Does Carnival Loose Money On You?

[splintz]

they make money on me. my kids are 7 and 5 yrs old and have already been on 3 cruises with a 4th booked. when cruising with the kids it has to be summer or spring break when school is out and the rates sky rocket. also i can't be cramped in 1 room with 4 people so we always get 2 connecting rooms. our average cruise rate with the family is $5000 with connecting rooms and pre payed tips. then once on board our sign and sail is always around $1000 or over for drinks, babysitting fees, and pictures. i also gamble and will bring cash for that and that is usually $150-$200 a night. we usually don't booked excursions and prefer to do stuff on our own once ashore.

 

my wife and i went on a cruise last feb with no kids and that was going to be our cheap cruise. we booked a 8 night cruise out of NY on the miracle and it was a very cheap booking i want to say like $800 for both of us. but we spent once on board. we bought the cheers program. the first night i broke my wife's camera, so we bought a camera on board. i bought a watch on board. and i gambled all 8 nights.

 

after spending money on cruises i still think they are a bargain compared to some land based vacations, well at least for us.

[maurinsky2]

Wouldn't it be awesome if Carnival loosed money on me?

 

Instead, they will probably lose money. I don't gamble and I'm not much of a drinker.

[splintz]

Here is a link to a show aired on CNBC in 2009 that is very interesting about cruising and the cost involved.

 

It is called cruise inc. Money on the high seas.

 

 

Bill

great video. thank you for posting the link. i love these video's on the cruise lines, and this one was a more honest look at the cruise industry then you usually see on tv.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

They likely don't make that much money off of me. I am extremely frugal when I cruise. I often book interior cabins or discounted oceanviews. I don't purchase many excursions sponsored by the cruise line anymore, and I do not drink a ton while onboard. I will usually get a bottle of wine one evening at dinner, I always get the soda card but I also drink 4-6 cokes a day while on a cruise (I usually don't drink that many when I am at home). Occasionally I will spend like $5 at the casino but no more and I rarely buy their overpriced pictures. They might make a little off my mother when she cruises but she is not a huge spender either. She will usually buy a picture or two, some stuff from the gift shop, a few bottles of water during the trip and maybe an excursion from time to time. I also eat more than $19 of food a day, I am pretty sure. I always go to the mdr and get multiple servings of food and am always hitting a lido specialty place like Guy's or the cantina or the mongolian wok.

 

However, what they should not forget is that we marginally profitable customers provide them with tons of referrals to our friends and people like me have gotten many other people into cruising over the years. That alone makes me a valuable client. Or at least I would think. I am sure a lot of you folks here are the same way.

Edited January 18, 2014 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[Purvis1231]

On one cruise we only had $50.00 on our sign and sail card but I think Carnival is smart enough not to loss money on any of us.

[Tullic]

...so it's not just the newbies they make money on, it's the gamblers and those who want a good drink.:D

 

They may make money on us gamblers; they also give us free cruises. I like the trade off.

Edited January 19, 2014 by Tullic