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Does Carnival Loose Money On You?


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Does Carnival loose money when you sail? Or, should they be sending you an invitation to the annual Shareholder Banquet?

 

I am not cheap, but I have to admit, when I sail, my Sign and Sail is VERY tiny. I rarely drink... I don't gamble... I rarely buy anything in the on-board shops (its always the same stuff)... I don't play Bingo... I don't buy shore excursions...

 

How about you?

 

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I wish I could say that I don't spend a lot on the ship, but that's not the case..it's just too easy to swipe that S&S card! I do agree with you about the funshops though...once you've been in one, you've seen pretty much everything they have to offer!

 

Pictures & alcohol are where they get me...each time I go I say I won't purchase as many photos...:o

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I have sailed with Carnival 6 times with the 7th sailing next week on the Splendor.

 

My first sailing was in Sep 2003 on the Inspiration. Back then the fares were higher and on this cruise I spent $1,000 in extras such as alcohol, shopping, spa, some pictures and excursions.

 

Now I spend about $200.00 in extras for the wine package, additional drinks, some onboard shopping and maybe one picture. I don't do excursions anymore. I now like to do my own thing.

 

So definitely Carnival likes first time cruisers because they probably do spend more than a lot of the veteran cruiser.:cool:

Edited by JohnSpo
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They definitely didn't get rich from me. Last summer my teenage daughter and I combined spent $16 on a 6 day cruise. We each had a non-alcoholic frozen drink on Half Moon Cay, I got a soda in the comedy club one night, and she bought some candy in one of the shops. That's it. But there were plenty of people who made up for our lack of spending!

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We purchase one magnet of the ship for our souvenier. Then a magnet at each port.

 

We use on board credit for drinks. When we run out of free credit, we're done drinking. We bring on our allotted wine.

 

Other than that, tips are the only things on our account at the end.

 

Unfortunately, we purchased a wine tour in Ensenada thru Carnival. We never take the ships tours, always local ones, but I couldn't find a local one online.

If anyone knows of a good one, let me know, and I will try the Carnival tour refund guarantee out.

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They probably lose on some and make up for that on others. My first Carnival cruise was the least spent, second one was pretty modest, the most recent one we spent a lot, and the upcoming one i put a lot into it because it's for my Mom's b-day and being that she is 73 and active i want her to get a lot out of the experience and make a lot of memories.

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We may purchase 6 non alcoholic drinks between the 2 of us for a weeks cruise. We do buy one picture on each cruise. Smokes. We don't drink, I don't gamble if DH does, he does it on his own card. Last cruise they gave us money back from our pre paid S & S card.:) Including the smokes we spent about 150.00.

 

I have friends who's booze on the cruise cost over 700 in 4 days and they are experienced cruisers and smuggled stuff on too, so it's not just the newbies they make money on, it's the gamblers and those who want a good drink.:D

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It seems my trend is about $300. We pre-pay tips and tip room service in cash each time they deliver. I usually buy excursions online before the cruise, so if you add those in it would raise it up a couple of hundred. We only have one DOD at sail away and then no more alcohol for us. Most of the $300 is photos.

 

True story: I had a VP where I used to work who took his wife on a 4 night cruise (first cruise for both) and their bill was $1,700. They are Scotch drinkers.... When he got back I asked if they enjoyed the cruise and he said he could 'take it or leave it' and they 'didn't get out of the cabin much'. When he later told me about the bar tab I kinda figured it out - they were too snockered to leave the cabin.

Edited by 2bthereagain
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Our first cruise, definitely. We purchased 3 Igor Medvedev paintings at Park West Gallery. We've purchased 3 more on Ebay, which ended up costing just as much by the time you have it framed (on a black Friday sale, with discounted Michael's giftcards!).

 

No regrets, but we're good on art, so will likely tip over into the less profitable customers. I did book excursions on RCL next month, because when I called in about a reduced price, they where throwing sales at me I didn't even know about! For saving me $400, I let them make an extra $40 on excursions ;)

Edited by Stateroom_Sailor
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I like to hit the pay restaurants. I already budgeted my Sunshine cruise on the 26th. $12 to eat at JiJi's and Cucina del Capitano and another $15 for Bonsai sushi and $35 for fajrenheit 555 with tips is around $100. So, not bad, since I'm not very fond of Carnival food...

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We have never spent a penny extra on food or drink.

 

We do take some cruise sponsored excursions and I participate in the casino.

 

Last cruise I bought jewelry (something specific I was looking for).

 

I guess they make some money on us but not as much as on others.

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I made money off of Carnival on my last cruise. Sure I got a $90 massage and played Bingo twice, but I won the BIG BINGO for $1000 on the last night, so I was happy to take all that money from them. The bad thing is that the hubby won't let me play bingo again.

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