Denied OBC when using an Open Passage booking

[Grumpy9117]

I recently booked a cruise on Celebrity and when I tried to use my Open Passage booking, I was denied by Celebrity the $200 OBC that was supposed to go with it. They said the cruise fare was too low and I was not eligible for the OBC. When I purchased the Open Passage, I wasn't informed of any restrictions. Has anyone else had this happen? Are the restrictions posted anywhere? I wouldn't be buying any more Open Passage unless the restrictions are clearly stated.

[39august]

Isn't the OBC stated on your paperwork? I surely hope this gets cleared up in your favor. I have 2 of these "cruises" myself and the confirmation shows the OBC. 

[jagoffee]

2 hours ago, Grumpy9117 said:

I recently booked a cruise on Celebrity and when I tried to use my Open Passage booking, I was denied by Celebrity the $200 OBC that was supposed to go with it. They said the cruise fare was too low and I was not eligible for the OBC. 

My experience has been different.  The statement that you would not get the stated Open Passage OBC because they fare is to low does not really make sense.  Perhaps Celebrity meant to say that your Open Passage cannot be combined with some other offer? The combination has been a restriction, but the actual price has not.

1.  Did you book directly with Celebrity?

2.  When did you buy the Open Passage? (The terms have changed over the years)

3.  Which category did you book and how many days is the cruise?

[Cruise Raider]

You should be able to use the open passage deposit on any booking but they were most likely correct in telling you that you may not receive the OBC.  These conditions are when you booked your cruise under certain promotions.  It is actually listed in the fine print and have found some future cruise consultants to be more forthcoming in explaining this information than others have been.  

The 'fare being too low' is probably not the official rule but most likely how they stated it to you.  The fare is more likely one of those that is not combineable with the OBC when using your FCC.  I know I've been denied using this when booking under a group code and that OBC and you can only combine it if you are not already using other promotions.  They used to cap it at one but think now they will give you two.  

We've not found the Open Passage option to be one of the better deals you can find ... again, some future cruise consultants onboard are better at explaining this.  We've found it is actually better to put your deposit down on a specific cruise with a refundable deposit if you are in doubt.  You can change that booking to another cruise but there are time limits as to how long you have to transfer it to a travel agency.  If you do change your itinerary, you only receive the perks that are available at the time of that change.  

We learned all of this the hard way ... but still think the future cruise bookings have worked out well for us in the long run.  

[Grumpy9117]

2 hours ago, jagoffee said:

My experience has been different.  The statement that you would not get the stated Open Passage OBC because they fare is to low does not really make sense.  Perhaps Celebrity meant to say that your Open Passage cannot be combined with some other offer? The combination has been a restriction, but the actual price has not.

1.  Did you book directly with Celebrity?

2.  When did you buy the Open Passage? (The terms have changed over the years)

3.  Which category did you book and how many days is the cruise?

 

1. No, I transferred the reservation to a travel agent who contacted Celebrity on my behalf.

2. I purchased the Open Passage on 5/2012.

3. I booked a Veranda on a 12 day cruise.

 

Celebrity says that an Open Passage can only be used on a "standard" rate and  excludes all other price programs and discounted rates. I don't remember the FCC explaining any restrictions.

[miched]

I don’t know how the fare would be too low to get the OBC because the OBC usually relates to the category and amount of days and the number of days

 

I have been denied getting the perks that came with the original booking because the one that I transferred it to didn’t offer that promo and also got less SBC because the cruise was shorter.  

 

I always have the booking transferred to my TA and he will usually have a group rate that requires the extra deposit but I also get a lower rate plus extra SBC from the group.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2018 by miched

[Denny01]

I’m not familiar with an Open Booking, but there are a number of bookings and promo’s that don’t allow certain OBC’s. For example, the OBC I got for owning RCI stock isn’t allowed when I get other types of Celebrity OBC’s. 

 

Good luck on giving a go.

 

Den

[wrk2cruise]

I have run into the combinability issues before.  They tend to make the open passages useless and I will never buy one again.  I was finally able to convince them to apply the cost of the open passage to one of my sailings foregoing any OBC.

[rhblake]

If your purchase date is correct it means your Open Passage booking is 6 1/2 years old. I have never seen any cruise company go longer than 4 years. Is it possible that it is too old? I hope you get your expected OBC.

 

[wrk2cruise]

The one I had was good forever.  I think that was how long it was going to take to use it!

[Solution]

The program may not combined with some deeply discount rate (Exciting Deal, for one).

 

"Program excludes all other price programs and discounted rates, including, but not limited to, Exciting Deals, Category specials, Category guarantee rates, Reduced Air, Interline, Travelzoo, resident, travel agent, and employee rates."

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 11/11/2018 at 8:59 AM, Grumpy9117 said:

I recently booked a cruise on Celebrity and when I tried to use my Open Passage booking, I was denied by Celebrity the $200 OBC that was supposed to go with it. They said the cruise fare was too low and I was not eligible for the OBC. When I purchased the Open Passage, I wasn't informed of any restrictions. Has anyone else had this happen? Are the restrictions posted anywhere? I wouldn't be buying any more Open Passage unless the restrictions are clearly stated.

 

You should read the T&C for Open Passage rather than relying on your memory of something that took place 6-1/2 years ago.  

[Grumpy9117]

8 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

I have run into the combinability issues before.  They tend to make the open passages useless and I will never buy one again.  I was finally able to convince them to apply the cost of the open passage to one of my sailings foregoing any OBC.

 

That's exactly what I did.

[Hlitner]

While we often do future bookings on other cruise lines (including times when we do not even have a specific cruise in mind) we stopped doing future cruise bookings with Celebrity...several years ago.  The problem is that any future cruise benefits are often more then offset by not being able to combine with other promotions that usually come along after you have booked the cruise.  This is similar to the issue with the X Stockholder credit which is generally not combinable with any promotion.  This is a big plus when dealing with CCL cruise lines where there is seldom a problem combining (often called "stacking") OBCs.

 

Hank

[Luvcrusn]

We purchased an Open Passages with X a number of years ago while onboard. We had booked that cruise with the TA we still use. We tried to use it eight different times over a 4 year period. Each time it was not combinable with a particular promotion or sale that was being offered.  We finally asked that the amount paid for the Open Passage just be applied without any additional benefit toward a deposit on a booking and X wouldn't do that either. Our TA finally (at our request) managed to jump through quite a number of hoops and got the original amount we paid credited back to our credit card. We'll never do it again.