C&A Points - Warning

[JM-1972]

My mother passed away last year and we invited my Dad to join us on a 14 night cruise. As a solo traveller he was to receive double C&A points for his Balcony Cabin. When he checked his account on his return as he had registered it online prior to travel, his account was not at the level he expected, he emailed C&A regarding this. He was advised that they had no record that he had accompanied my mother on some of their previous cruises and were unwilling to give him the recognition with out proof. Apart from a short 4 day cruise they had always cruised together. He even explained that he had paid for the cruises! He has been advised that Miami does not have records going back.

 

He has been asked to provide proof of the cruises from 1989, sea pass cards, dated photos etc! Unfortunately after my Mum passed away he cleared out a lot of things and he had the TA invoices but after over 20 years he has disposed of them when he was clearing out! He has now sent an email back with the only evidence he can find. One of the cruises they took luckily required stamps which are in an old passport and one of them is a Royal stamp, a few other cruises he can provide ship photos but none of them have dates. He has alo found a letter stating they were at Gold Level when you had to have cruised on three occasions at that time he has sent that. We now wait for their response.

 

I am really shocked that they have asked him to provide this under the circumstances. It is not good customer relations. Other couples may find themselves in the same situation if all the points have been put to one person so I thought I had better warn others!

[Starry Eyes]

Good reminder to occasionally check one's cruise histories for accuracy.

Best wishes to you and your dad.

[gaechann]

Good reminder to occasionally check one's cruise histories for accuracy.

 

Best wishes to you and your dad.

 

 

And take screenshots to keep as evidence too perhaps!

[mistshar]

Did he use a TA by any chance? If so, they may have records.

[TubbyMrT]

I always travel single and I always have a suite.

 

90% of the time, I have to call in after the cruise and have them correct my C&A points.

 

Such a simple thing for computer software to calculate. Yet so difficult for a company with awful computer software

[Tee & Chilli]

Do you have your mothers C&A account information? Perhaps Royal can see who was registered in the cabin with her.

[psupa]

Do you have any of the sea pass cards which have date and ship listed. I would look through photo albums from their trips.

 

Theresa

[Grandma Dazzles]

Doesn't he have a C&A number in his own right? Married couples have the same C&A status ...... Is it possible that he never joined the C&A? Membership is not automatic. You have join and couples have different numbers.

 

Wondered if perhaps he was not a member when cruising in past and joined for your family cruise.

Edited October 3, 2015 by Grandma Dazzles

[xpcdoojk]

Just a point about computer software. I deal with bazillion dollar companies every day, and they all seem to eventually migrate to SAP, where they struggle for at least 6 months before they partially get their crap together....:D

 

If RCI were to fix their software, and pay some ginormous software company, I can only imagine the heck we would all go through. Those who claim that the IT manager needs to be fired, really have no clue. I imagine that considering how many details RCI handles each week that their crappy horrible IT department is doing a pretty amazing job of keeping it together.

 

I truly expect at some point in the future all double he hockey sticks is going to happen. It is the nature of an IT system.

 

jc

[Iluvcruising2]

Given that RCI has more than 7 million C&A members (or was it 8 million?), it is probably no easy feat to maintain and upgrade the system.

[Firefighterhoop]

I do remember once upon a time, a long time ago seeing something that they can only look back so far for the records to apply them to a reservation... How long ago that is, I don't know.

[Paulxyz2004]

My mother passed away last year and we invited my Dad to join us on a 14 night cruise. As a solo traveller he was to receive double C&A points for his Balcony Cabin. When he checked his account on his return as he had registered it online prior to travel, his account was not at the level he expected, he emailed C&A regarding this. He was advised that they had no record that he had accompanied my mother on some of their previous cruises and were unwilling to give him the recognition with out proof. Apart from a short 4 day cruise they had always cruised together. He even explained that he had paid for the cruises! He has been advised that Miami does not have records going back.

 

He has been asked to provide proof of the cruises from 1989, sea pass cards, dated photos etc! Unfortunately after my Mum passed away he cleared out a lot of things and he had the TA invoices but after over 20 years he has disposed of them when he was clearing out! He has now sent an email back with the only evidence he can find. One of the cruises they took luckily required stamps which are in an old passport and one of them is a Royal stamp, a few other cruises he can provide ship photos but none of them have dates. He has alo found a letter stating they were at Gold Level when you had to have cruised on three occasions at that time he has sent that. We now wait for their response.

 

I am really shocked that they have asked him to provide this under the circumstances. It is not good customer relations. Other couples may find themselves in the same situation if all the points have been put to one person so I thought I had better warn others!

 

I might be reading this wrong, but to me it sounds like your Dad just registered wth C&A Prior to this cruise, so he had no C&A account before.

 

If this is true, how should they know how many Points they have to credit to him? I also don´t think it´s unreasonable for them to ask for proof he has been on those Cruises. I don´t think they can give away C&A Status without any proof. Payment hasn´t much to do with this. I´ve booked and paid for Cruises via my credit Card for others, but I´m not entitled to get the C&A Points for These Cruises.

 

One way to get out of this could be this. Have you cancelled your Mom´s C&A account after she passed away? If it´s still active you could just link your Dad´s -as I read it - new C&A account with your Mom´s, this way he would at least get her Status.

Only downside here might be that his Points might be counted seperately and he would have to start at 0 to reach the next Level (I´m not sure though if this is done this way).

[marci22]

One way to get out of this could be this. Have you cancelled your Mom´s C&A account after she passed away? If it´s still active you could just link your Dad´s -as I read it - new C&A account with your Mom´s, this way he would at least get her Status.

Only downside here might be that his Points might be counted seperately and he would have to start at 0 to reach the next Level (I´m not sure though if this is done this way).

 

Yes, I would make sure the accounts are linked. My husband shows my (higher) level of credits even though he has not always been booked into the same cabin .

[knittinggirl]

We did out first cruise in 1996, and in 2006, our second cruise to join c&a, I called them with my cruise cards, but they didn't need it because they had or cruise history.

 

Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk HD

[Baron Barracuda]

In 2011 when Royal changed the C&A point system they sent us a notice showing how many points my wife and I each had under both the old and new systems. I believe they might have even included a list of sailings. We made sure to verify that our histories matched. Surprised that your parents didn't notice the discrepancy then.

[robin13]

This is not just RCCL. Carnival also has the same policy as I had to show proof that I was on one of their ships back in the 1970's. This happened in 2009 so I kind of freaked as there were no computers back then to keep track of my sailings. Luckily I had bought a picture of me on the gangway with a life preserver that had the name of the ship on it. They credited my account with that cruise so I was happy.

 

Now fast forward years later and I always check my points to make sure that they are correct. Twice I have had to call Royal to correct my points as once they never showed up and then last week I only got credit for 7 days when it should have been 14.

 

Everyone needs to be in charge of their accounts and make sure that they are correct. Mistakes happen but as long as they are corrected I am fine with it.

[venicia]

I wish your dad all the luck in the world. My husband does not cruise with me on every cruise. There is a group of us ladies that do quick weekend cruises. This last 3 nighter was in a JR suite and should have put me at 81 points. One point more than what is required for diamond. I have called C&A and resolutions twice and have been told, the points have been calculated correctly. they continued to bring up "householding" so I suppose unless my husband cruises with me, I can no longer accumulate points on my own.

 

My husband and I, just as your dad and mother had cruised multiple times with RCCL. We used to cruise either every month or every other month on Sovereign of the Seas. I admit we did not join C&A immediately, but when we did we only then realized there were benefits.

 

Just as you Dad, I did not have all the doc's from those cruises and of course they could not find them.

 

I also work in the computer area in a financial institution and I can find your account from 70+ years ago. We are not close to being the size of RCCL, so I do not understand if you provide a name, date of birth, which has always been required to sail, why can't they find your bookings?

 

I wish you all the luck in the world, I still will go on the lady weekend trips, but it is sad to know I will not be accumulating any more points.

[silentbob007]

My mom and dad were 1 day away from D+ according to their records. I went with my dad on a short cruise. They did not get bumped into D+, however, because even though my mom and dad shared points (according to the totals in both of their accounts), she had earned more than he had. When it came to changing levels, it was based on the actual number of points and not the "household" level of points. The next time my mom cruised, both changed status.

 

I imagine it's the same thing with transferring status on Celebrity. You may get reciprocal status as an Elite, but to move higher sailing only Celebrity you would have to earn all of the days required for the next level, not just the difference between that level and elite.

[JM-1972]

Thanks for all your comments, I am not sure what has happened as my father has a letter from the nineties welcoming my mother and himself to Gold level as they had now cruised with RCCL 3 times. My mother always arranged the cruises and gave as far as I am aware the C&A numbers. They cruised with other lines also and were aware of the benefits of giving numbers as you usually received some free gifts and invites to parties.

 

He did not have an online C&A account until recently as he never accessed the booking, they always booked via a TA. (They used different TAs and some are no longer in business). My mother accessed an online record in 2010 for the first time. She did not look at or register an online record for my father as he had a C&A number and when she checked her record it was correct. She only accessed the online record when I told her about it, otherwise she would not have thought about an online record for C&A other than to hand over when booking their C&A numbers.

 

As they received recongition on their cruises for their level it did not cross their minds that my father did not have the same points as my mother. They always cruised together with the exception of her last cruise which she took with me last May.

 

We have gone through all the photo albums and tried to find some evidence, hopefully they will give him the benefit of the doubt. They cannot question the passport stamp. It is the earlier cruises they are questioning stating they know longer have records. He has found some pictures of Vision of the Seas but the name of the ship is very small and hardly readable and it does not prove he was on it, he has given the dates and route of the ship and that the ship was only about 1 month old when they were on it and it suffered significant damage in a storm in the Med. Hopefully they can check their records. It is such a pity that we cleared out old TA invoices etc.

 

I will let you know how we get on with the RCCL.

[orville99]

Thanks for all your comments, I am not sure what has happened as my father has a letter from the nineties welcoming my mother and himself to Gold level as they had now cruised with RCCL 3 times. My mother always arranged the cruises and gave as far as I am aware the C&A numbers. They cruised with other lines also and were aware of the benefits of giving numbers as you usually received some free gifts and invites to parties.

 

He did not have an online C&A account until recently as he never accessed the booking, they always booked via a TA. (They used different TAs and some are no longer in business). My mother accessed an online record in 2010 for the first time. She did not look at or register an online record for my father as he had a C&A number and when she checked her record it was correct. She only accessed the online record when I told her about it, otherwise she would not have thought about an online record for C&A other than to hand over when booking their C&A numbers.

 

As they received recongition on their cruises for their level it did not cross their minds that my father did not have the same points as my mother. They always cruised together with the exception of her last cruise which she took with me last May.

 

We have gone through all the photo albums and tried to find some evidence, hopefully they will give him the benefit of the doubt. They cannot question the passport stamp. It is the earlier cruises they are questioning stating they know longer have records. He has found some pictures of Vision of the Seas but the name of the ship is very small and hardly readable and it does not prove he was on it, he has given the dates and route of the ship and that the ship was only about 1 month old when they were on it and it suffered significant damage in a storm in the Med. Hopefully they can check their records. It is such a pity that we cleared out old TA invoices etc.

 

I will let you know how we get on with the RCCL.

 

If your dad has a letter from Royal welcoming them to Gold level, then Royal should be able to use that letter to look up your mom's cruise history. Does the letter have your mom's C&A number on it? I'd send them a copy of the letter.

[JM-1972]

Venicia- I am not sure what you mean by householding surely if you have personally received 81 points surely you would be given recognition for this? I have 11 more points than my husband but he receives the same status as me and mine has gone up if I have travelled on my own without him. But I undertand if he was to cruise without me in future our points would not go up only his would go up from what he personally has earned.

 

P.S To readers of my previous post I tried to edit - I apologise for the terrible english and spelling mistakes! Unfortunately the administrator won't allow me to change it, that is what I get for making dinner and posting at the same time!

[JM-1972]

If your dad has a letter from Royal welcoming them to Gold level, then Royal should be able to use that letter to look up your mom's cruise history. Does the letter have your mom's C&A number on it? I'd send them a copy of the letter.

 

Hi

 

They have my Mum's record, they just don't have any record my Dad accompanied her for the cruises that are missing from his account. Hopefully the letter will do the trick as it has C&A numbers on it and states they had now completed 3 cruises! I will keep you posted!

[orville99]

Hi

 

They have my Mum's record, they just don't have any record my Dad accompanied her for the cruises that are missing from his account. Hopefully the letter will do the trick as it has C&A numbers on it and states they had now completed 3 cruises! I will keep you posted!

 

Not sure if you are getting good information from whomever you talked with at Royal, or if I'm just misunderstanding the issue. Married couples with linked accounts accrue the status of the partner who has cruised the most. i.e., DW has one more cruise than me, and when I look up my C&A number it shows the same number of points as hers, but when I call C&A, they have me with 7 fewer points (the ones I actually cruised). So, up until your mom died, your dad's status would have been the same as your mom's (if she was D, so was he). After your mom's passing, he should have retained his status, but (if I understand it correctly) only his actual cruise points would be counted for him to make the next tier.

 

One thought, it is possible that the system unlinked your parents when your mom passed. Try asking them if they can re-link the two C&A numbers before they search their records. About a year ago, our C&A accounts somehow became unlinked, and none of our cruises were showing up in my cruise history - only showed up in hers. Once they re-linked the two C&A numbers, all of my missing cruises re-appeared.

Edited October 3, 2015 by orville99

[travelplus]

My mother passed away last year and we invited my Dad to join us on a 14 night cruise. As a solo traveller he was to receive double C&A points for his Balcony Cabin. When he checked his account on his return as he had registered it online prior to travel, his account was not at the level he expected, he emailed C&A regarding this. He was advised that they had no record that he had accompanied my mother on some of their previous cruises and were unwilling to give him the recognition with out proof. Apart from a short 4 day cruise they had always cruised together. He even explained that he had paid for the cruises! He has been advised that Miami does not have records going back.

 

He has been asked to provide proof of the cruises from 1989, sea pass cards, dated photos etc! Unfortunately after my Mum passed away he cleared out a lot of things and he had the TA invoices but after over 20 years he has disposed of them when he was clearing out! He has now sent an email back with the only evidence he can find. One of the cruises they took luckily required stamps which are in an old passport and one of them is a Royal stamp, a few other cruises he can provide ship photos but none of them have dates. He has alo found a letter stating they were at Gold Level when you had to have cruised on three occasions at that time he has sent that. We now wait for their response.

 

I am really shocked that they have asked him to provide this under the circumstances. It is not good customer relations. Other couples may find themselves in the same situation if all the points have been put to one person so I thought I had better warn others!

 

I am sorry this happened OP. In the era before the computers one would think they would have manual record keeping. How is it that my Father can pull up a bank statement from 1997? Because he keeps a copy in the filing cabinet. So the same should go for Royal Caribbean you would think they would have manifest or some other way to ensure you get the C&A status you deserve.

 

I check my account before each cruise to ensure we have the same status. Before booking my current cruise the Reservation Agent showed us as being Gold when we are Platinum Apparently it takes time for the system to update(24 hours) and then it showed us as being Platinum. After this cruise we will be Emerald.

 

Yes I am afraid to say that C&A is right about having proof such as dated photos and travel statements proving you actually sailed as I have read posts with the same subject as yours. See what you can do. Perhaps writing into Royal Caribbean asking them to reconsider.

 

Please keep us posted!

[mollyeilis]

I wish your dad all the luck in the world. My husband does not cruise with me on every cruise. There is a group of us ladies that do quick weekend cruises. This last 3 nighter was in a JR suite and should have put me at 81 points. One point more than what is required for diamond. I have called C&A and resolutions twice and have been told, the points have been calculated correctly. they continued to bring up "householding" so I suppose unless my husband cruises with me, I can no longer accumulate points on my own.

 

My husband and I, just as your dad and mother had cruised multiple times with RCCL. We used to cruise either every month or every other month on Sovereign of the Seas. I admit we did not join C&A immediately, but when we did we only then realized there were benefits.

 

Just as you Dad, I did not have all the doc's from those cruises and of course they could not find them.

...

 

I wish you all the luck in the world, I still will go on the lady weekend trips, but it is sad to know I will not be accumulating any more points.

 

 

Venicia, didn't you see the responses to your post the other day?

 

You will continue to accrue points as you cruise; to think you won't is seriously misunderstanding what was told to you.