Who says that cruising is expensive?

Well, of course cruising can be expensive. But if you do it the Kevin and Ruth way, it can be very reasonable!

We received some good news yesterday regarding our cruise!

We paid $1,088 USD (which at the time came to $1,511 CAD) per person for our upcoming 16 day cruise to Greenland. This was an exceptionally good price to begin with, but it also included a $210 USD onboard cabin credit which can be spent on just about anything onboard the ship. 

But our friend Glen told us that you can get an additional $250 credit on cruises over 14 days by being a Carnival Cruise Lines shareholder, holding a minimum of 100 shares. So I bought the 100 shares, and applied for the credit. We received word yesterday that it was approved! So we now have a $460 USD onboard cabin credit!

Tony, Maisie, and Ruth out for a walk.

So, the question will be... what to spend it on??

I mean, anything you buy onboard will be expensive. And, the credit has to be spent, but the key will be to spend it wisely. I believe you can spend it on just about anything... alcohol, WiFi access, spa treatments, shore excursions, specialty dining, 

There is another possible onboard credit loophole where you can go to the ship casino and utilize the casino's "cash out" feature on slot machines or by visiting the casino cashier. You can transfer funds from your onboard account to a "player bank" on the slot machine and then cash out the remaining balance at the cashier. This allows you to access your onboard credit as physical cash. We could at that point use the physical cash as tipping funds.

So we'll see!

Oh, and as yet another bonus... of course you have to buy shares to get the shareholder credit, and there is always the risk that the shares could go down. But I did some research and it looked to me like Carnival was going to have a good earnings report last week, so I bought before the report was released... and they had blockbuster earnings, with a good forecast for the rest of the year. Our shares are currently up 20%, or about $500 USD! Of course that's only a profit if and when I sell, but I'm pretty confident this has made our cruise even cheaper. Who says cruising is expensive?

We had a rainy afternoon yesterday, so only took the dogs for a local walk and then did some grocery shopping. Today, looks beautiful so we are going up to a hill called Roseberry Topping!

And how about them Blue Jays... tied for first place with the Yankees. Go Jays!

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Almost a record low deal on the popular and highly rated Dyson V11 Cordless Vacuum.

And in Canada...

Nice deal on the Weber Traveler Gas Grill.