If you’re interested in becoming a shareholder in one of your favourite cruise lines, such as Holland America Line, you can actually enjoy some extra benefits every time you cruise.
Except that you can’t actually buy shares in Holland America specifically, because the cruise line isn’t independent. It’s owned by the Carnival Corporation, which is the biggest cruise company in the world (yes, the same one that owns Carnival Cruises, along with P&O, Cunard and others).
That’s actually a good thing though, because if you decide you’d like to invest in Holland America, you’re actually investing in a much bigger company – and you’ll be able to enjoy Holland America shareholder benefits with other cruise lines, too.
Let’s take a look at what those benefits actually are, and how you go about claiming them.
What Benefits Do You Get With Carnival Shares?
As long as you have bought 100 shares of the Carnival Corporation or more, you’re entitled to claim the shareholder benefits on your next Holland America cruise. Those benefits are:
- $250 or £150 of onboard credit per stateroom on cruises of 14 days or longer
- $100 or £60 of onboard credit per stateroom on cruises of 7 to 13 days
- $50 or £30 of onboard credit per stateroom on cruises of 6 days or fewer
It is only a benefit that applies per stateroom, so if both you and your partner decided to invest in the Carnival Corporation and you both had 100 shares separately, you couldn’t claim the benefit twice.
There are some other conditions that you need to be aware of as well. You can’t claim this benefit if you’re employed by the company, and it can’t be used in conjunction with any other shipboard offer for onboard credit.
Plus, there are a couple of things you can’t spend it on – namely, gratuities that have been added to your account or at the casino.
But the good news is that you can claim an onboard spend benefit on every single cruise you take – it’s not just the first cruise after you become a shareholder.
Also, the benefit applies to all cruise lines in the Carnival Corporation, although the value is different based on the currency on board.
The onboard credit you get is given to you in US dollars on sailings from the US with the following cruise lines:
- Carnival
- Cunard Line
- Costa
- Princess Cruises
- Seabourn
You get the same sort of benefit on UK cruises with Cunard, P&O Cruises and any British cruises with Princess Cruises, but the values are in GBP and are £150, £60 and £30, respectively.
Cruises booked in Australia on P&O Cruises Australia, Carnival or Princess Cruises entitle you to the same number of Australian dollars as US dollars on American sailings. If you’re on a Costa or AIDA cruise in Europe that is using Euros as the onboard currency, the values are €200, €75 or €40.
| Cruise Line | 14+ Days | 7-13 Days | Up to 6 Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Cruise Lines | $250 | $100 | $50 |
| UK Cruise Line | £150 | £60 | £30 |
| Australian Cruise Lines | $250 | $100 | $50 |
| European Cruise Lines | €200 | €75 | €40 |
“We took your advice and bought 100 Carnival shares which cost £550. Two Cunard trips gave us £250 each extra onboard spend and another gave us $200 (£175) total £675, also the shares have gone up £175. Best investment I’ve ever made, thankyou, keep up the good work.”
Robert and Veronica Dennehy
Of course, the Holland America share price (well, the Carnival share price) can go down as well as up, so remember it’s always a risk you’re taking.
How To Buy Carnival Shares
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 Carnival 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 Carnival Corp?
How to Claim Carnival Shareholder Benefits on Holland America Cruises
To claim your shareholder benefits on a Holland America cruise that you’ve booked onto, you need to ask for them. They aren’t automatic! But the Holland America shares benefits are worth claiming each time – it’s free money on your cruise.
You need to make your claim at least four weeks before you are due to sail, but the sooner the better. And you’ll need to provide:
- Your legal name
- Your booking number
- Your ship and sailing date
- Proof of your stock ownership
You won’t be able to claim if you miss your deadline, so try to be organised to provide this information as early as possible. And you have to go through this process every time you book a cruise with Holland America or any other cruise line in the group – so don’t forget on each new sailing.
Important – Whereas Holland America used to let you claim the credit via fax and then later email, now it’s all handled via an app called Stockperks.
You’ll need to download the app to your smartphone, then verify the stock you own by taking a photo of the key details.
Here’s a video showing you how the Stockperks app works:
You can get all the details you need from the shareholder platform you use – so etoro for me.
To Conclude
It’s really important to be clear that, any time you buy stocks or shares in a company, you’re taking a risk. The cruise industry is the same – just look at the global shutdown in 2020, and the effect that had on cruise line share prices, and you’ll see what I mean. There’s no guarantee that your money will be safe.
However, with that warning given, you might still want to invest in something, and a cruise company could be a great idea if you love cruising. Choosing Carnival Corporation shares also gets you the benefits with Holland America cruises and all other cruise lines in that company.
I’m no stockbroker or financial advisor, so I can’t tell you that it IS a good idea, but it might be. You have to use your own judgement, or seek professional advice. And if you do buy 100 shares or more, your next Holland America cruise will have some free spends to enjoy – if you claim them.
Related Posts
- Holland America Line Suite Benefits Explained
- Holland America Club Orange Perks
- Holland America Line Drink Packages Guide
- Holland America Ships Ranked From Best To Worst
Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.
The share holders benefit have gone down the drain.
I supplied my SHB almost 3 months ago as i am traveling today on QM2 returning on 23rd March. They have refused my OBC as they say I got a good price on my cruise.
We don’t get since the pandemic Dividens any more.
Used to get beautiful Gifts on each sailing Beautiful beach bags or Chess sets.
Now you get a beer coaster.