Hate Losing Shareholder and Next Cruise Benefits? MAKE SOME NOISE WITH RCCL NOW

[CVU]

If you booked a 7 day cruise, which will give you the best OBC?

The Shareholder or the Next Cruise?

Just wondering if in some cases it is better with a NC. We were not planning on getting any but if there is a better OBC for a short cruise then it is OK.

 

Yes, without CC we would not know of these changes that occur along the way. Love CC!

Thanks!

[cruisenfever]

Hey beachbuddy, it just came in this afternoon. I'll cut-and-paste. Some names have been changed to protect the innocent:

 

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Clampett:

 

Thank you for your email. We apologize for the delay in our response.

 

We appreciate the time you have taken to communicate this concern to us. We have forwarded your concern to the appropriate department for further review and consideration and have provided the current Shareholder policy below.

 

For any sailing that is confirmed on or after October 15, 2008, the shareholder benefit will no longer be combined with any other benefit or offer, be it for dollars off or onboard credit. The only exceptions will be the Crown and Anchor Platinum and Diamond balcony/suite discounts and Royal Caribbean or Celebrity Credit Card Reward Points for onboard credit or discounts. In the event that two offers or benefits are available on a given reservation, you may choose which offer you prefer. Unless advised otherwise, we will presume you wish to have the offer or benefit with the higher value. For full program details, please visit our investor's website at www.rclinvestor.com.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Clampett, thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International.

 

Sincerely,

 

Christopher Fitzgerald

Customer Service Representative

Thanks so much for posting this. I think it is pretty clear from the email that you were sent what benefits to expect for future bookings.........whether made on board or from home.

 

You can have "1" OBC from either booking on board or from being a shareholder and you can also receiving P/D/D+ balcony discounts and use VISA points. You can not use C&A Savings Certificates if an OBC is used.

 

Even though I am still unhappy about the OBC issue, being able to apply balcony discounts and cashing in VISA points is still a nice benefit. Let's see how long that lasts.

[CVU]

Patti, I searched and found you answered the OBC on another thread. Thanks!!!

 

OBC for Booking on board

$ 50 for a 3-5 night cruise

$100 for a 6-9 night cruise

$200 for 10+ nights

 

OBC from Shareholder Benefits

$ 50 for 5 nights or less

$100 for 6-9 nights

$200 for 10-13 nights

$250 for 14+ nights

[CVU]

We can't use that benefit.:(

[Aggie71]

Serious about giving Carnival a try? Absolutely. I'd read terrible things about Norwegian on Cruise Critic, but quite enjoyed my Norwegian experience relative to my experience with Royal.

 

Serious about asking that my NextCruise deposit be refunded? Absolutely.

 

Serious about Royal being short-sighted by not allowing shareholder OBC to be combined with other OBC? That's how I feel. Whether or not that will have any measurable impact on Loyal Royals and RCI's bottom line, I don't know. Probably not in the near-term. But you pull enough subtle affronts to Loyal customers and they may start to look to competitors.

 

 

I was on a 15 night Radiance cruise to Hawaii from Sept 26-Oct 11. I am a stockholder, D+ member, & I always book a future cruise while I am onboard. This time I did a FCC & so did my husband. The Loyalty Ambassador said nothing to us about new rules. So now I get home & find out that I can no longer use the FCC & my stockholder credit together. There is no reason to have the FCC....I would also like my deposit $ refunded. There is absolutely no reason for me to book a cruise while I am onboard--when I want to book I can add my stockholder credit. I think a refund of this non-refundable deposit is fair.

On another note, I also have Carnival Corp stock & they give stockholders OBC--not to use on Carnival, but for use on Princess or HAL. Princess told me I could not have both a stockholder benefit & the onboard credit for booking onboard. I am told HAL will allow you to have both, but I can't verify that as I mostly cruise RCCL. So this may just be another thing where RCCL is catching up with what most lines are doing.

[aqhacruiser]

Mikeerdas,

 

I know what you mean.........they just dropped Tortola from our March -09 cruise and they also shortened the time that we'll be in Barbados. Well, Tortola was the only port that we haven't been to so I was looking forward to it and we were in Barbados only once and had rain so didn't get to do much and now we're leaving there by 4 p.m. I read that people on the November cruise that had Tortola dropped are getting $100 OBC but someone from our cruise called and they were told we're not getting anything...... I booked this cruise last December so they've had my $900 deposit since then. They are starting to piss me off and I'll probably be calling or writing to them about that as well.

 

I think the only reason we are getting the OBC for our 11/30 cruise is because people had already booked excursions and tours in Tortola and they cancelled the port so close to final payment a day or 2 before and most of us had already paid in full by that time. No OBC was offered when they cancelled San Juan on 3 other cruises I have booked for 2009 but the port was cancelled months in advance. Between weather, medivacs and port changes, I have no idea where we'll go each time we board:) We just skipped PEI because of Hurricane Kyle and we did get port fees refunded and we were so lucky we had 2 days in Quebec City instead of the one that was planned and that was one time weather worked in our favor!

They've already dropped San Juan off our 4/26/09 so far but Tortola is still on.....at least for now! But since they cancelled it off your March cruise it doesn't look promising for my April one. There will be lots of seas days on my cruise if they do cancel Tortola also as it's a 13 night!

[aqhacruiser]

I knew I'd read somewhere that unused OBC was not redeemable for cash. Who here claims to have cashed out unused OBC? Was it possible years ago perhaps?

 

http://www.rclinvestor.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=103045&p=irol-shareholderbenefit#6

 

"Onboard credit ... is not redeemable for cash.... Any unused credit shall be forfeited."

 

You may still get any left over OBC in cash but instead of it being credited back to your credit card like it used to be, you must now go to the purser to get it. You CAN still just take it in cash at the casino but you will be charged a 3% fee and that's ANOTHER story!

[aqhacruiser]

I know they are paper losses........ Anyway, with what's happening to the rest of the market, those RCCL stocks are the least of my worries!:(

 

RCCL can do whatever they want, my problem with them right now is the communication piece and the fact that you can't get the same answer from any one of their reps that you call.

 

I sometimes put cruises on a 24 hr hold on their website if I see something good. I do this and then talk to DH about it and if we don't want it, the hold just drops the next day anyway. Well, over the last 3 months whenever one of my 24 hr holds dropped, someone from RCCL was calling me. He told me he saw that I cancelled a cruise and he was calling to see if there was anything he could do for me. Okay, I told him that I didn't really cancel, I only had it on hold, it wasn't booked. He said I'll be getting a call from him everytime I do that. Well, now it's getting on my nerves because he was calling me all the time. I told him he's wasting his time calling me and that in fact I have 2 friends that are TA's (told him that so he wouldn't call, but he stil calls just to chat). Then one day, I put a cabin on hold but put it under my husband's name figuring he maybe he won't call him.......a few days later my husband comes home from work and said "this guy form Royal Caribbean keeps leaving messages on my phone on work, who is he and why is he calling". So now DH had a completely different guy calling him. I called the guy and told him to never call my husband at work again just because our hold dropped and told him I already had another guy calling me. I wonder if RCCL is trying to assign sales reps to people because this guy gave me his direct line and told me to call him for anything I need.

 

Anyway, I know that was off the subject, but it felt good to vent. I just don't like them calling me all the time like that.

 

OMG you're being stalked by a rep! Listen, if you want the guy to stop calling you, the next time he calls to see if there is anything he can do for you tell him YES! Then ask him to explain in detail.......... Next Cruises, Shareholders OBC, Next Cruise OBC, C & A benefit levels, savings certificates, price drops, WOW Sales, promo waves, sales events, the dreaded coupons that can't be combined with ANYTHING.........trust me.......he'll never call you again:D Ever! :D

[beachbuddy]

OMG you're being stalked by a rep! Listen, if you want the guy to stop calling you, the next time he calls to see if there is anything he can do for you tell him YES! Then ask him to explain in detail.......... Next Cruises, Shareholders OBC, Next Cruise OBC, C & A benefit levels, savings certificates, price drops, WOW Sales, promo waves, sales events, the dreaded coupons that can't be combined with ANYTHING.........trust me.......he'll never call you again:D Ever! :D

 

LOL...........try it! Put a cruise on hold and just let it drop after 24 hours and let me know if you get a phone call! LMAO I did ask him a question, can't remember what it was but he told me he didn't know and I had to call crown and ancher, so tell me, why would I want to deal with this guy if I had to make another phone call. Just like him telling me to make sure I call him direct and if he doesn't pick up to leave a message and he'll call back. I don't think he understands that I want to call whoever answers the phone at C&A because I don't want to leave messages and wait for phone calls. By then the cabin I see as available might be gone!

[NightRN]

Hmmm, this is all very interesting. I just thought I would throw different perspective in. You know - from the "new cruiser generation" that's all about ME.

 

DH and I have been on only one cruise before, because DH wanted to see if he would like it first. We took a weekend cruise on Monarch of the Seas. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and when we decided to have a family reunion cruise to Alaska, I went with Royal Caribbean. I love travelling, but DH is all about money. So, when I found out about the shareholder benefit, I managed to wiggle in a few shares of RCI stock each time we bought some. My thinking was that if I could get to 100 shares before our trip, I could talk DH into booking another cruise while we're sailing to Alaska with "look, we'll get this much $ from our stock and this much $ from booking it now and between now and then I can get this much $ from using our credit card." Additionally, in the future, DH would be inclined to go with RCI since we would be able to get these benefits. Now, there's no reason for me to buy the stock, and there's really no reason not to try other cruise lines.

 

How many other people are thinking like I do? Yes, the hub-bub over this will die down as more people learn to accept this change, but how many people will not buy stock since it won't benefit them? It is just another way to look at a bad business decision. Especially when companies want their stock prices to go up.

[beachbuddy]

We already have 100 shares of their stock so we won't be buying any more next cruise certificates. They will lose a lot of money because there is no reason for stock holders to buy those certificates or book while on a cruise. Why let them hold our deposits interest free for a year or more if there's no benefit to us.

[cruisenfever]

You may still get any left over OBC in cash but instead of it being credited back to your credit card like it used to be, you must now go to the purser to get it. You CAN still just take it in cash at the casino but you will be charged a 3% fee and that's ANOTHER story!

We just returned from Radiance and had a small amount left over on our SeaPass Account. It was credited back to the credit card on file. The only ship that actually called us down to GR to settle our SeaPass account by having money paid to us was on Splendour this past March.

 

For those that don't trust their booking system, then by all means go down to GR the night before debarkation and ask to settle your account if it shows a credit balance.

[winnie123]

What has me upset is they are cutting back on the 12 day cruises! I think there's only one out of Cape Liberty. Not crazy about going to Canada, we enjoy the warm weather.

[aqhacruiser]

We just returned from Radiance and had a small amount left over on our SeaPass Account. It was credited back to the credit card on file. The only ship that actually called us down to GR to settle our SeaPass account by having money paid to us was on Splendour this past March.

 

For those that don't trust their booking system, then by all means go down to GR the night before debarkation and ask to settle your account if it shows a credit balance.

 

Interesting. People on the Ex. a couple weeks ago had to get the cash back at GR. Apparently it's inconsistent from ship to ship........why am I not surprised? :D

[aqhacruiser]

LOL...........try it! Put a cruise on hold and just let it drop after 24 hours and let me know if you get a phone call! LMAO I did ask him a question, can't remember what it was but he told me he didn't know and I had to call crown and ancher, so tell me, why would I want to deal with this guy if I had to make another phone call. Just like him telling me to make sure I call him direct and if he doesn't pick up to leave a message and he'll call back. I don't think he understands that I want to call whoever answers the phone at C&A because I don't want to leave messages and wait for phone calls. By then the cabin I see as available might be gone!

 

Ok Ok, just trying to help get rid of the rep. stalker! lol :D RCCL does call me about once a month and always a few days after a cruise to see if things were ok or do I want to book something else but it's been different people that call. That's been going on about a year now I guess. I just tell them everything is fine and if I want to book I just do it online......Goodbye! I know you put cabins on hold and I've done the same thing sometimes and you're right, if you don't you would lose the one you want BUT I do not have a rep calling me each time I cancel one either:D They just like you better:D I do have to different reps assigned to me Etna and Pat I think is the Diamond Plus one but I just do my own thing and other then picking out a cheeseplate or something else as the gift when they call I do not have any need to use them as I take care of things myself and then transfer it.

Well if your rep called ME I'd just tell him....... oh good I want to book a few cruises on the Dawn and the Gem! HOPEFULLY he'd realize those ships do not belong to RCCL. I stress HOPEFULLY! :D See ya on the Ex. thread!

[Oville]

Interesting. People on the Ex. a couple weeks ago had to get the cash back at GR. Apparently it's inconsistent from ship to ship........why am I not surprised? :D

 

Yup, we did.

[beachbuddy]

Ok Ok, just trying to help get rid of the rep. stalker! lol :D RCCL does call me about once a month and always a few days after a cruise to see if things were ok or do I want to book something else but it's been different people that call. That's been going on about a year now I guess. I just tell them everything is fine and if I want to book I just do it online......Goodbye! I know you put cabins on hold and I've done the same thing sometimes and you're right, if you don't you would lose the one you want BUT I do not have a rep calling me each time I cancel one either:D They just like you better:D I do have to different reps assigned to me Etna and Pat I think is the Diamond Plus one but I just do my own thing and other then picking out a cheeseplate or something else as the gift when they call I do not have any need to use them as I take care of things myself and then transfer it.

Well if your rep called ME I'd just tell him....... oh good I want to book a few cruises on the Dawn and the Gem! HOPEFULLY he'd realize those ships do not belong to RCCL. I stress HOPEFULLY! :D See ya on the Ex. thread!

 

Suzanne,

Glad your back......you make me laugh!:D Okay, so you sort of know my situation with the foot surgery so maybe I was putting a lot of things on hold just hoping I'd be better to go on one of them. I had nothing else to do during the day while I sat here with my foot up....LOL:rolleyes: Maybe my name just kept coming up and they think I'm a weirdo for putting so much on hold! I had 2 bookings and I moved one all the way out to next fall, I told the guy that called me to just put it on any date for a Bermuda cruise so he put it in Sept, I told him fine because I'm not taking the cruise anyway- if I can go this year I'm moving it back. Then he says "do you want to stay mid-ship"? I was like........ahhhhh, I don't care because I'm won't be on the ship. Then he precedes to ask me if cabin #### is okay. Again, I say I don't care, put me wherever you want because I'm not sailing on that date anyway. I only did it because I didn't want to lose the NC OBC, but now I guess I'll just cancel that one because they have my $500 and from what I understand, if I change anything with a reservation that was made before Oct 15th I will no longer be eligible for the NC OBC and the Shareholder OBC!!

 

Patty

[hayward]

Thanks to all who are helping make some noise. I emailed three addresses that a C&A rep gave me. She said they definately read each email and tally each when there is a theme - like $14.95 steak or fuel surcharges.

 

web_reservations@rccl.com

 

shareholderbenefit@rccl.com

 

crownandanchor@rccl.com

 

The fact that dramaqueen4lyfe received a response that they were "discussing it" shows that they must be getting hit with a lot of complaints.

 

If we don't complain, then at some meeting a suit will say "How did that cut to the OBCs go?" Then some middle manager will say, "Well, we haven't received many complaints" To which the suit will say, "Great, that was easy. Any ideas on other things to trim?"

 

Thank you for the addresses. I just sent off the emails to the 3 addresses listed. I am eager to see if I get any response. I currently have 4 bookings with this company for the next year a total of over 40 days total. I hope they listed to the stockholders. As this is really the only reason I purchased the stock in this company was for the benefits.

[aqhacruiser]

Suzanne,

Glad your back......you make me laugh!Okay, so you sort of know my situation with the foot surgery so maybe I was putting a lot of things on hold just hoping I'd be better to go on one of them. I had nothing else to do during the day while I sat here with my foot up....LOLMaybe my name just kept coming up and they think I'm a weirdo for putting so much on hold! I had 2 bookings and I moved one all the way out to next fall, I told the guy that called me to just put it on any date for a Bermuda cruise so he put it in Sept, I told him fine because I'm not taking the cruise anyway- if I can go this year I'm moving it back. Then he says "do you want to stay mid-ship"? I was like........ahhhhh, I don't care because I'm won't be on the ship. Then he precedes to ask me if cabin #### is okay. Again, I say I don't care, put me wherever you want because I'm not sailing on that date anyway. I only did it because I didn't want to lose the NC OBC, but now I guess I'll just cancel that one because they have my $500 and from what I understand, if I change anything with a reservation that was made before Oct 15th I will no longer be eligible for the NC OBC and the Shareholder OBC!!

 

Patty

 

OMG You're too funny! :D :D :D I guess that rep just didn't GET it if he kept asking you all those questions! lol :p

Apparently we will not be able to get both OBC's if cruises are booked after Oct. 15 BUT any existing OBC should stay with the booking number if you change the date as long as you keep same booking number as in the case of Next Cruise. The only exception to that MAY possibly be IF you had a Visa OBC as they do have an expiration date.

But I haven't purchased anymore Next Cruises since they changed the 9 night to only 100.00 OBC in Dec. and will just use shareholders and visa as doing mostly longer cruises anyway. For people who are not shareholders, it still remains a good way to get an OBC if they want it I guess but I'll skip them for the future. :)

[hayward]

Your acting like trying Carnival is bad thing. I hope you dont really believe the BS that Crnival is the Walmart of cruising. If you ask me RC has become more of the Walmart Cruise with all the nickel and diming and the taking away things. Carnival still has lobster and they dont charge 15 bucks for a decent steak. I was pleasantly surprised with Carnival and have enjoyed all of my cruises with them.

 

I am catching up on the posts and after being a loyal RCL cruiser, we are now going to judge for ourselves with regard to Carnival. We booked a cruise from LA through the Panama Canal back to Florida in March, I do hope that it will convert us also to Carnival and I shall buy there stock as I believe Carnival also offers incentives to stockholders.

[beachbuddy]

OMG You're too funny! :D :D I guess that rep just didn't GET it if he kept asking you all those questions! lol

Apparently we will not be able to get both OBC's if cruises are booked after Oct. 15 BUT any existing OBC should stay with the booking number if you change the date as long as you keep same booking number as in the case of Next Cruise. The only exception to that MAY possibly be IF you had a Visa OBC as they do have an expiration date.

But I haven't purchased anymore Next Cruises since they changed the 9 night to only 100.00 OBC in Dec. and will just use shareholders and visa as doing mostly longer cruises anyway. For people who are not shareholders, it still remains a good way to get an OBC if they want it I guess but I'll skip them for the future.

 

Suzanne,

 

I do keep the same booking number but someone on the boards said if you change the booking to a different sailing they make that the new date of your deposit which is crazy because they've had my $500 since I think May. The wording that they are sending everyone says anything booked or converted after Oct 15th. To me converted means a next cruise certificate being converted into a booking, but others said it's if you change your date and ship.:confused: :confused: Hey, why would they make their rules clear???:D

 

Patty

[Aggie71]

If you made a booking before Oct 15 then you can have both stockholders & booking on board credits. But if you move the booking you lose one of the credits as they are no longer combinable. I hope I am very sure about the ones I booked so I don't lose the credits.

Carnival does give stockholders OBC, but I'm not sure if you can combine it if you book onboard. Princess says you can't combine.

I will no longer be booking onboard, I will keep my money til I want to book a cruise & I will get my stockholder credit. I have no reason to ever book onboard again. Besides, the stockholder credit is $250 for a 14 night cruise.

[ChevyCruiser]

Thank you for the addresses. I just sent off the emails to the 3 addresses listed. I am eager to see if I get any response. I currently have 4 bookings with this company for the next year a total of over 40 days total. I hope they listed to the stockholders. As this is really the only reason I purchased the stock in this company was for the benefits.

 

You're welcome. Let's hope we make enough noise that RCCL reconsiders screwing their most loyal customers - usually not a good business plan.

[ChevyCruiser]

I choose to stand up and be heard. Here's the text of a letter I sent to RCCL:

 

My wife and I are "Loyal Royals" having cruised exclusively with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. We are Diamond members of the Crown and Anchor Society, Royal Caribbean shareholders, and as young retirees looking forward to many, many more years of cruise vacations. We have introduced several friends and family members to cruising and we frequently book cruise vacations on RCI together.

 

We are distressed to learn from a cruising friend - we missed the official announcement from RCI - that we will no longer be able to combine Next Cruise on-board credits with shareholder benefits. Luckily, we learned of the change in time to utilize two open Next Cruise certificates that we purchased on the Radiance of the Seas in September and we hurriedly booked two cruises prior to the October 15th deadline. Had we known in September of the changes taking effect in October, we would not have booked two open Next Cruise certificates.

 

Because of this sudden change in benefits that even had the RCI phone reps scratching their heads in trying to explain the ramifications to the customers, our confidence in RCI has been seriously eroded. We do understand that RCI retains the right to adjust loyalty program benefits, but you must understand that we retain the right to adjust our cruise plans.

 

With the ill-timed, sneaky, and poorly communicated changes to the RCI loyalty program, we have begun to look elsewhere for cruise vacations and recently booked a two-week cruise with Princess Cruises this winter. Another couple with whom we have cruised with RCI in the past, will join us on the cruise. That represents approximately $10,000 in revenue that RCI has let slip away.

 

Any wet-behind-the-ears MBA understands that it is much more cost-effective to retain loyal customers than find new ones.

 

We hope that RCI will reconsider the recent changes to shareholder benefits.

 

 

And here's the answer I just recieved from RCCL - the bolding is mine.

 

 

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Clampett,

 

Thank you for your e-mail to Mr. Ian Bailey, VP of our Investor Relations Department. We appreciate this opportunity to respond to your concerns.

 

Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience or disappointment this recent change has caused you. After some consideration, we will be allowing the combinability of the onboard credits until further notice. Please feel free to contact me at the number listed below if you wish to discuss this matter further.

 

Thank you,again, Mr. & Mrs. Clampett, for your feedback. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Janelle Valentino

Executive Guest Specialist

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Phone: 1-888-767-4644 Ext. 11615

Fax: 1-800-886-6485

 

 

TO THE NAYSAYERS WHO SAID MAKING NOISE WOULDN"T WORK:p :p

[BAYA]

ChevyCruiser, thanks for getting so many people to make some noise.

 

I booked a 7-day cruise using a NextCruise on Oct. 14th (before the deadline) and they denied my balcony discount. I sent my complaint email to the Crown & Anchor email address and initially got a reply that was not promising:

 

From:

crownandanchor@rccl.com

[mailto:crownandanchor@rccl.com]

Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 10:57 AM

To: [bAYA]

Subject: RE: denial of Next Cruise onboard credit if using Diamond discount

 

Dear Ms. [bAYA]:

 

Thank you for your email. We apologize for the delay in our response.

 

We appreciate the time you have taken to communicate this issue to us and have forwarded to the appropriate department for further review. We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced.

 

Ms. [bAYA], thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International.

 

Sincerely,

 

Lisa Webster

Customer Service Representative

Sounded like a non-answer to me. They would not let me have the Diamond balcony discount and also have the Next Cruise OBC. So of course I gave up the OBC under protest.

 

Today I got an updated invoice pdf (because I charged the rest of the deposit over and above the NextCruise deposit already applied) from my travel agent, and lo and behold, the invoice does show that I'm getting both of the OBCs and also my Diamond balcony discount. I'm very happy about it, but think it's strange that I never got an email reply, nor did my travel agent. In fact, the TA had not even noticed the new notation on the invoice. Here is how the OBCs appear on the invoice:

ADV1-$100 ONBRDCR with 0.00 in our two columns (this is the Next Cruise OBC)

D200-PRE-CRUISE with -100.00 in our two columns (this is the Platinum/Diamond discount)

SB06-$100 SGL OBC with 0.00 in our two columns (this is the shareholder OBC)

 

So glad I can report some good news.