Carnival Cruises: Shareholder Benefits (2024) (2024)

Imagine waking up to a new, beautiful view every day. Instead of packing and unpacking your bags, all you need to do is wander around the ship and enjoy the various activities. Whether you’re looking for an adventure or a relaxing escape, a cruise can provide it all.

You might therefore be wondering, do Carnival shareholders get any benefits or perks? The answer is Yes. Shareholders receive benefits in the form of Onboard Credits. The value of these credits ranges from $50 to $250 (£30 to £150), depending on the cruise line brand and the duration of the cruise.

Let’s dive in to the details below.

Carnival wants to acknowledge its shareholders who also become customers, so if you own 100 shares or more of CCL or CUK, then you’re all set to receive some perks through onboard credits! You will receive one OBC per shareholder-occupied stateroom. Onboard credits are a type of currency that can be used onboard Carnival’s cruise ships. Guests can use their onboard credits to purchase drinks, souvenirs, spa treatments, book shore excursions, and more. The benefits vary based on which brand of cruise line you are on, so it’s important to pay attention to this. I have discussed this further below.

The good news is that Carnival recently updated their benefits information and extended these benefits out to 2024. This means if you are going on a cruise in 2023 or if you are simply booking one now but will be cruising in 2024 (up until July 31), you’re covered by the benefits!

The current rules are in place for reservations made by February 28, 2024 and the benefit is applicable on sailings through July 31, 2024.

Exclusions and Important Conditions

There are some important exclusions to keep in mind. You are not eligible to receive these benefits and perks if:

1. You are cruising on a reduced rate or complimentary basis
2. You are an employee of Carnival, a travel agent cruising at travel agent rates, interline rates, or a tour conductor.

It is also important to note that the benefit is not transferrable, so you cannot pass on the benefit to someone else. You must be going on the cruise and the OBC will only be given to you (and the people in your party in your stateroom).

Finally, the OBC cannot be exchanged for cash, or used for casino credits and charges, or for gratuities charged to your onboard account.

How to apply for Onboard Benefits for Carnival

The process for applying for the OBCs is fairly simple. There is no form to fill out. You have to provide by email, fax, or by regular mail (see contact information below), the following pieces of information:

1. Complete legal name
2. Reservation/booking number
3. Ship and sailing date
4. Proof of ownership. The proof of ownership must demonstrate that you own at least 100 shares of Carnival (CCL or CUK). You can submit one of the following pieces of information to show your ownership:
   • Photocopy of shareholder proxy card; OR
   • A dividend tax voucher; OR
   • A current brokerage or nominee statement with your current mailing address. Please black out your brokerage account number.

When to apply for Onboard Credits for a Carnival cruise

You must apply for the onboard credits at least 4 weeks prior to your departure. Note that there is some conflicting information in Carnival’s own literature about this period (at one point they say 3 weeks prior to departure date is acceptable).

My suggestion is to stick to the more conservative requirement of 4 weeks. It’s better to be safe than sorry. There’s no point waiting till the end and letting 1 week get in the way of you, a great vacation, and some nice perks!

If you have a travel agent, I recommend contacting your travel agent for the easiest and fastest results. Alternatively, you can contact Carnival directly too. I recommend contact them by email as it’s the easiest way to keep track of your conversation with them and the fastest way of communicating. See the section below for contact details.

The Onboard Credits provided to shareholders and stockholders varies based on the brand of the cruise line that you are going on and the period of the voyage.

Please remember that the onboard credit for Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard, and Princess Cruises is determined based on the operational currency onboard the vessel.

Carnival Cruises – North American brands

For Carnival’s North American brands, for sailings up to July 31, 2023, you get the following benefits:

Carnival’s North American brands along with their contact information are listed below. Remember that if you have a travel agent who booked your tickets, you can contact them as well.

If you want to contact by regular mail, please see Carnival’s documentation for the mailing address for each brand.

Carnival Cruises – Continental Europe brands

For Carnival’s Continental European brands, for sailings up to July 31, 2024, you get the following benefits:

Carnival’s Continental European brands along with their contact information are listed below. Remember that if you have a travel agent who booked your tickets, you can contact them as well.

Carnival Cruises – UK brands

For Carnival’s UK brands, for sailings up to July 31, 2024, you get the following benefits:

Carnival’s UK brands along with their contact information are listed below. Remember that if you have a travel agent who booked your tickets, you can contact them as well.

Carnival Cruises – Australian brands

For Carnival’s Australian brands, for sailings up to July 31, 2024, you get the following benefits:

Carnival’s Australian brands along with their contact information are listed below. Remember that if you have a travel agent who booked your tickets, you can contact them as well.

For Carnival branded cruises in Australia, you have to contact their North American email or fax number.

In the post-Covid world, I do not think it is worth buying Carnival shares simply to claim the shareholder benefits. As you may be aware, the cruise industry was hit very badly during Covid as all voyages were cancelled. In order to pay the bills, all the cruise companies had to borrow huge sums of money from banks and from the financial markets. This meant that the balance sheets of all the cruise lines went from being reasonable to now being in a vary precarious state.

While President Trump was favourably disposed to bail out the cruise lines with cheap financing, the fact that cruise companies pay minimal income tax (anywhere between 0% to 3% in any given year) meant that Congress did not want to be seen bailing them out using taxpayers’ funds.

Carnival’s net debt level has ballooned from around $11 billion at the end of November 2019 to $29 billion by the end of 2023. While earnings at the company have started to recover from the Covid shock, there is still a long way to go reduce their financial leverage. It will likely take Carnival another 10 years or more of running at pre-Covid profitability levels to reduce their debt back to the $11 billion level. This is a very long time!

Due to Carnival’s significantly worsened financial position, the shares have also become significantly more volatile. The shares easily move 5-10% in one day. And while that might not seem like much, it’s important to remember that the shares have declined by 80% from their pre-Covid levels.

An important metric to quantify stock volatility is Beta. Using our Beta calculator, you can see that the stock has a Beta of over 2 when compared to the S&P 500. This means the stock is highly volatile.

For these reasons, you can easily end up losing more on the shares than you will gain in OBCs.

The box below shows the cost to buy 100 shares of CCL based on the latest closing price:

Based on this investment, a 10% decline in the share prices (whether in one day or over a few days or months), would cost you at least $170. Depending on the duration of your cruise, this can be more than what you would receive in benefits!

Yes, if the shares go back up, you could gain a lot of money too. But at this point, that’s just pure speculation. Sure you can have a little fun with the shares if they go up, but unless you really know what you are doing, you’re better off just going on that cruise. Plus its more enjoyable to get lucky in the stateroom than pray and hope that maybe you can get lucky in the markets! If you want to make money in the markets, there are better options to consider.

Is CCL a good stock to buy?

Given Carnival’s ridiculously high debt level and the difficult position that they’re in, unfortunately for no fault of their own, I do not feel that CCL (or CUK) is a good stock to buy as an investment. One could buy Carnival shares in the hope that they recover, but that would purely be speculation, not investing. Unfortunately, the situation is similar across the industry, with other companies like Royal Caribbean and Norwegian also struggling.

Investing means you are taking a calculated bet and you only take that bet when the risk vs reward dynamics are skewed heavily in your favour. At this point, for the reasons I laid out above, I do not feel that rewards heavily outweigh the risks.

For those who are tolerant of volatility, I think Carnival could potentially make a good trading stock. It would make sense to buy the stock when it gets beat up due to external factors (i.e. not stock-specific issues) and sell when it bounces.

Will Carnival stock recover?

The path to recovery for Carnival’s shares is murky. The company has to pay off a significant amount of debt in order to bring its balance sheet to a healthy level, or at least back to its pre-Covid levels. Based on the expected free cash flow generation of around $2.5 billion annually, starting in 2025, it will take a long time to pay off the $20 billion of incremental debt that they have taken on since 2020.

While all of this is doable, there may be many more macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges that they company may face during that period. The first few years are the most crucial, as that is when the company is most vulnerable.

If the management can effectively steer the company through the next 3 to 5 years without any hiccups – this means generating profits and paying off debt with it – the stock may recover in the years beyond that. But do you want to own the shares during such a volatile period?

If you You are likely better off investing in opportunities where the odds are in your favour. I would recommend monitoring Carnival’s financials over the next few years and if it looks like they’re on track, it would be worth buying for an eventual recovery.

Or as I mentioned, from a trading perspective, one could buy when they get beat up and sell when the price recovers.

What’s the difference between CCL vs CUK?

From a financial perspective, CCL and CUK are functionally equivalent and there is no difference. This means that 1 share of CCL is equal to 1 share of CUK, and there is no difference between CCL and CUK.

So then why does Carnival have two stocks to its name? The main difference has to do with where Carnival shares are trading.CCLis the ticker of the stock you’ll find trading in the US on the NYSE and represents an ownership of in Carnival Corp. Meanwhile, CCL in London is equivalent to 1 share of CCL in the US and represents interest in Carnival plc.

Meanwhile, and confusingly enough, you’ll findCUK trading on the NYSE (in USD), representing Carnival PLC.CUK is a sponsored ADR which means its more directly tied to CCL shares in London.

Yes, there are some differences in liquidity and sometimes one of the shares might trade at a premium, but for most investors, those differences are irrelevant.

Using our total return calculator, you can see that both CCL and CUK have identical returns over the last 5 years.

Here’s what the company discloses in its annual report about the three securities’ structure:

Carnival Corporation common stock, together with paired trust shares of beneficial interest in the P&O Princess Special Voting Trust, which holds a Special Voting Share of Carnival plc, is traded on the NYSE under the symbol “CCL.” Carnival plc ordinary shares trade on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “CCL.” Carnival plc American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”), each one of which represents one Carnival plc ordinary share, are traded on the NYSE under the symbol “CUK.” The depositary for the ADSs is JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

Carnival Corporation Annual Report, 2022

Does CCL pay dividends?

No. Carnival (both CCL and CUK) used to pay dividends, however they were suspended due to the unprecedented circ*mstances related to Covid-19. I do not expect Carnival to pay dividends for the foreseeable future as their debt load is simply too high. It may take them another several years before they can start paying out a dividend without jeopardizing their balance sheet.

In order to buy Carnival shares, you will need to have a brokerage account that allows you to buy shares. Many brokerages allow you to open an account easily, but there may be a minimum amount of deposit required first.

If you are in the US, some good options for brokerage accounts are M1 Finance, Robinhood, or Vanguard.

If you are in the UK, you can buy either CCL shares in the US or CUK in the UK. Some good options for brokerages include Fineco, Moneyfarm, Hargreaves Lansdown, Interactive Investors, or eToro. You can learn more about other options on our articles covering the Best Way to Buy US Stocks in the UK and the Best Investment Apps.

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by Brianna Johnson

Brianna Johnson, a Miami-based finance veteran, is a wealth advisor for high net-worth families. She loves to write and to share her knowledge. For PFF, she writes in-depth articles on finance and investments that help readers get unique insights. See more.