JJK2008

It seems that all of the cruise lines apps and websites present challenges that we don't find in many other apps and websites. None of them seem to be straightforward. I had great difficulty just trying to get the Stockperks app to load. I installed/uninstalled it several times. It would freeze, not load fully, disconnect and more. I even powered my phone off/on several times. Then on one try it loaded properly and worked fine. I have no idea why, but I've had no problems since. On another thread here on CC I followed along where you walked a person through the process of loading their statement step by step. I commend you for that. Speaking from experience, what is commonsensical for some is completely foreign to others. You really took the time to explain to that person what she needed to do to get it to work. And she did. Truly a good job Geoff.

Always a good start to check to see if there is a Roll Call for your cruise/dates. Usually, some experienced cruisers who have been on your ship before and to these ports before. Congrats on the cruise win. Have a wonderful cruise. But be warned, cruising can be addictive.😄

For those people (me included) who are not the most tech savvy, the Stockperks app is not the most user friendly. It takes a bit of learning. Anyway, Good Job for helping all the different people.👍

Call and ask.

Those are NOT tips, those are bribes.

Sorry, a little confusing, I guess. Just the broker statement showing the Broker/Firm, your name(s) and the number of shares for the cruise line.

That is NOT a tip, that is extorsion. Therein lies the problem with tipping in the US. It is no longer a show of gratitude for a job well done, it is "pay up or else"

Unfortunately, most Americans don't know that tipping is an American custom that is NOT practiced in most of the world. Tipping in some cultures is rude, insulting or not practiced but Americans don't care they do it anyway because they "know it's the right thing to do" It has gotten so bad in the US that tipping is now almost "required" for ANY service a person receives. Good service, bad service or even just doing the job they are paid to do. People in the US have been conditioned and feel Obligated to tip. It's Insane.

I'm not sure of your question. My understanding of how the OBC works is that in order to qualify for the shareholders OBC perk you need a minimum of 100 shares of stock. Share ownership greater than 100 doesn't seem to gain any extra OBC. The OBC amount is determined by the number of nights of your cruise and is credited to the cabin NOT the individual. At least one occupant of the cabin must be the shareholder. 6 days or less $50 OBC. 7 - 13 days $100 OBC. 14 days or more $250 OBC. Hope I interpreted your question correctly.

It is NOT a warning. It is just FYI. Is it a good thing??? That depends on your point of view.

For those interested, EXPO 2025 is happening in Osaka Japan next year. It runs from April 13, 2025 - October 13, 2025. There is a website with lots of info.

That is very unfortunate that there is not a similar organization in Oz with similar perks. That said, there are other ways to obtain these E Gift Cards, and most of you probably already know this. I apologize if I'm posting old info. There are a number of sites that you can get cruise line E Gift Cards. CardCash is one. On this site people buy and sell gift cards. You can buy discounted cards for a number of different products including cruises. As I mentioned in my prior posts, Newegg is another site that sells cruise E Gift Cards but usually at face value. However, Newegg does have sales. One recently had CCL E Gift Cards at 10% off (a $500 gift card would be $450). This was a limited time offer with limited quantity. Also, as I mentioned in my first post, HAL offers OBC of $50 - $200 to AARP members. No purchases required. Only thing required is an AARP membership. ANYONE 18+ can be a member of AARP. First year membership is $12 then $16 after that. Your AARP membership number attaches to you HAL Mariners number. If you cruise HAL, then the AARP membership may be worth it. Lastly, the AARP E Gift Cards I mentioned prior are transferable. So, if you have relatives/friends or such in the USA they could buy the cards for you. Yes, it is jumping through a few hoops, but if you have a $4 - $5 thousand dollar cruise then saving 10% is worth a little effort (IMHO). If any of you do decide to check this further, keep in mind all the prices I quoted are in USD, so take that into consideration. PLEASE read and understand the T & C for each site and cards. As mentioned before the CCL cards are a breeze to use but YES there are T & C to understand with CCL also. The RCCL can be used but are very restrictive. You must follow the T & C to the letter. One condition that I read here on CC often is people will book their RCCL cruise through a TA and then try to apply the AARP E Gift Card and RCCL rejects it. You must book directly with RCCL to apply an E Gift Card. This catches a lot of folks off guard, and they get really ticked off (they DON'T read the T & C). READ the threads here on CC. Some really good info and of course some really bad info, you decide. We like saving money. If we reprice a cruise or get OBC or use a gift card or whatever and save some money, we look at it like a win. Just a silly little game we play. For us it's amusing. Best of luck to all, hope this info is not repetitive and some of you save some cash. If anyone needs further answers I will do my best to provide them. Or if you know of other ways to save, I'd love to hear them. Yes, I know there is a thread here on CC that people post saving money tips on. Stay Safe & Healthy. Cheers, John

I think most folks want to save money on their cruise. We certainly do. There are of course the shareholder OBC, perks from TA's etc. In the USA we have an organization you may already know about - the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons). You folks perhaps have seen threads here on CC where it is discussed. I don't know if Oz has a similar organization with similar perks. Anyway, AARP provide members lots of discounts. For example, AARP members who also are Mariner members on HAL can get an OBC from HAL just by being an AARP member. AARP also sells discounted cruise E Gift Cards for CCL, RCCL, Princess, Hal. The E Cards save you 10%. Now the CCL E Cards are excellent in that they can be used for anything, fares, excursions, casino, etc. And CCL is VERY easy to work with when applying the E cards. RCCL not so much. RCCL are still 10% discount, but they are very restrictive. You must read the T & C carefully, understand them and follow the instruction to the letter, otherwise RCCL won't honor them. Although anyone over 18 can join AARP, only members with a USA address and phone number can purchase through the Reward Program. The E Cards do NOT have any name on them and can be redeemed by anyone. We live in Florida (called God's Waiting Room) where AARP has a large membership (us too). About 1/3rd of our community are Canadian "Snowbirds" (Canadians who escape the Tundra during the winter months). Many of them cruise and of course have American friends. they have their friends purchase the cards for them and then use the cards to save 10% on their cruise, perfectly legitimate. There are a number of on-line companies that sell cruise line E Gift Cards, but they are normally at face value price. But occasionally there are sales. There was one Ad recently from Newegg that was offering the CCL E Gift Cards at a 10% discount. But this is a Newegg sale - for a limited time and a limited quantity. The AARP E Gift Cards are discounted 10% all the time. Hope there is something similar in Oz that you can take advantage of. Worth looking into, I think.

There are some pretty good internet articles on CCL that outline the stocks past and future. The Motley Fool website has a number of good articles. CCL's growth projections are strong, and it is listed as a Strong Buy. Of course, prices can fluctuate and in the stock market nothing is guaranteed. We just recently purchased our CCL stock to take advantage of the OBC. Shame on us we didn't know much about it and never took the time to check it out further. We lost a lot of years and money. For our recent purchase the shares were around $14.50 USD. A small investment. The stock is already over $16.00 so were ahead of the game and we already have our first OBC credited to our upcoming cruises. All good.

We recently used the Stockperks app for the first time. Full Disclosure - I am NOT a tech savvy person. YES, I can take my time and muddle through some tech issues. That being said, I read NUMEROUS posts here on CC about the pros and cons of the Stockperks app. Some of the info was good, some of it was people spouting off in frustration about the difficulty of the app, info requested, etc. This post is MY experience with the app. Like MANY apps it is NOT "user friendly" (IMHO) in that it requires a little bit of trial and error and figuring out what goes where and generally navigating the app. First, the app was not easy to load. It kept freezing or would not open at all. Installed/uninstalled a number of times. Also had to restart my phone several times. Finally got it to load properly and have not had a problem since. Why was I having the problems with it??? I don't know but it works now. Many of the posts I read on CC people complained that the app was intrusive in that it required them to put their broker account number, password to the account, etc., etc. I did NOT find that anywhere. I did NOT complete the "profile" questions. At NO TIME did I provide account number, password or ANY other sensitive, personal information. I just skipped to the next page. What is REQUIRED and what is ASKED are two different things. The ONLY information I provided was name and email address, NOTHING MORE. Getting the OBC is a TWO STEP process. I took a picture with my phone of the stock statement with ALL sensitive information blacked out. Next, as requested I uploaded a broker statement showing the Brokers name, our names and the cruise line stock, again with all sensitive information blacked out. I uploaded the statement by selecting MANUAL and did NOT use the dropdown for the list of brokerage firms. Once accepted, it took about 48 hours for the approval of the stock statement. The next step was to request the redemption. In the redemption tab I selected CCL and made the request. It took about 3 days for the OBC to be credited to our account. The broker statement approval is good for a year so there is no need to upload it again for future OBC requests within a year. Now that I understand how the app works, it is a pretty easy system and going forward I won't have the difficulty of the first time. The OBC is a great perk and since we cruise often it is well worth it for us. Hope this helps anyone interested in giving it a try. Good Luck. Happy Cruising.

We recently used the Stockperks app for the first time. Like always, I read NUMEROUS posts here on CC about the pros and cons of the Stockperks app. Some of the info was good, some of it was people spouting off in frustration about the difficulty of the app, info requested, etc. Yes, I had some difficulty as well with the app in the beginning. Once our broker's statement was accepted, it took about 48 hours for the approval of the stock statement. For the redemption, it took about 3 days for the OBC to be credited to our account. I read that the broker statement approval is good for a year so there is no need to upload it again for future OBC requests within a year. Now that I understand how to navigate the app, going forward I won't have the difficulty of the first time. The OBC is a great perk and since we cruise often it is well worth it for us. Wish we had done this sooner.

Good intro Kat, well done.

That's NOT a bad habit to have.

Thanks, for the insight. I hope the article is even a little bit accurate. We're looking at a return visit to Oz and another cruise would certainly be in the plans. Have to keep an eye on things.

You folks in Oz are far more in tune with the cruise market in Oz than I am. So, I take it this article is trying to put a shine on a sneaker??? If that be the case, that is unfortunate.

Australia Set for Record-Breaking Cruise Capacity in 2024 - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News Interesting article.

We recently used the Stockperks app for the first time. Full Disclosure - I am NOT a tech savvy person. YES, I can take my time and muddle through some tech issues. That being said, I read NUMEROUS posts here on CC about the pros and cons of the Stockperks app. Some of the info was good, some of it was people spouting off in frustration about the difficulty of the app, info requested, etc. This post is MY experience with the app. Like MANY apps it is NOT "user friendly" (IMHO) in that it requires a little bit of trial and error and figuring out what goes where and generally navigating the app. First, the app was not easy to load. It kept freezing or would not open at all. Installed/uninstalled a number of times. Also had to restart my phone several times. Finally got it to load properly and have not had a problem since. Why was I having the problems with it??? I don't know but it works now. Many of the posts I read on CC people complained that the app was intrusive in that it required them to put their broker account number, password to the account, etc., etc. I did NOT find that anywhere. I did NOT complete the "profile" questions. At NO TIME did I provide account number, password or ANY other sensitive, personal information. I just skipped to the next page. What is REQUIRED and what is ASKED are two different things. The ONLY information I provided was name and email address, NOTHING MORE. Getting the OBC is a TWO STEP process. I took a picture with my phone of the stock statement with ALL sensitive information blacked out. Next, as requested I uploaded a broker statement showing the Brokers name, our names and the cruise line stock, again with all sensitive information blacked out. I uploaded the statement by selecting MANUAL and did NOT use the dropdown for the list of brokerage firms. Once accepted, it took about 48 hours for the approval of the stock statement. The next step was to request the redemption. In the redemption tab I selected CCL and made the request. It took about 3 days for the OBC to be credited to our account. The broker statement approval is good for a year so there is no need to upload it again for future OBC requests within a year. Now that I understand how the app works, it is a pretty easy system and going forward I won't have the difficulty of the first time. The OBC is a great perk and since we cruise often it is well worth it for us. Hope this helps anyone interested in giving it a try. Good Luck. Happy Cruising.

I agree with BecciBoo completely. We don't use a TA and do all our own bookings. That puts us in the minority here on CC. In fact, many here on CC become very indignant when I say we book directly and don't use a TA. Unfortunately, many feel the necessity to impart their preferences onto others. Although I have an opinion of what others do, what they do is their business. A lot of folks don't realize that using a TA creates a middleman. The TA is the customer of the cruise line NOT you as the passenger. You are a customer of the TA. That is why if any issue arises, and you booked with a TA, you must go through the TA to resolve the issue with the cruise line. The cruise line won't even talk to you. Over the years we have used a TA several times. On two occasions we had very bad experiences. One of these TA is a very large operation in Texas that specializes in cruising. That was the last time we used a TA. Base cruise prices are fixed by the cruise line, even the lower group rates are fixed pricing within the industry. This is why the price is the same across the board. The ONLY thing a TA can do is give "perks" like OBC, bottle of wine, etc. For us, the extra "perks" are not worth giving up control of our booking that WE are paying for. In our experience if an issue does arise and you booked directly with the cruise line it is much better and easier to work with the cruise line directly to solve the issue. The cruise line WANTS to solve the problem and will work diligently with you to do so. Bottom line, to each his own just understand the differences. Enjoy your cruise.

Have not used these gift cards but have used the AARP ones. If they are the same as AARP, then it's a great deal. Gives you 10% off. Carnival is very receptive to using the gift cards. Call the number, give them the card number and pin number and they will apply it instantly to your booking. Very easy.

Good post.