Do military veterans get a discount on Celebrity?

[davekathy]

Deleted duplicate post.

Edited April 25, 2023 by davekathy

[Mr. Click]

1 minute ago, davekathy said:

Since you were honorably discharged do you have the honorable discharge certificate and a  DD214 from that branch of service? You should request the military/veteran discount when booking your next cruise. 

I have my Honorable Discharge certificate but I did not get a DD214 for me since I had zero days of active  duty and just 12 days of weekend reserve meetings and 14 days of summer camp.  I did inquire about getting a DD214 and all then sent me were copies of paperwork.  

[Mr. Click]

3 hours ago, markeb said:

Without going too deep here, a DD214 is a release from active duty. If you were never on active duty, you won’t get a DD214. If you were called up multiple times you could have multiple DD214s. 
 

Timelines come into play for various veterans benefits, but that’s well beyond the scope of a  cruise discount…

Thanks for that info Markeb.  I always thought that the DD 214 was just a copy of your service record.  Now I know why I did not get one when I applied.  The military can be strange.  My civilian doc was shocked that I passed a physical after two open surgeries and a complete femur fracture just above the same knee.  The last army doc I sat in front of told me he would put me on a no running, no jumping profile.  I replied very honestly that I had not even been to basic yet so how could I get through that with no running and no jumping?  his answer, "hey I am a reservist just  like you, 1St Army will review this and make the final call.  That call came a few weeks later when some major called me at home to tell me to report for one more physical so I could officially be discharged.   To all of you who did serve, you have my thanks and admiration. My brief time showed me just how hard it can be to be a real soldier.

[davekathy]

9 minutes ago, Mr. Click said:

I have my Honorable Discharge certificate but I did not get a DD214 for me since I had zero days of active  duty and just 12 days of weekend reserve meetings and 14 days of summer camp.  I did inquire about getting a DD214 and all then sent me were copies of paperwork.  

If you are asked to provide proof of service your Honorable Discharge certificate (copy) will work. I've never been asked for proof, which IMO Celebrity or TA should. Princess requested a copy of my DD214. But their program is different from Celebrity's. One time submission. Good for all future cruises. No discount but an OBC and the amount is based on length of the cruise.

 

 

[Northern Aurora]

7 hours ago, njsmom said:

I just called and the first person on the phone said I would have had to do it at the time of booking and before final payment and she wouldn't give me the discount, but I asked to speak to a supervisor and when he came onto the line, he was super helpful and gave me a $200 discount credited back to my credit card. He said my husband will just need to show proof of his military service when we check in at the pier. 

 

 

Several years ago I had an interesting conversation with someone who works in the Celebrity loyalty area.  At least at that time the sea pass cards of folks on their first Celebrity cruise have a symbol on the card so that ship staff easily recognize that they are encountering someone on their first Celebrity cruise.  There is also staff some training in strategies to encourage that new to brand cruiser become a brand loyal cruiser.  

 

This is what may have happened to our OP -- that supervisor recognized that by granting that military discount (which technically should have been applied at the time of booking but the new to brand cruiser didn't know that such a discount even existed) he could make a new to brand cruiser happy.  And possibly that action, if the new to brand cruiser has a good onboard experience, will encourage a step toward brand loyalty.

[George C]

I know in Texas you can show department of motor vehicles your dd214 and they will put it on your drivers license. Best discount for veterans is MSc they give you ten percent . 

[jagoffee]

I am a little confused.  I know that when pricing a cruise, you can check military or resident to see if a particular cruise offers a military discount.  From my experience there is seldom a military discount.  It has not been an additional discount on top of any other discount.

 

For those veterans, are you suggesting you get a military discount on all or most cruises?

 

Thank you.  

[davekathy]

3 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

I am a little confused.  I know that when pricing a cruise, you can check military or resident to see if a particular cruise offers a military discount.  From my experience there is seldom a military discount.  It has not been an additional discount on top of any other discount.

 

For those veterans, are you suggesting you get a military discount on all or most cruises?

 

Thank you.  

I have. Most recent was for our March 2023 Apex cruise and for our future September 2024 Edge cruise. 

[mahdnc]

Here is the Celebrity flyer: Service Members Always Save

 

[jagoffee]

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

I have. Most recent was for our March 2023 Apex cruise and for our future September 2024 Edge cruise. 

Thanks.  I am going to have to be more diligent.  I may be missing out of a discount.  

[Sigyn]

9 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

 

Several years ago I had an interesting conversation with someone who works in the Celebrity loyalty area.  At least at that time the sea pass cards of folks on their first Celebrity cruise have a symbol on the card so that ship staff easily recognize that they are encountering someone on their first Celebrity cruise.  There is also staff some training in strategies to encourage that new to brand cruiser become a brand loyal cruiser.  

 

This is what may have happened to our OP -- that supervisor recognized that by granting that military discount (which technically should have been applied at the time of booking but the new to brand cruiser didn't know that such a discount even existed) he could make a new to brand cruiser happy.  And possibly that action, if the new to brand cruiser has a good onboard experience, will encourage a step toward brand loyalty.

The supervisor said that he was making a special exception to honor my husband's service. He was very gracious about it and did it in a flash. I was very appreciative. I told my husband about it afterward and he was appreciative, too. As a new cruiser to Celebrity, I didn't know that we could get the discount, and I told that to the supervisor. 

[blade3]

When are you supposed to inform Celebrity to get this discount? Have always informed Celebrity agent of eligibility for Military Discount (frequent cruiser) and have never been told about this bonus!

[NutsAboutGolf]

20 hours ago, njsmom said:

I just called and the first person on the phone said I would have had to do it at the time of booking and before final payment and she wouldn't give me the discount, but I asked to speak to a supervisor and when he came onto the line, he was super helpful and gave me a $200 discount credited back to my credit card. He said my husband will just need to show proof of his military service when we check in at the pier. 

 

When you go into manage booking, is there a $200 balance?  Definitely bring the paperwork but I'm 99% sure you won't need to show anything at check in; once you pass the check-in staff who have ipads, only if you have a balance will they send you over to one of the billing desks.  If the ipad staff just waves you through it don't mention the DD214/discount; you cannot board if there's a balance (which would appear online if there was one) and if they wave you through you're good

[NutsAboutGolf]

11 minutes ago, blade3 said:

When are you supposed to inform Celebrity to get this discount? Have always informed Celebrity agent of eligibility for Military Discount (frequent cruiser) and have never been told about this bonus!

 

In the OPs case, it would appear they just threw them a bone; there isn't a standard "bonus".  When you book, there MAY be a military discount, there MAY be a resident discount, there MAY be a first responder discount, etc

[davekathy]

41 minutes ago, blade3 said:

When are you supposed to inform Celebrity to get this discount? Have always informed Celebrity agent of eligibility for Military Discount (frequent cruiser) and have never been told about this bonus!

At the time of booking our cruises is when I ask to have the military/veteran discount applied. 

[mahdnc]

21 minutes ago, davekathy said:

At the time of booking our cruises is when I ask to have the military/veteran discount applied. 

 

I presume that you have always received it when asked?

[Sigyn]

57 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

When you go into manage booking, is there a $200 balance?  Definitely bring the paperwork but I'm 99% sure you won't need to show anything at check in; once you pass the check-in staff who have ipads, only if you have a balance will they send you over to one of the billing desks.  If the ipad staff just waves you through it don't mention the DD214/discount; you cannot board if there's a balance (which would appear online if there was one) and if they wave you through you're good

Yes, it shows -$200 now. Here's a screenshot:

[NutsAboutGolf]

3 minutes ago, njsmom said:

Yes, it shows -$200 now. Here's a screenshot:

Yes, I stand corrected as I was only aware of the military discount similar to the resident discount at booking 

[davekathy]

13 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

I presume that you have always received it when asked?

Yes. 

[RMac713]

23 hours ago, cw2go said:

If you call now it will most likely reprice your sailing. My DH is retired US Navy and to be honest the resident discounts are usually better for us. 

 

Patty 

Is this Florida discounts?  We are looking at moving in a year or so to FL or SC and that would be a major pro for Florida (which is losing right now on our list)

[cw2go]

52 minutes ago, RMac713 said:

Is this Florida discounts?  We are looking at moving in a year or so to FL or SC and that would be a major pro for Florida (which is losing right now on our list)

No, I am in Ohio not sure why this state qualifies for a price break but we often do. 🤑

 

Patty 

[mahdnc]

I think Celebrity raises the cruise fare on us when they find out we reside in Illinois.

[deliver42]

I haven't seen residence discounts for a while. Has this started again? As far as military discounts, my wife is retired military, and she gets a discount upon booking on line. There's a box to check, and when you get the price breakdown, there will be a discount. How much varies.

[DaKahuna]

We just booked a future cruise and received $200 military discount.

 

[critterchick]

On 4/24/2023 at 8:41 AM, davekathy said:

I always have a copy of my DD214 but I have never ever had to show mine even when booking onboard. 

 One of my pet peeves is that lack of verification. My DH served in the Navy for 23 years. On one cruise we met a guy who said that he checks the box even though he never served. You can believe he got an earful. From me.  Princess (I think all of the Carnival-owned lines) require proof of eligibility before giving you the benefit.

On 4/24/2023 at 10:19 AM, Mr. Click said:

Here in NV I cannot get veterans status added to my real ID because they require 90 days of active duty because you also get a discount on your annual registration.   As I said before, I applied for a DD214 and all I got was the paperwork.  Since I never made it to basic let alone AIT  there is nothing to put on a DD214.  "He showed up, his knew blew up and we sent him home before we had to pay him"?   Oh, they did try to draft me again after I was discharged. That was a lot of fun sorting it out with the draft board....

Most cruiselines don’t consider you a veteran unless you have 2 years of active duty status. A friend of mine got pregnant and resigned her AF commission at 20 months, so doesn’t qualify for discounts.