Shareholder OBC Question

[mikjr]

I'm sure this has been discussed prior, but I can't find the answer.

 

We just booked on Celebrity... it's been a few years since we've been on Celebrity, so, we are looking forward to April 2013!!

 

I would like to start cruising more on Celebrity over the next few years. So, my question has to do with Shareholder Benefits. I own shares of Carnival and use them when cruising on Princess and HAL. I'm now thinking about buying 100 shares of RCL.

 

Their site says something about the Shareholder OBC not being combinable with other credits. I'm assuming that means ship board credits from the cruise line, not credits from your travel agent. Is that a correct assumption???

 

thanks...

[Gonzo70]

Generally yes. This assumes that the OBC from your travel agent is coming out of their commission (in which case the shareholder OBC may be used) and not a perk they are passing on coming from Celebrity's pockets (in which case it can't be used).

[mikjr]

Generally yes. This assumes that the OBC from your travel agent is coming out of their commission (in which case the shareholder OBC may be used) and not a perk they are passing on coming from Celebrity's pockets (in which case it can't be used).

 

well, my travel agent said it's coming from THEIR company... I guess to be safe, I could call RCL and check...

[Hlitner]

The issue with stockholder credits can be a bit frustating when it comes to RCI. They have decided, as a matter of policy, that they do not want to allow passengers to be able to "stack" credits. The rules seem to change with the wind. For example, we have no problem using stockholder credits when we book with a senior or military rate (guess this would also work with the newer teacher rates). If an OBC is paid by a TA they normally will also allow the stockholder credit. But quite a few OBCs that you get from a TA are actually promotions from the cruise line (not all TAs disclose this fact) which Celebrity will not normally allow to be stacked with stockholder credits. If one credit is more then the other they will usually give you the higher amount. When we were on the Silhouette last Decmeber we had a chat with the future cruise consultant and asked her why anyone who owned stock would bother to do an onboard booking since the OBC for onboard bookings cannot be combined with the stockholder credits. She told us the only advantage was the reduced deposit (not a biggie since there are often promotions with reduced deposits). She also mentioned that the future cruise consultants raised this issue at a meeting with Dan Hanrahan and he got somewhat annoyed and said he was not going to allow the stacking of all those credits! For us it means we never book future cruises aboard...and usually look for the really great deals that happen with last minute bookings.

 

Hank

[BBsails]

Hank, we recently booked a 12-night cruise using the military discount and the special offer (=X= wording) for teachers. The teacher special offer states "Offer can be combined with one other savings or on board credit offer." Do you think we'd also qualify for stockholder credit (we're stockholders)? Guess it won't hurt to try.

[Algebralovr]

If the teacher offer says it can be combined with one other OBC or savings, then the stockholder perk will probably be allowed. It was this last spring when they first released the winter '13-14 sailings when they gave extra OBC and one other promo for booking early.