Military and shareholders OBC no longer combinable soon.

[Ken the cruiser]

14 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

Could you please expand what are the requirements for HAL military and NCL military --- can veterans use this benefit? 

Here's the link to the NCL Military perk.

 

Military Discount & Appreciation Program | Norwegian Cruise Line (ncl.com)

 

Here's the link to the HAL Military perk.

 

Military Cruise Appreciation Offer | Holland America Line

 

[cruiserdf]

Pretty disappointed in this change.  Hopefully to lessen the impact they will let the veteran have the military discount and a spouse have the shareholder credit, as each would be eligible if traveling alone.

 

As clients use to say to me when we made unpopular corporate changes.  Make whatever changes your client survey can handle.  I hope John Padgett's survey can handle the backlash from this loyal cruising segment.

[oldracer]

We've been looking at other cruise lines event though we are just two cruises short of elite level, due to the itineraries and costs compared to Princess. Since we are both military and have the 100 shares for the OBC, dropping one or the other may be the final push to go to another cruise line. We have two booked now; Asia in Feb 2024 and NE/Canada in Aug 2023 and have both credited for each of the credits.

[Steelers36]

9 minutes ago, oldracer said:

We've been looking at other cruise lines event though we are just two cruises short of elite level, due to the itineraries and costs compared to Princess. Since we are both military and have the 100 shares for the OBC, dropping one or the other may be the final push to go to another cruise line. We have two booked now; Asia in Feb 2024 and NE/Canada in Aug 2023 and have both credited for each of the credits.

If already booked, you are fine.  Just be careful if you see a cruise fare drop and want to take advantage of a new promo.  You will likely fall under the new rules then and lose some OBC.

[Astro Flyer]

7 hours ago, WmFCoyote said:

This morning, I checked the booking and low and behold, we now have Shareholders OBC for her and Military OBC for me.

Hope this clears things up a bit

Is she the first name listed on your reservation?
 

Whenever I’ve applied in her name (jointly own CCL shares) it’s been issued to me because I’m the first name listed. And making both OBCs not combinable, even if they allow one person to get SOBC & the other person MOBC, we would lose our SOBC.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

13 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Is she the first name listed on your reservation?
 

Whenever I’ve applied in her name (jointly own CCL shares) it’s been issued to me because I’m the first name listed. And making both OBCs not combinable, even if they allow one person to get SOBC & the other person MOBC, we would lose our SOBC.

 

This is just a suggestion. If you get the SOBC posted under your name on the booking, even though your DW’s name is the only name listed on the submitted Princess SB form, why not ask your PVP/TA to put your DW’s name as Guest #1 on the booking? We make my DW Guest #1 all the time. But we have to ask for that to happen; otherwise for some reason my name winds up being Guest #1.

[trbarton]

Will the existing credit of Military & Stock for an April 2024 cruise will change?  
 

Tom🤔

[cruiserdf]

7 hours ago, oldracer said:

We've been looking at other cruise lines event though we are just two cruises short of elite level, due to the itineraries and costs compared to Princess. Since we are both military and have the 100 shares for the OBC, dropping one or the other may be the final push to go to another cruise line. We have two booked now; Asia in Feb 2024 and NE/Canada in Aug 2023 and have both credited for each of the credits.

I think I am with oldracer on this one.  This may be the final push to go check other cruise lines.  After 47 Princess cruises and 6 booked for '23 and '24, this could be a $1,300 take away if my wife can't get the shareholder OBC with my military OBC.  The biggest slap to me is that now essentially anyone can get the same value as a military OBC, if it is limited to one military or shareholder OBC per cabin.

[MissP22]

8 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

If already booked, you are fine.  Just be careful if you see a cruise fare drop and want to take advantage of a new promo.  You will likely fall under the new rules then and lose some OBC.

I hope that's true.

We've got 2 trips already booked but haven't applies for stock credit yet. 

[whitecap]

Just an update:  Made a new booking yesterday afternoon, 12:30pm; Military OBC was added when booking was made; at 12:45pm emailed Shareholder Benefit Form to Princess; at 3:00pm received standard email advising it could take up to 21 days to apply benefit; 5:00am this morning Shareholder Benefit has already been applied.  Military OBC under my name, shareholder under DW name.  

[Ken the cruiser]

Here's an interesting Cruise Hive article I just saw that was posted 9 hours ago. Did anyone else other than through an internal memo get notified of this pending change?

 

Shareholder Benefits

 

Princess Cruises sent a letter on June 15 to shareholders and military members announcing several changes to how the onboard credits they are eligible for can be applied. The change is effective from June 29, for all voyages departing on or after that date.

 

Princess Cruises Makes a Policy Change on Benefits (cruisehive.com)

 

[rosevew]

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here's an interesting Cruise Hive article I just saw that was posted 9 hours ago. Did anyone else other than through an internal memo get notified of this pending change?

 

Shareholder Benefits

 

Princess Cruises sent a letter on June 15 to shareholders and military members announcing several changes to how the onboard credits they are eligible for can be applied. The change is effective from June 29, for all voyages departing on or after that date.

 

Princess Cruises Makes a Policy Change on Benefits (cruisehive.com)

 

No

[Guest ldtr]

3 hours ago, whitecap said:

Just an update:  Made a new booking yesterday afternoon, 12:30pm; Military OBC was added when booking was made; at 12:45pm emailed Shareholder Benefit Form to Princess; at 3:00pm received standard email advising it could take up to 21 days to apply benefit; 5:00am this morning Shareholder Benefit has already been applied.  Military OBC under my name, shareholder under DW name.  

Until June 29th gets here and we see what happens after that date we will not have clarity on how it works. As of yesterday I was still able to get both under my name for a Feb 2024 cruise.

 

 Only after the implementation date will we see exactly how they are going to handle it and what the rules really are.

[jwattle]

42 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here's an interesting Cruise Hive article I just saw that was posted 9 hours ago. Did anyone else other than through an internal memo get notified of this pending change?

 

Shareholder Benefits

 

Princess Cruises sent a letter on June 15 to shareholders and military members announcing several changes to how the onboard credits they are eligible for can be applied. The change is effective from June 29, for all voyages departing on or after that date.

 

Princess Cruises Makes a Policy Change on Benefits (cruisehive.com)

 

No letter here, and we're shareholders, plus two military (veterans).

[Honolulu Blue]

Reading through this thread has been a learning experience for me in several ways:

 

• I didn't know that so many people knew about and cared about the military OBC (MOBC)
• I didn't know that so many people combine the MOBC with the shareholder credit (SOBC) in the past
• I didn't know that so many people based their choice of cruise line on whether and how much Princess gives in MOBC
• I didn't know that so many people base their investment decisions on whether MOBC and SOBC are combinable

 

Live and learn.  Thanks for the feedback.  Please continue.

[damiross]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here's an interesting Cruise Hive article I just saw that was posted 9 hours ago. Did anyone else other than through an internal memo get notified of this pending change?

 

Shareholder Benefits

 

Princess Cruises sent a letter on June 15 to shareholders and military members announcing several changes to how the onboard credits they are eligible for can be applied. The change is effective from June 29, for all voyages departing on or after that date.

 

Princess Cruises Makes a Policy Change on Benefits (cruisehive.com)

 

This shareholder and veteran did not receive a letter.  Even if it is via snail mail, I should have received it by now.

 

They could have made the military OBC non-refundable rather than make it a choice of it or shareholder OBC.  

Edited June 22, 2023 by damiross

[Italy52]

We are shareholders and my husband is a military veteran and we have not receive any correspondence regarding the change in policy.

 

Yesterday, I booked a 14-day Alaska cruise for August of 2024.  My husband's military credit was applied at that time.  After I received my cruise confirmation from my TA I immediately sent in our request for the Carnival Cruise Line shareholders benefit and this morning it was entered as a benefit on our reservation. 

[MissP22]

35 minutes ago, damiross said:

They could have made the military OBC non-refundable rather than make it a choice of it or shareholder OBC.  

They did make it non-refundable.

"However, under the updated policy, the Military onboard credit will now be non-refundable."

They still haven't addressed the situation with a military person sailing with a non related stock holder in the same cabin. Right now it appears that only one person in that cabin can apply for OBC even if they're non related.

Edited June 22, 2023 by MissP22

[jwattle]

9 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

They did make it non-refundable.

"However, under the updated policy, the Military onboard credit will now be non-refundable."

They still haven't addressed the situation with a military person sailing with a non related stock holder in the same cabin. Right now it appears that only one person in that cabin can apply for OBC even if they're non related.

But it does appear that if both get military, they may continue to do so...

[FlightCrew777]

I’m sure this has been answered but if one person is eligible for MOBC  and owns stock with partner can they receive both the MOBC and SOBC? Or is it one or the other per cabin? 

[Ken the cruiser]

15 minutes ago, FlightCrew777 said:

I’m sure this has been answered but if one person is eligible for MOBC  and owns stock with partner can they receive both the MOBC and SOBC? Or is it one or the other per cabin? 

That's the big question @Astro Flyer mentioned in post #230. If the person who is eligible for the MOBC is listed as Guest #2 on the booking, will the other "dual-owner" of the CCL stock get the SOBC applied under their name IF they are listed as Guest #1? I know by default for some reason my DW is always listed as Guest #2 unless we specifically request her, which we normally do, to be listed as Guest #1.

 

In our case it will be a moot point for us as we are both retired military, so we won't be getting the SOBC in any event. Hopefully though, this will be a potential "loophole" in the new policy which may allow both stateroom guests to get the MOBC and the SOBC applied to their joint account. But if it is, I'm sure Princess won't be advertising it.

[dreams_of_travel]

In a Hail Mary attempt, I've sent in my share statement for my 3 cruises in 2024.  I'll report back if the SOBC is applied (I already have my MOBC attached), and if the SOBC sticks after the 29th of June.  I think this is the farthest out I have requested SOBC.  

In reply to some of the above comments, I have not gotten official notification about MOBC or SOBC changes either.  If I were not a reader of Cruise Critic I'd have been none the wiser to this supposed upcoming change.  Their upcoming changes like this or to Loyalty benefits that are "quietly" implemented is not a good PR move for Princess.  YMMV

[nasa1974]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here's an interesting Cruise Hive article I just saw that was posted 9 hours ago. Did anyone else other than through an internal memo get notified of this pending change?

 

Shareholder Benefits

 

Princess Cruises sent a letter on June 15 to shareholders and military members announcing several changes to how the onboard credits they are eligible for can be applied. The change is effective from June 29, for all voyages departing on or after that date.

 

Princess Cruises Makes a Policy Change on Benefits (cruisehive.com)

 

NO

Military and shareholder.

[nasa1974]

I requested my SOBC for my two Sun Princess cruises in October 2024. I just checked and I got the SOBC for the 5 day but not the 7 day. Also my MOBC does not show non-refundable for both cruises. I'll check my 7 day cruise later today or tomorrow and see if it pops up. I did request both in the same email.

[Guest ldtr]

3 hours ago, jwattle said:

No letter here, and we're shareholders, plus two military (veterans).

Cruise hive is not known for accuracy. Recently it seems like they have pulled their information from CC discussions with a number of pretty major errors.