highly leveraged that they have had to encumber *ALL* corporate assets to obtain the loans.  CCL has placed the new loans in a priority senior position such that (in my opinion) it is unlikely they will have any funds available for customers in the event of covenant non-compliance, loan defaults,  or bankruptcy.

In the meantime they are pushing to book cruises (deposits look much higher than in the past) and sell gift cards.   This cash amounts to FREE LOANS for Carnival Corporation.

Regular folks have lost money to corporate bankruptcies before and I suspect it could happen again, especially in the current world-wide environment.   If given the option, take that cash and run.

Sidebar: Carnival brags about their cash on hand, but don't discuss related liabilities except in SEC filings.  They also say bookings are going well compared to previous years, but don't discuss what percentage of the bookings have been made using Future Cruise Credits (NON-CASH).

Be cautious.  It's *your* money.

17 minutes ago, Formula280SS said:

 

.  From an original source, the passenger count was published at 1,500.  

 

What is/was an original source?

Thanks!

1 hour ago, Até said:

https://smge.it/pages_ing/traghettionline_i.html

 

Click on "Arrivals/Departures" then "Cruises" and you can then choose the time frame.  The monthly cruise format is currently blank.

Thanks!

I'm suspicious of the nice round number 1,000.   BUT my main interest was finding how many passengers were actually on the ship.  1,000 is close enough.   Cruise writers seem to believe whatever the cruise line tells them or they misinterpret the cruise line saying they will only board 50% capacity so the writer will use that number as actually boarding.  Those passenger numbers seemed impossible in this environment.

On 8/16/2020 at 7:47 AM, Até said:

Genoa port document shows about 1000 boarding there.  Boarding area opened at 11:30 and departure set for 19:30.

 

Grand.pdf 79.38 kB · 20 downloads

Can you tell me where you find the "Genoa port document"?

1 hour ago, rbt001 said:

my initial vision was a surrealistic view of Carnival Brand (in particular) ships being lifted on a tow truck to be hauled away by the Repo Man.

Great visual!!!

I'm not sure the $4 billion is intended to finance the ships due to be delivered. 

The 4/2/2020 8-K includes this statement:

"The Company expects to use the net proceeds from the offering of the Notes and the Equity Offering for general corporate purposes and to pay fees and expenses relating thereto"

It makes sense that those ships' financing was committed before the first steel was welded in the ship yard.

The 4/8/2020 8-K describes detail of the $4 billion Notes.  The indenture appears to describe ALL assets of Carnival and Carnival PLC's subsidiaries as collateral.  These Senior Notes encumber all CCL assets that are not otherwise pledged as collateral in other indentures or notes.  I think I recall from B-School 50 years ago that Senior Notes are in fact Senior; all you other non-secured creditors can just line up behind them to get paid back.

I think the Escrow Agreement is saying that 25% of the $4 billion will be released as soon as the lenders are satisfied that the collateral available is valued at at least $1 billion for each $1 billion of loan funds released, not for each ship delivery.  In other words, Carnival gets NO CASH (but gets to pay interest) until they perfect 100% collateral for each installment.   I think that's why few refunds were PAID until the last week or so.   Some of the loans were released by the Escrow Agent.

Desperate companies do desperate deals.

I'm still laughing at the Repo Man.  🤣

BTW I disputed the CC charge on 3/26/2020,  14 days after the cancellation by Princess.  I'm not worried about being banned because I'm counting on other cruise lines working hard to poach customers by matching Cruise Line Status!

1 hour ago, rbt001 said:

CASH FLOW is probably the primary reason why Princess --and possibly the eight other Carnival Corporation brands-- could be dragging their feet.

Two things stood out when I read Carnival's SEC Filings from March to current:

1. The ~$4 Billion bond sale was structured so that *ALL* funds were escrowed (and the interest meter started) in early April.,  The money was to be made available to Carnival in four installments between April and October (I think it was October).  RELEASE of the funds was contingent on Carnival satisfying the borrowers that the collateral for each installment was perfected (owned by Carnival, not encumbered by other loans or indentures and properly accounted for in the books).  The bonds are senior to all other debt not specifically secured by physical assets.

My theory is that while refunds were not being made Carnival was scrambling to scrounge up enough assets to secure the $4 billion in bonds.  If the books were not in order that could have taken a ton of legal wrangling.

So, if my theory is correct Carnival did not have the available cash to pay refunds.  Thus the delay in actual payments after "processing".

2.  With almost $5 billion in customer deposits and only $518 million in cash Mr. Arnold probably slept restlessly.   If I understand cruise line accounting deposits are only on the books as a liability, not cash being held for future benefit of the customers.   Let's see, if cash from new customers is used to pay for services for old customers, isn't there a name for that kind of "scheme"?

All this makes me glad a sold my Carnival stock (and took a huge loss) because I think their financial condition has nowhere to go but down at this point.

Thanks for the analysis, RBT!

BTW, I'm not a lawyer or accountant, so take my speculations for what they're worth!

39 minutes ago, cherylandtk said:

I made a spreadsheet

I always do that too.  My wife makes fun of me, but I win more arguments with the financial world (and the IRS) than I lose!   💰

18 hours ago, dearinger said:

I just received a call from Princess Executive Relations

I don't mean to stir everyone up, but the PVP I talked to last week told  me there is a scam happening where people are called and told there is a problem crediting their credit card and they need new card information to finish the refund.

It almost sounds like this could have been a fishing call to determine you are owed money by Princess and then a pro will follow up with the scam call attempting to harvest credit card information. 

Be ever vigilant with your personal information!

15 minutes ago, dog said:

Please put the mouse over the D top left corner of my post and select ignore. Thanks 

Now, kids.  Settle down back there or I swear I'm going to pull this car off the road and ....

Let's not lose sight of this thread's purpose.  *I* have not gotten my refund.  I did NOT get a signed loan agreement from Princess when I paid for my cruise (in full when I booked it).  Gimme my money back.  Today.

14 minutes ago, PrincessLuver said:

some people believe the Earth is flat, we did not go to the Moon and that Princess is busy issuing refunds.

Oh yeah, and the Cruise Director really is funny.  🍹 🤡

8 minutes ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

Viking did the same for three of our neighbors who are all couples and were booked on a cruise that was canceled.  We are going to start looking at a company like them that actually seems to care about its customers and reputation.

Viking River Cruises has not PAID a refund to us for an Elbe cruise scheduled for March 28, 2020 and canceled by them.

Our Citi charge dispute  (prepaid excursions) for $96 was closed in our favor last week.

Our Chase charge dispute for $7,000 is yet to be settled.  

Sorry to go off-topic here, but Viking has problems too.  We have had multiple contacts with them and  received promises to pay on specific dates.   All of the promises were unfulfilled.

5 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

IT deals with computer issues and does not run accounting or managing company cash flow.

IT is the group that builds and TRAINS Accounting & Management to use their systems!  🤑

2 hours ago, dog said:

that may be the case re: TA video posted on this site mentions this 

My apologies if it's easy to find, but I cannot find a video.  Can you say who posted or a posting number?

8 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

I read this morning in NCL's securities filing they are negotiating with their credit card processor about the level of disputes and they may be required to pledge collateral due to the increasing volume.

Wow.

I read that document.  It is pretty frank (as it should be in an 8-K.  It makes me wonder how severe Princess' situation is relative to NCL's.   Is Princess being forthcoming or not?

I also wonder if Princess is going through parallel negotiations and that's why many of our Disputes are in an unknown state (Princess states my dispute has been "approved" and Chase states "it takes a while for the disputed decision to be finalized").   Not enough new money coming through the processors to refund the disputes...

2 hours ago, trrn2016 said:

Did you upload all your information on line or mail them the information?

I talked to a Chase CSR.  He didn't indicate he needed any additional information, so I did not provide any.  That may turn out to be a mistake, but based on what the Princess PVP told me and the Chase CSR after the Princess call told me, I think it's a matter of waiting for Chase to work it through their system.

As many times before, I could be wrong!  I will report any progress here.

2 hours ago, CruisinCouple2010 said:

Will those FCD's go back into our Princess account.

FCD was reinstated with the original expiration date to my Princess account a couple of weeks ago.

4/29/20 cruise (booked and paid on 2/25/2020) was canceled by Princess on 3/12.

NO refund yet

NO FCC posted that was promised with Option 2.

Sidebar: I disputed the charge on 4/14/20.  On 5/1/20 I spoke to the PVP asking her when to expect my refund. She checked and our booking showed that Princess had "accepted the charge-back" on April 19.  The final charge reversal has not shown up on my Chase Credit card yet.   I called Chase and they said the charge-back was posted, but because of Chase's backlog it might take a few days for the final credit to be applied to my account.  As always they said to wait until I get a letter from them with details of the dispute resolution.   Waiting and watching and slightly encouraged.

Second sidebar:  The FCD that was returned to my account is scheduled to expire 5/19/20.   I'm curious if it will be refunded as quickly as expired FCDs have been in the past.

3 hours ago, npcl said:

I will be sending a letter concerning the refund exceeding their stated refund policy to the following people/offices

Don't forget to contact the inattentive Carnival Corporation Board of Directors.  Their well-paid jobs are to make sure messes like the refund process don't happen.  Arnold Donald (FY 2019 total compensation $11,149,000) should have been fired yesterday and all his pay and bonuses clawed back.

FYI:

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/governance/communicating-with-the-board

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/corporate-information/board-of-directors

No refund.  No FCC.  April 29, 2020.