It's official...no more fcc

[CdrescherRBL152]

Take, take, take - that's Carnival's new slogan! :(

 

Thanks again Carnival for re-affirming my choice to not choose you again.

 

I love their "poor economic performance" excuse - because they didn't market them on the ship - most folks didn't even know they existed!

 

I can't speak for other ships but on the Freedom, every day there was a form in the Capers, plus ads at the desk. And it is my understanding that they were refunding a lot of them. As people were purchasing them and then tring to use them for a cruise that was already booked.

[UpstateCruizer]

Now if they stopped that OBC I think that they would see a sell off of folks that own the stock for the sole purpose of OBCs. Would that make a difference to the value? Not sure as I don't know the number of shares owned for primarily that purpose...hope that does not evolve though.

 

I know that we own several shares of CCL and if they eliminated the OBC for shareholders we'd do the same thing we do with RCL stock....buy it when it's low and sell when it goes up. We've made quite a sweet profit off RCL doing this.

 

When we board a ship with a nice chunk of OBC we tend to spend more but we've seen that dwindle with prices going up after we book thus less OBC from price drops.

[mchatt92]

I was going to buy two as well on our vacation in January. Bummer! :/

[scperk]

At least the Carnival stock is up-$36.85...so I got lots of OBC and should still get back my original investment....If they kill that I'm definently selling my stock..Dennis

[Jeffy294]

So you dont think this was brilliant???

 

Absolutely brilliant. My question is where are the self righteous ones that claim we are greedy and Carnival owes us nothing?? But to be honest, I am not surprised by this. I actually chuckled when I seen it. I don't really see it as a bottom line thing anymore. In my opinion I think Cahill is just an idiot.

[nbsjcruiser]

Next thing you know they'll be cheapening out and serving Meatloaf and mac and Cheese in the MDR. Oh wait . . . . .

[twindaddy]

Wow, I am newb to Carny, but what is it they say in business class, it is 10 times more expensive to attract a new customer than keep a current one?

 

 

Guess I will be giving the Oasis/Allure a try for my next cruise....

[golfadj]

Absolutely brilliant. My question is where are the self righteous ones that claim we are greedy and Carnival owes us nothing?? But to be honest, I am not surprised by this. I actually chuckled when I seen it. I don't really see it as a bottom line thing anymore. In my opinion I think Cahill is just an idiot.

 

The Sarge has already spoken saying what a brilliant move this is.

[Jeffy294]

The Sarge has already spoken saying what a brilliant move this is.

 

You can fill in the blank as to what my response is to that.

[WAHMto5]

I was so hoping to get one on our next cruise in a couple of weeks:( Just missed it by a couple of days!

[realtrip]

Maybe they are trying to save money in order to pay all the law suites from the running aground in Italy. New name for cruise lins COSTA PLENTY:eek:

Funny name!;)

[travler27]

I assume they must be able to fill their ships without giving away any freebies. If that's the case, you will see fare increases as well. As long as they can fill 'em up that's what they'll do. Some long term customers may walk but my guess is there are plenty of new cruisers to fill in the blanks.

 

I don't know any numbers but would guess that a good number of cruisers are retired and there are more and more of those everyday with the baby boomers leaving the work place and going out to play.

 

If that's the case then changing to another line won't make much difference. Just like changing airlines doesn't get rid of the fees they charge.

 

And CCL's financial's actually look pretty good to most investors.

[gsu_paintballer]

Does RCCL offer anything like this?

[blondietink]

And we were going to buy 2 FCC's on our upcoming Liberty cruise next month. :mad: I was gold, now I'm red, so no past guest party. No Fun Farewell party for anybody. Now no FCC's. They had better offer better sales if they keep this up. Pretty soon they will get rid of ES rates. :(

[Macleod518]

We had planned to buy another FCC on our next cruise in October. FCC's were definitely an incentive to keep me on Carnival. Putting down the small deposit just made me thinking of Carnival when it came time to planning a vacation... Never even looked elsewhere. Now it's time to test the waters with other cruise lines.

[vols_159]

Does RCCL offer anything like this?

 

 

ncl does you buy a 250 fcc they give you 100 obc for the cruise you are on and when you book the next cruise whenever with in 4 years it counts 250 and is your deposit. "inless you are in a suite"

[jonbgd]

Does RCCL offer anything like this?

Yes they do but it is $200 deposit and up to $200 OBC. I recommend it we have one we will use on our next RCCl cruise

 

 

BTW to CARNIVAL REALLLLLLLLY:eek::confused:

[cocoabob]

Does RCCL offer anything like this?

 

RCCL has a next cruise certificate that you buy for $100.00 each and you receive an appropriate OBC depending on the length of cruise. More importantly, the NCC acts as the actual deposit for the next cruise. So, rather than a $900 deposit for two, it is only the NCC which you only paid $100.00. Of course, you still have to pay the entire deposit at the time of final payment, but if you buy enough of these NCC, your original outlay for deposits is keep to a minimum.

 

Plus you are allowed to use them with a savings certificate whose value varies depending upon your status.

 

For instance, we are on a Vision of the Seas 10 day cruise on November 2, 2013, I used a NCC as a deposit and received a $150 OBC plus a $225 Savings certificate on top of a $799 Senior/Military fare each.

 

However, CCL prices appear to be less on most RCCL cruises as well as the regular deposit.

 

It is standard business practice to seek to increase revenue while watching controlling costs. If you cannot increase revenue than you decrease your costs which in turn increases profit. Given the economic climate, CCL appears to be seeking to control costs while acknowledging that the airlines have been able to generate more revenue by charging for services that were considered free, ie $11 billion in baggage fees!

 

With market share of approx. 50%, that is a tremendous fixed cost to cover for all of CCLs brand. I too had panned on buying at least three more CCL FCC on our next trip. I do think it is short sighted in their marketing plan.

 

Port Canaveral is officially dedicating their new cruise terminal tomorrow and the United Way is sponsoring a dinner with Mr. Cahill from CCL as keynote speaker. $50.00 per person and sold out. Would have been interested in going.

[sail2sea]

Does RCCL offer anything like this?

 

Yep, they do. It's limited to one cert per cabin. nonrefundable but never expires. I buy one every time I am on a Royal ship. Norwegian has a similar program too. I don't buy Norwegian ones because they expire and I don't want to keep track of those expiration dates.

 

Pretty obvious Carnival's business strategy is to attract first time cruisers. Repeat cruisers are not their target market.

[jonbgd]

Yep, they do. It's limited to one cert per cabin. nonrefundable but never expires. I buy one every time I am on a Royal ship. Norwegian has a similar program too. I don't buy Norwegian ones because they expire and I don't want to keep track of those expiration dates.

 

Pretty obvious Carnival's business strategy is to attract first time cruisers. Repeat cruisers are not their target market.

I buy them on all cruise lines

 

The ones on NCL are $250 and you get $100 immediatly Than the $250 can be used for any deposit except a suite

 

BTW we did the early Alaska season May 2012 on the Radiance

How was end of season??? Did you do a review???

[smarks]

So, if I sail before Sept. 27 I can still buy a FCC? Say my ship departs on Sept. 24 for 5 days, could I still buy a FCC even though I'm still on the ship on the 27th? Guess I had better make a mad dash to the FCC desk.

[misstopgun]

Oh Boy! I really hate to hear this!That was one "perk" we always took advantage of. As you can see by my signature, Im a loyal Carnival Cruiser, but between you and me I have been surfing other lines websites out of curiosity. Not saying Im willing to give up that free Platinum gift yet, but ......:rolleyes:

LOL. Was it ever about the gift? Not for me anyway. It was always about my comfort zone. Carnival is my vacation home. I have given away more thermoses, picture frames, and coolers than I need.

 

I have always purchased the FCC's. Who wouldn't? So now I have to book a cruise while on a cruise? (impossible with my job and besides, who wants to spend their vacation researching the next one?)

 

The way I look at it is if I can get a comparable price on another line without using the FCC. (and face it, on a 7 day cruise it is only $100 per cabin,) it might be worth getting out of the comfort zone to try something different.

 

Yes I hate that I am missing out on the savings but really, when I consider my S&S bill and subtract $100, does it really make that much difference? Is it worth going elswhere when I know for sure I will enjoy my Carnival vacation?

 

The response for discontinuing the FCC was slated as economic. I would venture to guess it was no longer economicly feasable as they were taking their discounted rate and then getting further reductions in revenue due to the program. Bottom line is it must be overly successful to the customoer but not the business. Well, business is business.

 

My main concern though, as most have probably seen recently, is that this is just just one change among many, and it does seem to be that Carnival is throwing far too much at the wall at one time to see what sticks to make their business successful. This is too much for their consumers to bear at times without being given an explaination of rhyme or reason. I would hate to see the business decline further because of a lack of understanding from their loyal customers, or even the new customers that do their research before chosing a line for their first cruise.

 

Am I happy about the change? Of course not! Will it be the one thing that makes me change my mind about Carnival? Nope.

[coachj]

I was one of the first to buy a voucher and have used close to 15 during the program's existence. It is not economically prudent to book on board if i must pay a double deposit so far from an actual sail date while spending money on the current cruise. Even though I will be diamond in January I will look elsewhere for most of my business. I will be 1 point away from elite on Celebrity with 2 vouchers. So I must now take less cruises since Celebrity is more expensive. Carnival's direction seems to be to become a Greyhound bus of the sea, charging for everything and reducing the product to the consumer.

[cellyml12]

I hope this doesn't affect Princess. But for anyone who is interested, Princess does have FCC. $100 & it's used as a deposit. Nothing extra for a deposit. The $100 FCC is the FULL deposit per person. You get OBC based on length of cruise & type of room booked. Even better...You don't have to be on an actual cruise to get one. They have what is called a Bon Voyage Experience (BVE). You pay $39 to spend 3-4 hours on the ship. Get lunch in the MDR & a glass of wine. Tour the ship or just kick back & relax. The cost of the BVE is put towards the price of a cruise if you book one within 90 days of the BVE. So if you book a cruise, the BVE then becomes free. Various ports have them at different dates. It's pretty great & something to think abut. Especially if you ever think about doing a Princess cruise. The BVE is a good way to check out a particular ship.

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

J

So you dont think this was brilliant???

 

You need some new material buddy. Mocking JH 'Englishness ' is getting old. Your one sentence zero benefit posts are at least so common that they are easily passed over.

 

This is bound to have negative longterm repeat business repercussions. The smallnFCC benefit was worth the risk when carnival was guaranteed a repeat customer. But they are a cash making machine so they must know best...we will see how they perform on wall street...at the end of the day that is what comes first