Anyone that’s both a cruiser and Carnival shareholder likely get nervous this time of year. We wonder, “Will Carnival Corporation extend the Carnival Shareholder Benefit?” We patiently wait for an announcement from Carnival, but one never comes. Not to fear, we’ve got the update for you! This article walks you through changes to the new 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit along with step-by-step details on how to request your benefit via the StockPerks app.
2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit Update
First up, it’s good news for cruisers! Carnival Corporation has extended the Carnival Shareholder Benefit for 2025. Like the previous program, cruisers who meet shareholder requirements receive up to $250 in onboard credit every time they sail. The updated 2025 Shareholder Benefit Program applies to sailings through December 31, 2025!
According to Carnival Shareholder Information, all benefits remain the same from last year for North America Brands:
| Length of Sailing | Onboard Credit (OBC) |
| 14 days or longer | $250 |
| Sailings 7-13 days | $100 |
| Sailings 6 days or less | $50 |
While the 2024 Carnival Shareholder Benefit was still in place through December 31, 2024, the new program takes over and extends the program by a year.
2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit Requirements
To qualify for the 2025 Shareholder Benefit, you must own at least 100 shares of Carnival Corporation (CCL) stock. Had you purchased these shares in March of this year, you would have invested $1,665 to purchase those 100 shares. Fast forward eight months, and the cruise operator’s stock is trading near its 52-week high at $24.07. That means, you’d now need to invest $2,407 for those same 100 shares.
For current $CCL stock quote information, check out Google Finance.
Is the Carnival Shareholder Benefit Worth It?
For those wondering whether or not the investment is worth it, let’s look at an example. Say you’ve got an amazing 14-day transatlantic crossing on the books. That’s $250 in benefit right there – more than a 10% return on your investment! A half-dozen 7-day cruises on the books over the next 14 months? That’s a cool $600 in your pocket – close to 25% return! With nearly 60 Carnival cruises booked, the onboard credit has paid us back multiple times over the years.
As always, please remember, we are not financial advisors and are not providing financial advice.
Participating Carnival Corporation Brands
One thing cruisers might not realize is that ALL of the Carnival Corporation cruise brands participate in the program. On Rocky’s most recent Holland America Sailing, he was able to score $50 of onboard credit just for being a shareholder! As we get ready to sail Princess in 2025, we’ll request our shareholder credit on that sailing as well.
The following Carnival Corporation Brands participate in the 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit Program:
- AIDA Cruises
- Carnival Cruise Line
- Costa Cruises
- Cunard
- Holland America Line (HAL)
- P&O Cruises
- Princess Cruises
- Seabourn
Requesting the 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit
In what has proved to be quite a controversial move based on cruiser comments and feedback, Carnival Corporation began requiring cruisers to utilize the StockPerks App to request the shareholder benefit in 2024. Despite negative feedback, Carnival continues to require cruisers to download StockPerks App and submit shareholder proof of ownership via the App to receive the 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit.
How to request Carnival Shareholder Benefit in 2025
We created a step-by-step Stockperks Job Aid to help cruisers request their Carnival Shareholder Benefit. You simply search for the StockPerks App in the Apple App or Google Play store and follow the prompts to create an account and submit your information.
Sounds simple, right? Well, as you’ll see in our step-by-step guide, the first time you have to complete the process, it can be a bit cumbersome; the job aid helps guide you through! It also provides tips and tricks for those worried about Carnival Corporation gaining access to financial account information.
Important: Like last year, you must submit your request at least 3 weeks prior to your sailing.
Fine Print and Disclaimers
Of course, as we already shared, we are not investment advisors and no information in this article should be considered investment advice. Carnival also provides quite a bit of fine print and disclaimers as well:
Carnival Corporation Fine Print
- 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit is available to shareholders holding a minimum of 100 shares of Carnival Corporation stock
- 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit is applicable on sailings through December 31, 2025
- Requests for your 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit must be submitted at least 3 weeks prior to the sailing date via the StockPerks App
- Only one 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit can be used per stateroom (i.e., even though both Rocky and I both own a minimum of 100 shares of Carnival, only one credit will be awarded to our stateroom when we cruise together)
- Employees, travel agents cruising at travel agent rates or interline rates, tour conductors, or anyone else cruising at a reduced-rate or on a complimentary basis are excluded from the 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit offer
- Carnival shareholder must sail to receive the Shareholder Benefit; the 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit is non-transferable (i.e., we can’t assign our “extra” shareholder benefit to another person on board when Rocky and I sail in the same stateroom)
- 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit cannot be redeemed for cash and cannot be used for casino credits/charges charged to your onboard account
- You can not use your Carnival Shareholder Benefit to pay for gratuities*
- As with any stock purchase or investment, there is market risk. You could lose money with the investment and there could be tax implications. Nothing on this page should be used to make an investment or tax decision and we retain zero liability for any decisions you may make
* While the official documents state that the 2025 Carnival Shareholder Benefit cannot be used to pay gratuities, we’ve not seen this enforced (Facebook groups also confirm this). Your mileage may vary.
This is just frustrating. I will not release my brokerage acct #. You have all the relevant information with your Holland America files, my Holland # is: XXXXXX. The 100 shares of CCL is still being held in my acct. You are making this harder than it needs to be and are not EXCEEDING MY EXPECTATIONS.
Hey there! We’re sorry to hear you’re having a challenge with the StockPerks app. And I totally understand wanting to protect your privacy not linking your brokerage account. Good news: you can also submit your request manually via the StockPerks app. Just download a copy of your brokerage account statement on your phone, redact any information you don’t want being shared, and submit that via the app. While StockPerks does recommend the brokerage account connection, it’s not the only way to submit. They were also working on a web-based portal to submit, but we haven’t heard any updates. As soon as that launches, we’ll be sure to post an article about that as well.
Hopefully, you’re able to get the benefit applied to your sailing without any issue! If you do run into problems, we’d recommend reaching out to carnivalcorp@stockperks.com for assistance. -Mark
I have held onto this stock through thin and thiner and now the only benefit is being denied.
Like you, we’ve held onto our Carnival Corporation stock since 2015. In that time, we’ve received over $5k in benefit through the Shareholder Benefit Program. That’s why we’re such big fans and recommend it to everyone. While the StockPerks transition has been a little painful, we’re still happy to claim our OBC each sailing. While we aren’t associated with StockPerks or Carnival directly, we’re always here to lend an ear as we know the change can be frustrating! -Mark
Do you know if Carnival is going to continue the stock benefit through 2026?
Has the stock perks app gotten easier to use?
That’s a great question! The cruise line typically renews the Shareholder Benefit near the end of the current program year. While there’s no guarantee that it’ll continue in 2026, it’s been renewed every year I’ve owned the stock since 2015 – so we’re very hopeful! -Mark
We booked a Panama Canal cruise for Nov. 2025. The price went down $800 total and we rebooked for the same date. I applied for the onboard credit of $250 since its a 17 day cruise. I was denied because my cruise price went down. Really? We are Platinum Cruisers and spending about $9000 on the cruise, almost $2000 on stock and we are denied $250 onboard credit. Poor business.
Hey there! The Panama Canal is one of my all-time favorite itineraries; I hope that you have an absolute amazing time. With that said, I’m sorry to hear that your shareholder credit was denied. Did you book a casino offer by chance? Carnival is pretty clear in their fine print that casino offers are not eligible. With that said, we’ve seen and heard mixed results from other cruisers. If it wasn’t a casino offer, did they tell you why the shareholder credit was denied? We’ve definitely taken advantage of a lower fare when it’s been offered and never had our OBC denied.
One thing that I am surprised by is the fact that they initially approved your request so far out. Previously, there was a limit of how far out you could request the credit before your cruise. I’m curious if that has anything to do with your denial? If it’s not a casino or travel agent offer, I’d definitely recommend reaching out to StockPerks to understand more about the denial.
Regardless, an $800 savings is pretty awesome for an itinerary that we absolutely love. Hope you have the best cruise ever!! -Mark
Just wanted to bring a little insight on the amount of time that you can request the OBC. I have four cruises this year in 2025 on Carnival with the last one departing in December 2025. I have put all four of them in the Stock Perks app last Friday and all of them were approved this morning. So, I don’t believe there are any limits anymore on how early you can put in the request.
That is FANTASTIC! Thank you for sharing. That’s so much better than the old process then. Previously, we were denied multiple times for trying to submit our Shareholder Benefit request “too early” for cruises within the same year. I Love that you were able to submit for the entire year and they approved it. Win for StockPerks! -Mark
It wasn’t a casino offer. I had some time on my hands and thought I would go ahead and try to redeem the offer. I was very surprised at the response. I’m going to call them this morning for a further explanation. We have friends that use the Princess VISA card so I thought I would try that if I don’t have luck. Never heard of someone being turned down on the stockholder benefit.
I have been trying for 4 days to get OBC for my 100 shares of Carnival stock. I have tried on both my phone and tablet. Every time that I get to connecting my bank account I pull my account up but it isn’t connecting. What can I do to get my OBC.
Hey there! Thanks for the comment. If you are not able to complete the steps following the StockPerks Job Aid we created, I’d recommend reaching out directly to StockPerks at carnivalcorp@stockperks.com. Good luck getting it figured out – and have an AMAZING cruise!!! -Mark
My husband and I jointly hold 100 shares of Carnival Corporation stock. Do we meet a minimum of 100 shares of Carnival Corporation stock in our request for a Carnival Shareholder Benefit for a shared cabin room?
Great question! The requirement is that at least one individual in the stateroom hold 100 shares; this must be held under a single named individual staying in the cabin. So if you have 70 and your husband has 30, this would not meet the requirement of the Shareholder Benefit. The good news: In the example I listed, you could purchase an additional 30 shares for ~$700 (as of today’s pricing) and you’d meet the share requirement for any cruise you book on Carnival Corporation ships again! Thanks for the question. -Mark