writer100

Before sailing in July, we had sent in a referral voucher received from a friend. I mailed it directly to the Seabourn office in Florida and then called to confirm receipt. We did not get a gift certificate in the mail; rather the Seabourn agent advised the credit would be posted to our account -- and it was. We also got a card in our stateroom confirming the credit.

Andrea802: As indicated, you get a gift certificate for the second referral coupon you trigger by giving the coupon, as only the first can be used on your current or next cruise. So, as the person donating the second obc--to be used at some future time-- you get the certificate so SB doesn't have to track it. You carry it with you and present to the purser. You can accumulate multiple obc's for future use, and all will be in certificate form except for the one relevant to an upcoming cruise. Unless, I suppose, you have planned and have booking numbers for multiple cruises, in which case you can assign an obc to each. The preceding applies to the donor of multiple referral coupons. All this according to the Seabourn Club. So, no, as the recipient you wouldn't get "a receipt" but it would (hopefully) be entered into your account and reflected on a card posted in your cabin.

Aga, if you check under the thread Seabourn UK, you will find a list of people who have had similar problems. (Not clear whether you are in the UK or US.) In any case,assuming you are in the U.S., call the Seabourn Club office in Ft. Lauderdale. and they should be able to straighten out the problem. If you have a copy of the original referral coupon, you can scan it and send as an email, or photocopy and fax it. But be sure and accompany it with full details of when you sent it in with final payment and other relevant details. You might also alert the coupon donor; sometimes getting multiple calls with respect to the same problem can speed up the resolution.

Henry, my computer says the address you give doesn't exist. Please double check.

I just used a referral coupon for friends of ours who are booking their first seabourn cruise. they cruise in december, we cruise again in february when we get a $400 credit.

 

if i refer a second new guest, do i get a second $400 shipboard credit in february? or do i need to wait until after february to make the second referral.

 

hope this makes sense. i don't want to waste my second referral coupon.

 

thanks.

You may use one, and only one, referral coupon for each cruise you take. You can make a second referral at any time, but you may not use the second referral--or any subsequent ones--on the initial cruise. The second on board coupon would become relevant to your second cruise, and so on. After the first obc has been credited to your account for your February cruise, your next obc will generate a gift certificate (for $400) that will be sent to you by SB, and that piece of paper should accompany you on your next cruise and be handed to the purser. (This last comes from the kind folks at Seabourn Club; I haven't personally experienced it.) I hope this helps.

Good has triumphed over evil. Just received word that in the case outlined above--credit vanished, booking number unknown--order has (finally) been restored. Mostly, I suspect, because the swiftly responsive people at the Seabourn Club in FLL sent an email kick to their associates in the UK. In any case, the lady there has received her credit, as have I.

>"I would imagine you end up feeling a bit cheap having to chase up vouchers and so on for what is supposed to be a glamorous and hassle free vacation."

 

If you don't get an answer, just take your paperwork to the Purser when you board. Et Voila!

No, Jane that won't work. The computers have to show the credit received and posted. And received with final payment, prior to sailing. The problem inherent to all the issues cited above is that there is no computer verification. Or at least not a constant one, as odd as that seems. And if it doesn't show up on the main office (Blue Lagoon) records, it apparently doesn't exist. I will say that the people I've spoken with at SB Ft. Lauderdale grasp the problem, are courteous and responsive. But they can't do anything without confirmation of the facts from the UK office.However, an email from them (presumably) carries more weight than one from a passenger, so perhaps they will break the logjam. Surely, as was said earlier, part of the pleasure of the cruise is the expectation, the anticipation. And that is easily deflated by the kinds of dreadful service experiences outlined above.

As to the trivial nature of the coupon's value, it ain't so trivial to those of us who live in an unheated garret and pound away at an ancient Royal typewriter, err, primitive Mac.

soc1965, thank you for the bouquet. Kind words from that wonderful island are rare; I am still bruised from my exchanges with marianh.

I booked my forthcoming September Spirit cruise direct with Seabourn UK, ok service, but as others have said, any questions/queries go unanswered following on from the booking.

I sent in a referal coupon with my final payment & although I received a receipt for the money, there was no mention of the coupon. Does anyone know if these coupons are acknowledged or does the credit just appear on your onboard account?

To be honest, I'm more worried for the cc member who refered me as she gave it to me in good faith & I really dont want her to miss out - but after reading Writer100's account of his problems I'm thinking maybe I should contact the US office to see if it was passed on? Anyone have any experience in this department - both of us are UK based by the way.

Yes, do contact the U.S., where you can get a helpful woman who will do her best to straighten out this Orwellian mess. The UK recipient of my coupon received an email confirmation from Seabourn UK of receipt of both final payment and referral coupon on August 4, which also included the note that posting to her account should occur within 7 days. On August 25--21 days later--there is no record in the U.S. computers of any credit posted to this lady's account. (And of course, no corresponding credit in mine.)The missing credit to her account is more urgent, as she sails on September 11th. Seabourn at Blue Lagoon have promised to email both the UK office and the UK coupon recipient. I'll keep you posted--no dreadful pun intended--on developments. If any.

No, you are not. I sent a referral coupon to someone in the UK prompted by a request on that thread. The coupon was received, and at the appropriate time submitted, along with check for final payment, to the SB UK office. Check cashed, but no indication of referral coupon received. The lady in question emailed. And waited. And waited. And emailed again. And waited And waited. And called. No call back. And emailed. And finally, after two weeks, received an email acknowledging receipt of the coupon. But (initially) no posting of the credit to her account.I am having similar problems obtaining the reciprocal credit here in the U.S. At first--this is really strange--I was told that the UK seabounite's booking number did not exist. We have now established that it does, but not yet, in the U.S., that the coupon has been received by Seabourn in the U.K. In defense of the "system", I can only say that there appears to be only one overworked lady assigned to this operation at Blue Lagoon. Still, it would appear that if a credit appears overe there, QED, it should appear over here in the donor's account. Short answer, you are not alone.

Chairsin, that's true. But if the amount credited your account is incorrect, you will have a problem. The purser's office does not like to dispute what the Big Computer at Blue Lagoon Drive has said. Yes, they will contact head office. But our experience was that there is little incentive for them to dispute what head office claims to be "the facts." Even if wrong.

In fact, the methodology of the referral credit is somewhat mysterious.At what point in the dynamic does the credit appear on your account? Is it upon final payment by the recipient? Or, does it await your final payment--that is, by the coupon generator?

I have been in touch with a first time cruiser SB cruiser in the UK who says SB essentially gave her the runaround about crediting her coupon. Fortunately, she made copies of the coupon. When I asked Miami about it, they had no record of the referral coupon. Nor did they have a record of the UK booking number--this more than a month after the UK cruiser had completed her final payment!

Maybe this is just a case of lots of mail, snail and electronic, and not enough people to deal with it. Maybe. But it makes for insecurity and mistrust.

As I said in my earlier reply that was helpful information that I did not kmow of:)

 

However having looked for the red triangle, I am getting a little confused.

 

I have seen the triangle on all postings on a thread. And then when I went back on the thread later they had all gone! This is the same for a number of threads. Do you know if there is a computer glitch that causes this? Or does some particular action cause the triangles to appear?

 

Struggling hard to understand how this site works and learning as I go along. Can you help?

 

It wasnt herewhen I started typing this and it has now appeared!

It's MAGIC.

We have 3 cabins on hold.. likely booking tomorrow.. anyone want to refer us? anyone have any info about the Seabourn referral and if it applies to multiple bookings? Combinable with Ensemble Experiences or aMEX?

 

CDW

I am sure you will hear from more experienced cruisers--and let me immediately say that my coupons are already spoken for. On the triple cabin booking; I would assume if you made all three in your name, or if the check is your check--that you would only be permitted one coupon per booking. (I think on the coupon it says one coupon per cruise. And presumably, per booking passenger whether that passenger books one cabin or three.) I note that Host Dan has pointed out that he has enjoyed the obc of a coupon and another credit from his TA on the same cruise. Beyond that, I wouldn't hazard a guess. Don't know what Ensemble Experiences is. As to the Amex discount, which lowers the fare, I would think that might come initially through your TA when using the indicated Amex card, so it might not negate the obc credits which are, indeed, credits to your shipboard account, not a discount.

We have never sailed on HAL, but other than our small cruise background--Regent Navigator, Seabourn Legend, Seabourn Odyssey and Seabourn Sojourn--HAL appeals because of its Dutch ancestry. Its proud nautical tradition. and its much lauded (and hopefully true) standards of service and quality. So I occasionally browse these boards, hoping to discover either a really small HAL vessel. Or so much positive energy that we overcome our fears of big ships and give HAL a try. All of our cruising experiences have been on small ships--the largest with 460 passengers--and all had open dining. Not surprisingly, I am very much a fan of dining when you want. One factor that may make this option unusually pleasant for the ships mentioned above is that I believe the MDR on each can accommodate all (or certainly almost all) the passengers at once. Thus, if everyone wanted to eat at 6:00pm, they could. Let me also note that while there has been some suggestion that older folks love to eat early, you couldn't prove it by my experiences on these ships. I didn't note a demo in favor of any particular dining time. I should add that because cocktails and wine are free--not really; they are included in the hefty cruise price-- there is a real cocktail hour on board these ships. Which for many passengers "delays" dining until later--sometimes much later-- than 6:00. So more people eat later. Finally, a couple of marketing assumptions. All cruise lines have to attract the next generation of passengers, and younger folks tend to be less formal and want to eat when they want. Personally I have no interest in lugging formal clothes around the world so that I can look very much like the chaps across from me who have no doubt lugged their clothes an equal distance. Some people are charming and interesting, regardless of what they wear. And others can be boorish or dull in formal finery. As all of you who have cruised more than we certainly know, the two variables on a cruise are the weather and your fellow passengers. Perhaps we will meet some you on a HAL cruise some day.

Hello writer100. If you still have the coupon available I would be delighted to use it. My e-mail address is lara892@hotmail.com. Thank you.

Having reenergized this thread (however amateurishly) I then disappeared and upon my return discovered that all the needy posters appear to have been satisfied. Still, if anyone out there needs a referral coupon, please give me a shout.

Is this thread still operative? Is there someone out there who needs a referral coupon? Please respond with your email address so I can contact you directly. This assumes, of course,, that you are preparing for your first Seabourn cruise and have not made your final payment.

There is actually more skill demanded by poker than any other game. It is also the one with the best odds, though that varies directly according to the house rake. Then worst two games for the players are first, keno--not much of a game, really, followed by roulette. In these case, the house rake isn't an actual fee that is charged, but a reduction in the payout for winning hands. So, even if you win you are getting less than you deserve. That's the house's "edge." The only other game that can--I emphasize CAN--be a fair playing field is blackjack. But it takes nerves, big cash reserves, patience, and a real knowledge of the odds. But the temptation in blackjack is to play it as social entertainment. That promotes carelessness, or risk taking. Which means, generally, you lose. Many years ago I spent 3 weeks in LV writing an article on casino gambling for Playboy. Highly educational.Bottom line, the casinos aren't there becasue gambling is easy.