Carnival stock and onboard credit! :(

[Computer Nerd]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

Somehow, a massive stock sell off is probably something that they do not wish to encourage.

Agreed which is why I believe they will continue offering the stockholder OBC. I can see not offering it on freebie or almost freebie cruises but they will for everyone else so everyone doesn't dump it. They only reason I have any is because of the OBC and if they decided to not offer it anymore I'd just sell it off.

Edited November 14, 2021 by Computer Nerd

[BlerkOne]

20 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Let me repeat--It is a marketing tool that costs them almost nothing. If the board of directors did not believe that, they would not renew it every year. It was renewed during Covid with no changes, yet it seems they have changed how it is enforced.

 

If they are so threatened by bankruptcy, why not make everyone pay brochure price? Oh wait, everyone thinking they got a deal is another marketing tool. And why not stop paying travel agents commissions like the airlines seem to have done? Oh wait, this would almost certainly cost them more than they pay out.

 

And since you are so worried about keeping them afloat (pun intended), why don't you the next time you book Carnival (or any other line owned by the Carnival Corporation) insist on paying brochure price and turn down and OBC or freebie?

History repeats. The economics are similar to those after 9/11, dividends dried up and the shareholder's OBC continued. Except we are still in the middle of a pandemic, have been for a longer period of time, and will still be for some time. I could explain more, but have some paint to watch dry.

[BlerkOne]

24 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Somehow, a massive stock sell off is probably something that they do not wish to encourage.

The selloff already occurred. Most of the stock is held by institutions anyway. No OBC for them.

[BlerkOne]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Why  would you think it could be taxable? Do you think all OBC should be taxable? How about when a grocery store card gives you a discount, should that be taxable?

Rewards can be taxable or not, depending on why and how you were given them. As an example, if a Savings and Loan had given you a toaster to open an account, it is taxable. For more information, ask your tax advisor.

[ontheweb]

7 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Rewards can be taxable or not, depending on why and how you were given them. As an example, if a Savings and Loan had given you a toaster to open an account, it is taxable. For more information, ask your tax advisor.

Do you make this stuff up? I worked for years for a firm that did tax returns, and basically saw every return prepared as my job was checking other people's work. I never saw a 1099 from a bank for giving a gift. Way back (the Carter presidency years?), we received gifts from banks for opening CD accounts, and there never was a 1099 declaring them as income.

[BlerkOne]

4 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Do you make this stuff up? I worked for years for a firm that did tax returns, and basically saw every return prepared as my job was checking other people's work. I never saw a 1099 from a bank for giving a gift. Way back (the Carter presidency years?), we received gifts from banks for opening CD accounts, and there never was a 1099 declaring them as income.

Then you should know the requirements that trigger a 1099. Income is income whether or not you receive a 1099.

[BlerkOne]

11 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Do you make this stuff up? I worked for years for a firm that did tax returns, and basically saw every return prepared as my job was checking other people's work. I never saw a 1099 from a bank for giving a gift. Way back (the Carter presidency years?), we received gifts from banks for opening CD accounts, and there never was a 1099 declaring them as income.

Another example

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/are-bank-account-bonuses-taxable/

 

 

[ontheweb]

13 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Then you should know the requirements that trigger a 1099. Income is income whether or not you receive a 1099.

Do you report OBC you receive as income? If a cruise line gives you a bottle of wine or a free picture, do you report it as income?

[ontheweb]

11 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Another example

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/are-bank-account-bonuses-taxable/

 

 

I did not see anything in that article that said that if your bank gave you a toaster to open an account that you had to report that as income unless a 1099 was generated.  That was your example, a toaster, right?

[BlerkOne]

9 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Do you report OBC you receive as income? If a cruise line gives you a bottle of wine or a free picture, do you report it as income?

There is no rule that all OBC is income or not. If you were to give me OBC, that would be a gift and not taxable to me.

[BlerkOne]

8 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

I did not see anything in that article that said that if your bank gave you a toaster to open an account that you had to report that as income unless a 1099 was generated.  That was your example, a toaster, right?

Ask your tax advisor.

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

There is no rule that all OBC is income or not. If you were to give me OBC, that would be a gift and not taxable to me.

So have you reported OBC as income when the cruise line gives it to you?

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Ask your tax advisor.

Oh, please. I read the article you posted and it said if the bank gives you a 1099, report the income. It also said if you find a $20 dollar bill, it should be reported, but no one does that. ( We once actually found a $50 bill. We did not report it, and actually donated it to a charity.)

[ajm]

I was just denied.  I booked a cruise the week after Christmas through New Year's.  Technically it was a "deal" for past guests but no more than any of the deals they provided before the pandemic.  It is a holiday cruise and was not at all cheap.  

 

As soon as the stock gets a big higher, I may very well sell and invest elsewhere.  Luckily I bought during the pandemic-induced dip.  Sure, they won't even notice but it gives my petty little mind a little satisfaction.

[IntrepidFromDC]

3 minutes ago, ajm said:

I was just denied.  I booked a cruise the week after Christmas through New Year's.  Technically it was a "deal" for past guests but no more than any of the deals they provided before the pandemic.  It is a holiday cruise and was not at all cheap.  

 

As soon as the stock gets a big higher, I may very well sell and invest elsewhere.  Luckily I bought during the pandemic-induced dip.  Sure, they won't even notice but it gives my petty little mind a little satisfaction.

You fit right in around here!  😁 🏴‍☠️

[ajm]

5 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

You fit right in around here!  😁 🏴‍☠️

Thanks!

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, ajm said:

I was just denied.  I booked a cruise the week after Christmas through New Year's.  Technically it was a "deal" for past guests but no more than any of the deals they provided before the pandemic.  It is a holiday cruise and was not at all cheap.  

 

As soon as the stock gets a big higher, I may very well sell and invest elsewhere.  Luckily I bought during the pandemic-induced dip.  Sure, they won't even notice but it gives my petty little mind a little satisfaction.

I finally also got a couple better deals. I noticed over new years eve so maybe they dont qualify for stock obc. Cant book anything right now for family reasons, but surprisingly cheap for the holidays.

 

If I could book I'd rather do rcl. Pushing for the 340 pts for solo discounts. 

 

I was surprised new years eve isnt sold out for carnival? Rcl sold out for both weeks on liberty OTS the 2 weeks after my dec 12 booking. Been sold out every time I've looked on rcl for a while. Carnival is doing higher capacity though. 

 

Interesting. I had wondered if I quit booking if carnival would give me some better rates. Yep. Not those $20 and $100 balconys but about $100 off. And a 48 hour deal. 

[cruisin from florida]

18 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I finally also got a couple better deals. I noticed over new years eve so maybe they dont qualify for stock obc. Cant book anything right now for family reasons, but surprisingly cheap for the holidays.

 

If I could book I'd rather do rcl. Pushing for the 340 pts for solo discounts. 

 

I was surprised new years eve isnt sold out for carnival? Rcl sold out for both weeks on liberty OTS the 2 weeks after my dec 12 booking. Been sold out every time I've looked on rcl for a while. Carnival is doing higher capacity though. 

 

Interesting. I had wondered if I quit booking if carnival would give me some better rates. Yep. Not those $20 and $100 balconys but about $100 off. And a 48 hour deal. 

Interesting. We've been booking RCL like crazy (for us). We have one coming up at the end of the month, 4 (3 Royal, one X)  in 2022, and a 28 day B2B in 2023. Haven't been on Carnival since 2019, and had nothing booked. Out of the blue we get a $25 casino balcony offer. Makes me wonder if big brother is watching! 

[firefly333]

35 minutes ago, cruisin from florida said:

Interesting. We've been booking RCL like crazy (for us). We have one coming up at the end of the month, 4 (3 Royal, one X)  in 2022, and a 28 day B2B in 2023. Haven't been on Carnival since 2019, and had nothing booked. Out of the blue we get a $25 casino balcony offer. Makes me wonder if big brother is watching! 

People swear to me he is watching. They even told me to quit clicking every day and my offers would improve.

 

Well I clicked just now and checked 2 or 3 Nye cruises and the really low prices are already gone. I was too late. .. not that I can book right now. But I looked. Even cruises that the rate shows I cant get the math to add up like say a rate of 573 plus 102 taxes keeps showing in the 800s. Makes no sense. Well it's fun to look. But i could not get any of the rates for NYE to work. 

[balcony bound]

I had replied on one of the other similar threads that mine was approved for my 12/4 cruise and they also approved my 4/16 cruise at the same time - that I didn't even request yet.

 

That said, someone on that other thread mentioned folks who were already onboard being informed their shareholder OBC was being removed.  I searched around and indeed found many reports of that happening.

 

So, not sure mine will stick. I'll watch my account and see what happens.

[BlerkOne]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Oh, please. I read the article you posted and it said if the bank gives you a 1099, report the income. It also said if you find a $20 dollar bill, it should be reported, but no one does that. ( We once actually found a $50 bill. We did not report it, and actually donated it to a charity.)

If you understand, why are you pestering me?

[rj59]

I had two Jan. 2022 cruises denied, even though I got it on cheaper VIFP cruises this month. It makes me want to cancel the cruises and sell my shares, since they took away a reward and aren’t rewarding me for buying their mediocre stock with no dividends. If I go on the cruises, I’ll simply recoup the lost benefit by avoiding any onboard spending and support the Mexican economy instead. The benefit on Carnival brands helped me choose them, but now I’m more likely to choose RC and NCL, and maybe Princess sometimes, since they give military OBC. So in my case, their penny pinching will cost them much more. In retrospect, owning a total stock market fund would have earned more in growth and some dividends. 

[BlerkOne]

59 minutes ago, rj59 said:

I had two Jan. 2022 cruises denied, even though I got it on cheaper VIFP cruises this month. It makes me want to cancel the cruises and sell my shares, since they took away a reward and aren’t rewarding me for buying their mediocre stock with no dividends. If I go on the cruises, I’ll simply recoup the lost benefit by avoiding any onboard spending and support the Mexican economy instead. The benefit on Carnival brands helped me choose them, but now I’m more likely to choose RC and NCL, and maybe Princess sometimes, since they give military OBC. So in my case, their penny pinching will cost them much more. In retrospect, owning a total stock market fund would have earned more in growth and some dividends. 

Were any of the denied cruises booked with a FCC or other credit? Princess shareholder offer is written word for word the same as Carnival's offer.

 

NCL has the same weasel words in their shareholder offer and RCL is the stingiest of all.

 

Something like an S&P index fund outperforms just about any single stock, long term. ETFs are really the way to go these days.

 

 

[Schoifmom]

42 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Princess shareholder offer is written word for word the same as Carnival's offer.

 

That is because Princess and Carnival are both brands owned by Carnival Corporation (along with Holland America, Seabourn, Cunard, Aida, Costa, and P&O).

[firefly333]

44 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Were any of the denied cruises booked with a FCC or other credit? Princess shareholder offer is written word for word the same as Carnival's offer.

 

NCL has the same weasel words in their shareholder offer and RCL is the stingiest of all.

 

Something like an S&P index fund outperforms just about any single stock, long term. ETFs are really the way to go these days.

 

 

You keep stating rcl is the stingiest of all. I had no problem combining my wow booking obc with stockholders on rcl, and no supplement solo pricing but yet I see people here who were denied. When is the last time you applied for rcl obc from stock?