About to go Diamond thanks to a free cruise!

[Venusleo1]

My company is taking all of their employees and a guest on the majesty of the seas this Friday! My husband and I are 1 night away from Diamond and this cruise will make us Diamond!

Now that's what I call a Christmas Bonus!

 

Since this cruise will make us diamond can we book another cruise on the ship and get the diamond balcony discount? And then are balcony discounts combinable with the on board credit program? Were hoping to book Allure for Oct 2012 get the balcony discount and the OBC.

 

Still can't believe I'm going on a free cruise! I just started with the company mid November and when I was filling out my HR stuff they told me about the cruise. On the first night were doing our own murder mystery and we were all assigned characters to play and we have to dress up! Too freaking cool!

[Retired LEO]

My company is taking all of their employees and a guest on the majesty of the seas this Friday! My husband and I are 1 night away from Diamond and this cruise will make us Diamond!

Now that's what I call a Christmas Bonus!

 

Since this cruise will make us diamond can we book another cruise on the ship and get the diamond balcony discount? And then are balcony discounts combinable with the on board credit program? Were hoping to book Allure for Oct 2012 get the balcony discount and the OBC.

 

Still can't believe I'm going on a free cruise! I just started with the company mid November and when I was filling out my HR stuff they told me about the cruise. On the first night were doing our own murder mystery and we were all assigned characters to play and we have to dress up! Too freaking cool!

 

I'm sure that many will correct me if I am wrong, but I thought you only get points if you pay for a cruise.

[uksimonusa]

I'm sure that many will correct me if I am wrong, but I thought you only get points if you pay for a cruise.

 

You only get points if someone pays RCI for the cruise, this is not really a free cruise per se, it is a cruise that is free to the cruiser, paid for by their company, so yes they will get points

 

You can book onboard, when you get home and your status changes to diamond, call c&a and have the diamond balcony discount added to the booking.

[cruiseinfoseeker]

I'm sure that many will correct me if I am wrong, but I thought you only get points if you pay for a cruise.

 

 

Someone is paying for it; her company. Its not a free cruise from RCCL

[Paulxyz2004]

You don´t have to pay for the cruise yourself to get the points, i.e. if you are invited by your parents, inlaws.... you would still get the points even though you have not paid for the cruise.

 

However I´m not sure the OP will get points for this cruise. There´s something in the fine print about eligible cruises and the company paying for the cruise might has some special deal with RCI about this cruise that could make it a non-eligible cruise. Especially with work sponsored trips things like this can happen and the OP might not even be able to put their C&A number on this cruise booking. It´s like some companies allow miles on flights to be used for private use and others don´t.

 

I´m not saying the OP can or cannot benefit from this cruise, they just have to check and there´s a possibility it won´t work.

[Ashland]

I didn't get the points when I paid for my son's honeymoon cruise..he did..so what's the difference :confused:..More than likely they will get the points as this sounds like a gift to their employees which was probably just done as a group booking rather than a sponsored "work related" trip...

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I live near you, in Boca. What company is this?!?!? I'd love a job there ;)

[Venusleo1]

Hi everyone! So I was just reading all of your posts and got worried so I just got off the phone with C&A and I will in fact get the points. It was a group booking through a TA. She said as long as my name is on the reservation and somebody paid for the cruise then it counts and my name is on the reservation.

She said if I had won the cruise from bingo or poker or an on board raffle or if it was a complimentary cruise from them (royal) then no I wouldn't get the points.

[lorrdean]

well all i can say is congratulations :D to you, what a fantastic company to work for, wish my employer would treat me to a cruise but no such luck :(

[orville99]

Good news is you'll get points.

Bad news is you and your hubby will also get a 1099:( - this type of perk is considered taxable income by the IRS

[verodoodle]

The cruise is in Dec. Will it be double points? :D

[39august]

No, you have to already be Diamond or higher to get double points for the "Diamonds in December" promotion.

[orville99]

The cruise is in Dec. Will it be double points? :D

 

 

Since the OP said they're one point away from Diamond, probably not. They wouldn't qualify for the D-in-D promo until after the cruise posts (or unless they do a B2B and stay on for the 3-nighter after this one.)

[Big_G]

Good news is you'll get points.

Bad news is you and your hubby will also get a 1099:( - this type of perk is considered taxable income by the IRS

Rain on people's parades much?:rolleyes:

[Venusleo1]

Good news is you'll get points.

Bad news is you and your hubby will also get a 1099:( - this type of perk is considered taxable income by the IRS

 

Huh? It's a gift. How is that taxable income? If my dad bought me a cruise for my birthday would I have to pay taxes on that? My bosses paid for this cruise for all of us just like a well off grandparent would pay for his family to go on a vacation together. I can't possibly see how I'd get a 1099. I've won all kinds of gifts in the past as I'm in sales and I never got a 1099 for stuff worth far more then a $149 cruise. I've won $250 Amex gift cards and didn't get a 1099. Co workers have recieved rolexes a trip to Italy flat screen tv's iMacs all kinds of stuff and no one had to pay taxes. How would the IRS even know about something like that?

[Venusleo1]

Okay let's re-phrase. It's not a gift it's our holiday party. Which is true. It costs the owners just as much to take us on a cruise then to rent out a banquet hall and spend thousands on a Christmas party. We each had to set up our own on board accounts so anything we buy on board we have to pay for ourselves. It's just the cruise fare port fees and taxes that they covered and it was like $350 a couple. We All live in south florida So its not like flights or anything. It's actually quite smart if you think about it. Give us a cruise for less then a 4-5 hour party.

[orville99]

Not trying to be a wet blanket, but whether your employer notifies the IRS for any of this is immaterial. The triggers are the fact that this is an employer/employee relationship, the value of the benefits received is over the "token" limit of $25, and the trip is considered a "bonus" by the IRS regardless of what you call it. As for gifts between parents and children, parents are permitted to gift up to $10,000/year/child to their children with no tax liability. Different part of the tax code alltogether.

[Venusleo1]

What about friends? How much can friends gift each other?

[CruisinDawn]

Don't worry about a 1099, isn't gonna happen. It would be different if they gave ya the cruise as some kind of bonus like a signing bonus, but this is a company event. Heck a dinner with the boss easily surpasses a $25 mark mentioned.

 

Enjoy your cruise! Welcome to Diamond status! Book a future cruise onboard (don't have to pick a ship or date yet if your not ready) and you will get the onboard credit for the upcoming cruise, once ya book then ask them to apply the balcony discount as well, nice perk :D Enjoy!

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[orville99]

What about friends? How much can friends gift each other?

 

I've never seen that question come up with the IRS, but I expect that there are some obscure statutory limits buried in the 10,000+ pages of the tax code. It's really a moot point, however, because the determining issue is the nature of the relationship. Your employer may choose to ignore the law and not report the income, "gross up" the perk (add a sum sufficient to cover your tax liability), or add it to your w-2, but it is income. BTW, all of those people who were given cars as gifts on Oprah, received a tax bill from the IRS for the market value of the cars.

[Venusleo1]

Don't worry about a 1099, isn't gonna happen. It would be different if they gave ya the cruise as some kind of bonus like a signing bonus, but this is a company event. Heck a dinner with the boss easily surpasses a $25 mark mentioned.

 

Enjoy your cruise! Welcome to Diamond status! Book a future cruise onboard (don't have to pick a ship or date yet if your not ready) and you will get the onboard credit for the upcoming cruise, once ya book then ask them to apply the balcony discount as well, nice perk :D Enjoy!

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

 

Thanks! We already know exactly what we want to book! We've been waiting to hit Diamond before we did Oasis/Allure so we're going to book Allure for Oct 7th 2012.

[pinklucky61]

I'm sure that many will correct me if I am wrong, but I thought you only get points if you pay for a cruise.

i thought so too, but i won a cruise with rcl a couple years ago, my guest and i both got cruise points for it. maybe they just didn't catch it?

[SRQfireman]

Good news is you'll get points.

Bad news is you and your hubby will also get a 1099:( - this type of perk is considered taxable income by the IRS

 

Guess what?? The OP will only get a 1099 *if* her company wants to give her one! It's not an automatic thing....if they don't want the employees to have to deal with it, it's simple-----> don't issue'em a 1099

Based on what the OP said about it being a "Xmas gift" / "Xmas party" kinda thing, (like tons of companies do) I would be REAL surprised if they did that to their employees.

Boy did you fall into it......haven't even been there a month and you already got a free cruise....it doesn't get much better than that!.....enjoy

You mentioned about rebooking and getting a balcony next time on the Majesty.....I got news for ya....there aren't many of them on that ship, so thee ole law of economics come in to play----> supply and demand !! Be prepared to pay a sigificant amount of money in order to get a JS on there. (as a rule)

[Aquahound]

Since this cruise will make us diamond can we book another cruise on the ship and get the diamond balcony discount? And then are balcony discounts combinable with the on board credit program? Were hoping to book Allure for Oct 2012 get the balcony discount and the OBC.

 

Hi Stephanie! Theoretically, you should be able to do it after the first night, because you would then be Diamond. However, I think a better option for you would be reserving a Next Cruise. Wait until you know the credits have been awarded and then apply it to your Allure cruise. That way, you'll get the discount and still get the OBC. :)

[Venusleo1]

SRQfireman- thanks I feel pretty blessed. I didn't want to book majesty while I was on majesty I want to book Allure while I'm on majesty to get the OBC and I want to book a balcony for allure. I know there are no balcony cabins on majesty just jr. Suites and suites. Thanks for the advise though.

 

Paul, hi Paul!!! I'll just do what you say. Get the next cruise certificate and then book it when my points have hit.