NCL Investment - Good or Bad

[erisajd]

3 hours ago, julig22 said:

Um, just go to the NCL web page. 

 

all my cruises come up by the night - and all of those are by the NIGHT - says days but you are on the ship 3 or 7 NIGHTS!   oh well - thanks

 

My NCL App says I am booked on a 15 NIGHT cruise - interesting 

Edited August 19 by erisajd

[laudergayle]

1 hour ago, Bobby Winds said:

Thanks everyone for responding. 

 

Actually have a quite a lot of experience in the stock market/ mutual fund market/ bonds and CD's but I wanted more down to earth experience from you cruise pros on how well this gig is working out.

 

If we like our September cruise and expect to do more, many more in the future buying 100 shares is a no brainer IMHO.

 

Thanks Again,

Bob

 

With your experience, you can see the fluctuations the NCLH stock has.  At $16-ish, there is room for growth.  Why not buy now…use the $100 OBC to better enjoy your September cruise experience,  if you are not sold on nCL cruises for the future…time your sell so you breakeven or gain more.  I recommend using $25 to buy the two lobster tails in the MDR. 

[Ellis1138]

6 hours ago, julig22 said:

Not exactly. Assuming the stock stays even, you still have your $1600 when you go to sell. So break even is if you sell at the same price you bought. In the meantime, you received $1600 in tax-free dividends for 16 cruises. 7-14 day cruises would only net $700, $250 kicks in on a 15 day cruise.

I bought long before covid so in the negative with respect to purchase price - but over 2K in OBC at this point and not planning to sell anytime soon.

 

Like I said, I'm not a financial person. I actually like the later explanation where I'm paying for a membership perk that I can later try to sell the membership back.

[wncretired]

9 hours ago, julig22 said:

Not exactly. Assuming the stock stays even, you still have your $1600 when you go to sell. So break even is if you sell at the same price you bought. In the meantime, you received $1600 in tax-free dividends for 16 cruises. 7-14 day cruises would only net $700, $250 kicks in on a 15 day cruise.

I bought long before covid so in the negative with respect to purchase price - but over 2K in OBC at this point and not planning to sell anytime soon.

EXACTLY!!!

[BirdTravels]

20 hours ago, erisajd said:

NCL sells cruises by the night.  Not the day.  Find me a 7 day cruise . . . Go ahead. I’ll wait. 

[PaperSniper4]

I might be able to make everyone feel a bit better about NCL's stock price. I bought 100 shares of CCL pre-covid at their high price, I think about $65 dollars per share around 2018; today it's at $15.55. I don't want to do the math, but I suspect I lost a lot. 🥲 I did get about $2k in OBC though through the years however. We used to sail Princess on Hawaii RTs, and those $250 credits added up nicely. 

I bought NCL post COVID. I am not sure at what price, I don't pay attention to that. Like CCL, I bought it only for the OBCs.

 

 Doug

[ChiefMateJRK]

9 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

I am not sure at what price, I don't pay attention to that.

Your brokerage statement (or online account) will probably show your basis.  To your point, it doesn't matter.  99% here buy it only for the OBC and the others probably aren't being entirely honest (with themselves and others).  I bought my 100 shares a couple years ago for around $1600.  I've likely received that much back in OBC and anything else is gravy.😎

[PaperSniper4]

13 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Your brokerage statement (or online account) will probably show your basis.  To your point, it doesn't matter.  99% here buy it only for the OBC and the others probably aren't being entirely honest (with themselves and others).  I bought my 100 shares a couple years ago for around $1600.  I've likely received that much back in OBC and anything else is gravy.😎

Yep, that's the way to look at it. Frankly though, I am surprised that cruise line prices are all staying low considering how fully (plus) booked their ships continue to be. I suppose it will take a few years, but seems like the money they lost in those COVID years will be recouped pretty quickly at this rate....and now is the time to buy I suppose. But I already have the minimum NCL and CCL stock holdings, and don't need another investment. Those two cruise companies operate from NOLA, which is where we will surely cruise now we've decided to avoid flying as much as possible. We can drive to that port. NOLA has Carnival and NCL almost exclusively. We're booked RCI this Fall out of NOLA, but who knows if RCI will remain in NOLA....plus their fares have about doubled since I booked this October cruise many months ago.

 

Doug

[MagnoliaBlossom]

For what it’s worth, there are some limitations on getting the OBC.  Yu cannot receive it if you are on a comped cruise,such as a casino comp, or other “deeply discounted” fares.  We receive several casino comps a year and our OBC request is always denied, but of course I,eep applying,cause ya just never know whenMCLs inconsistency will work in my favor 😉

 

we also have CCL stock which we use on our Princess cruises.

 

we also try to avoid flying and mostly cruise out of Galveston, but I don’t mind driving to my hometown of NOLA for a  trip down the mightyMississippi.

[julig22]

1 hour ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

For what it’s worth, there are some limitations on getting the OBC.  Yu cannot receive it if you are on a comped cruise,such as a casino comp, or other “deeply discounted” fares.  We receive several casino comps a year and our OBC request is always denied, but of course I,eep applying,cause ya just never know whenMCLs inconsistency will work in my favor 😉

 

we also have CCL stock which we use on our Princess cruises.

 

we also try to avoid flying and mostly cruise out of Galveston, but I don’t mind driving to my hometown of NOLA for a  trip down the mightyMississippi.

Uh oh - my similar response regarding the limitations on OBC was rudely called false by a member (now blocked) on another post when I said something similar - and I didn't even specify whether or not a casino comp was included.

[zgscl]

I think of it strictly from the value of the OBC vs the purchase price. Cruise line stocks are volatile. Additionally when I retire I’m most likely going to continue cruising so I’m very unlikely to sell it ever which makes the future gains and losses virtually meaningless to me unless there is a major unexpected life change. 
 

From that lense, I was willing to sink about $1600 into CCL and another $1600 into NCL at the time I bought them. Given that I cruise between 4 & 6 times a year it was worth it for the future OBC. When I looked RCL was about an 8K investment and today it’s closer to $16K. I would absolutely never be able to make that makes sense.

 

Now from a financial standpoint, was this a good investment? I think most people would think that 5 to 10 years to breakeven is not a good investment strategy. I only really did it because I am a cruising nerd and love to cruise. Will I eventually get a return on my money? Most likely but again there are far better investments that would have much better returns over 10 to 20 years that it will take for me to make it washout.

 

There is a reason the cruise lines offer this. They want you to feel locked in with cruising on them. If you own a stock in Ncl, you will be more likely to return to Ncl. The hundred dollar nonrefundable OBC does not cost very much in the grand scheme of things. But they know that people will feel like they’re getting a great value and not stopped to look elsewhere for possibly a better option (very similar to the sunken cost fallacy). 
 

I think you have to take a very hard look at your future cruise plans and your own financial situation situation to decide if it is worth locking yourself in and if it makes sense.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

6 hours ago, julig22 said:

Uh oh - my similar response regarding the limitations on OBC was rudely called false by a member (now blocked) on another post when I said something similar - and I didn't even specify whether or not a casino comp was included.

Well, I’ve got the rejection emails to prove it,  but - well, you know how it is here sometimes.  

[ChiefMateJRK]

12 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

Well, I’ve got the rejection emails to prove it,  but - well, you know how it is here sometimes.  

Sometimes?? 🤣

[MagnoliaBlossom]

39 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Sometimes?? 🤣

🐀

[ontheweb]

10 hours ago, zgscl said:

 

There is a reason the cruise lines offer this. They want you to feel locked in with cruising on them. If you own a stock in Ncl, you will be more likely to return to Ncl. The hundred dollar nonrefundable OBC does not cost very much in the grand scheme of things. But they know that people will feel like they’re getting a great value and not stopped to look elsewhere for possibly a better option (very similar to the sunken cost fallacy). 
 

 

And that is why I generally respond when someone speculates that this stock perk will be discontinued. It is a marketing tool that costs them practically nothing.

[PaperSniper4]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

And that is why I generally respond when someone speculates that this stock perk will be discontinued. It is a marketing tool that costs them practically nothing.

Yes, which I will gladly accept if I choose to sail on NCL! But it's never made me choose NCL over a more attractive cruise on another cruise line. Another thing that makes NCL attractive to me is their Military Appreciation OBC. Once again, an OBC that does us little good if we have their "Everything included" package, but I've been know to spend "all" that non-refundable OBC down to the last penny on numerous occasions on stuff for which I have little use! Lately, however, I've used it for a bottle or scotch or such in the ship's store - that $100 OBC buys me a nice bottle of $60 scotch. 😉

 

Doug

[MagnoliaBlossom]

I appreciate how NCL extends the military discount to all US veterans (and Canada, I think) but also to spouses and surviving spouses.

[PaperSniper4]

1 hour ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

I appreciate how NCL extends the military discount to all US veterans (and Canada, I think) but also to spouses and surviving spouses.

Ditto.