Carnival Shares - no joy because I booked through a TA. Help!

[Bedruthen]

I have today been caught with the same problem. Not happy. A refusal by Cunard to add OBC. The travel agent made no mention of my booking not being valid, in fact, they gave me the email address information to submit the obc application, so they clearly expected it to be paid.

 

I suspect this is a clampdown by Cunard, probably always in their terms but only recently being applied. 
 

I will certainly question the rates in the future, because the obc shareholder credit may well outweigh any discount given by agent. 
 

As an aside, one for the travel agents, how are customers supposed to know what fare rate they have been sold …

Edited October 6, 2023 by Bedruthen

[Victoria2]

17 minutes ago, Bedruthen said:

I have today been caught with the same problem. Not happy. A refusal by Cunard to add OBC. The travel agent made no mention of my booking not being valid, in fact, they gave me the email address information to submit the obc application, so they clearly expected it to be paid.

 

I suspect this is a clampdown by Cunard, probably always in their terms but only recently being applied. 
 

I will certainly question the rates in the future, because the obc shareholder credit may well outweigh any discount given by agent. 
 

As an aside, one for the travel agents, how are customers supposed to know what fare rate they have been sold …

As an aside, one for the travel agents, how are customers supposed to know what fare rate they have been sold … you are informed now so in the future, ask

 

I really am SO sorry one can't post the names of seriously excellent cruise agents here. There is NO way our agent would have missed this.

 

 

[NavyPanda]

1 hour ago, Bedruthen said:

I have today been caught with the same problem. Not happy. A refusal by Cunard to add OBC. The travel agent made no mention of my booking not being valid, in fact, they gave me the email address information to submit the obc application, so they clearly expected it to be paid.

 

I suspect this is a clampdown by Cunard, probably always in their terms but only recently being applied. 
 

I will certainly question the rates in the future, because the obc shareholder credit may well outweigh any discount given by agent. 
 

As an aside, one for the travel agents, how are customers supposed to know what fare rate they have been sold …

 

If it is a cruise you will have to get on a plane at some point, there is a possibility that it will be a 'net' fare and therefore ineligible for Shareholder OBC. I think it may be likely that most packages sold by travel agents as cruise + nights in a hotel + flight are likely to be at 'net rates'.

 

If it is a cruise Southampton round trip then I think it would be very unlikely to be a net rate.

 

Of course, the only way to find out for sure is to ask the travel agent at booking / quotation. 

[Pushpit]

29 minutes ago, NavyPanda said:

 

If it is a cruise you will have to get on a plane at some point, there is a possibility that it will be a 'net' fare and therefore ineligible for Shareholder OBC. I think it may be likely that most packages sold by travel agents as cruise + nights in a hotel + flight are likely to be at 'net rates'.

 

This is indeed plausible / probable. But there are other ways to construct packages, namely using the direct fare + an Inclusive Tour rate just for the flight. The TA will then put their profit margin more on the flight, hotel, insurance, but typically you won't see the split or the margin. If that happens then the cruise would still be OK for the shareholder credit. More to the point, if the travel agent knows you can get the OBC then they could build a package without using nett rates on Cunard. Or make the overall package so good that it's better than the shareholder OBC. But you are right that in the absence of detail, a cruise + hotel + flight is more likely to be nett rates.

[Selkie74]

It’s a murky situation for beginners, to be sure. I have a resolution, though. After escalating my complaint, and a couple of back and forth emails with the TA, I’ve been offered $150 OBC as a goodwill gesture. I’m pretty happy with that, but I feel that both the TA and Cunard need to provide much more clarity over this situation.

 

Many thanks to everyone who has commented on here - this is such a great community, and I really appreciate everyone’s help.

[Host Hattie]

Thanks for reporting back, I'm glad you managed to get some resolution. This thread has certainly taught us something. 

I hope you have a good cruise.

[Winifred 22]

Glad you managed to get something from your TA by way of compensation. Enjoy your cruise 

[fourmile.ranch]

Just received mine today with no issue. Have no idea what fare mine is other than a Sailing Soon offer.

[Jim_Iain]

I was researching today and found the following -   which specifies the amount of credit by cruise length.

 

[57eric]

Have any US passengers ever been told they were ineligible for Shareholder Credit?

[frankp01]

On 10/14/2023 at 1:43 PM, 57eric said:

Have any US passengers ever been told they were ineligible for Shareholder Credit?

I haven't been denied Shareholder OBC, but I have been denied (twice) credit for using a Future Cruise Deposit certificate.

[Underwatr]

US passengers can (could) buy Cunard FCDs? I had understood that our option was to buy a specific itinerary (which can be canceled and rebooked).  I've changed a future booking to a different itinerary and the onboard booking perks have transferred to the new booking although the special offers that were in effect when I originally booked went away, replaced by other special offers in effect at the time of rebooking. But shareholder OBC has always been given.
I frequently book a specific itinerary during a voyage, and my TA will reprice that booking applying his customary discount when the booking is automatically referred to him (since he had booked the voyage I was on Cunard refers the booking to that TA by default). Never failed to get OBC from this 'discounted' booking.

I understand that there are special TA rates not available to the general public but I believe that what the agency I use does is rebate a portion of their commission back to me (which Cunard allows (US) travel agencies to do), not give me access to TA fares.
I ran into a different issue this year - at my financial advisor's recommendation I redirected the holdings in one of my investment accounts, only later realizing that the holdings in that account include the Carnival shares that I had been using to qualify for shareholder credit. Oops.

[frankp01]

16 hours ago, Underwatr said:

US passengers can (could) buy Cunard FCDs?

I could in January. What good it did me is another matter.

[Queenvee]

Don't confuse FCD with shareholder benefits which are only available to people who own stock shares in Carnival (must be owned at the time the cruise is booked).  This site explains the benefits: 

 

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/shareholder-information/shareholder-benefit

Edited October 22, 2023 by Queenvee
fixed link

[frankp01]

I understand the difference. My point was that the shareholder benefit seems to have been tightened the same way FCD benefit has been.

[frankp01]

3 hours ago, Queenvee said:

must be owned at the time the cruise is booked 

Actually, I think I purchased my shares subsequent to the booking. You simply need to be holding the shares at the time you claim the benefit (obviously).

[david63]

4 hours ago, Queenvee said:

must be owned at the time the cruise is booked

Shares do not have to be held at either the time of booking nor at the time of sailing - only within the required time-frame when applying for the benefit.