Shareholder credit issue

[Nanner]

Just off a wonderful South American cruise, but there was a glitch that really irritated me. Halfway through the cruise we got a copy of our charges until that point. I noticed that our shareholder OBC was NOT listed on the account ledger.

 

This was the second time we had this issue. What really upset me was that I knew I had taken the required documentation to our travel agent a few months ago, and they faxed it to HAL. I don't own a fax machine, and they took care of it while I waited.

 

If you have never booked through a travel agent, you may not know that you cannot access your trip account balance on your HAL account page. So there was no way (I had tried) to check and be sure the credit appears via your home computer before boarding. Since I knew it had been sent, I just trusted it would be there.

 

I emailed my TA from the ship informing her of the problem. She spent a fair amount of time on the phone with HAL, and they weren't very pleasant for her to deal with, but eventually they did relent and give us the $250 credit we were due. It's left both me and our travel agent a bit disenchanted with HAL, but she now knows to be sure that the OBC is credited.

[KirkNC]

While what you say is true about not being able to see the OBC until you board, we always get an email from HAL acknowledging that the credit has been added. We scan our documentation on our printer and send it direct to HAL that way. I would think your TA should have recieved an email as well.

[Cruising-along]

I'm sorry this happened to you. We always have several sources of OBC for a cruise, and we've gotten so it's one of the first things we check after we board. There has been only one time they had no record of one. It was cleared up pretty quickly though, we had booked through a PCC and after contacting her it was all cleared up. I'm pretty sure they're the ones who contacted her too.

 

We do bring proof of everything now, I think there's a recent thread talking about this, in fact. Better safe than sorry. Now we bring printed copies of everything.

[lcand1923]

I, too, don't have a fax machine. I have always applied for the Stockholders Credit myself using USPS mail (my controlling nature).

 

Originally, I would ask HAL to send me a USPS confirmation of the credit. I then started requesting that HAL provide me with an email confirmation. I learned, once onboard, to request a statement early in the cruise. If necessary, I would then take the confirmation to the Front Desk to get the OBC posted to my account.

 

Since your TA is applying for the credit for you, can he/she print out a copy of your account which shows that onboard credit? (I know my invoice from my travel agent shows the OBC's that I have using my Future Cruise Deposit.) You could take that confirmation to the Front Desk.

[Alberta Quilter]

While what you say is true about not being able to see the OBC until you board, we always get an email from HAL acknowledging that the credit has been added. We scan our documentation on our printer and send it direct to HAL that way. I would think your TA should have recieved an email as well.

 

 

I have always asked for an email to be sent when I send the OBC request and have yet to receive an email from HAL stating that it's been applied. However, I have had the TA confirm that the credit has been applied to my account.

[DaveOKC]

One nice thing about using a HAL PCC is that I can see my credits online well before we sail.

 

When I had a TA, they would send me a hard copy of my credits, so I know they can access them. Yours may not have known the program.

 

DaveOKC

[Linda&Vern]

I think your TA wants the commission, but not the work. Any good TA would have had something to give you to verify your OBC before you ever boarded the ship. Just my opinion.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am sorry that you had problems.

We use a TA as well. When she makes final payment, she sends in the documentation that is needed to get Carnival's OBC.

Once she gets that back as well as notification that we have gotten our AMEX Plat OBC, she makes a copy and sends it to us.

I make an extra copy and take both on the cruise with us.

We did have a problem a couple of times and I gave our concierge a copy and she took care of it for us.

I always ask for a copy of our shipboard account by at least day 3 so that I can check to make certain that all shipboard credits, etc. are there.

[pms4104]

I don't have a fax machine either ... so I take my materials to the local Staples or Kinkos or similar and for a few bucks I send it off myself, and in the cover sheet I request that HAL email a confirmation to me. Then, I print it all out and take it with ... once onboard, the first day, I go to the front desk to verify that any OBC we expect is there for us.

 

It would seem that your T/A wasn't watching this for you until you alerted her halfway thru your sailing. In the future, I would handle it myself.

[2ptu/000]

We recently did a b2b cruise. At the end of the first cruise we got our statement with a lot more OBC than we thought we had. I went to the front desk and asked if they could tell me where the OBC came from. They had no idea and couldn't give us a breakdown. We had FCC, stockholders credit, credit when we booked with HAL and credit when we transferred to Ta. We had rebooked when the cruise fare went down and I thought we lost some OBC. You would think it would all be neatly listed but it is not. I was happy but would have liked to have been able to see the breakdown.

[RuthC]

I send my proof of ownership to my TA, and she makes the request for stockholder credit from HAL. She knows to get verification that they have processed the request, and forwards the confirmation to me.

 

Sounds like your TA didn't follow up when she didn't get the verification the request had been completed.

Glad it got worked out eventually.

[KirkNC]

I have always asked for an email to be sent when I send the OBC request and have yet to receive an email from HAL stating that it's been applied. However, I have had the TA confirm that the credit has been applied to my account.

 

Strange, I wonder if it is because I request the OBC directly and not through a TA.

[OHCruiser]

It seems to me that HAL does a very poor job of showing sources of OBC--AND of following through on making sure that confirmations of shareholder OBC make it onto the shipboard account.

 

I had a copy of my shareholder OBC credit with me when we sailed on the Noordam in Dec. When we got our final bill, it definitely wasn't on the account and the FD couldn't do anything ["Oh, Seattle is closed until Mon."]. This was our first time sailing as shareholders, so I didn't yet know that I should have verified the credit as soon as we got on board.

 

I got so much double-speak when I called Seattle after getting home! I could tell that even THEY didn't know what had, and had not, been applied to our account! I fussed enough to get a resolution--a discount on a future cruise in the OBC amount [and we were able to use it, so I accepted it], but it was infuriating. It was a clear example of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing!

 

I agree---get a paper confirmation of the OBC, take it with you, and insist that the FD get it straight before you get off the ship!

[serendipity1499]

Just off a wonderful South American cruise, but there was a glitch that really irritated me. Halfway through the cruise we got a copy of our charges until that point. I noticed that our shareholder OBC was NOT listed on the account ledger.

 

This was the second time we had this issue. What really upset me was that I knew I had taken the required documentation to our travel agent a few months ago, and they faxed it to HAL. I don't own a fax machine, and they took care of it while I waited.

 

If you have never booked through a travel agent, you may not know that you cannot access your trip account balance on your HAL account page. So there was no way (I had tried) to check and be sure the credit appears via your home computer before boarding. Since I knew it had been sent, I just trusted it would be there.

 

I emailed my TA from the ship informing her of the problem. She spent a fair amount of time on the phone with HAL, and they weren't very pleasant for her to deal with, but eventually they did relent and give us the $250 credit we were due. It's left both me and our travel agent a bit disenchanted with HAL, but she now knows to be sure that the OBC is credited.

 

We never request our Stockholders OBC through our TA..

 

Since my FAX is out of order my Friend does it for me & FAX's it directly to Karen Stewart at HAL World Cruise Reservations FAX No. 206 281-0627..

 

I send a copy of our Brokerage Statement with only the Carnival Stock indicated & a covering letter asking for the OBC & request a confirmation by E.-mail.. I've always received confirmation by either e-mail, through our TA, or once by letter, which I take with us on our cruises..As a matter of fact I requested our $250 OBC for two cruises on Noordam in Nov. 2012 & Prinsendam in Jan 2013 in the same letter & received confirmation on both from our Agent..

 

Have never had a problem..:) Betty

 

P.S. One of the best investments we've ever made.. Bought the stock at $18 & change & it's now up to to $39 plus.. Wish I had the guts to buy more at $18..LOL

Edited March 1, 2014 by serendipity1499

[Alberta Quilter]

Strange, I wonder if it is because I request the OBC directly and not through a TA.

 

No, that's not it. I was told by my TA that I had to make the request for the benefit. Each time I made a request, I've asked to be emailed with a confirmation and have never received one.

 

I'm glad it works for you, and others.

[kazu]

Well, after submitting my first CCL credit for two cruises - HAL did not email me back - instead they emailed my TA. She promptly sent me a new form showing my total obc that HAL has recorded for me to receive. I know the breakdown. I am thinking that as long as I have this with me - I should be fine.

 

My TA does a great job of keeping me up to date on this stuff and it is very appreciated.

 

For obc's that we have bought and other purchased items, we shall bring those :D

[alwaysfrantic]

Interesting. They had my shareholder OBC but had no record of my pre purchase of a cabana, Pinnacle or LeCirque. They are certainly consistent in keeping us guessing.

[sailandcruise]

On the 2013 Westerdam Christmas cruise, I brought a print out of the email from HAL confirming that my shareholders' OBC would be applied on the ship. I checked with the front desk several days into the cruise, and they said that the ship had no record of it. :mad: When I showed them the printed email, they added insult to injury and told me that they would have to verify with headquarters that I did indeed qualify for the shareholders' OBC. :confused: :mad:

 

A day or two later they did add the credit to my account. But it left a bitter taste in my mouth -- first because the email assured me that the ship would be notified and apply the credit, and second because when, due to their own failure to do what they had promised, they acted as if I was somehow trying to claim something I did not deserve. I don't know whether Seattle or the ship messed up originally, but I do know that the front desk personnel could and should have been apologetic and offered to fix the problem rather than accusatory.

[Mary Ellen]

There is a very recent thread here suggesting people take electronic confirmations of everything, saving paper. My post from that thread:

 

That's what I did last year, trying to cut down on the paper I bring. BIG mistake. I didn't receive my OBC for my CCL stock. I had a PDF of the confirmation from HAL (on their stationary) for that OBC. It meant nothing, absolutely nothing to the Front Desk. They could see it on my iPad, but unless they could have a printout it was worthless. I couldn't e-mail it to them as they claimed they only had internal e-mail. I couldn't print it out as their printers didn't handle air print. Without a paper copy they had to hear from Seattle that I did indeed have the $250 OBC. That took about 3 weeks. Nothing but run around from the 'always smiling, rarely helpful' front desk. Thank goodness it was a long cruise. :rolleyes:

 

We faxed in my proof of CCL stock ownership ourselves. HAL sent confirmation to our TA, who sent it on to us. After seeing a preliminary bill I first approached the Front Desk I saying that "I didn't receive all of the OBC I was expecting". The 'always smiling, rarely helpful' young woman checked her computer and (smugly) informed me that I did receive everything - without even asking the amount I was expecting. :rolleyes: Yes, that attitude and the inordinate length of time required to get it straightened out did leave a very bad taste in my mouth. Each time I went back to check on their progress I was informed by the ever smiling clerk that they would call me "tomorrow". I always gave them at least 48-hrs before approaching them - again (and again, and again... ). Our phone did work, but we never did get a call from the Front Desk.

 

To me a great cruise is one where I don't need to deal with the Front Desk. Someday...

[erewhon]

For the first few cruises after we purchased the shares, we would fax the request for OBC to Karen Stewart and request e-mail confirmation that the credit had been applied to our reservation.

 

But then she sent a message that in future we should not contact her, that our Travel Agent must apply for the OBC to be credited to our booking.

 

I always ask the Travel Agent to send me written confirmation that the credit has been applied to our account, then on board the ship confirm that the OBC actually is on our account.

Edited March 1, 2014 by erewhon

[Tbay]

Karen no longer works in the World Cruise Department. She is now a PCC.

[serendipity1499]

Karen no longer works in the World Cruise Department. She is now a PCC.

 

Thanks for this info..Do you know who took her place?

[thinfool]

This is our second cruise on HAL....the first was 10 years ago. I distinctly remember calling HAL in 2004 to see if our shareholder credit was in place. They were annoyed but shuffled thru a stack of faxes and found it, so all was good.

 

Here we are, 10 years later, and I am reading that HAL is still less than great with the credit.

 

However, in their favor, I used their online chat to ask if our credit had been applied. The person was very nice, checked and said yes (this even tho we booked thru a TA). We sail tomorrow...I find myself wondering if I will have to deal with the purser to actually receive the credit.

 

Finally, my take on the shareholder credit is that HAL is less than enthusiastic about giving it. They have no option tho as it comes thru Carnival corporate.

[DaveOKC]

This is our second cruise on HAL....the first was 10 years ago. I distinctly remember calling HAL in 2004 to see if our shareholder credit was in place. They were annoyed but shuffled thru a stack of faxes and found it, so all was good.

 

Finally, my take on the shareholder credit is that HAL is less than enthusiastic about giving it. They have no option tho as it comes thru Carnival corporate.

 

I have to disagree with you on this. I have never had an issue with getting my credit. I fax a cover letter requesting credit along with my most recent stock statement (blacking out my account number) to HAL and its generally in my account in a couple of days.

 

Just be sure to follow the directions exactly on the Carnival website on how to do this.

 

DaveOKC

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

I have to disagree with you on this. I have never had an issue with getting my credit. I fax a cover letter requesting credit along with my most recent stock statement (blacking out my account number) to HAL and its generally in my account in a couple of days.

 

Just be sure to follow the directions exactly on the Carnival website on how to do this.

 

DaveOKC

 

I agree with Dave OKC. Have never had a problem doing as he says. Since I don't use a TA as an intermediary, I think it works better. Just MO.