A while back, I decided to buy stock in two cruise line corporations: NCL Holdings and Carnival corp. Although both stocks have given me acceptable market appreciation, I may have gained more by taking advantage of the benefits that each shareholder can receive by filling in a form. Today, I mailed out forms to give me $350 worth of cruise credits ($100 for my first cruise and $250 for my second cruise taken on Princess this year.)
Over the past couple of years, I have already received $500 of onboard credits from NCL and Carnival. I expect that over time, these stock purchases will have paid for themselves in cruise credits alone. The only reason that I didn't buy RCCL when I bought these stocks is that I didn't want to pony up $6,000 to own shares in a company whose products I don't use. (I'm not knocking RCCL. Instead, I simply didn't want to take the risk of investing this much money in a firm when I wasn't sure of when cruise line business would recover.) All 3 corporations have performed well over the past 2 years, so I have nothing to complain about.
I am not addicted to cruising. It is an inexpensive way to get away for a week or two and chill out. I enjoy not having to drive when visiting a new city. But I wish cruise ships spent more time in each port, so that I could see more of the associated city. For example, last year's California Coastal cruise spent two days in San Francisco. This gave cruisers a goodly amount of time to explore this great city. This year's cruise will spend only one day in San Francisco, far from enough time to take in "Fog City's" beauty.
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When I first started making cruises a standard option for my vacations, my former cruise partner (FCP) encouraged me to go on these cruises as Marian. The ships were good places for me to practice and develop my feminine presentation. Given that I'd never see most of these people again, it didn't matter what these people thought of me. I just had to be careful at which ports I'd get off the ship for shore excursions.
One of my next two cruises will be in Marian mode. I can't wait to take it, although I'll be spending the day before the cruise as Mario when I see my uncle in his nursing home. As for the other cruise, I'll be presenting as Mario for over two weeks. You can bet that as soon as I get home from this cruise, that I'll rush to my closet to figure out what dress I'll wear the day afterward.....
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