We have owned RCL stock for a few years. It has more than doubled in value and the OBCs have totaled more than we paid for the stock. So we have the best of both--investment growth and lots of OBC!
Lucky you, I bought it at a higher price then I should have but what the heck. I got it strickly for OBC, I was well into cruising before I bought it and never considered it until I read about it on the other board. So far I have made a little money, enjoy the OBC, perhaps I'll consider investing in another line as well.
The first cruise line stock I bought was Regency Cruises back in the mid 80's. It was only about $1 a share. Once a year they had a stockholders cruise with a $500 discount. I went on that twice. A few years later, the company went private, at $2.85 a share, before it went bankrupt in the 90's. I made out OK on that one.
I owned stock in Commodore Cruises but ended up losing on that one when they went bankrupt.
I first bought CCL in the early days for about $10/share. I sold it at $20 and did not have any for a long time. Last year I bought a little bit again. It is now a long term hold.
I bought my core position in RCL in the late 90's. One of the reasons was for the OBC's I have gotten enough OBC's to cover the cost of my original shares. After 9/11 the stock took a big tumble. I bought quite a bit more at that time. Since then I have taken some profits but will hold some long term.
I purchase my first 100 shares back in October 2004 before our Nov cruise of that year. I have since purchased more and reaped the benefits of ship board credit for 8 cruises and have confirmation that I will again have credit for our upcoming Oosterdam cruise. I have found it to be very easy to get the credit and after the stock was down for a while I am glad to see that it is back in the green Although it took a slight drop today I am still GREEN. Plus with all the ship board credit and dividends it has been a great investment.
I strongly urge buy and hold for the long term. I've owned Carnival, RCCL and Norwegian. I got super lucky with Norwegian buying it at $6 and $8 then watched it jump to $16 before the asian conglomerate [Star something or other, I think] bought it up and I had to sell my shares at just over $14--that was sweeeet. Though I've not followed the market lately, I loved the up and down race as Carnival & Royal slugged it out. I've never viewed it as one beating down the other, rather the two taking turns pulling each other up. Most of my portfolio was left to my advisor at M/S but I refused to let her follow the company line on my cruise stocks. M/S [as I'm sure other broker companies do] lumps cruise stocks in their general grouping of 'resort properties'. I found this ridiculous; comparing vacation resorts on land with sea based ships was [to me] like comparing apples and oranges--both fruit and that's about all you can compare. Every time her reports said 'resort properties' were a 'sell' I'd insist she buy more cruise. After a year she stopped arguing with me as I was way ahead of the brokers advice. This was the only stock I held outside of my portfolio as it was the only stock I thoroughly studied, understood and believed in. Yes, results may not be the same which is why I suggest to hold for the long term. Cruise profits are in the pennies, you won't make it back unless you're holding thousands of dollars worth of stock. Though that cruise credit is a nice plus. Heck, I never got so much as a coupon from Coke or Pepsi. There's too few lines competing so there won't be that 'waiting for the next one to fail' which proved so beneficial to investors on the short side.
For an interesting p.o.v. read the Motley Fool. They express an opinion on the cruise industry that is much more current and informative. Plus they write for regular folks not industry analysts.
I purchased RCCL stock in '04 understanding that I would benefit from the OBC's.
Since then we have sailed on RCCL and X 15 times, with 4 more coming up this year. Of the 15 sailings, my onboard credits so far have payed dividends equaling more than 50% of the original purchase price, and now the stock is back up, so all in all I have considered it an excellent investment.
Rick, that is the same for us as well, be bought in late 04 we have had 7 at $100 and one at $50 (only because it was a coastal) then we have 4 for this year. Besides the fact the CCL pays a fairly good dividend that you do not see much on stock now a days. I would advise anyone if they have the money in savings and they now they will be cruising (especially those who cruise more than once per year or even once every year ) you really cannot go wrong owning the 100 shars of either CCL or RCCL
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Although it took a slight drop today I am still GREEN. Plus with all the ship board credit and dividends it has been a great investment.
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