Military OBC

[Ken the cruiser]

FWIW I learned a couple of things about the Military Appreciation perk yesterday. First, Princess now wants you to use this link to get your military service verified, if you haven't already been approved before. No worries, it takes about 2 seconds once you tap Submit.

 

Princess Cruise Lines | Military Verification (sheerid.com)

 

Second, all of the previous MOBC that had been applied to our bookings through 2025 that were once marked as refundable all became nonrefundable in those 8 bookings as of Jan 1, 2024.

[dreams_of_travel]

36 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

FWIW I learned a couple of things about the Military Appreciation perk yesterday. First, Princess now wants you to use this link to get your military service verified, if you haven't already been approved before. No worries, it takes about 2 seconds once you tap Submit.

 

Princess Cruise Lines | Military Verification (sheerid.com)

 

Second, all of the previous MOBC that had been applied to our bookings through 2025 that were once marked as refundable all became nonrefundable in those 8 bookings as of Jan 1, 2024.

I'll have to check mine again.  I had checked in December, and all were refundable then.  I was hoping it would stick as refundable.  Oh, well.  I'm sure I can find something to use it for.

[Ken the cruiser]

38 minutes ago, dreams_of_travel said:

I'll have to check mine again.  I had checked in December, and all were refundable then.  I was hoping it would stick as refundable.  Oh, well.  I'm sure I can find something to use it for.

We had checked as well, and they were still noted in Dec as refundable. The way I found out about the new way of verifying my military status was when we asked our TA to ask PCL to upgrade our loyalty status to Elite on our April bookings. When PCL updated it, they also removed my MOBC and our FCDs from our 2nd and 3rd legs of our B3B. PCL also said I had to recertify my military veteran status using this new Sheerid link, even though I've been certified since 2013. Anyway, it was easy to do and the MOBC was put back on our booking.

 

As far as the removal of our FCDs go, we put them on a different booking and actually made more OBC in the process. But, at the same time, I am not going to ask our TA to have PCL update our loyalty status on any of our other bookings. Just too much stress for something that doesn't probably matter as long as our PCL account reflects our new loyalty status.

 

But it does seem odd this all happened after Jan 1, 2024. I wonder if PCL has made some FCD application changes when it comes to B2B cruises? All I know is that my TA got the same answer from both her PCL contact she worked with as well as their PCL supervisor. 

 

Edited January 10 by Ken the cruiser

[jagoffee]

Ken, I wonder if all military OBC has just automatically turned into non refundable.  I checked my OBC yesterday, I notice the asterisk that indicated that the OBC is non refundable.  No problem for me and I always appreciate benefit.  I booked my cruise late last year.  

[walkingsoon]

All of my future cruises' military OBC, as expected, are designated as non-refundable.

 

In the past, I always got my refundable OBC balance back via check a few weeks after disembarking. Now I structure my onboard spending to have a $1 to $10 balance paid by my cc.

[doghog]

I guess I'm still go to go as I haven't received anything from Princess requesting an update or in my the website online account. But I'm not seeing anything indicating refundable or nonrefundable. 

[Ken the cruiser]

54 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

Ken, I wonder if all military OBC has just automatically turned into non refundable.  I checked my OBC yesterday, I notice the asterisk that indicated that the OBC is non refundable.  No problem for me and I always appreciate benefit.  I booked my cruise late last year.  

That's what we're guessing as well, which is fine. We always use it to book excursions and are just thankful PCL continues to offer this special perk to both of us.

[Ken the cruiser]

29 minutes ago, doghog said:

I guess I'm still go to go as I haven't received anything from Princess requesting an update or in my the website online account. But I'm not seeing anything indicating refundable or nonrefundable. 

When you go to Payments section on a particular booking in your PCL Personalizer, and go to the bottom, the "*" denotes the applicable OBC is nonrefundable. Like when you have FCD, promotional, Military or Shareholder OBC.

 

[JF - retired RRT]

On 12/14/2023 at 10:56 AM, rocklinmom said:

So I am trying to get my dad his Military Veteran OBC for our upcoming cruise. He has had it before on other Princess cruises but apparently they now use a new verification system through some company called SheerID so he had to re-submit the form. His veteran status was not on his Captain's Circle account apparently. We submitted the form on 12/6 (it just asks for Captain's Circle number and discharge date) and later that day got verification success emails. The email says that he is verified and to allow 7 days for the ($100) military OBC to appear on his cruise booking. It has now been 8 days and it is still not on his booking. I tried the 800 number (for laughs, they literally can't do anything anymore), and the online website chat and they just say it's not on record and to re-submit it - when I do that it says "verification limit exceeded because it's already verified" - Duh. Seriously? It has never been this hard to get the military OBC before. I have now tried to message Princess on Instagram to see if I can get any help. Has anyone successfully gotten the military OBC recently? And if so how long did it actually take to post to your cruise booking? 

Talk to a CVP...even if you've never used one before. They can straighten all kinds of issues.

[ChangeOrder]

I have been SheerID verified with Princess for years. It should be on my account and apply automatically any time I book, but it never has. I always end up needing to email the military benefit mailbox to get it, and they respond very quickly and apply it. One time I forgot to check before leaving for the cruise, but Guest Services was able to get it applied for me within a day.

 

The email address is militarybenefit at princesscruises dot com. I submit an email with my Captain's Circle #, Booking # and sail date, and state that I'm already SheerID verified. 

[dreams_of_travel]

6 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

When you go to Payments section on a particular booking in your PCL Personalizer, and go to the bottom, the "*" denotes the applicable OBC is nonrefundable. Like when you have FCD, promotional, Military or Shareholder OBC.

 

I looked at mine earlier today. I've got 6 cruises booked, and half are the same, and half are still refundable.  I am not calling anyone to ask but will see what ends up happening. LOL! 

Remind me, will my folio, when I get onboard, show refundable, and nonrefundable?  

[Ken the cruiser]

38 minutes ago, dreams_of_travel said:

Remind me, will my folio, when I get onboard, show refundable, and nonrefundable?  

If I recall, and I could be wrong, the only way to find out how much “refundable” OBC you have left on your shipboard account at any time while on a cruise is to go ask Guest Services.

[whataboutport]

Just wanted to share my experience. We booked a cruise in July, then I submitted my husband's info for the MOBC soon after (perhaps a couple days later). It was approved almost immediately. The credit did not show up after the 7 days as it claimed, so in Oct I contacted then via chat. The agent said they see it was approved (and it has shown in his CC profile since I submitted) but the actual OBC would show up in his acct approx 3 days before sailing (we sail this month, Jan). I didn't like that answer and should have asked for a supervisor but I just waited. A few weeks ago (Dec) I contacted chat again. Now his veteran status didn't show at all for them (still showed in his online profile tho for me) and I had to resubmit. Luckily they let me send via chat. I asked did they want a screen shot of his CC profile or his DD214? They answered yes lol so I just submitted both. Then they were magically able to add the MOBC immediately and I was able to request an email to prove it and kept them on chat long enough until I received the email. 

[Ken the cruiser]

16 minutes ago, whataboutport said:

Just wanted to share my experience. We booked a cruise in July, then I submitted my husband's info for the MOBC soon after (perhaps a couple days later). It was approved almost immediately. The credit did not show up after the 7 days as it claimed, so in Oct I contacted then via chat. The agent said they see it was approved (and it has shown in his CC profile since I submitted) but the actual OBC would show up in his acct approx 3 days before sailing (we sail this month, Jan). I didn't like that answer and should have asked for a supervisor but I just waited. A few weeks ago (Dec) I contacted chat again. Now his veteran status didn't show at all for them (still showed in his online profile tho for me) and I had to resubmit. Luckily they let me send via chat. I asked did they want a screen shot of his CC profile or his DD214? They answered yes lol so I just submitted both. Then they were magically able to add the MOBC immediately and I was able to request an email to prove it and kept them on chat long enough until I received the email. 

Just curious if PCL ever mentioned that your husband could get his veteran status verified immediately by using the below link a PCL rep provided us the other day?

 

https://offers.sheerid.com/princess/military/
 

[NavyVeteran]

I've been getting military OBC for years with no problem. I just booked a cruise in March 2026, and it wasn't there.

I then checked my Captain's Circle account for Onboard Credits. Military Benefits was shown there with Earned "06/19/12" and Expires "Sail By 12/31/25". This is the first time I've seen an expiration date that wasn't far in the future.

[Bwana Tom]

Because of all the refundable/non-refundable issues Princess has been having on the second leg of our November/December 2023 B2B cruise I went to guest services in order to confirm my Military OBC was actually refundable (at that time it was NOT marked with an asterisk on the account). At guest services they simply pulled my account up on their computer and told me it WAS refundable, but about 3 or 4 days later the asterisk appeared. Rather than taking a chance at losing the funds we simply spent all of the money. 

I certainly wish Princess would hire some people, especially including their computer staff that knows what they are doing. If they don't I'm pretty sure many of their longtime and faithful customers will go elsewhere to get their cruise fixes. 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

I've been getting military OBC for years with no problem. I just booked a cruise in March 2026, and it wasn't there.

I then checked my Captain's Circle account for Onboard Credits. Military Benefits was shown there with Earned "06/19/12" and Expires "Sail By 12/31/25". This is the first time I've seen an expiration date that wasn't far in the future.

That happened to me, believe it or not, when our TA asked the PCL rep last week to update our April 2024 Alaska booking to reflect our new Elite status. That's when the PCL rep gave the below link to my TA telling her I needed to recertify my military status, even though it has been on my account since 2013, to have the MOBC reapplied to that booking. Maybe it's a new 10-year thing. Who knows.

 

Princess Cruise Lines | Military Verification (sheerid.com)

 

Anyway, it took all of 5 minutes to do and the MOBC was reapplied and all was good again.

 

[whataboutport]

14 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just curious if PCL ever mentioned that your husband could get his veteran status verified immediately by using the below link a PCL rep provided us the other day?

 

https://offers.sheerid.com/princess/military/
 

No they did not but getting verified was not our issue. That was the easiest part. Our issue was getting the MOBC to show up in his acct.