Fair and true enough, stock buying shouldn't be for the perk. The stock has its place, but it ought to be a decision for financial advisors and such.

If it happens you reach a point, that you've happen to get to the perks, so much the better. But don't bet the family farm on it.

TexasCPA & everyone,
The information above about Royal Caribbean Stock is good from a investment side, I however was trying to bring information for the indiviual who wants to cruise alot on Royal Caribbean. It is true from an investment point of view RCL stock may not be the best investment. However for the cruiser who wants to and is expecting to cruise several times a year or more on RCL the on-board credit is worth it. Now my wife and I might be exceptions however we cruise alot and have already recieved over $1800 worth of on-board stock holder credit. Remember this is a non taxable dividend, show me another stock that you can stay that about. We bought the stock for the sole purpose of receiving the on-board credit. In our case we will have recieved back in on-board credit the orginal investment in 2+ years and still own the stock even if it has gone down a bit. As you cruise on RCL and talk to Diamond Plus members that cruise alot, just about everyone of them own the stock, and if they don't they may not know about it.
A little more information about the credit you recieve, 1-5 day cruise you recieve $50 for 7-11 days to recieve $100 and for 12 days and above you get $200. This is in addition to any other credit you might be recieving, like onboard booking. For example a 14 day cruise that you booked while on another cruise with RCL you would recieve $200 + $200 stockholder credit. It is really nice to have $400 on credit when you board the ship.
Just for information I don't have anything to do with Royal Caribbean and don't benifit from anyone buying stock, I'm simply a RCL fan and cruise 8 to 12 times a year. Just wanted to let people know about this program as it is not well published, and I only found out about it from word of mouth.