Shareholder Benefits – Total Disregard by X

[xerxes]

I am a RCCL shareholder (and have been so for some time now). One of the perks of being a shareholder is receiving additional On-Board Credits (typically USD100 per sailing) when sailing with RCCL and Celebrity (and possibly Azamara, though we have never sailed with Azamara).

DH and I have taken 2 cruises with Celebrity this year (a 10-day cruise from Hawaii to Vancouver, and a 14-day cruise from Shanghai to Tokyo). On both occasions we have requested X to provide us with the shareholder OBC, but have been refused on the pretext that we already had some OBC from our travel agent. As I see it, the OBC for a shareholder is distinct and ought to be in addition to any OBC provided by the TA. I have sent several emails to Celebrity requesting “details of the Shareholders Benefits and also where it states that Shareholder Benefits are not combinable with other benefits.” Surprisingly there has been no response from Celebrity to my questions.

Has anybody else had a similar experience? Celebrity’s practice of refusing OBC on the grounds that we already had OBC from our TA is IMHO unfair and as Elite members, the absence of a response has left us with a feeling that Celebrity does not place any value for its customers/shareholders ongoing loyalty.

PS: Our friends who own shares in Carnival have indicated to us that when sailing Holland America or Princess, they have never had any issues with receiving shareholder OBCs that are in addition to TA provided OBCs. May be its time to switch our loyalties over to Princess or HAL.

Dilshad   

[stipmom]

Celebrity changed its policy recently and allowed shareholder OBC  to be combined with  other OBC for cruises booked after June  1 2019.Previous to that shareholder OBC was not given if you had any other OBC from Celebrity.

 

it is possible that the OBC from your travel agent is part of the pick 2. I noticed many online agencies imply that they are giving it but it is actually coming from the cruise line.If your OBC is from a travel agency kickback then that should  be combinable.

I have been a shareholder since 2000 and have not been able to get that benefit on 

Celebrity for a good 10 years

[Baron Barracuda]

Agree.  Sounds like ta is taking credit for percs actually coming from X.  If you read the fine print on X's promotions you'll see virtually none are combinable with shareholder benefit, senior discounts, regional discounts, etc.  

[neilrr]

We love Celebrity -- but their non-combine policy is why we dumped RCCL stock and bought Carnival years ago, as we really enjoyed the SBC Carnival perk (on any of their lines) ranging from $100 -$250 depending on length of trip. We did better with the SBC's from Carnival on Princess/HAL than the stock appreciation or the dividend given. LOL😁  

[Miaminice]

As already mentioned above, Celebrity have changed the policy for cruises booked after June 1st, 2019 and it is now more flexible/combinable.

 

That being said, IMHO buying shares of a company should be an investment decision above all and not a tool to receive some OBC. And in terms of investment, Royal Caribbean shares beat the others by far.

I was lucky enough to buy (way more than 100 shares) many years ago and as of today the plus is almost 500%

 

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Miaminice

[neilrr]

2 hours ago, Miaminice said:

As already mentioned above, Celebrity have changed the policy for cruises booked after June 1st, 2019 and it is now more flexible/combinable.

 

That being said, IMHO buying shares of a company should be an investment decision above all and not a tool to receive some OBC. And in terms of investment, Royal Caribbean shares beat the others by far.

I was lucky enough to buy (way more than 100 shares) many years ago and as of today the plus is almost 500%

 

 

Miaminice - I do agree -- I buy investments for appreciation too, but in this case it was a fun investment... I did make money and sold both Carnival (a while ago on the bad news) and RCCL at a significant profit.  You are a very lucky person to have attained a 500% increase - but I do not look at everything as totally transactional, as others do...  

[stah1mr]

How many shares do you need to own to get this perc?  How do they know you actually own shares?  Shareholder database?  Thanks!

[amunhbuu]

1 minute ago, stah1mr said:

How many shares do you need to own to get this perc?  How do they know you actually own shares?  Shareholder database?  Thanks!

I am pretty sure it is 100 across the industry.

 

I have just given them a redacted finance statement with the relevant info showing.  But I am always denied anyways.  🙂

[tgg]

We have two cruises booked; one with Celebrity sailing this Sunday and another with Azamara in April. Although we have substantial OBC on both, we have received the extra $100 shareholder credit on both. 

[lola2013]

I am sailing this Sunday and my request for OBC was denied; however, on next year's Equinox sailing, I received the OBC.  Both were booked pre-June 2019.  Not sure where the logic is, but am happy to receive what I got.  Also happy to see that the stock is on a slight upswing.

Edited November 26, 2019 by lola2013

[SoCalTraveler]

We recently booked a last minute cruise.  Reserved afternoon of November 6.  Sailing November 8.  On the evening of November 6 I e-mailed Celebrity with our request for shareholder OBC.  I have the letter saved in Word, and I copy a page from from brokerage statement, redacting the account number.  Confirmation was received by e-mail on November 7.  On boarding, the OBC was clearly reflected on the bill.  We later received another OBC but it caused no issues.

 

I wish the rest of the late booking process went as smoothly.

 

My RCCL investment has done quite nicely over the years.   The OBC is an added perk.

 

We have previously encountered issues with combinability.  Senior RCCL executives described their pricing and credits as "bewildering."  That's their word, not mine.  Hopefully, with the change this past June, it will be slightly less bewildering.

[Denny01]

Our RCL New Years cruise we booked prior to 1 June didn’t accept our stockholding but we will use it for our two upcoming Celebrity cruises we booked since 1 June. And by the way, I also bought Carnival stock, and yes, we get $100 OBC, but as mentioned prior, RCL stock went up over 500% while my CCL stock is just about the same cost as when I purchased it years ago, so I’ve ‘made’ (yes, you don’t ‘make’ anything from stock until you sell it in most cases!) a lot more just owning RCL.

 

One funny story though: When I told my broker to buy RCL, he said it wasn’t a great idea; I told him I’d get OBC with it so even if it was ‘dumb’ stock, I’d do OK. He did and after one year of watching RCL go zipping up, he confused he bought in also!!

 

BUT (big but on purpose) this isn’t advice from anyone with any real knowledge of what to do with stock - I also bought Ford stock and watched it drop by about 75%. CC isn’t the place to get such advice! 

All of us will now get the stockholder benefits with cruises booked less than 6 months ago and onward.

 

Den

 

[TeeRick]

Buy 100 shares of other stocks that will make you more money than the $100 OBC for the RCCL stock.  You can use that money on cruises too!