Inveterate Cruiser

Ok thank you very much. At least this gives me something to shoot for (8k points) during my 7 day Caribbean cruise starting this Sunday on the MSC Seascape.

I will be sailing on the MSC Seascape later this month and was wondering if there are video poker machines on the ship? I play JoB so was wondering what the paytables are like ie 9/6, 8/5, 7/5 etc. Many thanks in advance!

Not sure if there’s anyone out there with experience with MSC’s casino rewards program but just to confirm that it’s $3 play = 1 point and free cabins start at 10k points earned during a 7 night cruise ($30k handle)? Happy to learn more if this is inaccurate info…..

I will be sailing on the MSC Seascape later this month and was wondering if there are video poker machines on the ship? I play JoB so was wondering what the paytables are like ie 9/6, 8/5, 7/5 etc. Many thanks in advance!

I went on the website and saw that you can only add your email addy to get the newsletter. There wasn’t a way to sign up using my booking number? How is that done?

Thanks for the response!

Does anyone know if free cabins that you get from casino status (mine was from Ocean Casino Prime) are eligible for Plusgrade to Yacht Club? I haven’t seen any emails and its about 1 month to my sailing. Anyone know how i can get added to the Plusgrade list?

Well Carnival stock has risen past $9 and pulled back $0.50 today. But still far off from the recent low of $6.50…..

It’s line specific with regards to fees ie you can do it for CCL at the table but there is A 3% fee. There is a way to get around it though but I won’t go into it here. RCL also charges but not for those with casino status. MSC does not charge any fee. I don’t think Celebrity does either.

Be patient - it will go lower……. RCL and NCLH are reporting results soon too…. If results are poor CCL will get dragged down at the same time……..

Let’s hope it continues to live on……

I set limit orders to buy 10 shares at $6.50 and $6 and will probably add more limit orders at $5.50 and $5……. I’m waiting to see RCL’s and NCL’s results……

Same here. I am now 50 but I was not 50 when I became an AARP member…. I have bought thousands of $ of Carnival e-gift cards so have more than made my money back….. and Carnival makes it easy to convert the GC back to real cash but I’m not going to explain how I do it on a public forum……. DM if interested…..

Search for the Allstate thread on the CC Carnival forum…….

Nice way to churn CC points……., similar to MSC…….

Those who picked up some Carnival stock at $6.80+ Monday morning would be up 10% already today.........

Do you mind me asking which wonderful CC is this that gives you 5% back for travel purchases? And is it unlimited to limited to $1500 per quarter or something like that? I need to get that CC also…….

Seems like you would do better saving 10% through Allstate (no membership required). If you buy using a cashback credit card (Citi DoubleCash) you could get 12%. If you must buy at a grocery store some of the grocery stores eg. Mariano’s in IL give gas points also. Potentially one could get up to 8% in gas points in addition to 6% cash back at grocery stores using the Amex CC…….

I'm only saying that CCL will be the first to go under (if they do) because CCL has the worst balance sheet of the 3.......

I agree that the next 2 quarters are pretty critical. Oct-Dec 2022 should be pretty good (cruising pent-up demand) but there will probably be some tail-off in revenues starting 2023...... if they don't show lower losses their stock will continue to get hit and they will find it even more difficult to raise equity in order to refinance their debt......

Do try URComped. The value that URComped brings is that because they are a long-time partner with URComped, RCL has agreements with URComped of what they should comp a referred customer with certain free offers and bankroll vs someone who just walks off the street making claims.

Ah ok - I need to work harder at my SB then......

Agreed. 90% occupancy and they're still losing $0.65 a share which is probably what drove the big sell off. I missed getting some stock at $7.01 today but think I will have more opportunity to do so next week or when RCL or NCLH report results. I never got a good sense of why the loss was so much larger than expected. Interest and depreciation expenses can be forecasted so that's unlikely the reason. I suspect it was the spike in oil prices and food inflation in June-Aug 2022 which means those should abate as the year goes by and in 2023. Unfortunately, I think Carnival also needs to learn from RCL's playbook - cut out free lunches at Cucina and Jiji, cut out lobster and steak at the MDR, raise drink package prices, sell far more specialty dining......

I disagree. Carnival will be the first to go down.

I think Carnival is perhaps the only cruise line that is still sailing a 31 year old ship (Ecstasy) although I believe it is being retired in October 2022. But sailing the Ecstasy vs the Celebration would give one a wonderful comparison of how cruise ships and cruising has progressed over this period of time.