Has anyone used the StockPerks app yet to apply for the shareholder benefits?

[Ken the cruiser]

We just got finished applying for Princess shareholder benefits using the online StockPerks app and noticed that Norwegian Cruise Lines was list on the app's applicable Companies list. Has anyone tried using this App yet to get SOBC posted to one or more of your existing NCL bookings?

 

 

For a little more information with regards to using this app, here's a Princess Forum link that initially got us researching its details, and then subsequently applying online for the PCL shareholder benefits OBC for two cruises that sail prior to July 31, 2024 (based on PCL SHB rules).

 

 

 

 

[shof515]

it looks like a unofficial third party app that collects your information and then forwards it to Norwegian on your behalf

[Ken the cruiser]

My interpretation is this is sort of an evolving beta version test being offered to see if it’s possibly a more advantageous approach from NCL’s perspective for folks to submit their a shareholder benefits requests. It will be interesting to see if/how this application will evolve over the months to come. Right now it appears it’s being implemented via word of mouth by CVPs.

[Ellis1138]

I did not use it and have no plans to, since it was quick and easy to fill out and email the request form to NCL. The OBC was in my reservation within a week.

[BirdTravels]

Giving personal information to a company to resell is poor practice. It takes less than 10 minutes to conduct a transaction directly with NCL

[Ken the cruiser]

34 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Giving personal information to a company to resell is poor practice. It takes less than 10 minutes to conduct a transaction directly with NCL

FWIW we gave very minimal information, which for the most part was optional to create the account. And we agree, the current process of emailing the SHB form is very simple and easy. The issue is going to be whether or not a cruise line opts to change it’s SHB submission procedures to reduce the overhead requirements associated with managing the current process. I guess time will tell. I just thought it was interesting NCL along with Royal Caribbean were listed in the Company section in the app. 

[itsnotjustme]

I'm with Bird and do not want to pass my information to more people than needed.

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, itsnotjustme said:

I'm with Bird and do not want to pass my information to more people than needed.

We totally agree. The only information I gave them to create the StockPerks account was my first and last name and email address.

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[itsnotjustme]

11 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

The only information I gave them to create the StockPerks account was my first and last name and email address.

Did you not need to give them a reservation number, a cruise date, and proof of ownership of NCLH stock?

 

I bet with your name and e-mail they can get a physical address.  People could monetize addresses of people who will be out of country for long periods of time.

[Ken the cruiser]

11 minutes ago, itsnotjustme said:

Did you not need to give them a reservation number, a cruise date, and proof of ownership of NCLH stock?

 

I bet with your name and e-mail they can get a physical address.  People could monetize addresses of people who will be out of country for long periods of time.

Good points. You got me there. But then so does our Travel Agency we book our cruises with. Like I said, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Edited November 10, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Capitan Obvious]

As with anything online, you have to ask questions. If for nothing else, to ferret out the cons and scam artists out there.

 

--What is in it for StockPerks? How do they make their money? Why should I not deal direct with NCL and use a middleman instead?

--Red Flag #1: "Norwegian Cruise Lines" Sorry, but you HAVE to get the name of the company right. It is "Norwegian Cruise Line".

--Red Flag #2: Norwegian Cruise Lines(sic) stock DOES NOT EXIST. The parent company NCLH is publicly traded, but NCL is not.

 

The devil is in the details.

[Ken the cruiser]

23 minutes ago, Capitan Obvious said:

As with anything online, you have to ask questions. If for nothing else, to ferret out the cons and scam artists out there.

 

--What is in it for StockPerks? How do they make their money? Why should I not deal direct with NCL and use a middleman instead?

--Red Flag #1: "Norwegian Cruise Lines" Sorry, but you HAVE to get the name of the company right. It is "Norwegian Cruise Line".

--Red Flag #2: Norwegian Cruise Lines(sic) stock DOES NOT EXIST. The parent company NCLH is publicly traded, but NCL is not.

 

The devil is in the details.

Actually, a variety of Princess CVPs have been mentioning this StockPerks App to some of their clients who are also Carnival Corp share holders, some of whom are also CC members that have been posting about their experiences on the Princess forum. So I’m guessing StockPerks is legit, as quite a few folks are getting their SOBC posted to their bookings. If they were a scam, I wouldn’t think Princess would be posting OBC to guests accounts. But you never know …
 

But that’s cool. From the responses I’ve received so far on this forum, it doesn’t appear any NCL CVPs have been promoting this App (yet) to the shareholding clients.

[Capitan Obvious]

9 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Actually, a variety of Princess CVPs have been mentioning this StockPerks App to some of their clients who are also Carnival Corp share holders, some of whom are also CC members that have been posting about their experiences on the Princess forum. So I’m guessing StockPerks is legit, as quite a few folks are getting their SOBC posted to their bookings. If they were a scam, I wouldn’t think Princess would be posting OBC to guests accounts. But you never know …
 

But that’s cool. From the responses I’ve received so far on this forum, it doesn’t appear any NCL CVPs have been promoting this App (yet) to the shareholding clients.

 

All well and good, but you weren't taking what I said into consideration in your response. The phrase "If for nothing else" was put there for a reason (iow, the devil is in the details). I never said StockPerks wasn't legit, I simply question their value. I get my OBC from NCLH with no problem. So again, why do I want a middleman in the process? What value does that bring to me? Why are Princess CVPs pushing the product? Why does that matter to NCL cruisers? 12 posts on the topic so far, and you've made 50% of them. It almost seems like you might have some skin in the game.

[Ken the cruiser]

37 minutes ago, Capitan Obvious said:

 

All well and good, but you weren't taking what I said into consideration in your response. The phrase "If for nothing else" was put there for a reason (iow, the devil is in the details). I never said StockPerks wasn't legit, I simply question their value. I get my OBC from NCLH with no problem. So again, why do I want a middleman in the process? What value does that bring to me? Why are Princess CVPs pushing the product? Why does that matter to NCL cruisers? 12 posts on the topic so far, and you've made 50% of them. It almost seems like you might have some skin in the game.

Nope, I have absolutely no skin in this game. Actually, it’s the other way around. What value would it bring to NCLH to have an App do some of the upfront work when initially handling 1000s of SHB requests weekly, if not daily, that some of their employees are doing every day.
 

But that’s their call. I was just curious if NCL under guidance from NCLH had started to implement this option since I saw NCL listed (with apparent typos) on the app, similar to what Carnival Corporation has initiated for 4 of their cruise lines to be expanded to a much wider scope of their lines in the near future from what someone is suggesting.

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[alanstarr]

9 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Giving personal information to a company to resell is poor practice. It takes less than 10 minutes to conduct a transaction directly with NCL

 

But that may not be the case in the future. Princess seems to be forcing folks to use the app, possibly discontinuing all other methods. NCL might go the same route in the future, essentially outsourcing this task. 

[BirdTravels]

36 minutes ago, alanstarr said:

 

But that may not be the case in the future. Princess seems to be forcing folks to use the app, possibly discontinuing all other methods. NCL might go the same route in the future, essentially outsourcing this task. 

“What If” is not required. Until it is (I.e., NCL publicly endorses and compels its use) it is an unnecessary and potentially dangerous exposure of personal information. 
 

Right now, I have 100% control over what gets sent to NCL. A brokerage statement with a brokerage logo, my name, and a line with NCLH and the number 100. Everything else is fully redacted. 

[alanstarr]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Right now, I have 100% control over what gets sent to NCL. A brokerage statement with a brokerage logo, my name, and a line with NCLH and the number 100. Everything else is fully redacted. 

 

Which is exactly what I sent via the app as well. A PDF of my account with numbers redacted. No need to give them anything more than that. 

And "potentially dangerous" is such a broad statement; absolutely anything you do online is potentially dangerous to your privacy and finances. But there are such things as reasonable risks. 

I'm not trying to defend or be a fan-boy of the app. Just trying to tamper some of the knee-jerk resistance for those who haven't used it yet. 

[graphicguy]

12 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Giving personal information to a company to resell is poor practice. It takes less than 10 minutes to conduct a transaction directly with NCL

Exactly what I was thinking.  It’s just as easy to apply for the benefit directly without giving a 3rd party source my contact info (for them to do who knows what with).

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Not something I would use, but it seems like an app similar to IDme that confirms veteran status, etc.

[Ken the cruiser]

20 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Exactly what I was thinking.  It’s just as easy to apply for the benefit directly without giving a 3rd party source my contact info (for them to do who knows what with).

However, if you look at this issue from the CCL, NCLH and RCG perspective, my unofficial guess from over here in the peanut gallery is they might be looking to significantly reduce manpower costs associated with the initial processing of 1000s of shareholder benefit requests on a daily basis by partnering with StockPerks. When we originally bought our CCL and NCLH stock a few years back at around $48 a share, I'm sure their associated workload to handle SHB requests was much less.

 

Now that CCL as well as NCLH shares are around $13 per share and much more affordable, I'm pretty sure the reduction in price for buying 100 shares has caused a huge increase in folks buying shares and subsequently applying for SHBs. And I'm sure the same is happening over at Royal Caribbean as well. Of course, this is just a guess.

[ChiefMateJRK]

30 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

they might be looking to significantly reduce manpower costs associated with the initial processing of 1000s of shareholder benefit requests on a daily basis by partnering with StockPerks.

1000s on a daily basis?  Are you sure about that?  Seems extremely high.

[graphicguy]

30 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

However, if you look at this issue from the CCL, NCLH and RCG perspective, my unofficial guess from over here in the peanut gallery is they might be looking to significantly reduce manpower costs associated with the initial processing of 1000s of shareholder benefit requests on a daily basis by partnering with StockPerks. When we originally bought our CCL and NCLH stock a few years back at around $48 a share, I'm sure their associated workload to handle SHB requests was much less.

 

Now that CCL as well as NCLH shares are around $13 per share and much more affordable, I'm pretty sure the reduction in price for buying 100 shares has caused a huge increase in folks buying shares and subsequently applying for SHBs. And I'm sure the same is happening over at Royal Caribbean as well. Of course, this is just a guess.

I understand your point.  But, skeptic that I am, these days I'm not willing to provide fewer and fewer entities my contact info if there's no benefit to me.  The fewer databases that have my contact info, the better. 

[Ken the cruiser]

34 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

1000s on a daily basis?  Are you sure about that?  Seems extremely high.

As I noted, it’s only an unofficial guess. But when you consider the number of itineraries offered by NCL, Oceania and Regent, I would be inclined to imagine it would be a significant daily amount. I mean for $1300 for a one time purchase of 100 shares of NCLH stock to be guaranteed $50-250 OBC per booking for as long as you desire to cruise with any of NCLH’s cruise lines, combined with the latent buildup demand for cruising after the pandemic, seems like a nobrainer to me.

[PATRLR]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 manpower costs associated with the initial processing of 1000s of shareholder benefit requests on a daily basis by partnering with StockPerks.

 

57 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

1000s on a daily basis?  Are you sure about that?  Seems extremely high.

Agreed, if they are doing 1000s a day then that means they are giving away, potentially, $100,000 per day of revenue.  I doubt NCL is doing anywhere near that.  My guess would be if they do 100/week, that would be a busy week.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

I understand your point.  But, skeptic that I am, these days I'm not willing to provide fewer and fewer entities my contact info if there's no benefit to me.  The fewer databases that have my contact info, the better. 

That’s cool. And as we discovered after creating our StockPerks account using lessons learned from others provided on the PCL forum thread, there were a few twists and turns we needed to avoid before proceeding with the PCL SHB submission “process”.

The first one being most of the personal information requested during the initial StockPerks registration process is optional, except for your name and email address. Then once my account was created, I decided to log off and then back on as an existing user just to make sure all was good.
 

The second one, and this is crucial from our perspective. If you just want to manually upload proof you own 100 shares of CCL, NCLH, and/or RC stock, Do Not use the default PLAID option if you have no desire to have the StockPerks app verify your stock ownership by accessing your brokerage account. If you accidentally chose the default PLAID option, you will be subsequently asked to identify and subsequently log onto your brokerage account, which we immediately backed out of. That was a huge showstopper for us until we learned about the ALIVEA option, which was a much less stressful process.

 

But that’s just the current process. It will be interesting to see what changes will be made to the App if the cruise companies decide to push forward with this online SHB submission option, as CCL seems to be doing.

 

Anyway, again, that’s my unofficial opinion from over here in the peanut gallery. 😁

Edited November 10, 2023 by Ken the cruiser