by Fred Fuld III
It’s summer. Time for vacations. Many travelers are going on cruises. Fortunately, there’s a way to get a nice bonus on the cruise, free onboard credit up to $250. The only catch is that you need to be a shareholder of the cruise line, and own at least 100 shares.
For example, Carnival (CCL), which owns Carnival Cruise Lines and Holland America, is one of the companies offering free credit to shareholders of 100 shares or more. Here is what they offer:
- Onboard credit per stateroom on sailings of 14 days or longer US $250
- Onboard credit per stateroom on sailings of 7 to 13 days US $100
- Onboard credit per stateroom on sailings of 6 days or less US $ 50
Carnival, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, has a price to earnings ratio of 17.5 and a forward P/E of 14.4, with a price to sales ratio of 2.56. It pays a decent yield of 2.83%.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH), which trades on NASDAQ, offers shareholders the following:
- $250 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 15 Days or More.
- $100 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 7 to 14 Days.
- $50 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 6 Days or Less.
Norwegian trades at 14.9 times trailing earnings and 11.0 times forward earnings. The price sales ratio is 2.15, and the company does not pay a dividend.
Finally, Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL), operator of the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Azamara Club Cruises, is the second largest cruise line operator after Carnival. It offers onboard credits of:
- $250 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 14 or more nights.
- $200 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 10 to 13 nights.
- $100 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 6 to 9 nights.
- $50 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 5 nights or less.
RCL has a PE of 14.6, a forward PE of 12.5, and a PS ratio of 2.73. The yield is a favorable 2.15%.
Just keep in mind that just because a cruise line company offers onboard credits, does not mean that the stock is a good investment. Nor should you buy shares in the stock just to get the free credit. However, maybe your ship will come in with one of these stocks.
Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.