Fighting for my Stockholder Benefits!

[fideauxdon]

Are you booked on a Future Reflection Cruise? If you are, and you're a current RCI Stockholder, and you know the rules concerning Stockholder onboard credits, I need your help regarding RCI's denial of what I think is a valid claim for onboard credits.

Have you filed a claim for future cruise benefits on the Reflection? I'm interested in finding out whether your claim was accepted or denied, and if it was denied, what was the reason for the denial?

We're booked on the Reflection for the April Transatlantic sailing. We received no onboard credits from RCI for this sailing, and there are no other reasons for the denial that we can discern, but they denied us with this short email:

 

"Thank you for your email. As a valued shareholder, you are very important to us. The requested shareholder benefit onboard credit cannot be applied to reservation ***4176 as it is confirmed with a Nets price code that is not combinable with the Shareholder Benefit program. Please review our program FAQ's on our website at http://www.rclcorporate.com/investors/shareholder-benefit/"

I don't know what they're talking about, and neither does my Travel Agent, so I'm not ready to give up. If you were denied, and then the decision was reversed, I'd be especially interested in your reply. If you'd rather not post here, my email address is fideauxdon@att.net.

[BlueSky100]

Do you think it could be because of this paragraph , "The shareholder benefit offer is not combinable with other onboard credit offers, general loyalty offers, “dollars off/wave” promotion" ?

[zoncom]

Long time shareholder and Elite plus. Did 4 Reflection cruises in 16.Denied shareholder credit for first 3 due to "Promotional pricing" for first 3. Most cruises are Promotional priced.Got the 4th one-" Because you are a longtime shareholder". If I did not like the product so much, i would go elsewhere.They are just cheaping out.

[The_Big_M]

With all the sales they run, it's very hard to get it because of combinability nowadays.

 

Unless you actually paid full price outside a sale, most applications get rejected because of the sale price.

 

If your booking price is still current, your TA should be able to see the different price offers and confirm whether you paid a discounted price or not.

[CruisinNana]

The only shareholder credit I have gotten lately has been on a transatlantic that has no other perks.

[RDC1]

About the only place I have been able to get it has been on inside cabins with no perks. It is cannot be combined with just about any discount or perk that Celebrity offers. Usually these days there is some perk offered on Veranda or above rooms.

[hancock]

Contact them again. I got a similar response for my upcoming Equinox cruise which was booked under police/fireman pricing. They wanted to give me only one half of the OBC that we were due. This happened with two cruises. I ended up with getting the full amount to which I was entitled. I believe that Investor Relations has some new help that doesn't know what they are doing.

[alcpa1]

While we are sailing on RCI for our next cruise we were just denied this week because we are Elite/Diamond and got the gratis one category upgrade. We have not been able to apply the credit in years but I am not selling my stock. The purchase price is a small fraction of the current value.

[uktog]

They should remove shareholder credit, it is so annoying. You can't get it with any booking perk including if you book onboard.

As the cruiseline is always looking for ways to save money I will give them a way, close that team down, save in staff costs there rather than onboard.

I never held onto my shares for the credit though, I'm a traditional investor - growth and dividends are my motivators.

[kobecat]

We never seem to get it, Carnival however ALWAYS give it.

 

 

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[CashewNuts]

Azamara - booking with no OBC - received Shareholder OBC.

 

Two Celebrity cruises - with OBC/drinks/gratuities - refused. As for many (most?) people i.e.

"The requested shareholder’s onboard credit cannot be applied to reservation ******* as it is confirmed with pricing which include several promotions that are not combinable with the shareholder’s onboard credit offer."

and

"The requested shareholder benefit onboard credit cannot be applied to reservation ******* as it is confirmed with an All Inclusive price code that is not combinable with the Shareholder Benefit program. Please review our program FAQ's on our website at http://www.rclcorporate.com/investors/shareholder-benefit/ ".

 

Slightly clearer than the response OP got. We have a "no extras" Celebrity cruise booked for next year - I have higher hopes!

[north29]

I grew tired of trying to get the stock holders benefits. I bought mine @ $7 some years ago, and I just sold it for $95.

[BBsails]

As zoncom posted: Got the 4th one-" Because you are a longtime shareholder".

 

I've never heard of this reason to approve/deny shareholder credit. Wonder what the operational definition of "longtime shareholder" is? Five years, ten years, twenty-five years? Wish it were transparent.

[hancock]

I seem to recall that the shareholder credit may be combined with an on board booking if no other perk is offered with the booking..such as free perks(They are not free!). I checked the shareholder credit page and it did NOT say that booking made on board were excluded from the shareholder OBC.

[ISABELLA]

Every time I apply for SH OBC, I get denied respond due to the fact, that I had either senior or resident rate. For some reason, on my March 24 sailing x gave me OBC with resident rate, but no other perks included.

[CruisingChick]

Every time I apply for SH OBC, I get denied respond due to the fact, that I had either senior or resident rate. For some reason, on my March 24 sailing x gave me OBC with resident rate, but no other perks included.

 

 

They must like me because I never get turned down. We just sailed Anthem in January had 30% BOGO plus Diamond Balcony Discount and still applied and got our shareholder OBC. We have also always gotten it on Celebrity Cruises when booking with Senior or Resident Rates. These rates never include any drink packages, etc. so there are no other perks included.

[ISABELLA]

I like Celebrity, but there is nothing consistent with them in what do in the past 5 years - at least in what I had to deal with.

[hancock]

Every time I apply for SH OBC, I get denied respond due to the fact, that I had either senior or resident rate. For some reason, on my March 24 sailing x gave me OBC with resident rate, but no other perks included.

 

 

You should have questioned the refusal. As long as you had no perks, you were entitled to the obc. As I stated in an earlier post, there are a lot of problems at Investor Relations. Unless you have additional perks (including an additonal X obc) or an Exciting Deal, you should be entitled to the shareholder credit.

 

I was refused the full obc. My TA called Investor Relations and was told I was not entitled to the full obc. I emailed questioning the refusal The return email said they knew nothing about the refusal as I had been given the whole obc a week before. This is why I state there are major issues at Investor Relations.

[cruising cockroach]

I was refused the full obc. My TA called Investor Relations and was told I was not entitled to the full obc. I emailed questioning the refusal The return email said they knew nothing about the refusal as I had been given the whole obc a week before. This is why I state there are major issues at Investor Relations.

 

 

I would think IR has been incentivized not to dole out shareholder benefits - doing so hurts the bottom line.

[Bo1953]

I would think IR has been incentivized not to dole out shareholder benefits - doing so hurts the bottom line.

 

 

I would think that the SH OBC is not refundable, so explain how it hurts the bottom line? If it is refundable, then yes, could, but minimally....

 

bon voyage

[cruising cockroach]

I would think that the SH OBC is not refundable, so explain how it hurts the bottom line? If it is refundable, then yes, could, but minimally....

 

 

By not spending what one would otherwise spend. Refundable or not, some might use it to pay mandatory gratuities :eek:. I know I would.

[Tiggertastic]

We'd been considering selling our shares, it's been the best return we've had but 2016 we hit jackpot and got 4 out of 5 cruises confirmed with shareholder obc. Back to zero this year just like 2011 to 2015. Dilemma

 

 

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[BEAV]

As zoncom posted: Got the 4th one-" Because you are a longtime shareholder".

 

I've never heard of this reason to approve/deny shareholder credit. Wonder what the operational definition of "longtime shareholder" is? Five years, ten years, twenty-five years? Wish it were transparent.

 

We had a somewhat similar response last Fall when we sailed Millennium Transpacific Vancouver-Tokyo. We booked a Royal Suite for what we thought was a "killer" price ... considerably lower than on Celebrity website. Applied for the shareholder OBC and got a response back similar to the OP's that we were on an "opaque rate" that "wasn't combinable with the shareholder benefit, however we are going to make a one-time exception".

We were not what I consider a long time shareholder, but we are Elite Plus and sailing in a Royal Suite. So I don't know if any of those reasons factored into their giving us the OBC in the end or what criteria they use.

[wonlife64]

They must like me because I never get turned down. We just sailed Anthem in January had 30% BOGO plus Diamond Balcony Discount and still applied and got our shareholder OBC. We have also always gotten it on Celebrity Cruises when booking with Senior or Resident Rates. These rates never include any drink packages, etc. so there are no other perks included.

 

 

I also have never been denied my Shareholder Credit on RCL or Celebrity. We usually book an inside cabin though without any perks except a small amount of OBC from our TA.

[CruisingChick]

I also have never been denied my Shareholder Credit on RCL or Celebrity. We usually book an inside cabin though without any perks except a small amount of OBC from our TA.

 

 

We usually book insides, but the deal we got on Anthem this past January was too good to pass up. $2,245 total for 2 people for 12 nights in a balcony cabin plus we booked using our Discover Cash back bonus and got another $200 off and we got our $200 Shareholder OBC.