Considering shareholder benefit?

[XBGuy]

It's not a huge dividend (can't remember--maybe $25 of so on the minimum purchase), but you do get a dividend and the real benefit is the OBC that can be used to pay gratuities, excursions, etc. We waited for a few months thinking the stock would go down, but it went up. We were planning to cruise quite a lot in 2015 (which we did over 125 days w/ Princess or HA) so we did it. If you plan to cruise more than once every few years, it's definitely worth it.

 

The dividend has been raised twice in the last few years. It is now $1.40/share. So, ownership of 100 shares means you get annual dividends of $140 or $35.00 per quarter. Based on yesterday's closing price the yield is 2.97%.

 

I have a coffee shop buddy who is the person who introduced me to the CCL shareholders benfit. He is also a regular reader of Wall Street Journal and Barrons. The lastest issue of Barrons, which, as is his custom, he brought to the coffee shop today, has an article on the 10 best dividend paying stocks. CCL is on the list. (I can't get beyond the pay wall to provide a link.)

[Colo Cruiser]

I would not purchase the stocks to make money.

As long as it at least breaks even or makes something thats good.

That would be an added bonus.

The OBC is the plus from owning the stock.

Mine has more then tripled since I purchased I but that was years ago when it was less then $15 a share.

I did not buy it with the intent to make money.

If you cruise frequently its a great investment to make.

[JF - retired RRT]

I have to agree that the shareholder benefit is a GREAT perk! My only irritation is having to fax it since I don't have a fax.

 

I use "freefax.com". It took me a couple of times before I had it figured out. Just read all the directions to be sure you've crossed all your I's and dotted all your T's.

Works great.

[Pushka]

Many Aussies have CCL shares. We just email them into the local Princess office. We also need to ride the currency fluctuations which actually help us earn or lose more than the share price rise or fall. I sold a couple of years ago and made a tidy profit as our AUD had fallen and the share price had risen. Have now bought back in and am about even. But only a couple of months ago and the USD seems to shift a bit currently.

 

 

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[Cruisin Oma]

We faxed the form and copy of latest statement at around 9:00 am on Monday of this week and the credit appeared in our cruise personalizer by 6:00 pm the same day.

 

 

 

Recommend reading the specifics on the form carefully and make sure you provide the required info (with account blacked out) and do so after full payment is made.

 

 

 

Chris

 

 

 

I do this 2 to 3 times a year, so I'm very familiar with the requirements. I've called into Princess and they've admitted its a problem with the fax server on their side.

 

I checked yesterday morning and it was finally there, so it took them five days after receiving it certified mail to apply it.

 

I understand why they can't, but I sure wish it was as easy as the military. We did that once for my dad and once for my husband and it just automatically shows up on every cruise.

 

 

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[jackieo]

I've got a 10 day and a 14 day cruise booked, also hoping another 14 day in October, so that's $600 in obc, I guess it's worth the risk

 

 

We have had our a few years now and well worth the investment. To be honest you don't get much interest in the building society at the moment. We bought UK. Carnival Corporation shares. We get about £75 dividend each year in addition to the OBC.

 

Don't forget you can get shareholder OBC not only on Princess but also their other cruise lines in the portfolio. P&O, Costa, Cunard, HAL and others. See link. http://www.carnivalcorp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-sharebenefit

 

 

 

 

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Edited August 28, 2016 by jackieo

[XBGuy]

I do this 2 to 3 times a year, so I'm very familiar with the requirements. I've called into Princess and they've admitted its a problem with the fax server on their side.

 

I checked yesterday morning and it was finally there, so it took them five days after receiving it certified mail to apply it.

 

I understand why they can't, but I sure wish it was as easy as the military. We did that once for my dad and once for my husband and it just automatically shows up on every cruise.

 

 

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Your husband and your dad will always be veterans. They can't resign from veteranship, and they can't sell it.

 

The fact that I owned CCL shares in 2012, does not mean I own it today.

 

So, it is no big deal for me to copy me to copy my brokerage statement, blackout the account number, highlight the line that shows than I still own those shares, stick it in an envelop and mail it to Santa Clarita. I usually do this 30-60 days before I sail. So, if it takes more than a couple days for some clerk to get around to it, that's fine.

 

I agree, though with the request to submit by e-mail. I wonder why it is not OK in the US, but it is OK in other countries.

[Astro Flyer]

I agree, though with the request to submit by e-mail. I wonder why it is not OK in the US, but it is OK in other countries.

The reason I've read for not accepting emails is that attachments can be infected & when they're opened can infect their computer system if their antivirus software doesn't detect it. I'm not an IT expert but am an experienced computer user & for that reason it's understandable to me about why Princess no longer accepts emailed attachments of our shareholder's OBC request.

 

Not sure why it's okay outside of the US but maybe because Princess HQ receives many more requests & their system has been infected they decided to no longer accept emailed attachments.

Edited August 28, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[antsp]

I understand the obc is non refundable, if however you don't spend it can you "cash" it out in the usual way

[piper28]

The reason I've read for not accepting emails is that attachments can be infected & when they're opened can infect their computer system if their antivirus software doesn't detect it. I'm not an IT expert but am an experienced computer user & for that reason it's understandable to me about why Princess no longer accepts emailed attachments of our shareholder's OBC request.

 

Not sure why it's okay outside of the US but maybe because Princess HQ receives many more requests & their system has been infected they decided to no longer accept emailed attachments.

 

As an IT person, personally I find the reasoning of avoiding viruses to be pretty iffy myself. There's a number of steps that wouldn't even be *that* hard to implement that would mitigate the issues of virii, and I'm sure they have plenty of other email addresses that they accept attachments to. So I have to think that they have some other reason they don't accept it anymore, but they just figure fewer people will question it when they claim viruses.

[Cruisin Oma]

 

 

 

The fact that I owned CCL shares in 2012, does not mean I own it today.

 

.

 

 

I know the reason they don't just automatically give it is because you can sell the stock.

 

But at the same time, once I've registered as a stock holder, they've got my captains circle number. They should be able to easily turn on a flag that the next time that Captains Circle number books, check their own stockholder records in their own database. After all they know I'm a stock holder to send me my annual stockholder notices, they must have a record of me owning the stock somewhere. [emoji848]

 

 

 

 

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[lstone19]

I know the reason they don't just automatically give it is because you can sell the stock.

 

But at the same time, once I've registered as a stock holder, they've got my captains circle number. They should be able to easily turn on a flag that the next time that Captains Circle number books, check their own stockholder records in their own database. After all they know I'm a stock holder to send me my annual stockholder notices, they must have a record of me owning the stock somewhere. [emoji848]

 

Actually, for most stockholders, they don't know that you own it. If you have the stock in a brokerage account (as opposed to having an actual stock certificate, the stock is held in "street name" (street meaning Wall Street) which means on the company's records, it is the brokerage that is the owner, not you.

 

When stock is held in street name, you will find that all communications, etc., come from the brokerage (or a company servicing accounts for them) rather than from the company directly and when voting, you direct the brokerage how to vote your shares rather than the company itself. Dividends pass through the brokerage as well.

[Carolyn R]

As an IT person, personally I find the reasoning of avoiding viruses to be pretty iffy myself. There's a number of steps that wouldn't even be *that* hard to implement that would mitigate the issues of virii, and I'm sure they have plenty of other email addresses that they accept attachments to. So I have to think that they have some other reason they don't accept it anymore, but they just figure fewer people will question it when they claim viruses.

 

Not an IT person, but I know of many companies that no longer open attachments to emails. Resumes, references, estimates, must all be in the body of the email.

[XBGuy]

Actually, for most stockholders, they don't know that you own it. If you have the stock in a brokerage account (as opposed to having an actual stock certificate, the stock is held in "street name" (street meaning Wall Street) which means on the company's records, it is the brokerage that is the owner, not you.

 

When stock is held in street name, you will find that all communications, etc., come from the brokerage (or a company servicing accounts for them) rather than from the company directly and when voting, you direct the brokerage how to vote your shares rather than the company itself. Dividends pass through the brokerage as well.

 

I never knew that. That is very interesting. Thank you.

[Pierlesscruisers]

Hello everyone.

 

Our next cruise will just kick us over the threshold of enough onboard credit to have paid for the 100 shares. Thanks Carnival.

 

Oh and there are dividends as well.

 

Safe journeys.

 

And, something that a lot of people tend to forget, the OBC is, for all practical purposes, tax-free income, which is another nice side benefit! ;)

 

Tom

[RRFan]

I use "freefax.com". It took me a couple of times before I had it figured out. Just read all the directions to be sure you've crossed all your I's and dotted all your T's.

Works great.

 

Thanks so much for this tip JF retired RRT. I used Freefax today to send in forms for 2 different cruises coming up in the next 2 months. Got an email confirmation that Princess had received it so I'll print that out and take with me in case there's any question about when I did it.

 

Also, in one of my posts where I was complaining about having to fax, I mentioned wishing I could upload the form directly to Princess. Some have misconstrued that as an email attachment. I'm not talking about emailing it. I meant I wished we could scan the form and our stock proof and UPLOAD directly to Princess--no problem with virus that way. This forum is a great resource for me!! Thanks again.

[lstone19]

 

Also, in one of my posts where I was complaining about having to fax, I mentioned wishing I could upload the form directly to Princess. Some have misconstrued that as an email attachment. I'm not talking about emailing it. I meant I wished we could scan the form and our stock proof and UPLOAD directly to Princess--no problem with virus that way. This forum is a great resource for me!! Thanks again.

 

 

If you mean uploading a computer file, same risk as emailing a file. The risk is due to it being a computer file, not that it's email.

 

There is a way to "upload" with no virus risk - it's a fax (although some will claim that even a fax could involve risk if the incoming fax is converted to a computer file)

 

 

 

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[Cruisin Oma]

 

There is a way to "upload" with no virus risk - it's a fax (although some will claim that even a fax could involve risk if the incoming fax is converted to a computer file)

 

 

 

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It is a fax server, and according to Princess that's the reason why so many problems with the incoming faxes, the server is down quite a bit.

 

 

 

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[antsp]

If I have shares with carnival plc, U.K. Purchased shreds will they crept this for. USA booked cruise

[jackieo]

Yes we have UK shares and book via a US agent. We simply fax to the US benefits section in Santa Clarita.

 

We send to Southampton when we purchase cruise through UK agent

 

 

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[antsp]

Yes we have UK shares and book via a US agent. We simply fax to the US benefits section in Santa Clarita.

 

We send to Southampton when we purchase cruise through UK agent

 

 

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Bingo, I alternate between UK and US travel agents, I haven't bought shares yet but am about too

[rockdoctor]

CCL has gotten pickier over the years about the Sharsholder Benefit but it remains a Best Buy. The latest hurdle is you cannot submit documentation till within 90 days of sailing. They have rejected screen shots of stock positions, but it's easy to print pages from the monthly statement. Usually takes less than a week if you snail mail it.

[antsp]

CCL has gotten pickier over the years about the Sharsholder Benefit but it remains a Best Buy. The latest hurdle is you cannot submit documentation till within 90 days of sailing. They have rejected screen shots of stock positions, but it's easy to print pages from the monthly statement. Usually takes less than a week if you snail mail it.

 

 

Now having read up on this it looks like the obc deal finishes 31st July 17

[JF - retired RRT]

I understand the obc is non refundable, if however you don't spend it can you "cash" it out in the usual way

 

Non-refundable: use it or lose it. The best way to "get rid" of it is in the casino. Set up an account, play slots for a while, cash out. If you lose some (or all) it won't matter 'cuz it wasn't "real" money anyway.

Most OBC is not refundable.

 

Some IS refundable. Veteran's is the perfect example (& for most of us the only one) that is refundable. If you have any left at the end of the cruise, you'll get it in the form of a check a couple of weeks later. Be careful about the check, the envelope looks like junk mail. If it's less than $25, you can request it at the Pax services desk.

[Astro Flyer]

Now having read up on this it looks like the obc deal finishes 31st July 17

The valid date on the form is extended every March for another year and by June they have updated the form's valid date. They'll accept any version of the application form even with a date that shows it's expired. They appreciate using the form which ensures a thorough application so they can process our requests quickly.

Edited September 4, 2016 by Astro Flyer