Celebrity Cruises Shareholder Benefits Explained

Many cruisers don’t realise you can actually own a tiny piece of your favourite cruise line.

Celebrity Cruises is part of the Royal Caribbean Group, one of the biggest cruise companies in the world. And because it’s a publicly traded company, anyone can buy shares and become a part owner.

But there’s a small bonus many investors don’t know about. If you own enough Royal Caribbean stock, you can unlock a perk that gives you extra onboard credit when you cruise.

It’s not a reason to invest on its own. But if you already cruise with Celebrity or other Royal Caribbean brands, it’s a nice little extra that can make your holiday feel even better.

So what exactly is the shareholder benefit, how much credit can you get, and what do you need to do to claim it before your next cruise?

Celebrity Cruises’ Shareholders Don’t Get Discounts, But…

Celebrity Cruises shareholder benefits do not include discounts on cruise fares. Instead, anyone who owns 100 or more shares in the Royal Caribbean Group can claim up to $1000 on-board credit every time they cruise with Celebrity, depending on the length of the sailing.

You do have to own 100 shares outright in your own name – they can’t be part of a mutual trust, and joint ownership won’t count either. But as long as you do own 100 Royal Caribbean shares or more then you can claim your Celebrity Cruise shareholder benefit.

To be clear, you can’t buy Celebrity Cruises stock – it doesn’t exist. Royal Caribbean Group stock is what you need.

The benefit is on-board spend that you can use during your cruise.

You won’t be surprised to learn that, since you’re buying shares in the Royal Caribbean Group, the benefit also extends to any cruises you take on a Royal Caribbean ship as well. The benefit is identical for both cruise lines.

And it now also includes the third cruise line under that umbrella, which is Silversea.

For a long time, this ultra-luxury cruise line was excluded from the benefit, but that’s now changed and you can claim the same amount of onboard spend when sailing with them too, provided you have the shares you need.

How to Buy Celebrity Cruises Shares

To buy shares in Celebrity Cruises, you’ll actually need to buy shares in Royal Caribbean Group, as this is the holding company that owns Celebrity Cruises. This is listed as ‘RCL’ on the stock exchange.

To buy shares in any company you’ll typically need to use a stockbroker. This can be either a human being or an online platform. There are various fees involved with this, but an online platform is usually the cheapest and easiest way.

I can’t advise you which is the best, but I personally chose to buy my Royal Caribbean shares through an investing platform called etoro. I chose this one because it is one of the most popular platforms with 20 million registered users and has great reviews and low fees.

I’ve been very happy with my share-buying experience and found it really easy to do.

(eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.)

Read more: Should you invest in Royal Caribbean shares?

How to Claim Royal Caribbean Shareholder Benefits on Celebrity Cruises

If you want to claim your shareholder benefit for your next Celebrity Cruises sailing, you need to request it. Unfortunately, it’s handled separately from regular bookings, so can’t be applied automatically.

And you need to ask for it with plenty of notice – you can’t expect the Guest Services team to add it to your account if you’ve forgotten before you sail.

To claim your credit, you need to provide your details to the company:

• Your name
• Your address
• Your booking confirmation number
• Your ship and sailing date for your cruise
• Proof of your share ownership in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd

You don’t need to send this to Celebrity Cruises, but instead to the dedicated RCL team that looks after the shareholder benefit for both cruise lines.

It’s now all managed through an online submission form, for ease. You used to be able to mail it in, but the only option listed on the website now is for the online form.

Just be aware that requests should be submitted approximately 2-3 weeks before you sail, so if you do prefer to use mail, make sure to send it off with plenty of time to spare.

Useful Things to Know About Royal Caribbean Group Stock Benefits

There are some terms and conditions regarding the benefits for your Celebrity Cruise that you should know about. As you’d expect with offers such as this, it’s not available to anyone who works for the cruise line, or anyone who has booked a sailing under a Friends and Family discount fare.

It doesn’t apply to chartered sailings too, or to any cruises to the Galapagos Islands.

The benefit is a perk offered on a ‘per stateroom’ basis. Two shareholders sharing a stateroom can’t claim the benefit twice. But by the same token, any solo cruiser can claim the benefit without needing to own twice as many shares.

You can’t transfer your onboard credit to another cruise or to another person either – you have to use it, and on the sailing that you claim it for. 

The onboard credit also can’t be used for onboard service charges or pre-purchased activities. Any unused credit is usually forfeited and cannot be exchanged for cash.

There is a dedicated support email address for any other questions you have about the shareholder benefit: [email protected]

To Conclude

If you were already considering investing, either in Royal Caribbean Group or into any travel company, then it’s nice to know you can enjoy some free onboard credit with every future sailing.

Having said that, buying stock just for the onboard credit is a serious investment to undertake and you can’t forget about the risk of losing money if the value of the cruise line drops. Which, as the global shutdown in 2020 showed us, is possible.

But owning part of one of the world’s biggest cruise lines is a nice statement to be able to make, and with the shareholder benefits, you could treat yourself a little bit more every time you sailed.

Related Posts:

• Royal Caribbean Shareholder Benefits Explained
• Who Owns Celebrity Cruises?
• What Does The X Mean In Celebrity Cruises?
• Celebrity Cruises Blue Chip Club