If anyone is planning on cruising as much as my wife and I, then it would pay to look into buying Stock in RCCL. There are nice On Board credits per cruise above and in addition to other credits. If anyone is interested I can go into more detail, and also some of the pitfalls to watch out for. We bought stock approx 3 months ago.

Phil

I cued my father onto the stock when it was still below $20. Oh to have had the money to buy large back then.....

(I'll be in the chat room tonight at 8 p.m. est.)

Just wanted to update one point from my earlier message. Today I saw that the Board of Directors of Royal Caribbean voted to pay $0.15 per share divdend. Appartently this is the 57th straight quarter that a divdend has been paid.

To benefit from stock ownership you need to own 100 shares? I thought that is what I read at one point.

Phil & e v e r y o n e...,
Don't buy RCL stock - the $100 on board credit isn't worth it. I don't know if you follow RC stock or just like the idea owning it... I bot 100 sh at $40 last Fall 07 to get the on-board credit & then didn't watch the stock. My mistake. It went to $43, then to $40, then back to $43, (I should have sold), the year high was $46 in Feb 07. It went to down to $35 (Jan-March 08). I wasn't watching until it went to $37. I put in a buy order for 200 at $34.50 with a contingent sell at $37.50 and it was filled. Since it hovered between $35-$37 for the early part of 08, I thought I'm a genius. Only bad thing now is it is at $32.40 (3/28/08) RC stock really isn't worth it. I've since found out it is extremely voliate and, obviously, price sensitive to crude oil at $104.50 a barrel (3/28/08).

As far as the dividend side of the investment, yes, they have paid for 50+ straight quarters. However at $.15 per share quarterly dividend, per the 2006 annual report (latest available), their annual dividend is 60 cents for a $32.40 investment, or a 1.8% return. This is extremely unfortunate since their Earnings Per Share (diluated) is $2.94 per share. Each share earns $2.94 but receives only $.60.

It's a great company and one of the best. We've always had a wonderful time aboard their ships - but as far as an investment - pass on it.