Ken the cruiser

Since this will be the OP's first time cruising with Princess, I just thought I'd point out that annoying fact just in case they made the assumption there would be at least two places to sit in a regular balcony cabin. A pleasure we have come to take for granted on every other cruise line we've sailed with.

I take it you used the Alivea option, which allows you to manually upload your brokerage statement, rather than the default Plaid option which requires you to log onto your brokerage account?

OK, we just completed the initial process to upload our current brokerage statement. Now we wait for up to 2 days for the manual "approval process" to take place before we can actually request SOBC to be reapplied to 2 of the 3 cruises we have booked that sail prior to July 31, 2024.

Doing the math, $100 pp/day, plus $60 pp/day for the Princess Plus package, sounds like a pretty good deal to me, especially if it's an itinerary that interests you. But here's my question for you. How much more is a Premium Deluxe aft-facing cabin that include a sofa? I believe the regular balcony only includes one desk chair to sit in.

You are definitely correct. In fact, for cruiseaholics like us, getting the best bang for our $$$ has definitely become a part of our cruising "way of life". The key is to keep up with each cruise line's "rules of engagement", as they continue to be modified based on supply and demand. That's where CC has definitely become a viable asset when changes are made on each cruise line we sail with. I still remember when we didn't realize for our first 5 cruises that we could refare a HAL cruise. That is until I joined CC back in 2016. What a huge difference that made!

True. Day trading is a whole different thing. I believe @Blackduck59 was referring to the comment made by @richwmn in post #13, at least that's how I took it, rather than applying it to a professional day trader. In any event with the discovery of the StockPerks "Alivea" option, providing login credentials is no longer an issue.

The "traditional" route accepted by the "old cruisers" used to be counterclockwise. However, unless a ship decides to actually post directional arrows, like Crystal and HAL used to do on some of their ships, either direction is acceptable.

We agree. For us we purchased the stock back when it was at $48 a share. But since then we’ve gotten almost $2000 back in SOBC and set to get another $1500 in SOBC from the current cruises we have booked through 2025. Just imagine the return over the next 10 years in you were to only have to pay $1300 for 100 CCL shares. Why would someone even think of buying 100 shares for such a short term gain in SOBC from only 1 cruise? 🤔

OK, I’m going to go against the grain and put a vote in for the Caribbean Princess (CB). Why you ask? We were in a covered aft-facing vista suite on our Panama Canal cruise from LA to Ft Lauderdale in the spring of 2022 and had a blast! You can check out my Live From thread from that cruise in my below expanded signature area. The CB also has fully covered aft-facing premium balconies, with the largest being on the Dolphin Deck. But I might add there is no better place to sit going through the locks than in a covered aft-facing cabin! 😁 And it appears both are currently available on Deck 9 (Dolphin) on the CB on the cruise you were looking it. We would also book the cruise with the Plus package, but that’s just us.

Not sure about the 90 days, but here is what it currently says on the Carnival Corp Shareholder Benefit form as well as on the StockPerks link: The benefit is available on sailings through July 31, 2024. Applications to receive this benefit should be made at least three weeks prior to cruise departure date. https://www.carnivalcorp.com/static-files/bc1b7f04-a3e8-4176-91ac-a529290fe45d https://www.stockperks.com/carnivalcorp

Thank you so much for letting us know about the "Alinea" option!! That definitely made happy campers of both my DW and myself!! 😊

OK. Panic time over. I'm now a believer in the StockPerks method. The key is to select the Alinea option, as it takes you to the "Upload brokerage statement" option. Whatever you do, don't select the Plaid option where they start asking for your Broker's information, etc.

OK, I just tried the Alina option, and we can definitely live with this option. 😊

One more question. When you used the Alina option, you provided no login information. How was the StockPerk App able to access your specific stockbroker account to confirm you had the 100 CCL shares?

OK, that's really weird. So here's my question someone mentioned over on a similar HAL thread. Will StockPerk have the means to access your stockbroker account whenever they feel like it. For example, when you're on the cruise just to make sure you didn't buy the CCL shares to simply get the SOBC and then sell them just before you boarded the cruise?

This is all "beta testing" right now using the applicable cruise line's CVPs and, of course, StockPerk. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out in 3-6 months. On a similar note, this past June PCL implemented a new policy that said a person couldn't apply for both Military OBC and Shareholder OBC. Just one or the other. That lasted for about 3 months until they rescinded that policy, under probably a lot of pressure from various guests. That's in fact why we will be reapplying for SHB on 3 upcoming PCL cruises, since both my DW and I are retired military and lost our SHB when we refared those bookings in July and August, after the new policy had been implemented. But that policy has been subsequently rescinded. The only change now is that the MOBC is nonrefundable.

I know you're only hypothesizing, but that's an even worse scenario. Just the fact that StockPerk will be able to search your brokerage account anytime they feel the urge is just wrong. Sorry.

The OP's post is referring to a Princess SHB request through the StockPerk app. I just referenced another way Princess is allowing you to submit your SHB request, which we will be doing for 3 upcoming PCL cruises in the next few days. The 4th post is quoting some HAL CVP and again from StockPerks. So, if someone doesn't desire to go through this new unknown third party StockPerk process where you give them access to your stockbroker account, you won't be able to get SHB OBC? I guess time will tell how that will work out for those that don't have the means and/or desire to do so. Now, this may all be a done deal. But, sorry, StockPerk is not getting access to our brokerage information, especially not how it is currently implemented.

Other than on the StockPerk website, where exactly is Carnival saying this? 2022 US Annual Report (carnivalcorp.com) I know on the Princess website, Contact Us: Princess Cruises, you can now apply for SHB through an online interface. I tried looking for one on the HAL site, but couldn't find one.

OK, we have a big issue with this Stockperks App. I just downloaded the app and subsequently registered after "skipping" the personal information section. Then used the default "Plaid" option which subsequently displayed one of their stockbroker selections that I have stock with. I then clicked on my broker's name and it took me to their Login screen where they want me to log on. This is where we have a huge issue. From this point on, the Stockperks app would have our login and password information and access to all of the stocks and mutual funds in our account. Sorry, that's not happening. NOTE: We actually checked out Stockperks app regarding an upcoming Princess cruise and applying SHB OBC to the booking. But when I saw this topic over here on the HAL forum, I thought I'd post what we found out just in case HAL was added to the mix at some later date.

OK, we have a big issue with this Stockperks App. I just downloaded the app and subsequently registered after "skipping" the personal information section. Then used the default "Plaid" option which subsequently displayed one of their stockbroker selections that I have stock with. I then clicked on my broker's name and it took me to their Login screen where they want me to log on. This is where we have a huge issue. From this point on, the Stockperks app would have our login and password information and access to all of the stocks and mutual funds in our account. Sorry, that's not happening.

I'll post the link here once I start my Celebrity forum Live From thread. We fly to Quito on Dec 8th, so I'll probably start the thread a week or so earlier. Here's the link to the 10-day itinerary once we land in Quito, Ecuador. 10 Nights Quito & Galapagos Inner Loop from Baltra (Galapagos) | Celebrity Cruises

We just got off the Caribbean Princess where we had a B2B in a suite. We just went to the Crown Grill on embarkation day on each leg and made reservations for that evening. There we no issues on either occasion when it came to getting the time we wanted.

You might want to try using the Princess website option I noted at post #19.

If you haven’t seen this website before, it’s pretty cool when checking out the forecast anywhere in the world, to include projected wind speeds, wave swells, rain, etc. https://www.windy.com/