philemer

Don't forget about the OBC you will earn if you buy stock in NCLH before your cruise. Stockholders (100 shares min.) qualify for $50 to $250 OBC. See details here: https://www.nclhltd.com/investors/shareholder-benefits As soon as you get your OBC I see no reason that you can't then sell your shares if you desire. I just received $100 for my 12 day cruise in Sept.

sfvoyage

Same for CCL, which provides shareholder OBC for voyages on most of their brands.

philemer

Edited title to include CCL. There may be others too.

You beat me to it. Link: https://www.carnivalcorp.com/shareho...holder-benefit Also ranges from $50>$250.

SPN Lifer

OBC = on board credit

Rare

And here's a link for RCL.

https://www.rclinvestor.com/contact-...older-benefit/

Not sure it's worth buying the stock just to get the benefit, as the price fluctuation could easily be more than the benefit, but if you already own or were planning to buy the stock, it is a nice perk!

BamaVol

While I wouldn’t recommend CCL (although some analysts do), the stock is pretty low priced. I bought at the beginning of the year while it was below $11 a share. It’s still under $16.

philemer

I'd recommend buying the stock, assuming it's just for the OBC, about two months before you sail and then fill out all the appropriate paperwork & then sell the stock just before sailing. Unless it's on an upward trend.

BamaVol

Realistically, you can sell it as soon as the OBC posts. You send in a statement or purchase receipt. Princess posted my OBC within a couple days. No one is actually checking to see if you held on to it.

philemer

Yup. But my NCLH is up over 36% in 6 wks so I'm holding it. Wish I'd bought more.
CCL is up even more. Making up for a few horrible years.

BamaVol

Yeah, my CCL is up 45%. I will hang onto it until I’m done cruising their lines. I expect the proceeds to be pure profit by then.

gretchendz

It depends on the likihood of use. I bought CCL years ago at a higher price than current. But between Princess and Cunard sailings OBC...I am happy with the OBC. Booked my family on Princess 14 day Panama canal cruise next year and encouraged them to buy CCL when it was way under $10 and they would get $250 OBC...Needless to say, they love me now

And don't forget, if you have an IRA or 401K or similar you can tell your broker to buy the shares from you existing account. No out-of-pocket!

gnomie

Just be aware, at least with Regent Seven Seas (NCL), if you take part in certain sales promotions, including those offered directly from the cruise line and not an outside agency, the fare paid may not qualify for the OBC - lately this has happened more often than not, but then again, there are so many good promotions out there I would rather have the discounted fare rather than a few hundred dollars of OBC.

The same holds true with the Amex platinum card cruise benefits - which can usually be obtained when booking with any agent who participates in the Amex program (such as Pavlus) and not just booking directly with Amex travel - if the fare paid is considered "too low" (I guess that is open to determination, but NCL has the final say), the Amex benefits do not apply.

sfvoyage

In the case for Seabourn (part of CCL), its shareholder OBC is the only OBC that is combinable with any other OBCs under the sun, at least as recent as a couple of weeks ago, when I applied my shareholder OBC to 3 upcoming expedition voyages on Seabourn in 2024.

On the other hand, other OBCs are becoming more restrictive, indeed. The general rule of thumb is that a Seabourn-funded OBC is not combinable with any other Seabourn-funded OBC on any single booking. For instance, if your voyage includes a $200 OBC offered by Seabourn, and your cruise agent offers a $300 OBC that's ultimately funded by Seabourn (it could be directly funded by the cruise line's consortium which is in turned funded via their agreement with Seabourn), you will then have to choose between the $200 or $300 but not get $500 in total. This can get confusing and usually requires a call to the cruise line to sort out the underlying T&Cs of the promo codes of each OBCs.

gnomie

In my experience, that is not the case with Regent - I have had multiple OBC from various sources added to my account. Once I had so much credit, I had to buy a lovely new ring just to use it all up.

mahasamatman

Same here. By the end of 2024, we will have exceeded 110% return on our investment in OBC. So even if the stock drops to zero, we're still well ahead of the curve.