Shareholder credit

Bonnie,

Can you clarify what promotions this can be used with.

It appears that BOGO is not specifically mentioned in exclusions as below although Azamara could argue that if you even use your LCV membership that would exclude you although that would appear to be a bit petty.

Are you /Azamara saying that unless you pay brochure price and refuse any offers you do not get this credit.

We are both Discovery plus members 7 % as well as BOGO .

What are there any restrictions?

Benefit is non-transferable and not available to employees, agents of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. or its subsidiaries and affiliates, travel agents and tour operators. Benefit is not combinable with other onboard credit offers, general loyalty offers, “dollars off/wave” promotions, savings certificates, onboard chartered sailings, certain group sailings, certain price programs or bookings made at a reduced rate or travel agent rate. Shareholders have the option to choose between the shareholder benefit or the other offer. The Shareholder must own the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. stock at time of sailing. Onboard credit is calculated in US dollars except on sailings where the onboard currency used is a foreign currency (in which case the onboard credit will be converted at a currency exchange rate determined by the cruise line) and is not redeemable for cash. Certificate value credited to onboard account at time of sailing. Any unused credit shall be forfeited. Credit is applied on a per stateroom basis; double occupancy. Single guests paying 200% of applicable fare shall receive full value of certificate. Only one shareholder credit per stateroom. Only one credit per shareholder on any one sailing. If you are requesting shareholder onboard credit for two or more separate cabins and shares are held jointly, a minimum of 100 shares per cabin booked must be held. Other terms and conditions may apply.

Look forward to clarification.

Thanks

Bonnie,

Can you clarify what promotions this can be used with.

It appears that BOGO is not specifically mentioned in exclusions as below although Azamara could argue that if you even use your LCV membership that would exclude you although that would appear to be a bit petty.

Are you /Azamara saying that unless you pay brochure price and refuse any offers you do not get this credit.

 

We are both Discovery plus members 7 % as well as BOGO .

 

 

What are there any restrictions?

 

 

 

Benefit is non-transferable and not available to employees, agents of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. or its subsidiaries and affiliates, travel agents and tour operators. Benefit is not combinable with other onboard credit offers, general loyalty offers, “dollars off/wave” promotions, savings certificates, onboard chartered sailings, certain group sailings, certain price programs or bookings made at a reduced rate or travel agent rate. Shareholders have the option to choose between the shareholder benefit or the other offer. The Shareholder must own the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. stock at time of sailing. Onboard credit is calculated in US dollars except on sailings where the onboard currency used is a foreign currency (in which case the onboard credit will be converted at a currency exchange rate determined by the cruise line) and is not redeemable for cash. Certificate value credited to onboard account at time of sailing. Any unused credit shall be forfeited. Credit is applied on a per stateroom basis; double occupancy. Single guests paying 200% of applicable fare shall receive full value of certificate. Only one shareholder credit per stateroom. Only one credit per shareholder on any one sailing. If you are requesting shareholder onboard credit for two or more separate cabins and shares are held jointly, a minimum of 100 shares per cabin booked must be held. Other terms and conditions may apply.

 

 

Look forward to clarification.

 

 

Thanks

PS Does this also include /exclude open passage offers i.e. if we use this can we not use shareholder credit?

Hi Proctor,

As far as I know the Shareholder credit is not combineable with anything. It is only given with full-fare bookings.

This reminds me that I have had upgrade points with American Airlines forever and they have not once been applicable to my flights. It's especially irksome on long distance flights.

But back to YOUR question, I am happy to ask again, and specifically about Open Passage.

Well I have had it on at least 6 cruises wherever I have booked with travel Agent and you can be certain that I did not pay full fare

Even your brochure offers a discount.

So even if I only had lowest tier on LCV I would not be eligible.

Thanks

PS it is Procter

Well I have had it on at least 6 cruises wherever I have booked with travel Agent and you can be certain that I did not pay full fare

There is a difference between promotions and agent discounts. I have never had shareholder benefit if I have booked with one of either Azamara or Celebrity's promotions. (ie 321, double upgrade, buy one get one half price, senior discount etc etc).

The reality is whether we like it or not, we have to see our shareholdings as investments for returns in capital growth and/or dividends (which RCI have certainly delivered on recently) and not for perks. The number of companies giving shareholders perks has significantly reduced in recent years, RCI is just following the general market trends

Thanks uktog for this reply.

There are several issues however.

1: There is no full price fare.

Even the initial year cruise brochure offers a discount.

2: The purpose of shareholder discount (as decided by the company) is to encourage/reward loyalty.

3: If 2 is so then how can this work

B1 get 1 half price available to any client currently

$4000 cruise for 2 people becomes a $6000 holiday

Shareholder uses discount becomes $8000 less $250 maximum. $7750.

That cannot be purpose of a LOYALTY discount.

I fully understand that it cannot be combined with staff agent rates but if Azamara offer a broad scale promotion such as B1 get 1 half price then that becomes the (normal) price and loyalty discount becomes available on top of that.

Equally if you purchase on board voucher it looks from conditions that this too will exclude you.

Let us hope that this can be clarified.

If it has become too expensive as a perk (although unlikely given example above where the extra cost to customer would be $1750) then withdraw perk from new customers and grandfather existing privileges .

At $8000 new purchase it is unlikely to get many new customers any way.

 

I fully understand that it cannot be combined with staff agent rates but if Azamara offer a broad scale promotion such as B1 get 1 half price then that becomes the (normal) price and loyalty discount becomes available on top of that.

I agree that the shareholder perks may have become illusory.

But I have never thought of a limited time promotion, as is currently in place, as setting the "normal" price.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your point, but I have thought of the promotion as setting the "current" price, a price which reverts to "normal", or some semblance thereof, when the promotion is ended and before a new one takes its place. Depending on sales, I expect that the next promotion will set a new "current" price.

Some Cruise lines regularly play interesting games with the concept of "normal" prices, often referred to as "brochure" prices or something similar.

Perhaps the worst offenders, in my view, are Viking River Cruises and Oceania.

Has anyone anywhere ever paid the "brochure" price?

This approach, in my mind, is a worse offence.

Perhaps the worst offenders, in my view, are Viking River Cruises and Oceania.

Has anyone anywhere ever paid the "brochure" price?

This approach, in my mind, is a worse offence.

Agree. Add Regent to your list of habitual two-for-one pricing offenders. One wonders if the Frank Del Rio deceptive pricing scheme used at Regent and Oceania will now extend to NCL, since he is now its head as well as Regent's and Oceania's.

There never seems to be any rhyme or reason to receving a stock ownership benefit. It seems like Royal Carribean has been more generous in approving the credit versus NCH holdings for Oceania and NCL, at least in my experience. YMMV.

John

Thanks uktog for this reply.

There are several issues however.

1: There is no full price fare.

Even the initial year cruise brochure offers a discount.

2: The purpose of shareholder discount (as decided by the company) is to encourage/reward loyalty.

3: If 2 is so then how can this work

The problem with a syllogism is that if you get one of the premises wrong it falls apart. How would the purpose of the shareholder discount be to encourage/reward loyalty? It goes to people who buy the stock, not people who use the product. It would be more logical to assume that the purpose of the shareholder discount is to support the price of the stock. But obviously, whatever the purpose of the shareholder discount is/was, RCL doesn't seem to care about it anymore. If you want a shareholder discount you can use, buy CCL stock and sail their ships -- you can combine that discount with most fares.

GM Proctor et.al.,

Well, I stand corrected…the Shareholder OBC IS combinable to a degree.

I've just had a tutorial on the Azamara Combinability Grid and the long & the short answer is: the Shareholder OBC is combinable with our special promotional fares, such as the current BOGOHO deal.

What the Shareholder OBC is not combinable with is another OBC. Only one OBC can be applied and since typically other OBC's are worth more, the other is applied and the Shareholder OBC is not.

Hopefully this clears things up for you.

BB

GM Proctor et.al.,

Well, I stand corrected…the Shareholder OBC IS combinable to a degree.

I've just had a tutorial on the Azamara Combinability Grid and the long & the short answer is: the Shareholder OBC is combinable with our special promotional fares, such as the current BOGOHO deal.

What the Shareholder OBC is not combinable with is another OBC. Only one OBC can be applied and since typically other OBC's are worth more, the other is applied and the Shareholder OBC is not.

Hopefully this clears things up for you.

BB

It does Bonnie, but it does not reflect the decisions made by the Shareholder Benefits staff (ie re BOGHO). I will reapply for benefit on all the remaining cruises it has been declined and will post here my experiences

This is the wording used in their decline email last year for upcoming cruises

As offers are not combinable, the requested shareholder s onboard credit cannot be applied to reservation xxxxxx because there is another discount or onboard credit offer already applied. If you wish to take advantage of the shareholder s offer instead of the other offer, please contact your travel agent to have that offer removed. Once the other offer is removed, please resubmit your complete request.

GM Proctor et.al.,

Well, I stand corrected…the Shareholder OBC IS combinable to a degree.

I've just had a tutorial on the Azamara Combinability Grid and the long & the short answer is: the Shareholder OBC is combinable with our special promotional fares, such as the current BOGOHO deal.

What the Shareholder OBC is not combinable with is another OBC. Only one OBC can be applied and since typically other OBC's are worth more, the other is applied and the Shareholder OBC is not.

Hopefully this clears things up for you.

BB

My experience on Royal Caribbean is that I cannot combine the shareholder credit with the Pinnacle Club discount I get for booking a balcony or higher. I assumed (always a dangerous thing) that I would also not be able to combine it with the Discoverer discount of 5%, or with the BOGOHOAX fare, both of which are "dollars off" promotions and excluded according to rclinvestor.com. Am I incorrect? I would happily give up my $200 OBC for booking onboard in exchange for $250 as a shareholder.

GM Proctor et.al.,

Well, I stand corrected…the Shareholder OBC IS combinable to a degree.

I've just had a tutorial on the Azamara Combinability Grid and the long & the short answer is: the Shareholder OBC is combinable with our special promotional fares, such as the current BOGOHO deal.

What the Shareholder OBC is not combinable with is another OBC. Only one OBC can be applied and since typically other OBC's are worth more, the other is applied and the Shareholder OBC is not.

Hopefully this clears things up for you.

BB

A quick update, something is not right either with your post Bonnie or how the team operate.

I believe the discounts I have arise either because

1. I booked uber the inside for outside deal

2. I booked under an earlier BOGHO deal

3. I booked a double upgrade deal

Two were also booked applying onboard passages certificates. Please advise who is correct thank you as this will affect others

Here is my reply I received overnight - so prompt turn around however, do they not look at the booking before trotting out the standard letter - Azamara is my travel agent!

Dear

Thank you for your email.

As offers are not combinable, the requested shareholder’s onboard credit cannot be applied to reservation xxxxx because there is another discount credit offer (ADVA & SJY5) already applied, also shareholder’s onboard credit cannot be applied to reservation xxxxx because there is another discount credit offer (ADVD) already applied, shareholder’s onboard credit cannot be applied to reservation xxxxxxxbecause there is another discount credit offer (ADVD & SJY5) already applied, shareholder’s onboard credit cannot be applied to reservation # xxxxxbecause there is another discount credit offer (SJY5) already applied,

If you wish to take advantage of the shareholder’s offer instead of the other offer, please contact your travel agent to have that offer removed. Once the other offer is removed, please resubmit your complete request.

You can review the program guidelines on our website at http://www.rclinvestor.com

You can also contact our Customer Service desk at 800-327-6700.

Once again, thank you for your continued patronage.

Sincerely,

Coupon Redemption Team

Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.

Uktog,

Looking at your history/upcoming voyages I thought I had just saved you $1500 on your next 6 cruises.

As we are planning to be on Seychelles in 2017 I was going to put in my consultancy fee of a Bottle of Tattinger for our cabin.

I wait to see how lucky you are.

Seperately for Bonnie is it possible to produce combinability grid for public consumption .

It appears obvious that LCV and shareholder discounts can now be combinable with B!G1HP but what about open passage certificates which as my original query.

Thanks and sorry for opening a "can of worms"

We will get to the bottom of this and I'll get back to you both.

P.s. No apology necessary for opening a can of worms. It's a can that has needed opening (aka clarification) for as long as I've been watching this forum (13 months now.)

I am also interested as I am just now booking a 2017 using the current promo BOGOHO and was told very firmly that my shareholder OMC was not combinable. While in the scheme of things $250 is not a lot of $$ when compared to the price of this cruise, It would sure be nice!

And what you and I are finding contradicts the Bonnies tutorial and post - so who is right and who is wrong?

Shareholder Benefit Team or the tutorial giver/ receiver/poster?

I am also interested as I am just now booking a 2017 using the current promo BOGOHO and was told very firmly that my shareholder OMC was not combinable. While in the scheme of things $250 is not a lot of $$ when compared to the price of this cruise, It would sure be nice!

I'll send this along and see if I can't get clarification...hopefully in your favor!

Thanks Bonnie, hoping to finalize my booking tomorrow!

I'm glad to hear it JVilleGal!

@BBMacLaird???? Do you have an underdate and Clarification on the Stockholder credit???? I'm still wanting/waiting to book????

@BBMacLaird???? Do you have an underdate and Clarification on the Stockholder credit???? I'm still wanting/waiting to book????

As Proctor has been waiting a long time for the update if I was you I would go ahead and book the cruise if you want it. Answers on this thorny issue are just not coming out, many of us have just had to give up on the benefit even though we know we should be getting it

Console yourself, you are likely still very ahead on the capital gains. Holding shares for perks only is not an investment strategy!

As Proctor has been waiting a long time for the update if I was you I would go ahead and book the cruise if you want it. Answers on this thorny issue are just not coming out, many of us have just had to give up on the benefit even though we know we should be getting it

 

Console yourself, you are likely still very ahead on the capital gains. Holding shares for perks only is not an investment strategy!

Gee thanks for the investment advice! Ya well as I've had this stock for a very long time, and owning it has "zip" to do with cruising..... A credit like that could certainly pay my laundry bill and that in my opinion is a good thing!

Once again Bonnie please get answers, this is ridiculous!

Bonnie,

Can you clarify which discounts/offers are combinable.

I see the following discounts/offers.

1: Azamara discounts. B1GOHO /balcony for inside price.

2: Discoverer LCV discount.

3: Open passage certificates.

4: Back to back $ discount.

5: Shareholder discount.

My guess is they should be applied in that order but would welcome clarification.