Celebrity Blue Chip Friends & Family discount?

Has anyone ever gotten to use this discount? I called a while ago about using it for our friends and got a confusing response that was essentially "no you can't use it".

 

Wondering if other Sapphires or Rubbies have gotten the 20% discount for friends or family and how did they do it? Note I'm asking under the new program, not pre-2017.

 

Thanks

 

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Paulras.. the blue chip program seems to be in flux right now. Unless I have missed something in the last couple of days the program is being modified in some top secret fashion. I’m confident it will include a massive infusion of mega enhancements Keep checking back if your planned cruise is a little bit out. Otherwise try the famous call back again and talk to someone else. Good luck.

I email them a couple days ago and got a clearer answer. And surprisingly within 30 minutes instead of days or never! We and our friends booked through a TA instead of directly through Blue Chip. But you're not eligible for Friends and Family discount if using a TA unless it's their first time on Celebrity (it's not). And we're not allowed to switch to booking directly with Blue Chip unless we stop cruising for 18 months because the TA has an agreement with celebrity to not allow us to book directly with celebrity unless 18 months goes by.

 

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Ah now this is interesting, and not bc of the friends and family thing. I have been having MAJOR issues (almost arguing) between Blue Chip and our TA. Can our TA get the same deals with Blue Chip that I can with them direct? I can't get Blue Chip to talk to me about upgrades or anything, even on a trip I booked with them. They said, oh we transferred that trip to your TA??

Ah now this is interesting, and not bc of the friends and family thing. I have been having MAJOR issues (almost arguing) between Blue Chip and our TA. Can our TA get the same deals with Blue Chip that I can with them direct? I can't get Blue Chip to talk to me about upgrades or anything, even on a trip I booked with them. They said, oh we transferred that trip to your TA??

Yeah, I had this problem 6 months ago. Your TA has to call Blue Chip to apply your discount for your reservation. The problem I had then was that the TA at the agency wasn't familiar with this but he tried. As many of us experience, you get a different answer every time you call. And that's what he was getting. 10% discount, 20% discount, $1200 off, $1000 off, zero discount. He'd call me with whatever he heard last and I'd just get annoyed and have him call back. Blue Chip wouldn't talk to me about it directly because it was booked through the TA. I finally had them transfer me to the BC supervisor after 2 weeks of back and forth. She knew the problem was that some of their phone reps forget your discount is a percentage based on the higher of your theoretical loss or actual loss. She got me a $2000 discount on top of the TA's perks for an 11 day Med cruise we just took last month. and she called the TA to explain what he has to do to my reservation.

 

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. I called Blue Chip about my upcoming 12 day Christmas cruise even though it was booked through the TA. The rep told me I get $90/day discount. Only $1080?? I said I just played a ton last month on Reflection, how can it be less than the $2000 I just had. She claimed she can't look at my play on last month's cruise because the Christmas cruise was booked before I took the cruise last month. Made no sense so I pushed the issue. She came back a few minutes later and said she did look at last month's play and gave me a $270 discount per day. $3240 total. That's a huge difference!

 

Oh and the rep put through the discount to my reservation automatically. Didn't need to call the TA. So maybe they're getting better. And yes, I checked with the TA a few days later and the discount was actually applied.

 

So yes, you absolutely can get your TA discounts and your BC discounts. But it looks like you can't get the Friends and Family discount if they've booked through a TA.

 

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Hmm thanks for the reply, sounds like I am going to have to call back and push the issue.

Hmm thanks for the reply, sounds like I am going to have to call back and push the issue.

Let us know how it goes

 

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With the new tier program no more friends and family discounts, boarded Equinox yesterday

With the new tier program no more friends and family discounts, boarded Equinox yesterday

Oh well. Guess I won't miss what I could never use

 

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Who is the host on the Equinox now? I kind of feel sorry that they have to explain the new “enhancements”. We sail on the 11th. Thanxs to CC I won’t have a melt down when I board.