Shareholders OBC is rejected if you use a travel agent

[Panhandle Couple]

6 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Have never encountered this. Always book through TA and always get the benefit.

Booked through TA and received shareholder OBC last week on the same day that we requested it.

 

[WillCruiseForMoney]

I have always recieved the benefit from NCL and Oceania.  In the case of Oceania I have booked during a sale through a travel agent and still received the shareholder OBC.  Have also received shareholder OBC on Princess (Carnival Stock).  In all cases it was easy to apply for and recieved comfirmation, or was able to see it in cruise status, promptly.  

 

I would not pruchase cruise stocks for an investment, but it is a great benefit for frequent cruisers.

 

[WhiteRockMike]

21 hours ago, WhiteRockMike said:

I know this is an older thread but I suspect that over the past few months NCL's shareholder benefit policy has changed.  It certainly has for us.  We haven't had this problem before until our 2024 cruises. These are not on Norwegian Cruise Line but are on NCL's other two lines, Oceania and Regent.

 

Our two Regent cruises were in January and February 2024, and we have three upcoming Oceania cruises in March and November, 2024.  They are All booked through TA's.  All rejected with the reason given being that the fare was a "sale" fare.  For the two Regent cruises I applied to the listed shareholder benefit email and at least received a reply that they didn't qualify.  For the March Oceania, I have now sent the initial and two reminder emails and didn't receive the basic courtesy of any reply at all.  I Just got off the phone with Oceania customer service and the very helpful lady (on another issue) looked up all three cruises and said none of them will qualify as they are "sale" fares.  I said that the last two were exactly priced at the Oceania website fares, not some special TA fare and she said it doesn't matter, as the Oceania website fare is usually a sale fare!  I asked, so unless you are paying full fare you aren't getting the benefit, and she said yes.  Does anyone actually pay the "full fare"?  There is always some sale or other on a cruise.

 

I don't know if this suspected new policy will apply to Norwegian cruise line as well, but it does to the two sister cruise lines.

 

This was disappointing and I think a very poor corporate move.  We will be selling our NCL stock; at least it stock jumped about 20% today after their latest earnings report, which will make it easier to do.

 

Not looking to get into an argument, just wanted to report what happened to us.

 

 

Well, I stand corrected on Oceania; I received an email from them this morning and they have provided our $100 OBC for our March cruise.  Thank you Oceania!  I have just applied for our two Oceania cruises in November and will post if we get these.

 

Our experience with Regent, however, is history and our applications were both firmly denied.

[WhiteRockMike]

On 2/28/2024 at 10:24 AM, WhiteRockMike said:

 

Well, I stand corrected on Oceania; I received an email from them this morning and they have provided our $100 OBC for our March cruise.  Thank you Oceania!  I have just applied for our two Oceania cruises in November and will post if we get these.

 

Our experience with Regent, however, is history and our applications were both firmly denied.

Okay, once again I stand totally corrected on Oceania, and NCL in general.  The shareholder OBC has been applied to all three Oceania cruises this year, all of which were booked through a travel agent.  Thank you Oceania, you remain our favorite cruise line!

 

So Regent is the lone NCL problem child who withheld Shareholder OBC.

[WhiteRockMike]

Well, we booked another Regent cruise, applied for the Shareholder benefit and it was again denied, reason again being it was a promotional discounted fare. You think I would have learned by now🙄.

[RocketMan275]

28 minutes ago, WhiteRockMike said:

Well, we booked another Regent cruise, applied for the Shareholder benefit and it was again denied, reason again being it was a promotional discounted fare. You think I would have learned by now🙄.

Did you ask what the non-discounted fare might be?

[Sayuil]

Anyone know if the shareholder benefit gets applied to a cruise that is booked through Casino at Sea program? I used a $750 off reward from MyVegas App to book this cruise. Any insight?

[WhiteRockMike]

36 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Did you ask what the non-discounted fare might be?

I did on two 2023 rejections and they weren't at all helpful or able to give anything definitive.

[zqvol]

1 hour ago, WhiteRockMike said:

Well, we booked another Regent cruise, applied for the Shareholder benefit and it was again denied, reason again being it was a promotional discounted fare. You think I would have learned by now🙄.

You should be asking this on the Regent board, even though they are under the NCLH umbrella. 

[RocketMan275]

15 minutes ago, WhiteRockMike said:

I did on two 2023 rejections and they weren't at all helpful or able to give anything definitive.

One wonders if they have any non-discounted fares.  I would certainly ask for a listing.

[MathMusic]

1 hour ago, Sayuil said:

Anyone know if the shareholder benefit gets applied to a cruise that is booked through Casino at Sea program? I used a $750 off reward from MyVegas App to book this cruise. Any insight?

 

I recently booked and successfully received NCL shareholder credit on a fully comped cruise through CAS from a land casino certificate. I imagine a discounted fare through CAS should also qualify.

[davencl]

1 hour ago, WhiteRockMike said:

Well, we booked another Regent cruise, applied for the Shareholder benefit and it was again denied, reason again being it was a promotional discounted fare. You think I would have learned by now🙄.

I've no experience with regent but have been rejected by NCL and Oceania if I applied too far out from the cruise.  Applying closer to the cruise in both cases resulted in acceptance.

[WhiteRockMike]

21 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

One wonders if they have any non-discounted fares.  I would certainly ask for a listing.

As I mentioned, I did ask this in 2023 and exchanged several emails with answers that got very terse.  All they would say is see the small print on their form. It includes the sentence "Benefit is non-transferable, excludes Reduced Rate programs (e.g. employee rates, interline, friends /family rates, vendor rates, cruises taken via cruise credit certificate, or free cruises earned through Oceania Cruises loyalty benefits), and travel agent rates, and charters."  I asked what from this list disqualified me, but all they would say is talk to your travel agent, which I did but they couldn't help.  This form is the same for all three NCLH lines but only Regent has denied the benefit.

[ChiefMateJRK]

(deleted - responded to old post)

Edited June 6 by ChiefMateJRK

[FredZiffle]

8 hours ago, WhiteRockMike said:

Well, we booked another Regent cruise, applied for the Shareholder benefit and it was again denied, reason again being it was a promotional discounted fare. You think I would have learned by now🙄.

At least you got a reply.  I've applied twice now for the same Regent cruise and heard nothing.

[WhiteRockMike]

42 minutes ago, FredZiffle said:

At least you got a reply.  I've applied twice now for the same Regent cruise and heard nothing.

Frustrating for sure, they are not acting like a six star line.

The only thing I would suggest is to check your your cruise on your RSSC account online and see if they added the OBC without telling you.  That has happened to me with Oceania - turns out they added it a few days after I had applied! Luckily I checked my account just before emailing them back to complain😀.  But, as I mentioned, my experience with Oceania has been great, and with Regent, the opposite.

[RocketMan275]

Just  notified that my shareholder benefit was credited to my account for my cruise next Jan.

FWIW this cruise was booked through a travel agent.

Submitted yesterday, approved today.

[graphicguy]

I use a TA all the time and also got my Shareholder OBC.

 

Used only on NCL, though