Future cruising Discounts

[CruisinGuy]

Hey guys it's been a while since I’ve posted, been very busy with work and school! Just thought I would share an idea a few friends and I have been working on.

An easy way to receive discounts on your favorite cruise ship is to purchase stock within that company. So far we know that if you purchase 100 shares of Carnival or Royal Caribbean you can get $50-$200 free cabin credit.

This is more of a long term investment that we will def. see monetary returns on as well as discounts when we cruise.

To give you an idea of what it costs thou Carnival goes for around $39 dollars a share and Royal Caribbean at $32 dollars a share. If your parents feel like investing, I would say this would be something to look into. Obviously if you're trying to reach that 100 share mark it will cost you $3,200 to $3,900.

My friends and I have bought around $1400 in shares so if this actually works out I’ll post the results =)

- Bryan

[mmerali]

The discount is single time or occurs in cycles? I used to own RCCL, but sold once it dropped below 40

[CruisinGuy]

Good question, owning this many shares in either company would allow you to receive these discounts every time you cruise with their company. It's better than being VIP.

It seems that Royal Caribbean's stock has been stronger than Carnival in the past. Like I said if this does work out, this would be a very strong investment!

-Bryan

[Djcarolina]

The only thing that is keeping RCI up right now is having new ships coming out every 12 months. However, if they are not careful, then Carnival will surpass them in customer service. Either way, the $4000 you spend in stocks is not worth the max $200 credit you recieve onboard. Save that money and divy it out between 20 cruises. Also, until you have sailed as a Crown and Anchor VIP, not a platinum or diamond member, but a VIP, you have no idea the difference it makes. Some things you'd pay for as a regular guest are simply waived. For instance dinner in supper clubs every night, nightly wine in the resturaunt of choice on the house, complimentary shore excursions of your choice, cabin minibar replenished at no cost etc... it stacks up. Unless you are looking to make a large investment in stocks for business purposes (i.e. yielding money in return) then investing in stock for petty benefits makes no sense to me. Not to mention, the market on these ships could drop to he*l very quickly. A disaster such as a large ship-wreck could ruin their reputation and consequentially their stock levels.

[mmerali]

Very agreeable with Ryan; hence the reason I sold my RCCL when gas started jumping. The stock market is far to volatile to be throwing cash around...right now there is no elbow room for mistakes; one wrong investment can leave you bankrupt. And in addition, I just don't see cruise stocks moving anywhere anytime soon, not with the price of oil at 90 a barrel or whatever it traded at today; as an investment, waste of money, even if benefits are given.