Does Carnival Loose Money On You?

[2 cruzen]

S&S expense depends on if kids are with us. They're adults so they are responsible for their own expenses, but in reality, we "help" a lot. However, DD won the $500 off your bar bill last cruise, so that wiped out $470.00. Not bad for 5 people on a 6 day cruise.

 

This year we pre-paid tips for the first time and will have about $355.00 in OBC so I expect our final bill to be low this year. It is just DH and myself.

[soccersharon]

On 4 cruises, we averaged about ~ $800. We didn't pre-pay our tips on our first 2 cruises. Last 2 we travelled with our kids, so I think we did well.

 

Not included is airfare for 4 from Montreal ~ $2,500, hotels, transfers, and shore excursions booked independantly.

 

Ironically, our lowest onboard expense total was our last cruise on the Epic :D

 

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[Mysticks1]

They don't make much from me. On a 7 day cruise I might drink 2 alcoholic drinks and don't play bingo or gamble. I might buy 1 or 2 t-shirts in the shops and have never paid for dining. On my next cruise I have budgeted for a spa pass because the Dream's Cloud 9 Spa looks so great but I normally don't spend anything in the spa. I might buy 1 photo per cruise but have taken cruises when where I buy none at all. I always book my tours independently as well so they get nothing from that. I have seen many though that more than make up for my lack of spending.

[kteachcruiser52]

I am a scrapbooker so we spend about $150 on pictures. Occasionally we do ship tours; however, we usually book independent ones. Tips are our only other expense.

[n6uqqq]

I wish they would loose money on me...I would be rich. However now that they have Cheers they will probably lose money on me in the future

 

You could drink your full allotment of 15 drinks everyday on cheers and Carnival would not lose money on you.

[Raven Days]

Not quite shareholder status....but I could be convinced! I do gamble...not heavily. I will allot $20 per day for the slot machines. I might have 2-3 drinks per day. I buy photos...lots of photos. I eat at the Specialty restaurant. I might book a last minute shore excursion through the ship. I would love to go to the spa...but I am very self conscious about my body type. I tend to buy stuff from the gift shops....mostly tobacco, alcohol and those damn cakes...So yeah...I do spend pretty heavily on the ship.

[dhdelrod]

I don't go on a vacation to worry about who is making money on me !Its vacation so enjoy !

[Gamecock_Cruiser]

Next cruise my goal is to avoid the casino. If I do that, then Carnival will lose money on me.

[Giantfan13]

We also fit into they will lose money on us. Like some of the others, we don't drink or gamble. My DW buys her magnet and that's about it. Yes, we are on vacation, but I would rather take the money and spend it on something great in port than pay way inflated prices to Carnival.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[soozles]

My husband owns his own largely Internet based company, so he has to take his work on vacation, so he buys the largest Internet package on the ship. We eat in the steakhouse at least once, do a bit of gambling. I will occasionally get a massage but lately I've gotten them pre cruise. We dont buy photos unless they're really nice. Don't buy any souvenirs and we don't drink much. I will occasionally buy a coffee at the cafe. So we have a modest bill I guess. But we will gave $200 OBC this time around so that should help.

[dmarie1623]

They make money off of me, just a little. I always buy the DOD and supplement that with whatever I fancy. :p. I always end up buying pictures too, more than I plan on. I buy a few souvenirs like pens, or rum cake. :D. If we do an excursion, I book through Carnival also.

[vnyislesv]

all my extra spending money generally comes from jan-may. ill be getting a few nice paychecks when im actually on the cruise so i dont know how much ill spend but i noticed my biggest item from my first cruise ill be careful about this time was food.

 

i remember st thomas had a restaurant with 'great jerk chicken' so we went. a bowl of french onion soup and half a chicken with a coke was $45 with tip which they obv add. we coulda left the boat 30 minutes later and i would have saved $45. i must have spent $250+ on overpriced, horrible serviced restaurants.

 

i know we're spoiled in america with great wifi but how come every single restaurant on these islands have wifi slower than 28.8k modems we all had in 1994??? so i spent some money on the internet on the boat which was still bad but better than my other option. so they made some money there...

 

anyway, carnival charges $50 a day on average, they arent losing money on anyone. im sure the finance people they have working for them has the numbers right.

 

some of you guys talk about spending $1000. so for everyone of you theres 1 of me. split it in half. CCL make a nice profit.

Edited January 16, 2014 by vnyislesv

[Dutch Diver]

On 4 of our 10 sailings, we actually had a negative S&S balance and got some money back. That was when we had OBC (from ES), or the port fees were less than at the time of final payment or we'd skipped a port and the fees were returned.

 

On the other sailings, balance was rarely more than $150. We occasionally book a shore excursion through the ship, visit the Steakhouse, or buy a t-shirt or trinkets in the shops. Never buy photos or play in the casino. We never buy drinks (but we do have the free ones at the VIFP party :)).

[Name Of The Game]

Our extremely frugal travel mate only charged $2.50 for a slice of carrot cake.

[LynneL]

I'm not sure that they lose $ on me since we tend to travel peak times so we pay a decent rate for cruise fare. I am not a huge eater so they gain there. For spending, I drink very little & don't gamble. Only gift shop purchases is booze to take home for hubby & parties. Years ago when sailing & our kids were young I spent a lot on pictures. No more.

 

However, my husband LOVES to gamble! Sun getting a bit hot "maybe hit the casino for a while". Doesn't like shows, spends each evening in the casino. Cha-ching, cha-ching for Carnival!!

 

Carnival wouldn't keep building ships if they weren't making money regardless of how frugile you are.

[mum2bradley]

They make money on us. We like to live life to the fullest. You can't take it with you and you only have 1 life. LIVE IT UP!!

 

Same here. I pre-pay all my excurisions.

 

Our Christmas cruise on the Breeze we had a $1200 bill, but we had an AWESOME time!!!!

[bitemyfly]

they make money on me or used to anyway

my low on a 7 day is about 800.00 high 1200.00

I think I bought one or two pics total, most of the money goes for drinks and food both on and off the ship.

I go usually expecting to spend 1000.00 bucks.. but I must say that I would do probably 2/3 a year , now we are down to maybe 1 every 15 mos

for us its the change in food coupled with boredom of the same ole same ole.

however this is an interesting question

I wonder if this is the "demographic of the cruise critic user " or as carnival as a whole ?

I suspect its cruise critic user , hence why CCl is not a big fan of this site :)

[mlrm]

We've had Sail & Sign bills that have probably surpassed the GDP of some small countries. Not including the casino. :eek:

[Equest]

I think this is one of the reasons that they are going after the first time cruisers. They buy photos, gifts and such a lot more then after a few cruises. I know we spend less and less on the ship as we have done more cruises. They still make money on us as we do partake in the drinks and casino, but buy very little elase on board. Will dine in the steak house one night on each cruise.

 

Bingo!

[cmdknw]

They DEF. do not lose money on us. We're fans of the beer buckets~ and my son thinks he needs new trinkets each cruise.

[gemsm]

You could drink your full allotment of 15 drinks everyday on cheers and Carnival would not lose money on you.

 

Well they would lose money I would normally spend on drinks...You only have to drink 7 to get your money's worth a day...so technically they aren't losing money on me but they aren't making as much as they could.

[USC GAMECOCK]

No doubt buckets of beer and kiss on the lips drinks with a few pictures definetly dont loose on us but wouldnt change a thing have a blast everytime .cant wait on the next one

[askimdog]

Our family of 3 can swing a cruise about every 16-18 months, January 2012 was our last one. We look for 3 tickets for a 7 day cruise for 1000.00 max. We try to find a Dec/ Jan cruise for 250-333 pp. and we do. Our s&s has gratuities only, once I bought a beer. no gambling

[mlrm]

At the end of the day Carnival probably doesn't lose money of anyone. However, I do believe they missed an opportunity when they re-vamped their loyalty program. They could have tiered status based on two conditions. First being days sailed and the second being points earned, with the points total tied to dollars spent.

[bluemoon12]

No doubt buckets of beer and kiss on the lips drinks with a few pictures definetly dont loose on us but wouldnt change a thing have a blast everytime .cant wait on the next one

 

We buy the samething as you between three of us on a 7 day cruise. We spend around $1500-$1800 on our S&S card. We usually do our own thing on shore days or book through a local guide. We are vacationing and save plus work extra hours to enjoy and relax. We only cruise once a year and sometimes (rare) twice a year.