Cruise line shareholders receive bonuses that make their investments pay again and again.
While habitual cruisers accumulate loyalty points, there’s a better way to earn onboard credit and upgrades. And it might even make you a profit.
Regular cruisers with Princess, P&O, or Carnival, you can earn big on-board benefits by purchasing stock.
Once you own 100 shares you are entitled to onboard credit for each of your sailings.
An Australian cruiser who has already recouped the investment wrote: “I purchased through Commsec. They have an international section. It takes a few forms etc to get it set up but easy enough. I have claimed over USD$1160 in onboard credits so far and purchased for USD$9 each. All since Covid. So paid for themselves already. Any growth from now is pure cream.”
Cruise line shareholders: What they get
- If you own 100 shares in Carnival Corporation you are entitled to $250 onboard credit on a sailing of 14 days or more, $100 on a sailing of seven to 13 days, and $50 on a sailing of six days or less.
- This applies to sailings with P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, and Carnival Cruise Line in Australia.
Carnival Corp’s website explains the policy.
“This benefit is available to shareholders holding a minimum of 100 shares of Carnival Corporation or Carnival plc. Employees, travel agents cruising at travel agent rates or interline rates, tour conductors, or anyone else cruising at a reduced rate or on a complimentary basis are excluded from this offer becoming a shareholder of the company.
You can see the onboard policies below.
How much does 100 shares of Carnival Corp cost?
Carnival Corporation is currently trading at USD$15.22. 100 shares of this will cost USD $1522, which is approximately $2307 in AUD. Depending on what medium you use, there could be some transaction and brokerage fees added.
For example, it would take 10 cruises or 14 days are longer to begin making a profit on your investment if you purchased the shares now. For example, if you took a range of cruises, after four cruises of 14 days and longer and 13 cruises of seven to 13 days, you would break even on your investment.
The investment for cruise line shareholders
- While you may buy the stocks to receive the onboard benefits, and if you’re a regular cruiser, you will recoup your investment. The earnings of the investment could actually go beyond that.
- Carnival Corporation is currently trading at USD $15.22 but the predictions say it’s set to rise. TipRanks.com says Carnival’s price target based on 16 Wall Street Analysts is USD$22. The price target refers to what the analysts believe the price will be in 12 months. Other websites such as Zacks Investment Research predict a 12-month rise could be even higher, up to USD $25 per share.
- How much could you make? Using the USD$22 per share figure, if you purchased 100 shares, this could be worth USD $2200 or AUD $3333 in 12 months. This represents a profit of $1026 in just 12 months. This prices to a profit of $5137.43 if you were to buy 500 shares.
- There are no guarantees of returns
- For more info, over the past five years, Carnival Shares have been as high as USD$53.12 and as low as USD$8.49 during the last five years. As you might imagine, shares took a considerable dive due to Covid.
How to buy shares?
The easiest way to buy stocks in US companies is to do it through your bank, with applications such as CommSec for Commbank users or NAB trading for NAB Users.
You can follow the steps through the app and while the process is sometimes lengthy, it’s not complicated.
An App such as Commsec has $0 brokerage on your first ten trades, meaning if you’re a first-time investor you can purchase your Carnival Corp shares without any fees.
To claim your benefit with Carnival, you can download the Carnival Stockperks App, and the App will show you how to submit and claim your benefit.
You must submit your claim at least three weeks before your cruise.
What are cruise line shareholders saying?
Some cruise line shareholders shared their experience of purchasing Carnival Shares on an online cruise forum.
One cruiser wrote: “We bought ours directly with Commbank (ComSec) it’s the only shares we have and they helped me through the process, it takes a few steps to set up but if I can do it, anyone can, you buy Carnival US Shares, so you have to set up an international trade account and complete the US tax Form its all done within a week.”
Another wrote: “Yes, I’ve owned them for a few years and received the OBC several times. I purchased through ComSec. You have to set up an international trading account and complete a W8 US tax form. It’s pretty straight forward. They can help you through the steps.”
